An Introduction to the 40-30-30 Diet Concept

I do not know who originally wrote this but my coach at beachbody posted it in the forums and ironically enough my wife and I had just discussed this at dinner (sushi mmmm) tonight. So, I am posting this for archival of key information I am picking up along the way in my journey to be physically fit.

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Wouldn't it be great if you could take a simple pill that would improve your energy, control your weight, enhance your physical abilities and lower your risk of a multitude of diseases? All of these and no side effects? Sure it would! Unfortunately this pill does not exist but there is something that will do all this for you and you already have it: the food you eat!

Before I launch into this subject, realize this: I'm not a doctor and even though I have played one on TV, I am not AMA sanctioned and nothing that I say or write should be considered medical advice.

Most of us don't think of it this way but the food we eat, in addition to providing all the nutrients that our bodies need, also has far reaching drug-like effects. This comes as a surprise to many and to understand this we need to consider the hormonal effects of what we eat. Hormones dramatically affect the body, influencing many aspects of health and function. Everybody is familiar with estrogen and testosterone (and what they are capable of) but there's many more where those came from which are integral to the proper functioning of the body.

This is where eicosanoids come into play. Eicosanoids are the superhormones that control the production of other hormones in the body. Make no mistake that these are extremely critical to the function of the body. To make it simple, there are good eicosanoids and bad eicosanoids and the object is to maximize the good ones and minimize the bad ones. When you are talking about the very keys to the hormonal system that integrally controls your whole body and it's functionality, you're dealing with something very powerful indeed!

Here's the exciting part: The very food that you eat directly affects the production of both types of eicosanoids and by following a few simple rules you can increase your good eicosanoids, decrease production of bad eicosanoids.

Sorry, but this is the part where I'm going to leave out some details. I'm not writing a book (which is about what would be required for a thorough explanation), so for expedience let me just say that the protein/carbohydrate balance in your diet controlls your insulin/glucagon balance which directly effects your eicosanoid production. And here's the big secret for getting that balance right:

* For each pound of lean body mass that you have, you need to consume between .5 and 1.0 gram of protein per day (depending on your activity level)
* For every 7 grams of protein, you must consume 9 grams of carbohydrates.
* For every 7 grams of protein, you must consume 3 grams of fat.
* Fats should be mono-unsaturated whenever possible. Avoid hydrogenated oils.

Chances are that you're wondering, "Wait a second... where did the fat come from? Shouldn't I be reducing it as much as possible?" In a word, no. Fat plays an important part in the production of eicosanoids and in other bodily processes as well. Reducing it too much will foul up a lot of things. Contrary to popular belief, low fat diets do not necessarily make you lose weight and can have the reverse effect as well as causing other system deficiencies. Dr. Sears explains this very nicely in The Zone and if you are still skeptical about what I've just said about fat, read the book.

Now all this counting of grams of protein, carbohydrates and fat can be a real drag. To make this a little easier, a "block" system has been developed. A block of protein is 7 grams, a block of carbohydrates is 9 grams and a block of fat is about 3 grams. This system makes it easy to break foods down into their block components for very simple block to block to block ratio comparasin.

The ideal block ratio for most people is 1:1:1 but this may change somewhat from person to person. To accurately determine this ratio and your daily calorie requirement you will need to have a profile assembled based on some of your personal statistics.

Day 7 - Rest Day - day after notes..

Yesterday was great. I got in my stretching first thing in the morning as I had planned and I generally felt great all day. I did not get my free meal of the week at Stonewood as it was closed, so I did not have steak. Instead we went to an Italian restaurant and I had a small portion of the brick size lasagna they brought to me. I ate mostly the tomato sauce, which had meat, garlic and mushrooms in it, with about a 10th of the actual lasagna. I also had a chili cheeseburger yesterday as I had been craving one all last week. The rest of my meals were mostly the same as any other day. Here is the breakdown:

Meal 1: Protein Shake - this time I added peaches. It was tasty but I am not sure if the peaches are OK so I will stick with the berries.
Meal 2: Small portion of Lasagna, Tomato sauce with meatball, mushroom, and garlic. Salad with goat cheese and Walnut Vinaigrette
Meal 3: Small Yogurt
Meal 4: Baked Salmon, Steamed Broccoli, Raw Cucumbers and Tomatoes
Meal 5: Chili Cheeseburger

I suspect I had way to many calories yesterday, but it was my rest day.

Here are my Day 1 and Day 7 Measurements:

Day 1:
Chest: 40.5"
Right Arm: 12.5"
Left Arm: 12"
Waist: 38.5"
Hips: 37.5"
Right Thigh: 19.25"
Left Thigh: 19.25"
Weight: 177
Blood Pressure: 152/83
BMI: 25.3
Fat%: 24.1

Day 7:
Chest: 39.5"
Right Arm: 12.5"
Left Arm: 12"
Waist: 36.5"
Hips: 37.5"
Right Thigh: 19"
Left Thigh: 19"
Weight: 169.8
Blood Pressure: 138/80
BMI: 24.4
Fat%: 22.4

Weight Lost = 7.2 pounds

I am happy with week 1 results. I feel the Fat Burner Express lived up to my expectations. I am expecting to put back on some of the weight loss over the next few days between just going back to a regular meal plan (according to the website I am supposed to be at 2k calories per day) and Christmas meals. Of course my free meal probably put back on one or two pounds right away.

Either way, I will Keep Pressing Play and doing the best I can with the diet/meal plan. I did sign up as a member of BB so that I can get the meal plans from them. My wife has been a great support in helping me to make sure that the meal plan is as exact as possible. Sometimes this is frustrating for me, but we are working through it. I fully believe that in one or two more weeks that we will have all of this down and it will be a LOT easier. If not, we might just quit.

JUST KIDDING :)

//jsk

Day 7- Rest Day #1

I have officially completed all of the Fat Burner Express - both the meal plan and exercise routine!!! I can say that I never would have thought that I would have gone through a meal plan/diet as stringent as the one I just did for the last 6 days. I posted each day with what I had and it totaled to around 800 calories each day. I have taken before and after pictures and hope to post those up later today along with the stats comparison.

I completed a stretch and power yoga routine this morning which is just the first 8 minutes of the Fat Burner Express DVD. I did this to help all of my muscles stretch out and get just a mini workout in today. For the rest of the day I plan to take it easy and "Rest" as is prescribed.

A special thanks to my wife for doing this program with me as well as helping by making sure that I followed the diet to a tee by buying, preparing, and serving just what the plan ordered. This took a bit of extra effort by her and I am very appreciative. She has already planned out our exact meals for this coming week as well!

I am very much looking forward to my "free" meal today. We are planning to eat a very nice restaurant named Stonewoods (http://www.stonewoodgrill.com) where I am sure to have a nice Filet Mignon :) I may also allow myself to have 1 chili cheeseburger as this has been one of my biggest cravings all week.

Have a Wonderful Sunday!

//jsk

Day 6 - Power90 - Fat Burner Express

Day 6 workout is complete! I have now completed the 6 days of the fat burner express workout routine. Today I will finish up the diet/meal plan portion of that program and Monday I will be moving into week 2 of Power90. Once again today my muscles in my legs and arms are sore and they burned while working out.

Yesterday my coach at BeachBody informed me that this meal plan for this week is giving me about 700-800 calories a day!! WOW! What concerns me about that is I really hope that my body is not in starvation mode as then I am burning muscle. Either way today is the last day of it so I am going to push through. My wife has reported to me this morning that she is down 8 pounds for the week. Tomorrow is our official weigh in/stat day.

Yesterday I also purchased the membership to the BB site so that I can get detailed meal plans moving forward. It states that I should be consuming 2100 calories and my wife should be at 1600. What I hope to figure out soon is can I have a burger or higher calorie, less healthy lunch on some days as long as I still maintain under 2100 calories. I imagine the answer is no because I also need to maintain an specific ratio of carbs, fats, & proteins. So, maybe if the unhealthy lunch is still balanced in those categories then it will be OK?

This is what I consumed yesterday:

Meal 1: 1/2 cup Strawberries/1/4 bannana + Protein shake
Meal 2: 1 cup raspberries and Cottage Cheese (the raspberries were awesome!)
Meal 3: Chicken Breast Salad with green beans, red pepper, and celery - red wine vinegar
Meal 4: 15 almonds
Meal 5: Dijon baked chicken and steamed asparagus

One note about salad/lunch: 2 days in a row now I have not been able to finish my lunch due to it being hard to get down. I am definitely going to have to get some better dressing or none at all. It makes me nautios to even think about it and I am suppsoed to have one today too! A big goal for us is to find some homemade recipies for low fat, low carb, no sugar, low calorie dressing. With all that criteria it should be interesting.

I sure am looking forward to my cheat meal tomorrow :) At the begining of this I decided I was going to give myself one meal a week to eat outside the plan. For tomorrow I hope to have sushi but the place may be closed. Next week I have 2 meals planned for the holidays that will also take me off track.

Have a Good Saturday all!

//jsk

Day 5 - Power90 - Fat Burner Express

I had another great workout this morning. It was a bit harder to get out of bed and get in there to do it tho because I am feeling a bit sore in my legs and arms. I did manage to get through all of the workout though!

My weight was down 6 pounds as of yesterday morning for the week. It will not be official until Sunday morning, but I imagine I will be below 170 if I am not already for today. I weigh myself at the exact same time every day under the same conditions so that it can be as exact as possible.


Yesterday I ate exactly by the diet again. This is what I ate:

Meal 1: Protein shake with blueberries
Meal 2: 15 Almonds
Meal 3: Deli Meat Salad - Chicken Deli Meat, green leaf lettuce, celery, cucumber, balsamic vinegar
Meal 4: Turkey & Swiss rolled up with mustard
Meal 5: 4 ounces of lean steak (i think it was sirloin or flank, it was thin) and Swiss Chard Greens (My first time having these. They were OK with hot sauce and apple cider vinegar on them).

I drank the normal 8 or more glasses of water and my green tea last night before bed.

Today I am excited because I am supposed to have a whole cup of berries with my morning snack. I may end up going to the store shortly to get some fresh ones from fresh market.

One more workout and 6 day fat burner express will be over for me!! w00t!

Have a wonderful day all!
//jsk

Weight Loss and Starvation Mode in plain english

I am going to start posting other stuff that I find interesting to my blog here as well. I will attempt to quote the original sources when I can. If nothing else this will help me to consolidate a lot of what I am reading and discovering.

Here is a good example:

A guy on one of the beachbody forums responded to a question I had about starvation mode with this. "This info I found on an Mit website and spells it out in a very understandable way."

WEIGHT LOSS
In a nutshell, losing weight means that energy intake must be less than energy expended. Weight is most safely lost and kept off by decreasing calories by approximately 500 per day by following a good nutritious diet and exercising. Food intake should be timely. An athlete may exercise more or eat less but a balance combining the two is the best method of weight loss, that is; burning 250 calories through exercise while also decreasing food intake by 250 calories.

Weight loss is not easy to do and can add to a person's stress level and is even harder when suffering from sleep deprivation. One must be very motivated, disciplined, patient, have a weight loss plan, be able to follow specific and realistic daily and weekly goals, and be honest with oneself. In addition, other factors that may have positive or negative affects on weight loss are: heredity, age, your "set point" (a predetermined weight appropriate to your body), cultural habits, hormonal imbalances, emotional trauma (anxiety and depression), time management, sleep deprivation, level of fitness, type, frequency, intensity and duration of physical activity, existing body composition, and one's ability to obtain enough fresh fruits and vegetables and other high quality foods.

One pound = 3500 calories. Decreasing calories by 500 per day for a week = 3500 calories lost or 1 pound. Increasing exercise expenditure by 200 kilocalories per day for a week = 1400 additional calories expended which is a little less than ½ pound. An example of 200 kilocalories expended can occur doing: 45 min. of walking @ 3.5 mph on a 1.5% incline on a treadmill. The heavier you are, the faster you walk, the longer you walk, the greater the incline, all result in greater calories lost. It is recommended that no more than 2-3 lbs. per week be lost. Weight loss greater than prescribed weight loss is unhealthy. Individuals requiring minimal weight loss (like 5 – 10 lbs.) should not attempt to lose more than .5 to 1 lb. per week.

'starvation mode'...
This mechanism, which is thought to have evolved as a defense against starvation, means the body becomes super efficient at making the most of the calories it does get from food and drink. The main way it does this is to protect its fat stores and instead use lean tissue or muscle to provide it with some of the calories it needs to keep functioning. This directly leads to a loss of muscle, which in turn lowers metabolic rate so that the body needs fewer calories to keep ticking over and weight loss slows down. Of course, this is the perfect solution if you're in a famine situation. But if you're trying to lose weight, it's going to do little to help you shift those unwanted pounds into lean muscle to burn more fat.

The website he was referencing is:
http://web.mit.edu/athletics/sportsmedicine/wcrwtloss.html


//jsk

Day 3 P90 - Fat Burner Express Meal plan + Exercise

Today exercising was easier than yesterday in that I had more energy to give the exercising more intensity. I still feel that it could be better and I am sure over time it will be. I am feeling a little sore today but not too bad. This Fat Burner Express DVD is really a good workout. Both my wife and best friend are doing this with me and have both stated that they like this routine as well. I have read that it is a bit tougher than Sweat 1-2. I have not done Sweat 1-2 yet, but will next week. I have read that some swap out Sweat 1-2 for this routine on occasion to break things up a bit.

Thanks to my wife, my diet yesterday was perfectly by the 6 day fat burner express meal plan. Later last night my stomach was growling a bit telling me it wanted more food, but I made it through it by drinking some green tea. That actually helped a lot more than I thought it would so I recommend that anyone that is eating less and still feeling hungry give the green tea a shot.

This is what I consumed:

Breakfast: Smoothie with 3/4 cup of blueberries
Snack: 20 Almonds
Lunch: Tuna Salad - consisted of Bagged Tuna, Lettuce, Cauliflower, Broccoli and just a bit of red wine vinaigrette with cayenne pepper.
Snack: Roast Beef and Swiss Cheese roll-up with mustard
Dinner: Garlic & Rosemary Chicken with Brussel Sprouts

I drank at least 8 cups of water and 1 cup of decaf green tea.

As I did yesterday I am going to start spicing up the food a little more with pepper and/or lemon/lime juice. I am making sure that nothing that I add has any calories, sugar, or carbs so I should be good to go.

Tonight I hope to get 8 hours of sleep as I have only been getting 6. I imagine this will help with my energy level.

Day 2 - Power 90 - Fat Burner Xpress

I just finished my workout for day 2. Today it was much harder for me than yesterday. This is not because the exercises were hard or because my body was sore, but because of my energy level. I also have had a headache since around 4pm yesterday. My wife says that this is from the lack of carbs, I am not sure.

I did follow the meal plan exactly yesterday. Here is a brief synopsis of what I consumed:

Meal 1: Protein Shake with 1/2 cup of blueberries (this was supposed to be 1 cup)
Meal 2: 20 Raw Almonds
Meal 3: Turkey & Spinach Salad - This had 1 tablespoon of Red Wine Vinaigrette, spinach, turkey, carrots, cucumbers, and mushrooms (i did not eat these).
Meal 4: 4 ounces of cottage cheese and 1/2 cup of blueberries
Meal 5: Flounder and Asparagus
Late Night: 1 cup of decaf Green Tea- No sweetener at all!

I drank nothing but water all day and the 1 cup of tea near bedtime. I also took some Acai Berry extract in the morning as I have read that it helps to curb cravings and help with energy. I did have a lot of energy about 2 hours after I took it so I hope that helps again today!

I am hoping that my headache goes away soon as I have a lot of work to get done today! I am also hoping that my energy level rises as I am feeling quite lethargic.

I did weigh myself this morning and I was down to 175. This was before any water for the day and with my clothes on.

//jsk