Improving your body composition

Three areas to focus your attention are bone density, fat mass, and lean mass.

Ideal interventions can be determined by categorizing yourself into one of 4 categories:

1: low muscle and overnourished (high fat %)

2: adequate muscle and overnourished

3: low muscle and adequately nourished

4: adequately muscled and adequately nourished

Intervention guide:

Category 1: low muscle and overnourished.

Restrict calories without compromising the amount of protein and fat you are eating, which is important in promoting muscle growth. Do not restrict calories less than your BMR

Resistance training to build muscle, and steady state cardio to boost endurance and burn fat.

Category 2: adequate muscle and overnourished

Restrict total calories, particularly if high VAT is a concern. If VAT is not high, choosing to restrict calories is primarily for aesthetic and/or orthopedic injury purposes. If you choose to restrict calories for weight loss, it is okay to be at the lower end of protein intake, but don’t compromise protein so much that it becomes difficult to build or maintain lean mass. 

Resistance training and increase cardiovascular exercise.

Category 3: low muscle and adequately nourished

Increase protein intake. If you happen to be undernourished, increase calorie intake to match your total energy expenditure. If you are adequately nourished, increase protein while keeping total calorie intake constant. 

Increase the amount of weight lifting/resistance training you’re doing, and if you’re doing a lot of cardiovascular exercise, consider reducing it.

Category 4: adequately muscle and adequately nourished

Keep focus. Go deeper into your exercise and nutrition goals and fine tune training and nutrition.

The take home

Body composition is a vital – yet often ignored – indicator of health and predictor of chronic disease and mortality.

For this data to be useful in fostering a longer, healthier life, you must act on the information through nutrition, exercise, or other interventions as a means of improving body composition and overall health.

The foundation of optimal long-term health and lifespan is a combination of steady- state endurance training (AKA Zone 2 training), strength training, and threshold training (AKA HIIT). The highest proportion of time should be spent in Zone 2: 7 hours per week is ideal but any amount above 40 minutes will be beneficial. Strength and HIIT (particularly VO2 Max work for 16 minutes total) can make up the rest of your training load. This advice is of course directed at someone who wants to live a long and healthy life. If your goal is just to build muscle then you will spend most of your time doing resistance training.

If you would like to learn more about your fitness and how much you utilize fat versus carbohydrate for energy I recommend booking in for a lactate threshold test. This test is very accurate for determining your aerobic fitness and what intensity your maximal fat burn (oxidative) is. You will learn how to improve your aerobic fitness eg what heart rate zone you should focus on. This test is very helpful to understand why some people find it very hard or impossible to lose weight.

Calculating BMR and total energy expenditure

your BMR is calculated from your fat -free mass. This forms the basis from which you can calculate total energy expenditure using the MET compendium. Link below

https://pacompendium.com/adult-compendium/

What is a MET?

a MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) is the amount of energy required to complete a task. A MET is a ratio of your working metabolic rate relative to your resting metabolic rate. Metabolic rate is the rate of energy expended per unit of time. It describes the intensity of an exercise or activity.

One MET is the energy you spend sitting or lying at rest, your resting or basal metabolic rate.

You will have received your BMR with your DEXA results.

Why is it important to calculate your daily energy expenditure? Because then you can work out how much daily energy you need to consume 

Calculating your Total Energy Expenditure (TEE)

Divide your BMR by 24 to calculate your hourly BMR.

You will need to calculate all your METs over a 24 hour period to calculate TEE.

For example: if your BMR is 1800 calories per day, your hourly BMR is 75 calories.

Therefore your 1 MET =75 calories per hour

If you sleep 7 hours your energy expenditure over 7 hours is 525 calories

To calculate METs for the remaining 17 hours of your day you can click on the MET compendium link: https://pacompendium.com/adult-compendium/ and look up your activities and their MET value.

Some examples are highlighted here: if you click on the “occupation “ tab, then “Sitting, computer work” you will note it equals 1.3 METS per hour. Therefore 1 hour of work= 75x1.3=97.5 calories. If you work 8 hours per day then 8x97.5=780 calories. Cooking or food preparation under “home activities” =2 METs=2x75=150 calories per hour. Soccer casual =7 METs per hour therefore 7x75=525 calories per hour.

Common MET values for quick reference:

Calculate your total energy expenditure using the MET compendium spreadsheet

Click here for the full MET compendium (over 1100 activities) in excel

Once you have accounted for 24 hours of activity you can add up the total calories to arrive at your total energy expenditure.

When your total energy expenditure is greater than your total energy intake you lose weight.

When your total energy expenditure is less than your total energy intake you gain weight.

For Beginners:

If your goal is to lose weight or simply to get into a healthier lifestyle, here is how our MET compendium could help you:

We all know how hard it is to maintain an exercise routine, especially when you are just starting out. When people start exercising, they usually get too focused on the outcome and forget about the process. What does that mean?

It means that the person is so focused on their end-goal that they forget that in order to reach it, it must be something attainable and enjoyable. Not everyone likes to be on a treadmill or bike for hours. If you want exercise to become a habit, you must first choose an activity you enjoy.

With the MET compendium, you will find a comprehensive list of every imaginable physical activity, along with how many calories you are burning when performing the chosen activity. So if your goal is to have a calorie deficit to lose some weight, the MET compendium will help you achieve your goals faster.

It is recommended that adults complete between 150 to 300min of moderate-intensity activity or 75 to 150min of vigorous-intensity activity per week. How does it translate to MET values?

The same guidelines classify physical activity intensity utilizing MET values. An activity is classified as moderate-intensity if it falls between 3.0 and 6.0 METs, with anything above 6.0 being classified as a vigorous-intensity activity.

Now that you know what the guidelines are, it is time to go back to the MET compendium, find the activities you have been performing lately and figure out if they are enough to satisfy the guidelines. If your exercise routine does not meet the criteria, you know exactly what to do to get there.

For Personal Trainers:

It is vital that you know all your clients’ goals. Whether they are working with you two or five times per week, the MET compendium will help you plan your sessions no matter what the activity is.

As a personal trainer, you should be able to incorporate a variety of training methods into your client's weekly schedule. For this reason, the concept of periodization becomes very important. Different physical activities induce different physiological responses. Therefore, they must be cycled accordingly for better outcomes and reduce risk of injury.

Our comprehensive list of activities may help you decide which type of physical activity is appropriate for certain days of the week based on its metabolic equivalent.

Keep in mind that your job as a personal trainer is to facilitate training and create an environment in which your client will likely succeed. A big portion of it has to do with how you motivate your clients to keep them engaged.

It is recommended that adults complete between 150 to 300min of moderate-intensity activity or 75 to 150min of vigorous-intensity activity per week. How does it translate to MET values?

The same guidelines classify physical activity intensity utilizing MET values. An activity is classified as moderate-intensity if it falls between 3.0 and 6.0 METs, with anything above 6.0 being classified as a vigorous-intensity activity.

Now that you know what the guidelines are, it is time to go back to the MET compendium, find the activities you have been performing lately and figure out if they are enough to satisfy the guidelines. If your exercise routine does not meet the criteria, you know exactly what to do to get there.

Nutrition guidelines

Firstly a few definitions and values: Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are called macronutrients. They are the nutrients you use in the largest amounts for energy and to maintain the body's structure and systems.

Calorie: a unit of energy equivalent to the heat energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 °C. 1 calorie= 4.1868 joules

Carbohydrate=4 calories per gram; Fat=9 calories per gram; protein =4 calories per gram; alcohol=7 calories per gram

Restricting calorie intake is recommended to trim down. Do not restrict calorie intake below your BMR

Recommended apps to track calorie intake include: My Fitness Pal, Fastic, and Foodvisor

Minimum daily macronutrient intake:

Protein: 1.6g/kg body mass per day. Increasing lean mass requires optimal protein consumption and exercise.

Fat: 1.2g/kg body mass per day. Dietary fat is vital for supporting your sex hormones and Vitamins such as Vit A, D, E and K

Carbohydrates: The remainder of your daily energy intake should include carbohydrate to replenish your muscle and liver glycogen stores.

To calculate and monitor daily energy intake I recommend using nutrition trackers such as https://www.myfitnesspal.com/. This is a good tool to ensure you are achieving the right energy balance for your needs.

Strength Training Priciples

Guielines for gaining bone density:

Bone cells adapt to load stress. The best training you can do for your bones is high load and low repetition. eg 5RM training principle: the maximum load you can lift 5 times. Best practice is 5x5RM 2 days per week for both upper limb and lower limb. The optimal exercises include squats, deadlifts, shoulder press/push ups and plyometrics such as maximal vertical jumps and maximal burpees.

Guidelines for muscle growth (hypertrophy): The best training you can do for muscle growth is 10-12 reps per set maximal load. 12 sets per week. Target any muscle group. A good session would include 3 x lower limb and 3 x upper limb

Follow these principles and validate your training with follow up DEXA scan.

Aerobic Training Principles

The basis for living a long and healthy life and the foundation of strength and high intensity training is aerobic training, or Zone 2.

What is zone 2?

Zone 2 involves steady- state endurance exercise. Minimal effective dose is 40 minutes. The more Z2 volume you acquire the more endurance you build. Increased mitochondrial density of your muscle cells is a physiological response to endurance training. This means you are able to create more energy for your body to complete activities.

A good strategy to accumulate the benefits of Z2 training is to exercise continuously at 65% of your maximal heart rate. Please get in touch if you need assistance with calculating this intensity. Optimal zone 2 activities include brisk walking, jogging, rowing and cycling. Zone 2 is very trainable which means over time your Z2 exercise capicity increases. A great side effect of increased Z2 capacity is your fat burning capacity increases.

walking the dog: 3 METs per hour

working at computer: 1.3 METs per hour

swimming moderate: 8 METs per hour

tennis moderate: 6.8 METs per hour

yoga (general): 2.3 METs per hour

jogging 9km/hr: 8.8 METs per hour

cleaning (vacuuming): 3 METs per hour

“Curves” Fitness class: 3.5 METs per hour

sit to stand 20x/min: 4 METs per hour

circuit training body weight: 6 METs per hour

weights (heavy): 5 METs per hour

crossfit: 11 METs per hour

cycling commute: 4 METs per hour

cycling HIIT: 8.8 METs per hour

kitchen activity (cooking, washing up): 3.3 METs per hour