If I'm lucky, and some of you have actually been following my blog, you might be wondering how come I haven't updated it in a few days. Well, the simple reason is that I'm ashamed and embarrassed. You see, after a great start, I allowed myself to be thrown off course — rather too quickly after the start for my liking.

Day 03 to 06 has been a series of uncontrolled meals and no exercise. Sure, one of those days was spent being under the weather, but that's what rest day quotas are for. Unfortunately, for my first week of training, I failed to meet my minimum of at least 30 minutes' exercise for four days a week — I barely made that three days' worth with futsal on Sunday. The first day of week two has already drawn a blank and I foresee another bad week given the holidays and short, busy work week.

The lesson learned? It is so easy to lose momentum, especially in the early days of any start to a new training routine. If you're starting on a new routine, whether it's to do with exercise or diet, or both, you have to be prepared to fail. In fact, nine times out of ten, you inevitably will — and it won't take much to throw you off course. For me, it was a missed a training session followed up by a day of feeling unwell. Before I knew it, I had practically forgotten I was on a training plan to begin with.

But it's okay to screw up...as long as you get back up and get back into it... each and every time you fall. Persevere, and it only gets easier to stay on your feet.

On Diet Planning

In my inaugural Gavin Gets Garang blog entry, I mentioned that I'd be using the pointers from The Simple 5-Step Diet Plan by Alan Aragon, author of Girth Control: The Science of Fat Loss & Muscle Gain to guide my diet regimen. Today, I'll show you how I'm applying these tips so those of you looking to follow this plan might have a clearer idea how to. Let's get to it... (Kindly forgive me if I'm less than accurate or meticulous in my math).

Step 1: Calculate your calories
Eat for your target body weight. Let’s say you weigh 85kg but would like to tip the scales at 75kg. You’ll adopt the calorie intake of a 75kg man.

First, obtain your imperial target body weight (in pounds) by multiplying your metric body weight (in kilograms) by 2.2.

My weight = 75kg  
My target weight = 65kg  
My target weight in lbs = 65kg x 2.2 = 143lbs
 

If you perform 1 hour or less of exercise a week, multiply your target body weight by 10. That’s how many calories you should consume daily. However, if you work out more than that, add 1 to the multiplier for every additional hour you train. So if your target body weight is 155 pounds (70kg) and you exercise for 3 hours a week, you’d multiply 155 by 12 – giving you a target of 1,860 calories a day.

You can divide those calories into however many meals you want – 3, 4, 5 or 6 – as long as you don’t eat beyond your daily limit.

If I stick to my plan of exercising at least 4 times a week for at least any hour each time,
my body weight multiplier = 1+ 4 = 14

My daily calorie limit = 143lbs  x 14 = 2,002 calories a day

If I stick to my plan of having 6 meals a day, then my average calorie limit per meal = 2,002 / 6 = 334 calories

Step 1: Eat by the numbers
Sure, you could just focus on calories. But by eating the right amounts of the right nutrients, you’ll speed your results without feeling like you’re on a diet.

Protein: Eat 1g of protein for every pound of your target body weight. If you want to weigh 155 pounds, you’ll eat 155g of protein. A gram of protein is about 4 calories. So to calculate the calories you’ll be eating from protein, multiply the number of grams by 4.

Amount of protein I should eat = 143lbs x 1g protein = 143g protein

Amount of calories I'll be eating from protein = 143g x 4 = 572 calories

Fat: Eat half a gram of fat for every pound of your target body weight. If your goal is to weigh 155 pounds, that’d be 77.5g. And since 1g of fat has about 9 calories, that’s 697.5 calories from fat. This will be about 40 per cent of your total calories.

Amount of fat I should eat = ½ x 143lbs = 71.5g fat

Amount of calories I'll be eating from fat = 71.5g x 9 = 643.5 calories

Carbs: Add your calories from protein and fat, and subtract that total from your allotted daily calories. Using the 155-pound example, that leaves you with 542.5 calories. This is the amount of calories you can eat from carbs. Just like protein, carbs provide about 4 calories per gram – so divide your carb calories by 4 to determine how many grams of carbs you can eat. In this case, it’s about 135g.

Amount of calories I'll be eating from carbs = daily calorie limit - (calories from protein + calories from fat)
= 2,002 - (572 + 643.5) = 786.5 calories

Amount of carbs I should eat = 786.5 / 4 = 196.6g carbs

OK, so now that I know how much I should be eating each day, nutrition-wise, what's next? Bring out the portable weighing scales!
I kid, but the truth is, one can't possibly go about each day weighing one's food intake down to the gram. This isn't an exact science when it comes to practical application, so here's what I'm going to do...

The total amount of food in grams I should be eating is about 411g in the rough proportion of 2 parts protein: 1 part fat: 3 parts carbs. Therefore, I should be able to stick to my diet plans by keeping to this estimated ratio when choosing my meal items, and by estimating the amount/weight of my food. As a guide, a bowl of white rice is about 150 to 200 grams.

So let's say I'm ordering from the economical rice stall. My plate should look like this: 1 standard bowl portion of rice, 1 serving of meat, 1 serving of veggies, and 1 egg.

Hmm, that doesn't sound that complicated and bland, does it? One just has to try and apply this to every meal. That said, you won't make things easier for yourself if you insist on going to a fried chicken fast food joint, but you also don't have to limit your dining destinations to salad bars. There is almost always a healthier option at every (non-fast food) restaurant. If you need some help with the latter, you can always refer to our Smart Guy's Guide to Eating Out.

But while you're faced with all those Christmas feasts this holiday, be thankful that most of them will feature turkey — one of the healthier meats available. Go for the turkey breasts, discard the skin, and take a generous portion from the salad bowl as a side. You should also probably fight the urge to partake of the egg nog and log cakes — there's a reason why Santa's a fat guy.  

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