A common misconception among people is that simply balancing your calorie intake with your calorie expenditure will lead to fat loss. The equation of calorie balance is not this simplistic. The recombinant effect of each food on the body’s hormones and blood sugar levels including the diverse nutrient contents of each food that make a simplistic approach to fat loss almost an impossibility.

What Comes After Calculating Your Daily Calorie Expenditure (DCE)?

After getting arriving at your DCE value, divide up your daily ration among the three major macronutrients proteins and carbohydrates including fats. Dividing up and properly apportioning calories into the appropriate ratios can have a great effect on your overall body composition. If you eat a 2200 calorie diet of ice cream one day and a 2200 calorie diet of boiled yam and grilled swordfish the next, the ice cream diet will make you fatter whereas the yam-swordfish combination will do wonders for your body.

Nutrient ratios has one basic rule which you should always keep in mind. Food intake should never consist primarily of one food or macronutrient type; you must strive for proper P-C-F balance with more importance on the P-C combination. Using the P-C-F mnemonics, you will never go wrong because that is the exact order of importance of the macronutrients the body needs: Proteins-Carbohydrates-Fats. Do not simply eat P’s, C’s or F’s by themselves because by themselves they will invariably do more harm to your body than good.

Essential Meal Combinations

Whether you are on a diet or not, meals are always a combination of various forms of P-C and F. A complete meal generally consists of  lean proteins and complex carbohydrates and very little fat. Snacks on the other hand may simply be a protein drink, or a carbohydrate or protein food by itself.

The ultimate and essential meal is a proper combination of proteins (lean) and carbohydrates (both starchy and fibrous) eaten together all at the same meal.

Advantages of Essential P-C-F Food Combinations

-Eating more proteins than carbohydrates maintains positive nitrogen balance ensuring a gain of muscle tissue. Since protein can not be stored in the body like carbohydrates, protein intake needs to be regular and constant otherwise your body will break down muscle tissues to get the amino acids it requires. Insulin distributes the amino acids from protein to the cells and tissues of the body. Eating carbohydrates triggers the body’s production of insulin to ensure the distribution of the amino acids. Therefore, one can not go without the other. If you eat carbohydrates by themselves, this results in a rapid increase in blood sugar which are followed by sharp drops and cause cravings, hunger and fatigue.

-Rapid blood sugar elevations from excess carbohydrate intake cause overproduction and release of insulin. High concentrations of insulin in the bloodstream promote the storage of body fat and can lead to diabetes.

-Eating proteins and carbohydrates separately contributes to the depletion of the body's muscle glycogen, the primary source of energy for physical activities and weight training. A combination of restricted carbohydrate intake with high protein and high fat foods inevitably cause energy reductions due to glycogen depletion. The best way is to insure a slow and moderate entry of proteins, complex carbohydrates and fat throughout the day.

-Eating lean proteins and fibrous carbohydrates combined slows down the digestion of complex carbohydrates, resulting in stable blood sugar and energy levels and moderate output of insulin – without the erratic ups and downs if you eat carbohydrates by themselves.

-Protein enhances the thermic effect of food and accelerates the body’s metabolism. Meals that consist of carbohydrates alone without the protein and complex carbohydrate component is not as good or beneficial.