DeVetter Fitness Nutrition Crash Course

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Congratulations! You’ve made the decision to get serious about losing weight – now you want to see RESULTS and see them fast!

Making the best food choices is your secret weapon in the quest to get your best body ever. Eating supportively will help you boost your metabolism, burn more fat and increase your energy dramatically.

An effective exercise program is crucial but the foods you eat will make or break your efforts. You could be following the best designed workouts in the world, and you won’t lose fat if you fail to eat supportively.

The best and only way to accelerate your results is to change your eating habits. Nutrition is about 75% responsible for how your body looks, feels and performs. After today, you will not only find the answers to your questions, but solutions that guarantee your results – all by making a few small changes to the way you eat. Yes…Nutrition is that powerful! Now don’t expect to start eating perfectly tomorrow, just like setting your fitness goals, you must be realistic.

Instead, begin by slowly building up to making choices that are a little bit better and more supportive than the day before. Initially aim for 2-3 improvements each week. Making these small nutritional changes will quickly add up to amazing results as you gain control over your metabolism.

Let’s begin with the Fundamentals to Fat Loss. If your goal is to create a positive physical change, you must understand how food affects your body.

I. Nutrition is essential to metabolism.
Everyone is familiar with the word “metabolism”, but not a lot of people know what it means. You probably know someone who can eat anything they want and not gain weight. Well if you believe some people are just born with robust metabolism….it’s a myth! You are about to discover that you are not the victim of your metabolism, you are the creator of your metabolism.

Metabolism, by definition, very simply means the speed with which your body processes food. In other words, how fast your body burns calories. The faster your metabolism, the more food you can eat without gaining weight.

Food is energy. Your body requires energy. Food in the forms of protein, carbohydrate and fat are your main sources of energy (calories). Take in more energy than you need from any of these and your body will store it as fat. Fat loss is all about calorie, “energy” balance. Your results are determined by a caloric deficit; when you eat fewer calories than you burn. In order to create a deficit, you must understand the law of thermodynamics - energy balance.

Calories In vs. Calories Out

If you eat the SAME amount of Calories your body burns, what will happen to your weight? Maintain.

If you eat MORE calories than your body burns, what will happen to your weight? Gain Weight

If you eat slightly LESS calories than your body burns off, what will happen to your weight? Lose Weight

Sounds simple, but many people who seek to lose weight run into the issue of not eating enough – yes, you heard that right…in order to release more fat, you do need to eat. There are 2 main reasons why your metabolism slows down.

1. Lack of muscle – from ineffective exercises
2. Lack of muscle – from restricted calorie diets

Yes, Muscle is your metabolism.

II. Muscle is your Metabolism.
It’s time to eat smart, not less. When you restrict calories below the minimal amount of energy required to feed your nervous system, your body thinks it is starving. When this happens, not only does your body burn muscle for fuel, but while doing so, your body is actually slowing down your metabolism. When you lose muscle, you are lowering your metabolism.

You must break the old mindset of “eat less, weigh less”….Restricting your calories will guarantee a slower metabolism. While the act of eating - asking your body to process the supportive foods frequently, guarantees a faster metabolism. A faster metabolism means your body becomes a fat burning machine.

IMPORANT: Never eat less than 1200 calories per day! Less than 1200 calories is usually not enough to support your basal metabolism which fuels vital bodily functions and thus will slow your metabolism. Use your online menu planner to estimate calorie needs.

III. Accelerate your Metabolism: 10 Rules to Live By
1. Eat a supportive meal every 3 to 3 ½ hours. This routine has the tremendous power to rev up your metabolism. The more often you eat supportive foods throughout the day the easier it will be to burn fat. Why? Every time you eat your metabolism goes up! Supportive foods require more energy to be digested. This is called the “thermic effect” of food (calories used to digest food) and is part of the reason why, when you begin to eat the supportively you are going to feel like you are eating what appears to be a tremendous amount of food. That’s because you’re taking out so many of those empty calorie foods and replacing them with high quality proteins and complex , nutrient rich carbohydrates.

To truly grasp the metabolism concept – picture your metabolism as a fire. The food you eat will fuel this fire. The stronger your fire burns, the more calories and fat your body will burn. But if you don't replenish the fuel often enough, the fire will die down which means your body is burning less calories (energy). So, if you don't eat often enough, your metabolism slows down and you don't burn through calories very quickly. Worse yet, your body will begin storing almost everything that you do eat as fat! In essence, every time you starve yourself in your honest effort to "lose weight", you are actually slowing down your metabolism as well as making your body more efficient at storing fat.

Bonus: By eating frequently you will also have more control over your blood sugar levels. Controlling your blood sugar is key to suppressing your appetite and prevents fatigue.

2. Eat Supportive Foods. The types of foods that you eat along with how big of a caloric deficit you create will be the main factors in determining if you are going to lose fat only or both fat and muscle. To build your fat burning muscle without packing on body fat, you've got to eat the right kind of calories. High quality fuel “supportive foods”– are your quality proteins, complex carbohydrates and fibrous carbohydrates that must be eaten frequently throughout the day. Specific examples are provided Menu Design Planner.

Each meal you eat should be a balanced combination of these supportive foods. Everything you eat is basically made of carbohydrates, fats and protein. Despite what some fad diets preach, you do need all three for they are a vital source of vitamins, minerals and many other elements your body needs to protect your health and rev up your metabolism. Supportive food choices are low in calories and loaded with the building blocks needed to achieve a healthy and lean body. For rapid results, strive to eat at least 1 serving of protein and 1 serving of fruits and veggies with every meal you create.

Carbohydrates: The majority of your calories will come from carbohydrates, for this is your body’s first source of fuel – especially when you are exercising. If you do not have the right amount in your body, when you do exercise, your body will turn to its next source of fuel – the protein in your muscles. Your body will begin to break down the very muscle you are trying to build.

Proteins: Beside water, protein is the most plentiful substance in the body. Proteins are the “building blocks” of the body. They help build and repair tissues of the body, provide energy and are involved in preservation of the immune system. However, eating too much protein does have it’s draw backs. Consuming more than 30% o0f your total caloric intake forces the kidneys to over work, depletes calcium levels of the body and contributes to dehydration.

Fat: Fats are a major source of energy, especially for aerobic activity. Fat helps protect the body and helps keep organs in place. It is the major insulator of the body. It helps transport vitamins A, D, E, and K.

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