I have an online friend who I just discovered has been consuming 800 to 900 calories a day for fat [...]]]> People are so confused about how many calories to eat in a fat-loss program. I don't blame them. Ridiculously low intakes are promoted everywhere they look—magazines, the latest "diet" books, The Biggest Loser, you name it.

I have an online friend who I just discovered has been consuming 800 to 900 calories a day for fat loss. Yikes! That's near-starvation—just about guaranteed to result in a hefty loss of lean muscle and a whole slew of other negative effects.

Bad advice is everywhere, and people tend to believe that if they see it on a good-looking website or in a glossy magazine or if a *doctor* says it in a diet book, it must be right.

Let's take out the guesswork and instead rely on formulas developed by scientists. These formulas (Harris-Benedict and McArdle-Katch–for the latter, use the calculator at right, under the text "calculations based on percent body fat") can be found in physiology textbooks. They're based on research. Doesn't that sound more solid than relying on the advice of the hot fat-loss guru of the moment? (And if the fat-loss guru really IS hot, he/she is also relying on formulas such as those developed by Harris-Benedict and McArdle-Katch.)

The question really should be not "How many calories should I eat to lose weight?" but rather "How many calories should I eat to lose fat in a healthy, sustainable way?"

The answer depends on your activity level, size, age, muscle mass, gender, and so on.

Don't be overwhelmed. Online calculators make it easy to apply Harris-Benedict and McArdle-Katch.

Use Harris-Benedict if you do *not* know your bodyfat percentage (and thus your lean body mass).

Use McArdle-Katch if you *do* know your bodyfat percentage.

Simple as that.

Once you plug in a few figures, you'll learn what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is–the number of calories you need just to exist, even if you're lying in bed all day.

Your BMR is multiplied by an activity factor that takes into account how much exercise you're getting during the average week.

The result is your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), or maintenance level. If you ate at maintenance level all the time and continued to perform the same amount of exercise, your weight should be more or less table. Of course, everyone's different, so you might need to adjust slightly up or down depending on your results. Your metabolism might be slightly faster or slower than average, and of course, the calculations are based on averages throughout the population.

If you want to lose fat safely and intelligently, without starving, choose a reasonable caloric deficit–something between 15 percent and 25 percent less than your daily requirement.

One caveat. The site I've linked to for the Harris-Benedict calculator says something along the lines that as we get older we require fewer calories. This is generally true—but the cause is not aging per se but rather loss of muscle, also called sarcopenia, that occurs with sedentary living. A 50-year-old woman with the same amount of muscle and same activity level as she had 20 years before will burn the same number of calories as in her youth.

I'd like to add that members of Tom Venuto's burnthefatinnercircle.com have access to easy-to-use versions of both these calculators (and a bunch of other cool tools)—along with recommendations for how large a caloric deficit to take.

Is this any clearer now? Let me know what you think, via the comment box.
 

The new protocol is a different kind of zig-zag, whose purpose is lean muscle gain [...]]]> I've begun a new nutrition protocol that I'm really excited about. As some of you know, I have gotten excellent results in the past with a zig-zag involving three days at a caloric deficit, followed by one day at maintenance level.

The new protocol is a different kind of zig-zag, whose purpose is lean muscle gain and moderate fat loss. The plan is for me to spend three days at a caloric deficit of 15 to 20 percent (1771 to 1882 kcal per day), followed by two days at a moderate surplus (2546 to 2656 kcal per day).

So–60 percent of the time I'll be in deficit, 40 percent I'll be in surplus. The other piece of the equation is very careful nutrient timing on days when I do strength training: a meal with carbs and protein not long before and another meal within 45 minutes of completing my workout. The post-workout meal will consist of about 54 grams CHO (carbohydrate) and 27 grams N (protein), and it's pretty easy to do that with a protein shake that has some added sugar or with protein plus some dried fruit on the side.

So yesterday, near the end of my first day at 15 percent surplus, I realized that I still had about 600 calories to go.

How odd it is to think "what can I eat to get that many more calories?"

Today was fun too: we went out to eat, and I had a salad with dressing, a sweet potato with butter, a roll, a beer, and an eight-ounce filet mignon without batting an eye. Coooooool. The picture? That's me, thinking about the beef I'm about to go out and devour.

One more note of possible interest: I'm shooting for a specific level of protein (around 130 grams) and fat (at least 52 grams) every day. The factor that changes between deficit and surplus days is the amount of CHO.

On days of caloric restriction, my diet seems to be falling into a 30-40-30 pattern: 30 percent protein, 40 percent carbs, 30 percent fat. It's a little bit less carb and a little more fat than I typically eat, but so far, so good.

Oh–if anyone's wondering, the new protocol is outlined in Tom Venuto's new e-book, The Holy Grail Body Transformation Program.

Is it scary to eat more calories on the delightful surplus days? You bet. But I'll keep you posted.

If you like, you can keep up with me on Daily Burn.

I take the same approach to nutrition, [...]]]> If you know me through this blog, on dailyburn.com, or in the flesh, you know I’m all about research. I can’t buy a new sunscreen without investigating whether its claims can be trusted (thanks, cosmeticscop.com!) or a washing machine without knowing what Consumer Reports says about its frequency-of-repair record.

I take the same approach to nutrition, fat loss, and training advice. I don’t fall for infomercials: show me the science. That’s just one of the reasons I’m so gung-ho on Tom Venuto and such a strong proponent of his Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle e-book. I discovered it not long after it was first published, and it helped get this former strength athlete lean and mean again. Everything Tom writes can be backed up with scientific research, and his 20-plus years’ experience as a bodybuilder means he knows how the research plays out in the gym. 

I subscribe to a whole lot of fitness- and strength-related e-mail lists, and honestly, I delete many more messages than I read.

But yesterday I received a communication from Tom Venuto that really got my attention.

I'll get right to the point: Tom has a new e-book: The Holy Grail Body Transformation Program. I know, that sounds kind of "woo-woo" (as my friend Suzanne M. might put it). Read the subtitle: How to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time.

If you're interested in more than just having a BMI under 25, if you're an athlete and care about your physique and performance, not just being non-obese, you'll probably agree with me that the notion of losing fat and gaining lean mass during the same cycle is pretty close to a "holy grail"!

If this describes you, you want this book—and I promise you'll learn from it.

My cardio time in the gym last night was significantly less boring than usual, thanks to Tom's Holy Grail, which I devoured while using the treadmill and then continued reading when I got home.

In a nutshell, Tom provides specific, science-based recommendations for achieving any of four goals:

• focused fat loss
• focused muscle gain
• fat loss as first priority, with concurrent muscle gain as a secondary goal
• muscle gain as first priority, with concurrent fat loss as a secondary goal

He shows you precisely how to achieve them, using calorie and carb cycling; nutrient timing; proper workout nutrition; the right balance of protein, fats, and carbohydrates; strength and cardio routines; proper recovery; and more. And no, this isn't the same old stuff you've read a million times.

I haven't been this excited about an e-book since I bought Tom's classic Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle.

What's the point of this post?You need/want Tom's new book, and at the moment it is available ONLY by becoming a member of his site burnthefatinnercircle.com.

Note: I've blogged about Tom Venuto's methods and book many times–and if you'd like to read my past articles, just search for "Tom Venuto" in the search box at the upper-right corner of this page.

Thursday of last week was interesting. I wiped out on my bicycle (managed to drive my front tire into a [...]]]> You know, I'm not sure I was counting the days in my 50-day challenge correctly before. But I don't have the patience to go back and change the titles of the previous posts . . .

Thursday of last week was interesting. I wiped out on my bicycle (managed to drive my front tire into a nice tire-grabbing hole in the asphalt) and gave my bad ankle a nasty twist. I was wearing a protective brace, so things probably could have been much worse. Lying on the path, I collected my thoughts for a minute, realized nothing was broken, and got up thanking God that I wasn't too badly damaged.

Saw my podiatrist the next morning, and he put me in a Bledsoe boot, which is freaking ugly but does a great job of protecting my joint. My ankle is SO much better today than it was Thursday.

I could be whining about all the things I temporarily cannot do—row, cycle, walk for long distances, do leg presses, or use the elliptical trainer—but I have decided to focus on what I can do. So after taking Friday off, I hit the gym intensely on Saturday and Sunday and performed some movements I hadn't done in quite some time.

Both were great workouts, and Saturday's was one of those peak gym experiences in which everything just feels incredibly good and you walk around with a big dumb grin on your face because the weights and the pump just feel so delicious.

I am taking two days off, then will be back in the gym on Wednesday. About all I can do at the moment—wearing "the boot"—is walk short distances.

In a couple of weeks this will pass.

In the meantime, I'm just grateful i wasn't hurt worse ("no blood, no foul," as my ex-Marine friend Paul likes to say). And I'm eager to get back on my bike!

Translation: I have burned 2.6 pounds of fat and gained 10 ounces of muscle since I began this 50-day holiday fitness challenge. Not bad, although I would like to have torched a little more fat. But the muscle is a [...]]]> Statistics: my scale weight is down two pounds and my bodyfat percentage is down 1.5 points.

Translation: I have burned 2.6 pounds of fat and gained 10 ounces of muscle since I began this 50-day holiday fitness challenge. Not bad, although I would like to have torched a little more fat. But the muscle is a delightful benefit.

A major success: I have gotten some form of intense exercise daily, whether it's a workout in the gym or a long ride on my bike. Unfortunately, the rowing season is about over, so I won't get to enjoy many more rows until spring.

Today's exercise: upper-body workout in the gym.

Postscript: Today I met one of my short-term goals—bench pressing six reps at 85 pounds. That's a far cry from where I was 20 years ago, but there's been a lot of sedentary life since then. I know I can get at least as strong as I used to be and indeed stronger. Next short-term bench goal is six reps at 95. That'll take a little while.

The best I ever did on the bench was a maximum single at 125, which at the time was my body weight. Not too shabby. But as an older person, I actually have more confidence. If I got to 125, why not 135? Why not 145? Give me a couple of years, and we'll see.

Went cycling again today with my husband. The weather was beautiful, although the wind was pretty stiff. My legs were still tired from my leg workout at the gym two days ago and my ride yesterday. So tomorrow they'll get a [...]]]> Time flies when you're having fun, yes? I'm 10 days into my holiday fitness challenge.

Went cycling again today with my husband. The weather was beautiful, although the wind was pretty stiff. My legs were still tired from my leg workout at the gym two days ago and my ride yesterday. So tomorrow they'll get a break.

Tomorrow will be devoted to bench press, pullups, and other assorted upper-body movements in the gym.

These days I am loving the assisted pullup and dip machine because without assistance, I wouldn't be able to perform those movements. In my heyday I could do quite a few pullups and dips without assistance, but it took a looooong time to build the strength to do it. Back in the ’80s my friend Jim McKairnes used to hold my knees and help me complete my pullups—until the proud day when I was able to do them on my own.

I'll get there again.

Oh—update on the chocolate-chip cookies. I baked three dozen of them this morning before going to Mass. Didn't eat a single one!