5 Non-Calorie Diet Factors That Matter
I’m going to be honest with you, and you probably already know this by now but if you’re trying to drop body fat, then you know that It's more than "just calories in".
Because at a certain point, even if your macros and calories are spot on, you will plateau. And to get over that plateau means you’ll have to factor in more things than JUST calories alone.
Here are the five non-calorie based factors I recommend you consider along your fat loss journey.
1. The Positive Feedback Loop
This is the part of your brain that feels a sense of reward; you could think of it like your trigger point, because it can lead down a path of binging and inconsistency.
Here's an example:
Ever have a piece of toast plain? Gross, right?
What about a Toast with butter and salt on it? Ridiculously tasty, right? Now... is it weird that you can easily over eat #2 compared to #1? Not really, because #2 is a combo of the taste-trigger-trifecta.
Salt + Fat + Carb. THAT combo triggers your reward center.
So it's not fat that's bad. It's not sugar that's bad. Neither are addicting, really.
But the combination of those two together? Especially with some salt? Still not an illegal drug or remotely as dangerous, but they're slightly more "rewarding" and easy to eat - which often leads to binging.
So the point with #1 of the non-calories related factors to consider, is really just being conscious of food combinations and highly palatable foods specifically so that you don't trigger yourself into overeating.
2. Meal Timing
Even though this is higher on the hierarchy of importance, meal timing is still a very important thing to consider. For two specific reasons.
First one is that if you dial this in, adherence can become easier.
What if I said, calories are all that matter and you say, "Ok, well I'm going to intermittently fast and only eat twice because I'm so busy."
Well, in theory - that's totally fine!
However, what happens when you can't meet calories because you're only eating twice and that's too little to hit your targets?
Adherence is lower because of your meal timing and planning.
Or if those two meals cause you to not be properly fuelled for your workouts, leading to less muscle gains and a lower calorie expenditure?
Or if you're not digesting well or sleeping well because your biggest meal is later at night.
Meal timing can be manipulated to improve gut health, energy, recovery, performance, and overall adherence. Yet has NOTHING to do with "calories in vs. out".
3. Stress Management
If you're a big ball of stress, you're likely not going to be a ball of muscle or a lean machine.
You're probably going to struggle with sleep, recovery, performance, building muscle, burning fat, sticking to a diet in general.
You’ve heard me say it: stress is a HUGE contributing factor to weight-loss results.
4. Overall Health
Unfortunately, there are a lot of monocularly focused coaches in the industry (aka have one goal/view on weight loss).
The reality here is that at a certain point, your lack of health WILL prevent your body from properly burning fat and building muscle. More so than not allowing you to change your body from jump, it will delay your ability to sustain the result you achieved.
Why do you think it's more likely to sustain a result if you take your time to get there? And why is it so hard to sustain a result the faster you achieve it initially?
It's because speed doesn't equal sustainability. Sustainability is KEY.
If you pay attention to your health, get your micronutrients in, and take your time to get to the end result, you'll sustain it 10x easier, which again, has nothing to do with daily caloric intake.
4. Sleep
You already know it but do you prioritize it? Sleep is seriously underrated when it comes to dieting and if you’re skipping out on your z’s, chances are you just won’t get the results you’re looking for- especially if you’re consistently under 6 hours of sleep a night,