My last post on body fat percentage calculations shows that I calculated a body fat percentage of 27% (down from 29% after 2 months of Crossfit, and 2 weeks of the zone diet). As I weigh 14 stone 10 (206 lbs) that means my actual body fat is:
206 lbs x 27% = 55.62 lbs, which is just about 4 stone exactly. Eeek!
Anyway, this leaves a lean body mass (meaning everything else) of 206 – 56 = 150 lbs, or 10 stone 10 lbs.
Now, on Dr. Barry Sears’ the Zone Diet, this figure can be used to calculate what my protein intake on the zone diet should be, measured in protein blocks of course (a block being 7g of protein). The only issue is picking my level of activity, options are:
- 0.5 = Sedentary
- 0.6 = Light – just walking
- 0.7 = Moderate – 30 mins per day, 3x a week
- 0.8 = Active – 1 hour per day, 5x a week
- 0.9 = Very Active – 2 hours per day, 5x per week
- 1.0 = Heavy Weight Training – or twice a day exercise, 5x a week
Hmm so where does Crossfit fall into this? By definition Crossfit is maximum intensity workouts, and I’m going 4-5 times a week. Each session is an hour, but that’s not continuous (it’d be impossible to do a continuous hour of Crossfit I think!). Let’s go for Active at 0.8 and see how we do.
Now what I’ve not said is what the numbers mean, on the Zone Diet, the numbers are your Protein Requirements, measured as Grams per pound of lean body mass. We already know my lean body mass is 150 lbs, so:
0.8 x 150 = 120 grams of protein a day.
A zone block is 7 grams of protein, so:
120 / 7 = 17 protein blocks per day. Which is strangely fortuitous, as Mark and Karl, the coaches at Crossfit Manchester already prescribed me as a 17 block per day zone diet plan. Or most specifically a 5 – 5 – 1 – 5 – 1 block zone diet plan. Nice to know they know what they are talking about! 😉
