Ratios & Food
“You can eat what you want...as long as you know your ratios!”
Controlling and knowing the value of what you are eating is the most important step in how you want your body to look and perform. To keep it simple......our clients try to get a 1:1 ratio of carbs to protein. For example, for most of our female clients who are trying to get leaner, we recommend over 100 grams of protein and under 100 grams of carbs each day. Most people don’t realize how many grams of carbs they consume each day, especially in social situations. Carbs are not your enemy, but are actually essential in growing lean tissue and act as fuel that you must burn (otherwise whatever is left over gets converted to fat). The problem is if you were to ask 5 random people how many carbs are in their favorite candy bar or a cup of pasta, they wouldn’t know. If you did know that a Kit-Kat had 43 grams of carbs/sugar (which is the same thing) and your goal was 100 or less for the day, then you are already halfway to your maximum and you are not even counting any “good carbs” your body needs. A good carb is one that has little sugar and is high in fiber, such as beans.
Here at FIT, we try to educate each one of our clients on how to manage your “numbers” in tough situations instead of just giving up for the day or even worse... the week. For example, most people without knowing may order a salad in an effort to keep their fuel/carbs low. But, if the salad has lettuce, feta cheese, sugar glazed walnuts, ½ cup dried cranberries and a sweet dressing, you can actually consume more carbs than the Kit Kat we mentioned earlier. Now, obviously the quality of ingredients on the salad is so much better for you than chocolate, but it can still be more carbs/fuel than you thought. This means you would need to burn that off instead of waiting for your body to do it for you as it secretes/makes fat cells. Just by adding 6 oz of chicken breast or shrimp evens the numbers out to 40 grams of protein with 40 grams of carbs through cranberries, glazed walnuts, sweet/sugar based dressing along with the small side of bread served with the salad.
In summary, you don’t have to eat perfect by any means to achieve your goals, but you must educate yourself on the amount of protein and carbs/fuel you put in your body. The only difference between you and a person with a six pack is ratios. I promise people with really low body fat still enjoy certain vices, but just have discipline with keeping within their macro numbers and complement it with something healthy. Remember- you are what you eat and if you want to be healthy, you have to eat healthy foods. As long as you can consume nutritious foods everyday, then the light “cheat” you may have will be balanced with your healthy snacks/meals.