Hey guys, Sean Nalewanyj here, BodyTransformationTruth.com, and today I want to explain why the concept of just “eating healthy†is essentially useless if your overall diet is not properly structured in terms of at least approximate overall calorie intake and approximate protein, carb and fat intake. So I get emails like this all the time where someone who isn’t getting the results they want will lay out what they’re eating each day, so something like, you know for breakfast I have a protein shake and some fruit, for lunch I have chicken and rice with veggies, dinner I have fish and potatoes, and then I have some mixed nuts and yogurt before bed. And yes that does look good on paper, but when I ask them what the rough total calorie content is for all the foods combined as well as what they're roughly aiming for, most people really have no idea.
So I’ve said this many times before in various ways, but the reality is that it really doesn’t matter how “healthy†you eat throughout the day or if your diet is made up of nothing but lean protein, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats, if your total daily energy intake is not consistently landing within the proper range based on your goals, you're really NOT going to build muscle or lose fat to any significant degree. Yes, for some people it is possible to gain a small amount of muscle while in a calorie deficit if the conditions are right, and it’s also possible to lose a small amount of body fat while in a calorie surplus, however, if you have the definite goal that you want to bulk up and put on muscle or that you want to lean down and lose body fat - and you want to do it to a significant degree in either direction - then you need to be tracking and managing your overall net energy balance to at least an approximate degree throughout the week if you want to see consistent measurable results.
If you want to build muscle, then you need to provide your body with an energy surplus by consuming more calories than you burn, and if you want to lean down and lose body fat, then you need to create an energy deficit by burning up more calories than you consume. It's really as simple as that. I know that this is pretty basic information, but so many people out there still don’t follow it and then they aren’t sure why they aren’t making any real progress. They’ll just look at the foods that they’re eating over the course of the day as a whole, they'll consider it to be a “healthy†combination, even though in the end there really is no absolute universal agreement on what a “healthy diet†is anyway, but nonetheless they'll just look at the foods and deem them healthy and then they’ll assume that their lack of results is being caused by some other factor. Now, of course,
I also recognize that every person is unique and every person has different goals and a different approach to their fitness program. So if you’ve never tracked a calorie in your entire life and you still happen to be seeing consistent muscle building or fat burning progress regardless and you’re satisfied with it, and you're doing this just by eating a bit more or a bit less, then that’s totally fine. A lot of people out there will still see decent fat loss results just by “eating healthy†and by using portion control, not because the foods that they're eating have special inherent fat burning benefits, but just because most traditional “healthy foods†are not very calorie dense and so they allow that person to maintain an ongoing calorie deficit without having to track anything. And the same goes for building muscle as well.
If you have above average genetics where your body partitions calories favorably towards muscle growth rather than towards fat gains, then you probably can just “eat a bit more†than you're used to and still see impressive results overall. However, if you’re currently not seeing the results that you’re after, or even worse, if you’re not seeing any results at all from your program, then it’s time to buckle down, to put in the work and to start tracking your diet with at least a reasonable degree of accuracy each day. Figure out roughly what you require in terms of total daily calories, protein, carbs and fats to support your specific goal whether it be to gain muscle or lose fat, and then either start tracking your diet each day just as you go along and you can do that using a basic app like MyFitnessPal which I’ll link in the description box, or you can just take some time to lay out a basic diet plan for yourself and then just follow that.
And if you do need more help with that area and you want to get an exact step-by-step diet created for you based on your goals, your preferences and your lifestyle, then you can also check out my new Custom Meal Plan Service, and I’ll link that in the description box below as well. Now a lot of people will also be wondering how to go about properly configuring their daily calorie and macronutrient needs, so I’ll also provide 2 links in the description box below that will take you over to my website and will show you how to lay out your daily macros for bulking or cutting depending what your specific goal is. So, don’t get me wrong here, I’m obviously not saying that you shouldn’t strive to follow what you consider to be a healthy diet, all I’m saying is that in the absence of proper net energy balance based on your goals, eating “healthy†is NOT enough if you’re aiming to put on a significant amount of muscle or if you're aiming to burn a significant amount of fat. Proper dietary tracking is really not as difficult as a lot of people make it out to be, and it could very easily mean the difference between a hugely successful fitness program or one that just fails altogether. So thanks for watching this video lesson, I hope you found the information useful here today.
For more no B.S, science-based nutrition tips and meal plans, along with training and supplementation information to maximize your muscle building and your fat burning progress, make sure to head over to BodyTransformationTruth.com and grab my complete “Body Transformation Blueprint†System by clicking the icon at the top of the video or using the link in the description box below. If you did enjoy the video, as always, please make sure to hit the LIKE button, leave a comment and subscribe to stay up-to-date on future videos. And make sure to check out my official website over at SeanNal.com for all of my latest articles, tips and other updates. Talk to you again soon.
