Setting Up a diet pt. 2.

What to Know - 

Word Count - 1200 words. 

Time to Read - 4 minutes ish.

 In Part 1 of our diet setup guide, we outlined the 5 components of a diet:
 1. Calories. Calories provide the fundamental control on whether weight is gained or lost. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If you eat less calories than you burn, then you will lose weight

 2. Macros. Macros (Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats), are important in helping you reach physique goals more quickly than if you just focus on calories alone.

 3. Micronutrients. Micronutrients aren’t massively important in attaining physique goals - however long-term deficiencies will impact your health and ability to train and recover. 

 4. Meal timing/frequency. Meal timing and frequency is a topic which generates a lot of discussion and catchy slogans but it doesn’t really matter, if you are hitting your calorie and macro targets. These will be discussed in more detail in a future article.

 5. Supplements. Supplements are the smallest part of the puzzle - I wrote about supplements in a previous article (link here). For now, all we need to know is that supplements, supplement your diet and help you reach your calorie and macro targets. 

 The first article focused on the two most important factors in determining diet success - Calories and Macros. Part 2 is focusing on the other three components of diet; micronutrients, meal timing and frequency and supplements. Whilst these are less important than calories and macronutrients to determining success, they do play a role in your long term health and diet success. 

 Micronutrients 
Micronutrients are nutrients required in the diet in small amounts for optimal health and performance. Whereas macronutrients are measured in grams, micronutrients are usally measured in the diet in miligrams. In the short term they aren’t super important, but long term micronutrient deficiencies cause serious health issues and will impact your ability to train effectively.  
 Micronutrients can be divided into two groups - vitamins and minerals. Minerals are non-organic (e.g. Iron, Zinc, Sodium etc.) whereas vitamins are organic. Vitamins are further subdivided into water-soluble and fat-soluble. Water soluble vitamins (e.g. Vitamin C) pass through the body in urine (which is why your pee turns a bright colour when you take a vitamin C tablet). Fat soluble vitamins are absorbed in the stomach and build up in the body. This means that deficits and surpluses build up in the body over time and can’t be quickly corrected. 

 How do I make sure I get enough micronutrients?

 Tracking your micronutrition is not recommended unless you have a specific micronutrient deficiency that needs addressing. For most people the micronutrients contained in meat (B-minerals), dairy (calcium, zinc and vitamin A) and starchy carbohydrates (Zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6) will be present in the diet in ample quantities. The micronutrients present in fish (primarily omega-3 fatty acids) and fruits and vegetables (Vitamin A, C, D, E and others) are more likely to be under-represented in the diet..  
 The simplest way to make sure you’re covering all the bases in terms of micronutrition is to eat a varied diet, with 2 meals of fish a week and plenty of fruit and vegetables each day. Eric Helms gives the following guidelines for his bodybuilding competitors on specific quantities of fruit and veg per day: 

Calories.                       Cups of fruit & vegetables / day.

1200 - 2000.                  2 cups each.

2000 - 3000.                  3 cups each.

3000 - 4000                   4 cups each.

 The reason that these recommendations decrease with calorie intake is twofold:
 

1. The less calories you eat, the less carbohydrates you eat, therefore the less fruit and vegetables you’ll be able to fit into your macros. 
2. The more food you eat, the more fibre is needed in the diet to digest the food and pass it through the gut. 

 Can i just take a multivitamin and not eat fruit and vegetables?

 No. 

 To quote Alan Aragon: 
‘a poor diet with a muti(vitamin) is still a poor diet’.


 Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables is essential for optimising health and performance. A multivitamin is a good insurance policy - if there are gaps in your micronutrient intake from your diet, then the multivitamin will help cover them. However, they will not provide you with the total health benefits that eating a variety of fruit and vegetables will. 


 Nutrient Timing and Meal Frequency

Nutrient timing and meal frequency is overrated. It certainly can have a small impact on body composition and help with diet adherence, particularly when cutting, but the overall success or failure of a diet will be controlled by calories and macronutrients. There is evidence that meal frequency (specifically intermittent fasting), does have health benefits but it’s debated as to whether these impacts are due to intermittent fasting or just caloric restriction and weight loss. 

 For beginners, or those new to tracking calories and macros, simplicity is key. The best diet for you is the one you can stick to. To begin, there are three main considerations:

1. How many meals?
2. Nutrient timing and training
3. Breakfast - do you need it?

 The number of meals you eat is related to how many calories you have to eat that day. If you are cutting, splitting those calories into 2-4 meals is probably best. If you’re bulking, eating 3-4 meals will work better - trying to cram a calorie surplus into two meals is probably going to be unpleasant. When you’re cutting, eating fewer meals can be psychologically beneficial because you can eat 2 normal meals and one smaller meal or even skip a meal.

 It is also important, especially when cutting, to space your meals around your training. If you’re training in a calorie deficit, making sure you are fueled properly around the workout is essential for getting the most out of your training that you can. 

 Firstly, never train completely fasted. Even if you are training at 6am, take a protein shake to the gym with you and sip it throughout your workout (p.s. If you find protein shakes too milky to drink during a workout, try MyProtein’s clear whey - it’s excellent for intra-workout shakes). Once you have finished your workout, make sure you eat within two hours of finishing a session. Make sure you eat more in the post-workout meal than the pre-workout meal and try to split your macros evenly between the meals.  

 Finally, breakfast. Skipping breakfast - or having a low calorie meal like a protein shake - can be helpful if you’re cutting. It makes calculating your calories and macros easier as you can just split them between two meals. Typically, people in a calorie deficit find it easier to skip breakfast and then eat two more or less normal meals. 

 Supplements

The final piece of the puzzle is supplements. These are supplements to the diet - not a magic bullet. Broadly, protein powder is a worthwhile investment as it can help you boost dietary protein without the addition of excess calories. Make sure your protein powder doesn’t contain a large amount of filler - a good powder will contain 18-20g protein per 25g scoop. There are a range of other supplements which can help your performance - link here - but they are non-essential to your dieting goals. 

 Summary
​
 The keys to a successful diet are your calories and macros (link this to article 1). Your micronutrition, nutrient timing and meal frequency have a smaller impact on the overall success of a diet, but cause a huge amount of confusion. Fundamentally, eating 2-4 meals per day, with a varied diet including fruit and vegetables and using high quality protein powders and supplements to fill in the gaps will take care of your basic micro-nutritional and meal frequency needs. 

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This is another article written by Daniel Lee Fitness coach James Kennedy. 

If you'd like to get in touch with him directly you can email him on - jlk@dannyleeonline.co.uk