If you are wondering if a diet is right for you or a client, consider these factors provided by Ben Coomber.
- Is your diet making you feel good? If not, make some changes: it could be too low carb, or too low fat, or not enough protein, or not enough total calories. Play about with your diet; make sure you are eating enough of the right stuff for you.
- Make sure you hit a minimum protein intake. I would usually recommend around 1.4-2g per kg of bodyweight for most individuals.
- Make sure you are eating enough. Again, if your body doesn’t get enough of everything – all the macronutrients – it won’t perform well. Even if you are recommending a diet for fat loss, make sure your approach is not overly extreme. A 10% calorie deficit should do it – for most, there is no need to go less than a 15% deficit of calories (the amount you eat below maintenance calories to stimulate a weight-loss effect).
- Eat enough carbohydrates to fuel performance. If you exercise a lot, have a good 25-45% of your diet made up from carbohydrates; carbs fuel performance and recovery and you can’t perform well without them. And don’t be scared of them – they taste yummy. As with everything, just moderate your intake.
- If you’re eating food that upsets you, avoid it. If you know dairy gives you skin outbreaks, or that gluten gives you IBS, or that eggs make you tired, avoid those foods; they are having a negative effect on your well-being.
- If your goals are less about general improved well-being and are body composition or performance orientated, then understand that you will have to invest a little time to count the amount and type of calories your body needs to hit your goals in the way you want to. Guesswork leads to poor results.
- Don’t be extreme across the board. Fad diets sell because they promise (and don’t usually deliver) extreme results. Eat a little of what you want, account for it, do all the basics right, manipulate the variables to suit your needs and you should be good.
Don’t miss Ben presenting at FitPro LIVE on 8-9 April!
About Ben Coomber
Ben Coomber is a performance nutritionist (BSc, ISSN). He runs Body Type Nutrition, an online nutrition coaching company that runs the BTN Academy. Ben has the UK’s #1 rated health and fitness podcast on iTunes – Ben Coomber Radio – with Q&As and expert interviews.
Ben will deliver the following sessions at FitPro LIVE:
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How to build a diet from the ground up
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Clean eating vs IIFYM
You can find out more about Ben’s sessions by searching ‘Ben Coomber’ in the session search box here.
