Alcohol and Macros

You and some friends decide to go out to a local brewery and enjoy the summer weather with a nice cold beer. While driving to the brewery, you are thinking about all the hard work you put into training and your "diet" and wondering how you're going to get away with avoiding beer at a brewery. Upon arriving at the brewery, your friends get in line and you turn to them and say "You all go ahead and get your beers, I'm not having anything today but I'll just go ahead and grab us a table." After you say that, all of your friends give you this look:

Judgement.

Hear me out. I'm not saying that you have to have a drink when you go out with your friends. That's ridiculous. If you ever get a drink knowing you don't want to, but you feel you're going to be judged if you don't so you order one anyway, there are some other issues that need to be addressed. This article isn't for those of you having trouble sticking your ground. This is for the individuals who enjoy the social drink with friends and just need to know how to make that fit within their macros. 

Understanding Alcohol

Before we go into the details of plugging your alcoholic beverages into you macronutrient budget, we need to quickly discuss how alcohol is processed by the body. 

When consumed, alcohol is going to be the first thing your body uses before fat and other forms of stored energy. Our bodies also recognize alcohol as a toxin, so it will work hard to eliminate it as quickly as possible through metabolism, breath, sweat, and urine. Since our bodies use alcohol as a short-term use for energy, it is fair to say that we can substitute the calories in our beverage for some carbohydrates in our macros. But how?

Believe it or not, although the calories in alcohol are "empty", they do count. They can easily cause you to go over your daily calorie goal in no time. This is not a good thing especially if you're aiming to be in a caloric deficit for fat loss. Similar to fats (9), carbohydrates (4) and protein (4), alcohol carries 7 calories per gram and it must be accounted for whenever you are drinking it. 

Since alcohol contains calories just like carbohydrates do, we can treat this like an exchange with some simple math. Let's say you have a light beer that has 100 calories. If you want to exchange your alcoholic beverage for carbohydrates in your macronutrient budget, all you have to do is divide your total calories by 4 (because carbs have four cals/gram) and enter that final number as grams of carbs into your budget. In this case, that light beer would equal 25 grams of carbohydrates. Easy. Now your calories are accounted for in your macronutrients and you don't have to go over on your budget. 

"What if I Don't Have Carbs Left?"

If you don't have any carbohydrates left in your budget, that's ok. Check your fat intake and see if there is any room there. That light beer could be exchanged for fats too. The math would just be a little different. This time, you'd need to divide 100 (total cals in the beer) by 9, since fats have 9 calories per gram. This would be roughly 11 grams of fat for the light beer. Boom shaka laka. But what if you want both? 

I'll take both.

I don't drink much, but when I do I like to exchange carbs and fats. I should've used the Dos Equis guy for that one. Oh well.

Anyway, food is much more important to me and I am a fat kid on the inside, so I'd rather give up a little bit of carbs and fats and have some room for food rather than using all of the alcohol on carbs and regretting it when I want to have some zebra cakes later that night. Ya feel me? 

Let's do the math. Ultimately what it comes down to is deciding which you want more of in your macro budget. For me, I like to have more carbs available because carbs are basically in everything (especially the good things). So what I would do in this situation is give myself 8 grams of fat, and the remaining in carbs. 8 grams of fat would be 72 calories (8x9=72), which tells me I have 28 calories left for carbs. 28 calories would translate to 7 grams of carbs (28/7=4). 

And there you have it. Now you have plenty more room in both calories and fat. So go ahead, order a burger with that beer of yours. 

Takeaway

Whether you drink or not, you HAVE to be tracking your macronutrient intake. Macronutrients are just like dollars. If you want to become wealthy and have your money work for you, it's essential that you have a budget in place. John Maxwell said "A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went." The exact same concept applies for macronutrients and calories in your food. Allow your calories and macros to work for you with your goals. Don't just eat with no direction and expect to wake up at the finish line of your goal. That's extremely stupid. 

As always, thank you for reading. Feel free to follow Poehlmann Fitness below for awesome content and giveaways with prizes like apparel, gift cards, and more!

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6 Strategies to Help You Eat More Protein

If you've been following me for a while, you know that I am a big proponent of building and maintaining muscle through resistance training and proper nutrition. Whether you're a guy, girl, average joe, or competitive athlete, muscle is important. Here's why: having a good amount of lean muscle tissue is going to help you with your RMR (resting metabolic rate). Individuals who have more muscle tissue can burn more calories at rest throughout the day. More calories burned means more calories allowed in your daily budget. If your daily caloric budget is high (high for your age and body type) it will give you more room to enjoy food and life. More room to eat out and get drinks with friends, and more room to hit Five Guys for a fat, juicy burger. If you have a lower RMR, it's going to be harder for you to lose weight since your body isn't burning a lot of calories at rest, AND you'll have less wiggle room when it comes to your food intake. Both of those things make for an unfortunately disappointing fitness journey. 

Other than mixing up your training, lifting weights, and tracking your food intake, prioritizing protein and getting enough each day is extremely important. Just in my first four years of coaching alone, I would say that 90% of the individuals that come to me are missing out on a lot of protein. The RDA says you should eat 50g of protein each day, but this is only for sedentary individuals. Protein intake is much different for those of us who need to nutritionally support an exercise regimen. I always recommend aiming for at least 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass for those of you that are working hard in the gym each day. 

Protein is a macronutrient just like carbohydrates and fats. Unfortunately, they don't show up in seemingly every single food we eat like carbs and fats do. So, getting all those grams of protein can seem impossible at times. Thankfully, I've put together a list of six strategies to help you eat more protein. These are strategies I use each and every day, too. Believe it or not, protein just doesn't conveniently show up each day for me either. 

1. Prioritize Protein

This strategy is in my opinion, the most important one you'll hear about today. And quite frankly, it's no more of a strategy than it is the truth. There's no magic trick here. There's no magic food here either. This is just the cold hard truth. You absolutely have to prioritize your protein. If you're not thinking about how much protein you need in the meal, how much protein you need in the day, and how much protein is in the food you're about to eat, You'll never hit your goal. Carbs and fats are easily accessible and convenient. They'll come. Don't stress out about those. Think about protein first, and then add your carbs and fats to your meal. Sure, constantly thinking about protein each meal will be an extra hassle for the first week or so, but isn't it worth being a protein pro down the road? Plus, what's a few extra moments of thinking going to hurt?

2. 30 in 30

I'm not talking about a 30 for 30 on ESPN. This is a very simple reminder to help you get a kick-start on your protein intake for the day. Beware: this is extremely simple and easy to follow. Within 30 minutes of waking up, eat 30 grams of protein. Whatever form of protein you'd like. Breakfast shake, eggs and egg whites, greek yogurt, and FairLife milk are options that I like to put to use in the AM. Trust me, getting ahead early in the morning will make the rest of your day easier, especially if you're on the go.

3. Utilize but Don't Abuse Protein Powder

Whey powder is an extremely useful source of protein. Great for feeding your muscles after a vigorous workout in the gym, whey is a quick absorbing protein that is great for your post-workout recovery. Not only is it great for recovery, but its convenience is an added bonus. With whatever liquid you'd like, protein shakes take seconds to make and you can bring them with you wherever you are. Although it would be extremely easy to get your daily protein goal from only whey shakes, I advise against it for a couple of reasons: 
1. Although protein's satiety is great, the fact that the shakes are in liquid form won't help you feel full.
2. Protein shakes are often consumed by themselves which makes it easy to neglect great vitamins and minerals from other food sources. 

Take a serving after your workout, and perhaps another if you need some help hitting your protein for the day. But don't abuse it!

4. Take it Slow

For the most part, clients who come to me for coaching aren't trying to hit a protein goal each day. They just happen to eat 30-60 grams of protein each day. Depending on their lean mass, I'd like them to start eating a lot more protein right away, but that can be extremely difficult. So once you've figured out where your protein currently is and where it needs to be, slowly build it up every week or so. For example, I had a client start with me last week and they were at about 45 grams of protein each day when they needed to be around 150. That's a big jump. So what we're doing right now is slowly taking them up until 150 seems like no problem at all. It's all about fitting practicality into what's optimal.

5. Focus on What's Practical

In fitness, there is all of this b.s. being thrown around about how we all have to live the life of a competitive bodybuilder in order to be lean, healthy, and achieve our goals. We need to "eat chicken and broccoli eight times per day" in order to get fit. Are you kidding me? Get real. The name of the game with your success in fitness is making what's optimal, the most practical for your life. If you work from home and you'd rather spread your protein intake out through five meals, go for it. If you're crazy busy and you'd rather do it in two with a protein shake in the middle, go for it. The plan that is the most important is the one that will allow you to be the most consistent. 

A sneak peek at all of the scam artists in the fitness industry throwing crap at you. 

6. Break it Down

This last strategy ties into numbers four and five, but I still wanted to bring it up.

When we see a big number that is associated with a "big" change, we tend to freak out. Let's pretend that your protein goal is a debt you have. If you have $100,000 dollars in debt, of course you're going to freak out about how you're going to pay that off. But if you break it up into smaller chunks and create a budget that you can stick to, it won't seem too difficult, and it'll become easier to reach over time. The same goes with your protein. If you like to eat three meals in a day, figure out how you can divide your goal between those meals and whatever snacks you have. Break it down and simplify it.

Takeaway

Whether you're competing for a show or just trying to lose some weight, protein is so important. If you're under-eating it, you have to find a way to make that change. Apply whatever is most practical for you. The above strategies help me and my clients hit our daily protein goals, and may they do the same for you.

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Thanks for reading!

Recomposition: The Key to Building Muscle & Burning Fat

It's only week three in your new training plan and you're a little fed up. You haven't seen any results. You continue to search the internet tirelessly for a solution. How can one build lean muscle tissue AND lose fat at the same time? One article says it's possible, the other says it isn't. Next thing you know you're five pages into your Google search, you haven't found any answer to your problem, and you find yourself getting more and more frustrated. 

Ever been in this situation? I have on countless occasions. Whatever the problem is, it seems that the internet never really gives a concrete, "yes" or "no" answer. Want to know why? It's because the internet is full of goons who just want you to click on their site, regardless if they have valuable information waiting for you or not. So here's the truth:

In most cases, when we ask "Is it possible to build muscle and burn fat at the same time?", the time we are speaking of is relatively long term. The question really being asked is: "is it possible to build muscle and burn fat over the course of X weeks?" The answer to that is YES, absolutely. On the other side of the coin, the question could be "is it possible to build muscle and burn fat simultaneously, at the same moment?", to which the answer is: I don't think so. At least I haven't found any science to prove it. 

Quick thought before we move along: If our usual mindset is to put on a certain amount of muscle or lose a certain amount of fat in a given amount of time, why the heck does it matter if muscle can be built while fat can be burned simultaneously? That's just making things more complicated than it needs to be. You'll reach your goal either way. 

Don't blow this up and turn it into something that it's not. I'm not saying that you have to get fat in order to put on muscle, and I'm not saying that you have to turn into a twig to lose fat. I'm actually writing this to introduce a new way of thinking about your health, training, and nutrition. It's called recomposition. 

Recomposing like a boss.

What is recomposition? It's nothing fancy, but it will help us build muscle and burn fat over a period of time. As you know (or at least you do now), in order to build muscle, we need to be in a caloric surplus. This is what is most commonly known in the bro community as "bulking season" which usually occurs in the winter when very little skin needs to be exposed. In order to lose body fat, we need to be in a caloric deficit. This is known as the "cutting season" which usually is procrastinated and crammed into a span of two weeks right before the big spring break trip. 

Recomposition is both of those mixed into one. While attempting to recompose your body, you are in both a caloric surplus, as well as a caloric deficit. This is called calorie cycling. There are plenty of other factors that play a role in the recomposition of the body, but calorie cycling is plays a HUGE part in keeping us lean and mean all year round. 

Question is though, how do we put ourselves in a caloric deficit AND surplus at the same time? And calorie cycling? What the heck does that involve? Let's break this down.

While on a training regimen, there are days in which we train/workout, and days in which we rest. This means that there are days in the week where we are burning more calories than others. Up until recently, a lot of people have been following only one daily goal for their calories and macronutrients. But that doesn't make any sense, right? I wouldn't want to be eating the same amount of food on rest days that I am on training days, because my body wouldn't use the excess calories which means more fat on my stomach. No bueno. 

If we want to stay lean while putting on muscle over a period of time, we need to make sure that our bodies are properly utilizing every single calorie that we take in for muscle growth and recovery. We don't want to give it anything extra to hold on to. With that being said, we need to eat differently on days we train and days we rest. 

How to Cycle Your Calories

In order to determine how many calories you need to be eating each day, you need to first determine your BMR. Your Basal Metabolic Rate tells you how many calories you are burning at rest. I use the Harris-Benedict equation to determine BMR if an individual doesn't know his/her lean mass in pounds. (*Note: this equation is only an estimation of BMR. Muscle tissue and body fat play a large role in BMR. Those who weigh the same with more muscle will burn more at rest). Here are the calculations for both men and women based on total body weight.

Men: BMR = 66 + (6.2 x weight in lbs) + (12.7 x height in inches) - (6.76 x age in years)

Women: BMR = 655.1 + (4.35 x weight in lbs) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)

For a little more accurate formula, you'll need to know your lean body mass. To find your lean mass, you need to know your total scale weight as well as your body fat percentage.

Fat percentage x total scale weight = fat mass. Scale weight - fat mass = lean body mass.

Using the Sterling-Pasmore equation, you can find your BMR by completing the following:

BMR = lean body mass in lbs x 13.8

Once you have determined your BMR, you now need to calculate your TDEE or total daily energy expenditure. The following list will help:

Little to no exercise: Calories needed = BMR x 1.2
Light exercise (1-3 days/week): Calories needed = BMR x 1.375
Moderate exercise (3-5 days/week): Calories needed = BMR x 1.55
Heavy exercise (6-7 days/week): Calories needed = BMR x 1.725
Very heavy exercise (2x/day): Calories needed = BMR 1.9

After determining your TDEE, you now have your calorie intake in order to maintain your lean mass!

Looking through all of these calculations seems daunting, I know. Luckily we have this thing called the internet which is full of calculators that will do the work for you.

Nobody. 

I figured you'd appreciate knowing how to make the calculations yourself, so I threw them in. Knowing things is fun.

From here, you need to know how to cycle your calorie intake based on your goal. Now remember, reaching your goal is going to take longer because your body is recomposing. If you're cutting, you're going to try to preserve as much muscle as possible. If you're bulking, you're trying to put on as little fat as possible. It's a process, but trust me, it's worth it. 

Let's say that your maintenance caloric intake based on BMR and TDEE is 2500 cal. Here's what a calorie cycling plan may look like for muscle gain.

Monday: Training day
Maint: 2500 cal.   Intake: 3000 cal.   Surplus: 500 cal.
Tuesday: Training day
Maint: 2500 cal.   Intake: 3000 cal.   Surplus: 500 cal.
Wednesday: Rest day
Maint: 2500 cal.   Intake: 2200 cal.   Deficit: 300 cal.
Thursday: Training Day
Maint: 2500 cal.   Intake: 3000 cal.   Surplus: 500 cal.
Friday: Training Day
Maint: 2500 cal.   Intake: 3000 cal.   Surplus: 500 cal.
Saturday: Rest day
Maint: 2500 cal.   Intake: 2200 cal.   Deficit: 300 cal.
Sunday: Rest day
Maint: 2500 cal.   Intake: 2200 cal.   Deficit: 300 cal.

As you can see, the training day surplus is greater than the rest day deficits because the goal is to gain muscle. Sure, you may put on a little bit of body fat in the process, but it will be minimal and it's much better than getting fat in ten weeks just for a few pounds of muscle.

For a fat loss plan, you'd switch the surplus on training days to be slightly smaller, and the deficit on rest days to be even larger. For example:

Training Day
Maint: 2500 cal.   Intake: 2700 cal.   Surplus: 200 cal.
Rest Day
Maint: 2500 cal.   Intake: 2000 cal.   Deficit: 500 cal.

Throughout this process, make sure you're monitoring your weight. If you're losing weight extremely fast, you may want to bump the calories up in order to preserve your hard-earned muscle. Vice versa if you're gaining too fast during a mass gain program. I always encourage my clients to stay between .5 and 2lbs of weight lost per week. Those of you just beginning a workout regimen will be on the higher end, while those who have been training for a while will be near the .5 lb mark. 

The Takeaway

Building muscle and burning fat is definitely possible, but only over a period of time. Again, who cares if it can happen at the same exact moment in time? 

It is possible to be lean all year round while slowly putting on mass. It's just going to take you longer than someone that's new to working out or taking drugs.

If you want to maintain a lean physique all year-round, calorie cycling is essential. You can't give your body extra stuff to hold onto. 

They key here is finding a plan that works for you, your schedule, and your goals. Also, YOU HAVE TO STAY WITH IT. You're never going to know if it works or not if you constantly give up at week four. These things take time, and fully understanding/accepting that is a big step in the right direction. Stay tuned for more to come on staying lean all year round. From meal timing, to carb cycling, information is coming your way that will help you reach that body you've always dreamed of.

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Thanks for reading and take care!