Enjoying foods without gaining body fat

It's been a while since the last time I updated this blog. Today, I just want to discuss a tip how not to gain body fat while enjoying eat all you can buffets, attending a party or simply enjoying a holiday treat or gathering.

Calories in, calories out

Leave things that way, we are talking about enjoying foods here while staying lean. For these strategies to work, you must be aware of your calorie intake.



Strategies

Assuming a dieter seeking fat loss is following a linear dieting fatloss tactic(calories are constant through out the week), a good strategy is by eating 75% of maintenance calories for 6 days then enjoy one meal of the week(buffet) without calorie counting for this meal, simply enjoy eating.
Another technique that can be applied is by applying intermittent fasting preferably for 16 hrs then eat as much as you want in the buffet which will be equivalent to your 8-hr window which will only allow you to eat one huge meal for one day a week.

For people who are following a cyclical dieting technique, drive these buffet day/s during your most intense training day which is often the leg days. Again, intermittent fasting would be a good strategy to enjoy foods in the buffet without worrying too much about fat gain. If you fast for 16 hrs, and tried to sneaked in as much NEAT as you can, most of these buffet calories will just be partitioned toward refilling glycogen. To maximize the effect and to enhance the partitioning effect of these buffet calories, make the buffet food as your pre or post workout nutrition.
To biasly partition these calories toward muscle tissue if you're trying to build mass even during fat loss, do not wait more than 3 hrs before or after workout.

You may slightly gain a few pounds of weight using these tactic but do not worry about it as long as you follow my guidelines above. In fact, refeedings can be both physiologically and psychologically beneficial for a more successful long-term dieting. Do not be confused between a "free meal" and "refeedings" though. If you're using the buffet foods/ holiday treat as a refeed, keep track of the calories as much as you can. It's okay to eat above your maintenance calorie intake during refeeding days(you're supposed to) as long as you set a good calorie deficit the days before or after the "binge" day. During refeeds, concentrate on eating lean meats and foods that are high in carbs especially the starchy kind but make sure to keep your fat intake at minimal.

A free meal on the other hand which is often once a week, just eat what ever you want. People who have problems on binge eating should limit their free meal days as it may contribute to accumulation of too much surplus calories.

ENJOY