Nutrition Basics, Weight Control & Protein

Calories, it’s a word you have almost certainly heard before, but what are they? Technically, a calorie is defined as the amount of energy required to heat a gram of water one degree Celsius, but that isn’t really what you need to know. A calorie is a unit of energy, all food contains energy, which is to say all food contains calories, and in varying amounts. Imagine a video game, you look at characters or an object on the screen and some of them have numbers floating above them, a value, showing you how much health, or ammo they have. Well imagine you open your cupboard and everything in there has a number floating above it, a calorie value. The bowl with some apples in it, one apple has 55 floating above it, another 52, another 57, another 60. The can of spaghetti has 148. The can of spaghetti next to it from a different brand has 200 above it. The loaf of bread, 768, one slice of that bread, 32. The jar of cumin powder, 289, one teaspoon of that cumin powder, 8. So, all food contains calories, and different foods have different amounts of calories, and a portion of that food will contain a portion of its calories. Okay, so that’s calories, we eat them, then what?

As mentioned above, calories are energy. The running of a human body requires energy, all your movement, all the internal workings, even thinking. It all uses energy, which is to say, it all requires calories. Now, if the amount of energy we use each day is roughly the same as the amount we consume, then nothing changes. This is what we would refer to as an energy balance, this is maintaining weight. If we consume more energy than we use each day then we store the excess, we are in a calorie surplus, this is gaining weight. If we consume less energy then we use each day, then we use up some of the previously stored energy, we are in a calorie deficit, this is losing weight. Losing weight, it’s the most common question when it comes to this topic, followed by how much protein should I eat. We’ll get to protein in a bit, but first, weight control.

Weight Control

Through exercise alone you can lose weight, though it’s going to make that goal harder than it needs to be. Exercise in and of itself doesn’t burn as many calories in the moment as you might think. Running on a treadmill or riding a bike for 20 minutes at a moderate intensity will burn roughly 180 calories, that’s about 3 of the apples or one of the cans of spaghetti we had in our cupboard [1]. How about resistance training? It’s been seen to range anywhere from 65 to 540 calories on the high end. It depends on duration, the exercises chosen, total volume, the intensity, training age, and lean body mass [1, 2]. For reference, that high-end of 540 is about half of the calories you’d get from eating a big mac combo. Instead, it’s the cumulative effect of training over time that we would be looking to leverage. With training your body will indeed be using more energy, and that is going to add up over time. As well as receiving a new set of instructions, instructions that will encourage the building of muscle and not as much going to the storage of energy in the form of fat.

So, does that mean there is no such thing as weight loss training? Any training done while in a caloric deficit you could call weight loss training. Whatever helps to create compliance with training and diet is king here. However, if compliance can be maintained with conditioning incorporated into resistance training as the primary focus of training, then the slightly higher calorie burn will add up for improved outcomes over time [1]. To which you may ask, what does conditioning mean? Strength and conditioning, it’s another term you may have heard of before. The strength part is as it sounds, you get stronger, you increase your ability to produce force. The conditioning side of it is basically a fancy name for cardio. In specific contexts this is being fit or ‘conditioned’ enough to do the thing you are training to do. In a general sense it’s just a matter of puffing, and it doesn’t matter how we puff: a run, a walk, a bike ride, swimming, a short circuit, a long circuit, it’s all puffing. Much like any sensible approach to training, I would encourage you to start slow and work your way forward. Just like a dietary intervention, we would want training to be sustainable, which means it needs to be achievable, and with a sensible approach to training what is achievable will increase over time.

It’s also worth noting that improving our waistline does a lot more than just make us look better. Metabolic issues such as excess fat and diabetes, for example, corollate with early morbidity and mortality (health issues and earlier than average death) [3,4]. Appropriately dosed stress on this system will likely lead to improved outcomes [5-7]. Practically, that means increasing how fit we are. Weight training alone can create enough demand to improve those outcomes in some people. However, if someone is in a situation where a greater focus on conditioning is a more appropriate intervention at that time, meaning weight training alone is not providing enough puff to improve our cardio situation, then we may want to shift some of the bias of our programming towards puffing more to drive that adaptation. In such a context this would be referred to as metabolic equivalents or METs and is starting to get outside of the scope of this piece of writing.

So, to give ourselves the greatest chance of success, we want a dietary intervention to complement the training. As mentioned above, for maintenance we would want an energy balance. For weight gain, an energy, or calorie surplus, and for weight loss, an energy, or calorie deficit. Now you may have heard it said that weight loss is more complicated than simply calories in calories out, and though that is true, the degree to which that plays out for any given person will exist along a spectrum. As is the answer to a great many things, it depends. Imagine a bell curve, and most of us trend towards the middle of the bell. As we move closer towards either end of the bell things can get a little trickier, such as with excessive amounts of weight gain, or excessive weight loss on the other end. Now, this isn’t because the maths are no longer the maths, but because humans are pretty complex things. Our understanding of food, feelings, social environment, financial position, location, they all play a role here. Further, satiety, which is to say you are no longer hungry, or the drive for food is not something we have conscious control over [8]. We don’t decide when we get hungry, or when we stop being hungry. If somebody told me I had to just put up with being hungry all day, forever, well, I couldn’t do that anymore than you could. If you have found yourself on either extreme, then, firstly, I want you to know that this is not a battle of wills, so please don’t make it one. You are not weak, you are not in some way less. If you have been having trouble with this on your own, then find a coach or dietician who can help you. There are things we can do, such as having an understanding of how the mechanisms of our bodies behave and plan ahead for that, getting a better understanding of the calorie density of foods, changing habits, or even knowing how to cook. If you have been working with a professional and you are still struggling, then speak to your doctor. There are medications that can help you with this, it’s not cheating, it is a perfectly sensible approach to getting something that is currently out of control, under control.

So, is there a diet we should follow for weight loss? Quite simply, no. There are no magic diets [9]. The utility of any diet is compliance. If you tried a diet that fits your lifestyle and resources, you like it, and it makes this process easier for you, then go ahead and use that as your template for what or how you’re going to eat. What would a coach do? Firstly, track. Find out what your current caloric intake is and look for an average over a week or two. There are plenty of apps you can use for this, or you could just write it down and look up the values if you prefer to. Once you have your current caloric intake you could maintain it, adjust it up for weight gain, or down for weight loss. By how much? Generally, a shift of 500 to 1000 calories a day, though these numbers are not fixed, you could go lower or higher depending on your situation. If we have a better understanding of food, and how our bodies behave in relation to it, then we can utilise it in a way that suits us and trends us towards the outcomes that we want. If it takes you longer to get a handle on this then that’s fine, if you are able to stack changes quickly that’s fine too. What matters most, is that we trend in the right direction over time.

Protein

So, what about protein? Protein is the stuff we eat that is going to help repair and build our muscles. Typically, this is discussed in terms of eating meat, dairy products (milk and cheese), eggs, or protein shakes. Protein is in plants also, typically not in what we would refer to as a ‘full profile’ but they’re there. A 2007, 2015 and 2019 study all showed that when amounts of protein are corrected for between sources, no significant difference in outcomes for resistance-trained individuals was found [10-12]. What does that last sentence mean? It means if you want to use a soy or pea protein supplement, go for it. When talking about consuming protein, we talk about grams per day. The recommendation made by the NZ Nutritional Foundation for people ages between 19 and 70 years is 64 grams of protein for men, and 46 grams for woman [13]. Though they do say older adults, athletes, pregnant women, and teenagers may benefit from a higher protein intake, it’s a little vague; there is no breakdown to grams per kg of body weight. For contrast, the general recommendation for an otherwise healthy adult is approximately 0.8 grams per kg of body weight per day, which is supported in a joint recommendation from the WHO, FAO, and UNU [14]. For people undergoing resistance training, the recommendation is approximately 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kg of body weight per day. You’ll do just fine within this range. If you are undergoing a bunch of weight loss or some serious bodybuilding, then it’s reasonable to be on the higher end of this. However, know that you’ll do just fine at 1.6 [15].

Well, knowing that is part of the equation, what to do with that information is of course the other half. When using food tracking apps, they will show you how much protein is in any given food that you eat. So, first, set your protein amount, how much of the stuff do you want to consume each day? At the time of this writing, my bodyweight is 95kg and let’s say I decide to set my protein intake at 1.8 grams per kg of bodyweight. That would give me a target of 171 grams (95 X 1.8 = 171) of protein per day. Now, you can look at the packaging or google all the things you eat; however, apps do make life easier. As you enter what you eat into an app, it will show you how much protein you have eaten, as well as the number of calories consumed. Looking over the information you enter, you will see which foods or meals contain what amount of protein. From there you make any adjustments that you would like to make.

Now, you could ask: can you just eyeball it? Yeah, you could. It’s common for people to stick to eating the same things, occasionally switching out one meal for something different. The more repetitive you are with what you eat, the easier it would be to make a change and see what happens. However, if you’ve been trying that approach and it isn’t getting you where you want to go, then try tracking, and see what you find.

So, what’s the takeaway here? If you want to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit: track your current intake and go down from there. Gain weight, calorie surplus, track and go up. Secondly, training. Consistency is key, we want something we will stick with. Finally, protein: track and get an idea of how much of the stuff you’re eating with your current diet. The recommendation of 1.6 to 2.2 is not fixed; you won’t wither away if you’re a bit under 1.6. Equally, don’t expect that going above 2.2 will turn you into the hulk. Training itself is still the biggest signal for muscle growth [15]. Again, what’s most important, is that you trend in the right direction, and if you need or want help then reach out, that’s what we are here for.

1. Falcone, P.H., et al., Caloric expenditure of aerobic, resistance, or combined high-intensity interval training using a hydraulic resistance system in healthy men. J Strength Cond Res, 2015. 29(3): p. 779-85.

2. Lytle, J.R., et al., Predicting Energy Expenditure of an Acute Resistance Exercise Bout in Men and Women. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 2019. 51(7): p. 1532-1537.

3. Pendharkar, S.A., et al., Ethnic and geographic variations in the incidence of pancreatitis and post-pancreatitis diabetes mellitus in New Zealand: a nationwide population-based study. N Z Med J, 2017. 130(1450): p. 55-68.

4. Mechanick, J.I., D.L. Hurley, and W.T. Garvey, ADIPOSITY-BASED CHRONIC DISEASE AS A NEW DIAGNOSTIC TERM: THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AND AMERICAN COLLEGE OF ENDOCRINOLOGY POSITION STATEMENT. Endocr Pract, 2017. 23(3): p. 372-378.

5. Slater, J., et al., Objectively Measured Physical Activity Is Associated With Body Composition and Metabolic Profiles of Pacific and New Zealand European Women With Different Metabolic Disease Risks. Front Physiol, 2021. 12: p. 684782.

6. Kharabsheh, S.M., et al., Overview of exercise stress testing. Ann Saudi Med, 2006. 26(1): p. 1-6.

7. Elhendy, A., et al., Prognostic significance of impairment of heart rate response to exercise: impact of left ventricular function and myocardial ischemia. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2003. 42(5): p. 823-30.

8. Smith, N.K. and B.A. Grueter, Hunger-driven adaptive prioritization of behavior. The FEBS Journal, 2022. 289(4): p. 922-936.

9. Johnston, B.C., et al., Comparison of weight loss among named diet programs in overweight and obese adults: a meta-analysis. Jama, 2014. 312(9): p. 923-33.

10. Banaszek, A., et al., The Effects of Whey vs. Pea Protein on Physical Adaptations Following 8-Weeks of High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT): A Pilot Study. Sports (Basel), 2019. 7(1).

11. Babault, N., et al., Pea proteins oral supplementation promotes muscle thickness gains during resistance training: a double-blind, randomized, Placebo-controlled clinical trial vs. Whey protein. J Int Soc Sports Nutr, 2015. 12(1): p. 3.

12. Hartman, J.W., et al., Consumption of fat-free fluid milk after resistance exercise promotes greater lean mass accretion than does consumption of soy or carbohydrate in young, novice, male weightlifters. Am J Clin Nutr, 2007. 86(2): p. 373-81.

13. Protein. 2022 02/02/2022; Available from: https://nutritionfoundation.org.nz/nutrition-facts/nutrients/protein/.

14. FAO, WHO, and UNU, Joint FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation on Protein and Amino Acid Requirements in Human Nutrition. 2002. p. 243.

15. Morton, R.W., et al., A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med, 2018. 52(6): p. 376-384.