Process, Details and Fog

I recently had the opportunity to see Olympic medalist, Simon Whitfield, speak about his experience in the Olympic Games. He talked about staying focused on the process and the details required to achieve his goals. He said that many athletes are content to just compete, because by actually saying they want to win could mean they could fail. “You must put aside your fear of failing and focus on the process and details.” In order to do that, one must have a workable plan and ignore “the fog”; the fog being anything that distracts you from, or clouds your vision of, the process and details of your plan. Sounds easy enough, but unless you know what the fog looks like, you may not realize you are being led in a different direction. For example, if you were planning a road trip, you may buy a map and plan out your route. You may decide to stop at a few attractions along the way and you plan those out as well. But what happens if you lose your map? Or what if you are talking to someone and they tell you of a different way to go? What will you do? This is “the fog”. Ignore the fog and stick to the process you planned.

I am not a fan of counting calories; I just don’t have the time to plug numbers in to a computer everyday. However, until you know your route, you will have to refer to a map. So, if I am wanting to see more gains in the gym (and less on the scale), I am going to have to come up with a plan, something to focus on. As far as how many calories to consume or how much protein etc, everyone is different and there is no set answer. It is just a matter of trial and error. Some people do better with more fat or more carbs then others, some have such a messed up metabolism that they may have to start with fewer calories and slowly work their way up. The biggest mistake anyone can make is to not eat enough calories. If you do not eat enough calories, your body will try to hold on to whatever you give it in order to fuel your workouts (assuming you are working out). Your metabolism will slow down and eventually you will start to break down your hard earned muscle for fuel (a process known as catabolism). Consume too many calories, and well, we all know what happens then…..

There are many different methods of determining how many calories to consume, none of which are perfect. As I mentioned before, everyone is different, so it is just a matter of trial and error. To make things easy, I am going to determine my daily calories based on my level of activity and my current weight. Multiply your current weight by; 12 if you are sedentary, 13 if you are moderately active, and 14 if you are very active. Based on this, my daily caloric intake will be roughly 1650. Again, this is just a starting point and may be altered later, depending on my progress. Once I know how many calories I will have per day, I need to determine where those calories will come from. Since, everyone is different how you decide to split up your macros is up to you. I am going to start with a 40/30/30 split; 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat. Therefore; 660 protein calories, 495 carbohydrate calories and 495 fat calories = 1650 Total. To break this down further, 1 gram of protein = 4 calories, 1 gram of carbs = 4 calories and 1 gram of fat = 9 calories.

660 / 4 = 165g of protein/day 495 / 4 = 124g carbs/day 495 / 9 = 55g fat/day

So, now I know that I will aim to plan my meals so that I am consuming 165g of protein, 124g of carbohydrates and 55g of fat per day. My preference is to consume 4-5 smaller meals per day, I find it works better for me as far as energy and hunger levels. Some people prefer to only have 3 meals a day, others prefer to spread it out over 6 or 7 meals. There is no definite right or wrong method, you could even have one large meal and use up all your calories in one sitting, albeit that isn’t the most effective choice. As far as I am concerned the best choice is which ever one you can stick to. If you can stick to it, you will have success; if your plan is just not workable for your lifestyle, you will most likely fail.