Here is an excerpt from the article:

 

"Much like energy balance, fat balance describes the size of our fat stores, which is the result of the [im]balance between fat stored and fat burned. If we only look at the fat burned side of the equation, we are missing out.

Fat burning has been described previously, which is the process of beta-oxidation of fatty acids. This is the literal definition of fat burning, and these fatty acids can come from fat we have ingested through food, or from stored triglycerides in our adipose tissue (body fat) which are released through the process of lipolysis.

Fat storage is the process of storing fatty acids (via re-esterification), which can be stored in our subcutaneous adipose tissue (the body fat you generally think of), visceral adipose tissue (around your organs), or intramuscular triglycerides (within the muscle). These fatty acids are stored as triglycerides. Simply put, a triglyceride is made up of three fatty acids and one glycerol molecule, and so the fatty acids in your blood can be “re-esterified” through combination with glycerol, forming triglycerides.

So, when it comes to fat loss, we ultimately need to create a situation where our body burns more fat for fuel than it stores, and this needs to happen consistently. Within an exercise session, it may very well be the case that you are burning more fat than you are storing (obviously), but this doesn’t actually mean anything unless that is the average state over 24 hours, which also means nothing for someone with a fat loss goal unless it is the average state over multiple days, weeks, or months."

 

Here is an excerpt from the article:

 

Paoli et al. (2012) conducted a similar study in elite gymnasts, with similar outcomes over a 30 day period. Despite consuming a very low carbohydrate diet, the gymnasts experienced no performance deficits on the hanging straight leg raise, ground push up, parallel bar dips, pull up, squat jump, countermovement jump, or 30 sec continuous jumps. This, again, is good news for anyone considering the consumption of a low carbohydrate diet over a short period of time. This study also brings us a little closer to some of the training practices we may be interested in from the perspective of what hypertrophy training might look like. The previous two studies discussed both used 1RM as their means of assessment, which is useful, but may not be generalisable to multi-set, moderate-high rep resistance training performance.

 

When we consider that 1) it is generally this moderate-high rep, multi-set training that tends to be carried out with the goal of maximising muscle hypertrophy, and 2) we would expect carbohydrate/glycogen availability to be of greater relevance to these longer bouts (vs single rep performance which), we certainly shouldn’t close the coffin on the potential for lower carbohydrate diets to compromise resistance training performance. This gymnast study certainly provides hope, but our conclusions are limited by the fact that a single set may not reflect the outcomes across multiple sets (or a whole workout), and also due to the use of bodyweight movements, meaning the results could be confounded by the fact that the participants also reduced their body mass by ~5%. Moderate doses of resistance training can lead to considerable losses of muscle glycogen and hence it would be most interesting and useful to see the performance pattern over multiple sets at moderate repetitions (e.g. 4 sets of 12 repetitions) (Robergs et al. 1991; Tesch et al. 1998; MacDougall et al. 1999).

 

Here is an excerpt from the article:

 

"Of course, just like any other form of nutrition planning (including calorie counting like in Tier 3), all this serves as a starting point. Your diet should be adjusted based on real world feedback. You simply can’t know exactly how your body will respond in advance of diet changes. So you need to stay flexible in your decision making and portion sizes, based on your energy, performance, hunger levels and body composition changes. Don’t become rigidly entrenched in your nutritional set up.

 

There are going to be two main issues that arise, your weight stalling and you aren’t losing the weight you are expecting to lose, or conversely, if you are trying to gain, failure to gain the weight you expected to gain.

 

Some simple adjustments will have you back on track.

 

● If you’re trying to gain weight, and you’ve stalled completely for at least 2 weeks, all you need to do is add another cupped palm of carbohydrates or another thumb of fats to one of your meals.

 

● If you’re trying to gain weight, and you are gaining some muscle but not at the rate you desire, all you need to do is add another half of a cupped palm of carbohydrates or another half thumb of fats to one of your meals.

 

● If you’re trying to lose weight, but seem to have stalled for at least 2 weeks, all you need to do is eliminate a cupped palm of carbohydrates or a thumb of fats at one of your meals.

 

● If you’re trying to lose weight, but aren’t losing at the rate you desire, all you need to do is eliminate half of a cupped palm of carbohydrates or half of a thumb of fats at one of your meals.

 

(Of course, all of this assumes you are being realistic with your weight gain/loss goals, and not trying to gain/lose impossible amounts in short time frames)

 

So remember these guidelines are just a starting point. You will likely need to adjust your portions at some stage using outcome-based decision making, simply asking yourself “Am I moving in the right direction?” will let you know when a change will need to be made. Don’t be trigger happy with making changes however, as being able to eat more while dieting will make long term success much easier. If you start a journey at 100km/hr you will run out of petrol much quicker than if you paced yourself, so while you often see unbelievable 12 week transformations, you never really see the “After After picture” when people end up gaining back (and often gaining more) the weight they lost in that 12 weeks. Sustainability and long term success is the name of the game, not short term fat loss."

"I started working with Triage and Gary over a year ago. At the beginning we discussed goals and what our intentions would be. Coming from a football background, my ambition was to get fitter, leaner and stronger so that was our overarching target. We set general goals such as:

1. Lose weight – have dropped over 10kg  (About 14% bw) slowly and steadily over this period, and it felt effortless. My body shape has completely changed and with it came an increase in fitness and confidence.
2. Get fitter – I went from someone who hid away in fitness drills and couldn’t run a kilometre, to signing up for and completing 5ks, 10ks and triathlons. 
3. Get stronger – I was a regular in the gym but never saw sizeable gains. I was afraid to deadlift for fear of putting out my back. I Can deadlift 100kg easily now. I couldn’t do a single pull up, I can do ten no bother today. 2EZ.

Gary’s flexible approach with nutrition, assigning macronutrient and calorie targets made the process easy to adhere to, no rigid meal plans. I discovered a love of food and nutrition, filling up on colourful and healthy meals daily, whilst still enjoying the odd treat when I felt like it. 

 

Even through injury, Gary adjusted the programs to suit, we were always being productive and it helped to mentally get through also. If ever there is a question to ask, Gary will always helpfully answer. If he doesn’t know the answer, he will find it. His ability to impart knowledge is one of his greatest strengths. 

 

Nowadays, I feel we have a great working relationship whereby Gary has taught me so much that I can make suggestions for my program and we can incorporate them, whether it be in the gym, for cardio or nutrition. 

When I first started coaching with Triage, I was a footballer wanting to improve so I wasn’t the last to everything. Now, I’ve realised that football isn’t everything. I’m athletic, confident, healthy and enjoying every single minute of continuous self-improvement along the way. I couldn’t recommend Gary and Triage highly enough. 

 

 

If you have any questions about the service, please feel free to ask. Just respond to this email.

 

 

The resources listed are simply resources that are likely to be educational and thought-provoking. It does not mean that we endorse every point made by any of the authors listed in either this newsletter or any of those to follow.

 

Book: Metabolic Regulation: A Human Perspective - Keith Frayn