Hello,

I was hoping you could help. I am very confused about the Zone Diet and Paleo. I have been doing crossfit for a year and have taken zone foods and tried to split them up into 5-6 meals per day. I am 160 lbs and my body fat is probably around 12-15%. I am trying to get e little bit more cut yet not lose muscle. The Zone diet does not seem to allow for much fat, yet Paleo is all about fat. Paleo hates oatmeal and dairy, but zone allows it? I think the zone is more for my style. I am trying to eat the cleanest and healthiest foods possible. I don't like eggs so I have been eating steel cut oats with greek yogurt plain with blueberries and olive oil for breakfast. I was also told that I need 160 grams of protein per day and that seems impossible if I just follow the zone principals. I mean the zone wants me to only eat 3 meals and 2 snacks. How does that allow for a post workout meal in which I need a lot of protein. It is really getting me frustrated. I just bought lentils to try to get more carbs. I feel weird about increasing my fat intake because the zone wants you to keep it to barely a tspn of fat per meal. Paleo is telling me to eat everything covered in healthy fats. Can someone please help me with a plan to incorporate the zone with crossfit. I am willing to eat as natural and healthy as needed, but I am just confused on how to go about doing this.

Thanks!

Your body fat% is quite ideal for a male, and so you can actually add more fat to your meals in order to prevent further fat loss, along with providing more energy for your work outs.

You mentioned what you were told about how many grams of protein you need, but I would recommend checking this out on the body fat calculator, just to verify.

The Zone is a more "forgiving" diet, in that no food is actually banned. Some foods are better than others, and it is preferred that you eat lean meat, veggies, fruit, and mono-unsaturated fats. Oatmeal fits in the Zone as one of the only favorable grains (likely due to its GLA content), and dairy also fits as long as it is low-fat or fat free. Some people can't tolerate dairy very well.

You can divide up your meals and snacks in any way that suits you, so just figure out for yourself what your protein needs are, and then go from there. The typical male would get 91 grams of protein per day, but I am assuming that you are probably not average, and would probably require more than that.

Hi Matt,

If your body fat is about12-15% right now, you may become a bit leaner, but not a lot. You're already at the ideal body fat for a male. Use the body fat calculator on this site to check fat% and to determine how much protein you actually need (http://www.zonediet.com/tools/body-...lculator). Depending on your intensity and frequency of your Crossfit choose either the Active or Very Active level for the calculator. The excess protein you're eating now (if you are indeed eating 160 grams per day now) is not helping your efforts because it is being broken down and stored as body fat. If you keep your protein intake to only the amount you require to maintain your current muscle mass at your current activity level you'll most likely get the more cut appearance you're looking for. At 160 lbs and 15% body fat, with the Very Active level your daily protein requirement will be somewhere around 120 grams/17 Zone blocks daily. The 3 meal 2 snack plan is a suggestion, which suits the average person's lifestyle. The important thing is to spread your protein intake throughout your waking hours, not eat more than 5 blocks at a time and making sure you eat at least every 5 hours. As an example, I have a 90 gram daily protein requirement and I eat 3 meals daily.

I can't remember where I read it, but Dr. Sears says that to gain one pound of muscle per month (a very daunting task), all that is needed nutritionally is one additional daily block of protein (7g). I think you would want to take that extra protein with a block of fat and a block of carbs, as well, to stay in the Zone.

Larry: What you read was in Mastering the Zone: " The only way to build muscle mass is by exercise, primarily weight training. However, building one pound of new muscle mass per month is a noble goal. To do so, however , requires one extra protein block per day in addition to the number of protien blocks required to maintain your existing lean body mass. One pound of new muscle equals 454 grams. But muscle is 70 percent water, which means that one pound of new muscle contains about 136 grams of protein. Divide 136 grams by 30 days, and you get 4.5 grams of extra protien per day required to build new muscle. Taking in one extra block of protien (7 grams) per day will be more than adequate in your quest to add one extra pound of muscle per month."

I will follow this quote from "Mastering the Zone" by saying.. You may feel and perform better with an added complete block or maybe a mini of protien only (7 grams) maybe an individual will have great results with a mini block of protien and a mini block of Carbs (9 grams) or Fat (3 grams) ... We humans are not cut out like cookies with a cookie cutter. Some may feel and respond differently. Pay attention to how you feel and perform, and the results you achieve.

Hello,

I am new to this so I hope I am in the right section. The questions that Matt was asking is similar to mine so I figured I would Post Here.
I am confused about the fat content in a "typical" 4 block zone meal. If you have 4 protein blocks that is 28 grams of protein. And if you have the same ammount of fat as protein Keeping with the zone guidelines of 30% pro. 40% carb. and 30% fat, adjusting of course for fat having twice as many calories as protein you end up with 14 grams of fat. Is this correct ? So why do the meal recipies on salads call for only a teaspoon or two of dressing when on the dressing label of my favorite balsamic vinagerette I can get two tablespoons and only have 9 grams of fat. Even the ranch dressing I have ony has 15 grams of fat in two tablespoons. And I do not have any other fat in the salad just vegatbles which have no fat.
To me it seems like I can get away with two tablespoons of dressing. Can someone please advise ?

I recently read the Zone book where he mentions some elite atheletes who in a very short period of time (maybe 2 or 3 months) gained 16 pounds of muscle mass following a zone favorable diet. Now I do realize that these were pro atheletes and not just regular folks like us.

[quote]
Posted By Jerrold on 27 Apr 2012 12:27 AM
Hello,

I am new to this so I hope I am in the right section. The questions that Matt was asking is similar to mine so I figured I would Post Here.
I am confused about the fat content in a "typical" 4 block zone meal. If you have 4 protein blocks that is 28 grams of protein. And if you have the same ammount of fat as protein Keeping with the zone guidelines of 30% pro. 40% carb. and 30% fat, adjusting of course for fat having twice as many calories as protein you end up with 14 grams of fat. Is this correct ? So why do the meal recipies on salads call for only a teaspoon or two of dressing when on the dressing label of my favorite balsamic vinagerette I can get two tablespoons and only have 9 grams of fat. Even the ranch dressing I have ony has 15 grams of fat in two tablespoons. And I do not have any other fat in the salad just vegatbles which have no fat.
To me it seems like I can get away with two tablespoons of dressing. Can someone please advise ?
[/quote]
.
Hi;
There is some fat in the Protein source, unless it is Fat Free, and that Fat is counted.
So, one only needs to add a little additional Fat.
IF you are counting, then you want 3 grams of Fat for each Protein block.
Since there is always some Fat in Most Protein sources, you only need to add about 1.5 grams of Fat per protein block.
So, Dr. Sears defines a Fat block as 1.5 grams of fat.
Therefore, in his books, if the Protein source is fat Free, he advocates doubling the fat blocks.
You are not really doubling the amount of Fat, just accounting for whether the Protein source has Fat in it or not.

Jerrold, here’s Dr. Sears explanation of fat blocks (taken from MASTERING THE ZONE, page 292 and 293). I also jsut posted this in you other thread. Basically it's the same thing John is saying.

“Why is a fat block only 1.5 grams?
Every block of low-fat protein contains approximately 1.5 grams of “hidden fat”. Therefore, by adding one extra fat block (which is defined as 1.5 grams of fat) for each block of low-fat protein, you are actually consuming 3 grams of fat or two blocks (one internal in the protein and one external) for each protein block. If you are using fat-free protein sources, such as isolated protein powders, then you should be adding two blocks of fat to achieve the same ratio. Obviously, if you are eating higher fat protein choices, you would not be adding any extra fat blocks to your meal. Remember that every time you add additional fat blocks to a meal, they should be composed primarily of monounsaturated fat.”
Common fat free proteins eaten on the Zone diet are egg whites, protein powder, fat free dairy products, some deli-style meats, and some soy products.