Burn Fat with the thermic effect of food

When it comes to losing fat and building muscle, eating less food is not the answer to getting lean and cut. Others will try to tell you that losing excess fat is simply a matter of using more calories than you eat. What they don’t tell you is that eating significantly less over time can slow down your metabolism.

Part of the secret to eating the right amounts of food while keeping your fat levels in check is to use the thermic effect of food to your advantage.

The thermic effect (also referred to as specific dynamic action) is the incremental energy requirement above your resting metabolic rate used due to the cost of digestion, absorption, and disposal of ingested food.

Translation: Some of the foods you eat speed up your metabolism more than other foods.

You’ll find it much easier to reduce your fat levels if you consume plenty of foods with a higher thermic effect. Proteins tend to have a much higher thermic effect than other types of foods.

Calculating the thermic effect: A way to calculate the thermic effect of the foods you eat is to take your total calorie consumption and multiply that by 10% to get the total get the number of calories for the thermic effect. This method is a general estimation, and the thermic effect for different food types can range from 3-30%.

In general:

• Fats: Thermic effect of about 3%. Keeping certain levels of fats in your diet is necessary, but fats tend to be high in calories and have a low thermic effect.
• Fibrous vegetables: Thermic effect of about 20%. Many fruits and vegetables are negative calorie foods. Get a good portion of vegetable in at least 2-3 of your 6 daily meals.
• Proteins: Thermic effect of about 30%. High protein foods are essential for muscle gain and fat loss. Think of these foods as your metabolic stimulator. One portion with each of your 6 meals.

How to do it:

• Correct Portions: Each meal you eat should have a portion about the size of your palm/ fist of protein.  Eat about 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body weight. Spread your protein intake evenly throughout the day.
• Eat, not drink: Eat your protein instead of drinking it. Protein shakes have their place, but the thermic effect is much greater when your body has to break down solid proteins.
• Weight Lifting: Yes, weight training increases the thermic effect of the foods you eat, according to a study in the journal, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
• Vegetables: Again, eat plenty of vegetables, particularly fibrous vegetables.
• Fruit: One or two pieces of fruit per day.

You will always need at least some carbohydrate intake to keep your body moving and your metabolism roaring. Carbohydrates provide your body with the energy needed so that you can get the workout you need. They are energy source for your muscles, and without some carbohydrates, you won’t be able to get in the type of workout you need to build muscle.

Please note that bodybuilders have a very specific diet that changes when it gets closer to completition time. When they get near competitions they need to be so lean, that is lose much more fat than usual. Their diet tends to rely on much more protein to keep the thermic effect high and keep muscle gains, reduce carbohydrates to reduce insulin response and drastically reduce fat. Total calories consumed are maintained but more comes form protein than carbohydrates and fat. This is not convenient for most people and can not be maintained.

For you to increase the thermic effect you will need to change the composition of your food. That is eat more protein and restrict carbohydrates and fat. (Swap some of the carbohydrates and fat for lean protein or high protein foods and see how you feel. Replace by portion size initially for simplicity. There is an in depth way to alter the composition scientifically but it is more complicated. The scource of this will be revealed soon. But conduct your experiment for a couple of weeks, a little at a time) Also, eat green leafy vegetables that are so low in calories that they don't need to be counted (they are filling, have a decent thermic effect and provide minerals that are essential to optimise fat loss).