The following article is sponsored by John Doe Bodybuilding
1. Don’t cut calories too far under maintenance
Obviously there needs to be caloric deficit in order to lose bodyfat, but too many people are dropping down way too low. What does this mean? It means you become a smaller version of what you were before, but you don’t recomposition yourself like you should. You need to have an idea of what your maintenance level calorie intake is, then start eating about 500-800 calories a day below that.
2. Cardio is good, but living on a treadmill is not!
I used to do cardio sessions at 2 hours per day sometimes. When I was competing in bodybuilding in the early 2000’s I thought that the more cardio I performed, the better I’d look. I was wrong, and eventually what happened was I put my body into too much of a catabolic state and the opposite of what I wanted to happen started happening. I stopped getting as hungry, I stayed depleted with no energy, and I looked flat. When I finally got smart and decided to do cardio at no more than 3x per week for 30 minutes a session, I started getting better results.
3. Carb manipulation is critical!
Some people respond great to low carb diets while others do not. But one thing is for certain; go too long with no carbs and your body will lose muscle volume. I don’t care how much protein you eat, when you take away the carbs for too long you will go flat and may find yourself having difficulty doing simple day to day tasks, like driving your car and not killing yourself.
The brain relies on glycogen stores to function properly, and I have yet to ever meet a bodybuilding competitor who was carb depleted and didn’t act like a zombie.The carbs are what shuttles the nutrients to the muscle and hydrates the muscle. CARBO-HYDRATE, HYDRATE being the key word here. Since the muscle is made up of 75% water, it only makes sense not to take this away. Manipulate your carbs but do not totally eliminate them.
4. Give yourself enough time to get in shape
Take a look around at pretty much any diet or training routine. They all take around 90 days. Everything from before and after photos, P90X, beach body, or a typical bodybuilder’s competition prep; they all take around 3 months!! It’s just time, you have to understand that this is the time frame it takes to lose the bodyfat while retaining the muscle. When I say “Get in shape fast” I’m not talking about two weeks here. But if you diet properly and eat strict then yes, you can look like a different person in a few months.
5. Take your fat burners before bed
Now, this isn’t the healthiest thing to be doing here, but this is a tip that works well if you’re trying to bust off that last little bit of bodyfat. I’m talking about someone who is already in single digit bodyfat who just wants to lose that last tiny bit for a contest or photo shoot. I have found that taking a fat burner such as clenbuterol or ephedrine right before bedtime seemed to kick my thermogenesis into overdrive during sleep.
Amping up your metabolism and core temperature in a fasted state can shred bodyfat very quickly. I do not suggest this at any other time other than the very end of a diet when you’re already very lean. But you need to do it right before your head hits the pillow. You’ll be asleep by the time the fat burner starts taking effect.
6. Keep your testosterone on the lower side
For guys who take testosterone, you want to keep your testosterone at enough of a dosage to stay anabolic, but not high enough to cause bloating. It took me a long time to figure this one out, but it took my physique to a far better look when I did. The very best I ever looked was when I was only using 300mg/wk of fast acting testosterone.
Testosterone can be a nasty compound when taken too high. The effect it has on your skin is terrible and you’re constantly fighting water weight. Even testosterone propionate which is faster acting can cause SOME water retention. Then it becomes more of a guessing game of how much aromatase inhibitor to use, how much more cardio to perform, and at what point to drop your testosterone to lose the water weight.
7. Eat a grapefruit before bed
Every so often it’s a good idea to throw in a grapefruit before bed. I know what you’re thinking now; it’s carbs before bed and the natural sugars are still sugar, but the acidity of a grapefruit can sometimes amp up the metabolism. I would sometimes feel even hot feeling after doing this and that is a good sign it’s working!
8. When you stop feeling hungry, it’s a sign your metabolism isn’t firing!
I hear this time and time again. Someone will be dieting and tell me “It’s going great; I don’t feel hungry at all!” While initially this can be a good thing, sooner or later it’s a tell-tale sign that your metabolism isn’t working as fast as it could be. You want to be hungry when you’re dieting because it’s a sign that it’s working!!
Whatever diet you choose, you want to be hungry between meals and upon waking. Most people who want to lose bodyfat will tell me they don’t feel hungry at all when they wake up. 90% of my fat loss clients don’t eat breakfast when we start. They tell me they don’t feel hungry at all in the morning and they eat very few meals during the day. When you’re dieting your metabolism can come to a halt if you aren’t doing something right. Most commonly this is going too long without SOME carbs.
9. As you get leaner, lower your volume
It’s very normal to think that as you get leaner you need to increase training volume and frequency to push the envelope even further. But this is usually not the case!! When you are in single digit bodyfat you’re more vulnerable to injury, you are in no doubt already in a state of overtraining, and more isn’t always better in this case. You may find that backing off is what keeps you looking fuller and more muscular and not looking flat and catabolic.
Let’s say you’re already in single digit bodyfat. At this point your diet is solely what is going to bring you to your ultimate goal. There isn’t much more you can do in the way of cardio and weight training that is going to get you in any better condition, and more so than not, it’s detrimental to your look.
10. Try to get adequate rest
I have never done a strict diet for a few months without eventually getting worse sleep quality. It’s just hard to go to bed when you’re THAT HUNGRY. When this happens, you may just need to adjust your meals so you have a carb meal later in the day. I have gotten extremely shredded while still eating a cup of oats at night.
Remember that most of the body’s fat loss processes chemically take place during sleep. When you start cutting your hours and quality of sleep down, it can make it harder to burn fat. You may find it more beneficial to drop a carb meal at some point during the day and replace it in the evening. The whole “no carbs before bedtime” isn’t always true. If you’re in a state of caloric deprivation then you’re in a state of caloric deprivation. You will still get leaner so if you need to manipulate something in order to get some decent sleep then try a carb meal at night.
– John Doe – johndoebodybuilding.com!!!
8. When you stop feeling hungry, it’s a sign your metabolism isn’t firing!
but if you’re fat you’re always going to be craving food
It’s most likely addiction rather than the hunger he’s talking about
“Craving” is a symptom of addiction rather than hunger.
The only carbs you should eat are from vegetables and some fruits. Green leafy vegetables will give you all the nutrients you need. Cut fruits out if you really want to cut body fat. Eat good fats and meats. Skip the refined carb foods. Ever wonder why bread is made from enriched flour? They have to enrich the flour with B vitamins…basically put them back in after they strip it in the processing.
Refined carbs are fine if you are a peasant farmer working the fields all day and need calorie dense food that does not go bad.
Refined carbs have been the most destructive force this planet has ever known going way back to the beginning of civilization.
Let’s just ignore the fact that every advanced, intelligent and rich civilisation on this planet has had a moderate-to-high carb diet.
Sure the Masaii and the Eskimo eschew carbs, but they also live in huts and shit where they eat.
Sure, because they all started out as agrarian societies which requires non-spoiling, calorie dense food. That diet no longer fits with our current society and lifestyle.
I think we should disabuse ourselves that single digit body fat percentage is desirable. It may be desirable for a bodybuilding meet, but as far as actual health is concerned its not. One thing you should always remember is that all those pictures of shredded guys are pictures of them at their weakest. A healthy man has a nice layer of fat over a shit ton of muscle.
Right on. Who do you want on your side in a fight, some cut, tanned and oiled body builders or an offensive tackle and a biker?
lol. Have you ever seen a bodybuilder fight?
yeh, some are pretty good. I got some BB friends who dabble in kick boxing or MMA type sports. All relatively good at it too. Like its not like these guys start BB at age 10 most are guys who couldn’t cut the ice in other sports and were the hard trainer types. Often as sports have drug codes they try and go outside the square to put in what god left out and that can be a huge catalyst for some of these guys in BB to lift their performance.
I disagree. At the end of the day, whether we like it or not women do the choosing in the mating market.
And the one thing physically that turns women on for sex more than anything else is leanness.
Don’t ask me why, but the principle that men and women think differently and value different traits attributes in a sex partner should not be controversial.
Yes women are less concerned with visual cues than men, but at the end of the day looks matter.
I’ve been big and beefy like a linebacker and dudes have been like “bro you look fucking awesome (no homo)” and hot girls have been like “you’re fat”.
I’ve also been lean and let me tell you, I never had LMR with a hot chick in bed when I was lean, on the contrary they were eager to jump me.
Yet now I’m packing a belly at the moment, and I’m copping LMR bad on my last two prospects.
My conclusion is that having a sexy body really does matter, especially when you’re close to naked with them in bed and you want them to be turned on animalistically, past the point of rational-mind resistance.
Can you tell us what you mean by “lean”? I have women tell me they prefer me “chunky” rather than “lean” but there is bodybuilding lean and athletic lean.
Just athletic lean. I don’t have any mesomorphic tendencies at all, so I can get big and bulky and strong, or I can slim and svelte and lean, but I can’t get bodybuilding lean (unless I take steroids, which I’m not going to. I have imported done dht cream recently though, which I’m probably going to try out next month.)
Yeah in my experience, women love athletic lean. One woman told me my body was “perfect”. I don’t think that it is but whatever. Athletic lean is all you need and easily achievable as long as you exercise intensely and eat big while avoiding all processed food.
Avoid dht cream, unless you have a medical reason. Bro science says dht is fine, but the medical community says it can cause swelling of the prostate or prostate cancer, both of which suck.
I once had a girlfriend who had a friend that was incredibly hot. Guys used to go nuts over her, on the street, nightclubs etc (believe me, I was there). And the guys that came after her were good looking, well built guys. You know what she told me was her only turn on? A bald guy, who was chubby with earrings.
Women lie. Believe their actions, not their words
Agree, but none of her actions moved towards the good looking dudes.
I believed a chick when she picked my friend, a bald pot bellied guy, over a good looking dude. And no my friend isn’t rich. He showed me the photo evidence the next day
Ultimately, you’re right. But if a guy is not packing on the lean side six pack, it is about projection of power. The girl may not like the barrel over the six pack. But if she feels the raw power in your presence, it should not matter that much. Unless of course you are actually fat.
A lot of geniuses get huge in the weight room, but fail to finish the abs. Like an offensive lineman. However, a small, scrawny guy who is ripped fails in comparison to intimidate like the big beefy lineman when angry.
Because deep down, both men know that the angry gorilla of a lineman is going to be a really difficult fight. He won’t feel as much pain, he is well fed, and he obviously pushes a mountain of weight every time he lifts. So if you are not big yourself, but just shredded, the power lifting gorilla wins.
Not that being a sex toy will matter.
But a lineman whose angry exhibits the primal characterisitics that drive women wild.
*Take heed, I’m not talking about a fat guy who plays lineman. I’m talking about a college level athlete who has to pack on the weight in order to submarine an defensive lineman who could potentially compete in Olympic sporting events. I don’t care if the dude has Josh Sitton’s gut (GB Packers). That dude, with that sort of I don’t giva- damn attitude resonates. So what if the dude will not grace the cover of men’s health, he will crush many men who can/did.
I agree. But bodybuilding comp levels are 3-5%, where as 9% will still allow for the anatomy chart look, just with less veins, striations in the shoulder, etc. I personally believe 10% is the optimal body fat levels to create the fit-healthy look.
You can get to 9% pretty easy without following any of the above advice. Just avoid grains, sugars and alcohol, train well and eat a lot of everything else.
Alcohol is the biggest road block to getting lean. It is a ton of calories from carbs. It causes water retention, and the claim out there is that it interferes with protein synthesis.
Bar non everyone I know who is lean rarely drinks.
So true. Alcohol is horrible for your metabolism. I dropped so much fat just by cutting my alcohol intake.
Damn right Jeff.
Thats pretty accurate. Just not too much fat
I think you take a look at GSP he has great endurance and that is likely why he is so cut. his diet is in order and he trains hard. Therefore yes he is going to look lean. Jon Jones is in a similar situation. his fitness helps him win fights. he is naturally quite lean. Someone like Daniel Cormier seems stronger than Jones but lacks the endurance that Jon has. All things being equal(weight class) muscle will trump fat in a fight.
Good accurate advice here.
5. Is definitely off, anything that speeds your metabolism up before you go to sleep is not good. That’s going to keep you awake, the best time to speed up your metabolism would be in the morning when you wake up.
There’s no such thing as getting shredded ”fast” if you’re not on roids and other PEDs. Unless you don’t mind looking like a stick insect that doesn’t even lift.
This is the most inaccurate broscienced filled article I’ve read this year.
Absolutely, look into the Keto Diet, our brains DO NOT operate on glycogen!!! Our brains are 98% cholesterol, look it up. Humans are designed to eat a High [good] Fat low carb diet, once you ‘fat adapt’ your performance will skyrocket, and as long as you keep the proper ratio of Fats to Protein to Carbs you will stay quite lean and HEALTHY. The author really needs to [re]think this tripe.
I’ve actually done the keto diet myself, and I made fantastic results. Although I don’t see it as a long term diet. Avoiding fruits all the time got frustrating. After a while I started to crave carbs.
Jesus Christ man…
John Doe just solidified himself as the author of one of the worst pieces of bodybuilding writing I’ve seen thus far this year.
“5. Take your fat burners before bed
Now, this isn’t the healthiest thing to be doing here, but this is a tip that works well if you’re trying to bust off that last little bit of bodyfat. I’m talking about someone who is already in single digit bodyfat who just wants to lose that last tiny bit for a contest or photo shoot. I have found that taking a fat burner such as clenbuterol or ephedrine right before bedtime seemed to kick my thermogenesis into overdrive during sleep.
Amping up your metabolism and core temperature in a fasted state can shred bodyfat very quickly. I do not suggest this at any other time other than the very end of a diet when you’re already very lean. But you need to do it right before your head hits the pillow. You’ll be asleep by the time the fat burner starts taking effect.”
smh
I don’t know how he gets shredded, but the pictured and legendary Georges St-Pierre knows how to deal with a woman who wants you “on the knees” for her, you know?
“Show her who’s the boss…be in charge, my friend!”
He is shredded becaue he trains 7 times a week and has been doing so for the last 20 years. No 3 month program is going to make you look like that.
Yes. GSP is a model of discipline for us all. I’m just starting to emerge from my MMA depression after his poor showing against Hendricks. And I’m always looking for an excuse to share GSP’s thoughts on pampered women.
Sadly, I exercised to the point of cardiac arrest 10 years ago so I have absolutely no hope of being a GSP-esque specimen ever again. But as Aaron Clarey opines, there are many pleasures in life that don’t require anything other than the ability to pay for them!
IMO the best way to become shredded is to take steroids like testosterone. That’s what shredded guys do. But it can mess up your health for life. Also, some stuff might be fake or wrongly labeled, so it is risky. I would not do it personally. I only take creatine. A large portion of the bodybuilding industry is just a scam, but the steroids are something that are proven to work.
But testosterone is like the fountain of youth for men. I have bodybuilding friends that suggest that I should start taking test since I’m in my mid-30s. Not as much as they take, but slightly more than TRT levels. Will keep your libido up, give you more energy, more muscle, basically keep you young longer. Either be the frail 80 year old that can barely walk or that strong 80 year old in the gym pushing more weight than the 20-year olds.
Hard to get to 80 when one’s heart is so enlarged from decades of non-stop synthetic T.
8-12 week cycles on low to moderate dosage, once or twice a year remains the best compromise between strength and longevity.
Get it prescribed legally as TRT.
C’mon man. Even the skinny guys who walk into the gym, do four kinds of bicep curls in-front of the mirror then drink protein shakes in the carpark don’t buy into these principles anymore.
If you want to lay the bitches, you are wasting your time putting so much time, energy, and money into this kind of extreme and narcissistic “body building” and “fat reduction.”
You know what gets the bitches wet? Money. Money. And money.
Put the effort into making some. Better yet, put a lot of effort into making a lot.
Fat rich guys get pussy.
I’ll you what else gets the bitches wet. A massive ejaculation right in the kisser.
This article isn’t about how to lay bitches though. If you’re lifting for bitches then you’re doing it wrong. Lift to be strong, fit, and healthy; to build your confidence and give you discipline, to be a better man.
The bitches are just a side bonus that will come later.
Eliot Rogers thought that too.
I am curious about the number of people who suggest creating a “calorie deficit” to lose fat when there is no science to support it. It is completely at odds with how human metabolism works. Furthermore, your metabolism only grinds to a halt when you die.
Last point. If you don’t feel hungry that actually means that your metabolism is working properly (i.e. it is burning fat and using the nutrients from your fat tissue to sustain you). If you feel hungry that is an indication that you need to eat. Sounds crazy I know.
So how do you lose fat without a calorie deficit? There’s plenty of science to prove it.
It’s very simple:
calories in = calories out, for maintenance
calories in > calories out, to build muscle
calories in < calories out, to lose fat
Does this mean that I can take in some carbs – like a little bread, a little sugar for tea, some potatoes provided my daily intake of calories is less than the calories I use?
Bingo.
If you count your macros you could actually lose fat eating only mcdonalds
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2575755/Getting-fit-fast-food-Man-lost-56lbs-eating-McDonalds-six-months-documents-experience-new-book.html
Interesting. What do you mean by ‘macros’ ?
When your conclusions are absurd then that is a signal that one or more of your propositions are invalid.
I would also encourage a very careful reading of any article from the Daily Mail. They are a conflicted source.
The story is posted on many sites, I just chose a random link of the story that just happened to be Daily Mail.
Is Forbes a reputable enough site for you, or are they also conflicted?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rosspomeroy/2014/01/07/super-size-me-science-teacher-loses-37-lbs-eating-at-mcdonalds/
Macros are macronutrients…protein, carbs, and fats. Read up on the IIFYM diet (If It Fits Your Macros).
Damn right jihad john.
Types of macros matter.
Let me be more clear. The mass media pursue an agenda with respect to diet and nutrition. This is essentially the plant based diet regime. Oil companies, food processing companies and pharmaceutical companies are deeply intertwined and they form either the main shareholders or consumers of the mass media. The product that the mass media sell to these companies is you.
As such the simplistic and unsound calorie model of diet is promoted based on processed food such as McDonalds from which the above companies benefit. They sell you the grain based “food” processed with petrochemicals and tell you it is healthy and then sell you drugs when you get sick.
There isn’t, that’s the point. A general rule of life, if the claim is simple, it probably isn’t true. It’s like the difference between Newtonian physics and quantum mechanics.
All you have done here is provide simplistic abstract equations that have no meaning in reality.
So are we just going to argue in circles while you beat around the bush? You said I was wrong about losing fat with a calorie deficit, then asked you how do you lose fat without dropping calories, and give me some bullshit answer.
My equations are correct. It’s that simple
Even based on the calorie model itself your equations are inaccurate. Some might argue that if you consume more calories than you burn you will gain fat. Some with argue that if you consume less than you burn that you will lose muscle.
In any case, your body doesn’t care about calories, it cares about nutrients. In order to lose fat you simply stop eating those nutrients and toxicants that your body stores as fat and fast long enough so that your body can begin the process of drawing down on the nutrients already stored in your fat tissue. You build muscle through the consumption of the appropriate nutrients while engaging in strength training.
If you restrict calories you will simply reduce the energy available to your body for its routine tasks and exercise. Your exercise results will suffer and you will become weaker. Personally I eat every day until I am stuffed and I maintain a body fat percentage of sub 10%.
Your mind is the greatest controller for how your metabolism works. Anyone who wants to be strong and athletic should get in touch with the hunter / gatherer instincts. Wake up like a killer, move like a killer, think like a killer, and everything will be arranged in your body to reconfigure you as the lethal hunter your ancestors meant you to be. It’s a mind set first and foremost.
By the way talking about losing weight through McDonalds or some arithmetic formula is about the worst advice you can give on wellness. I wouldn’t even mention McDonalds or any other processed shit food even as a joke, that’s just disgusting… And any serious student of biology or a competitive sport knows that the human organism is far too advanced and mysterious to be defined by arithmetic formulas or crude synthetic categories like “calories” or “macro nutrients”
Of course you will gain fat, you can’t build muscle alone without gaining fat. This is why people bulk (consume calories in surplus to build muscle) and then cut (deficit) to burn the fat they gained while bulking
As I have made clear you absolutely can build muscle without gaining fat. I do this all the time. The bulk and cut model is flawed as is it based on the flawed calorie model.
Ok let me make sure I understand you correctly. The body doesn’t care about calories, it’s all about nutrients. If I want to build muscle I need to take in more nutrients and if I want to lose fat I need to take in less nutrients.
But this all has nothing to do with calories, right?
No that is not correct. If you want to build muscle you need to give your body a reason to build muscle (i.e. lift weights) and then supply it with the necessary nutrients to build that muscle, such as good quality proteins and fats.
If you want to lose fat then you need to eliminate those nutrients (or toxicants in my view) that contribute to fat gain such as refined carbohydrates, sugar and alcohol. Obviously, both of these can be done simultaneously
You needn’t concern yourself with with the calorific content of these nutrients. Of greater importance is nutrient timing and the effects these nutrients (and their timing) have on your hormones.
Exactly right. Sadly, the human mind struggles to deal with complexity and veers towards the simplistic explanation.
It’s basic biology – to lose fat you need to eat less and exercise more. I learned that studying biology in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It means you will be consuming fewer calories than you burn, and thus lose fat. It’s why polar explorers have to consume a lot of calories per day just to maintain healthy body mass.
I’m afraid your understanding of human biology is now out of date. Or understanding of human metabolism has advanced significantly since the Eighties.
It is now understood that the body metabolizes different nutrients differently. This is why calorie deficit diets inevitably fail.
Correction: a fringe-theory proposed by supplement sellers and ebook writers suggests that calorific deficit does not work.
The consensus among scientists actually qualified in the fields of biology, nutrition and epidemiology remains very much in favour of calorific deficit as the only way to lose weight long-term.
Whenever you hear someone use the word “consensus” you know you are dealing with a religious zealot rather than a scientist. There is never a consensus amongst scientists.
Second, just because the majority of people believe something, doesn’t make it right.
Whenever you hear someone denying the scientific method and the concept of consensus, you know you are dealing with a conspiracy theorist.
Don’t be dull and don’t make false accusations. Nobody denied the scientific method – are you sure you know what it is?
Three square meals a day. Lift heavy to failure. Do compound exercises eg. bear complex, Turkish get up. You’ll lose weight, gain muscle and get shredded.
Stupid weight loss articles all the time. Losing weight is the easiest task in the universe. I will give you this very simple and cutting-edge tip for free now:
“Keep your fat fingers off of food and soft drinks and you will start looking like a normal person within a few months. Positive side effect: Saving a lot of money for less food.”
Gaining weight is way harder and way more expensive because of the massive amounts of food you need to stuff into your body almost nonstop.
You can observe this in every gym. Fat people who are into it can lose weight really, really fast. Within 6 months they look like normal people again (if they´re watching their diet).
Skinny guys on the other hand must fight like tigers for every pound of weight gain. 99% of them can´t change their body size at all within 6 months…because it´s fucking hard to do. They must hit the gym and watch their diet for years to achieve any visible results.
Losing weight = a little bit of will power (for a few months)
Gaining muscle = serious dedication and will power (for many years)
Totally agree about the challenge skinny guys face. When I started lifting ~10 years ago, I was 6’4″ about 165lbs and ~8% comp. Boxing and lifting 3-5 times/week and supplementing, and couldn’t gain an ounce. Age has helped some of that, but adding 30 lbs or so of muscle to just not look too skinny took research and a dedicated effort to work less and work heavy, which carries its own injury risk. Definitely for me gaining was harder and less intuitive
Jesus christ…take your illegal clen before bed. What kind of bs is this?
To the author: I respect the personal anecdotes if they are honest. If things work well for you, cool. But if you are the one who chose to use a picture of a trained fighter on your bodybuilding advice column, don’t. If your truly a bodybuilder who competes in low single digit body fats, then you know, NO ONE in that condition would survive 30 seconds of even light sparring. Be more honest, and use an appropriate pic. I have respect for the dedication a bodybuilder puts into his craft. But, fighters, they aren’t training to be.
Good sleep is probably the most underrated bodybuilding advice. I’m sensitive to acidic fruits, so I don’t think I’d be eating a grapefruit before bed, but in juice during the day, sure.
Weights, exercise and a healthy diet, while avoiding tinkering with hormones or taking performance enhancing dr**s is the path to go down. I wouldn’t follow this poster’s advice on many things. I wouldn’t want my nuts dropping off. (OK I exaggerate for comic effect, but high levels of anabolic dr**s and hormones increase the risk of, among other things, testicular cancer.)
I don’t know if I can agree with everything in this article. I’m not an advocate for steroids but I think you need as much protein and testosterone as possible. I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos on Big Brandon Carter and I like how he says experiment with different diets and training methods.
This idea of going “too below” maintenance level is a bunch of bs. Some days your hungry and you have to eat while on a diet – a lot of high calorie just to stop it getting to you and some days you can go negative calorie totals with a good couple of work outs. The point is at the end of the week do you have 7100 calories of deficit over a maintenance or not? – there is your 2 lbs and next week its start over. Their is no “there” – calories are calories are calories.
Oh noes! Someone missed breakfast and destroyed their metabolism! Take some ephadrine before you go to bed, after you eat plate full of grapefruit, and keep the testosterone low because that makes you hold water. And we all know holding water is bad for you.
I tried the LCHF (Low Carb, high fat) diet..that worked for me, and I didnt get “flat” because of low carb intake, since the fat took over as the primary energy source.
I appreciate this article. This author has actually noted something doctors have missed for a long time. When you have lowered mitochondrial respiration (the powerhouse of cells) you also have a lowered ability to absorb and use hormones. Hunger is caused by the hormone Ghrelin (Ghrelin stimulates Growth hormone release-which is where its name comes from). If you are no longer feeling hunger it likely means 1 your mitochondrial respiration is likely low, just like in Diabetics(42% lower in a diabetic group compared to the control in one study) and 2 you aren’t releasing or using growth hormone which is known for its fat loss characteristics. One of the forms of the thyroid hormone T2 directly stimulates mitochondrial respiration (Doctors don’t know this while bodybuilders have known it for at least 14 years). No surprise T2 is often a successful fat loss supplement-just beware of what you take along with it, it will act like you increased the dosage of other hormones and drugs you may be taking.
First post here on ROK.
Love the articles on self improvement here above all others. However, the Nutrition and Exercise posts, with a few exceptions, seem
to be too light on content to be useful for any meaningful application. I’ll
throw in my 2 cents:
1. Calorie balance is the only factor in fat loss, maintenance or gain. Scientifically, there is no debate (just niche industries looking to market a plan or product). Your body simply will not utilize fat stores, regardless of your macro/micro nutrient intake if it does not have to respond to a calorie deficit.
2. I say the above with the caveat that calorie deficit
refers to the net calories provided by a given food, not the gross calories
consumed. Protein has a 20-30% thermal effect, basically meaning that your body uses 20-30% of the energy value from protein just to digest it. In contrast,
most carbs are in the 10-15% range and fat is +/- 5%
3. The reason lower carbs are pushed by knowledgeable
body recomp experts is not that carbs are bad. It’s that carbs are the only energy source that your body can 100% synthesize from other sources. And while
creating a caloric deficit for weight loss, the only way to hit all macro and micro
nutrient needs to minimize muscle loss is to focus on fats and proteins, only
incorporating carbs (i.e. grains, not fruits/vegetables) if available calories
exist to hit target.
4. You WILL lose muscle while losing fat. However,
this can be minimized by optimizing macronutrients, getting all micronutrients
needed, and strength training on a solid program. Conversely, you will always gain fat while gaining muscle, but this too can be minimized (total fat will rise, but Bf% can
actually decrease)
5.If you are just starting out or intermediate, a
relatively basic strength routine focusing on major compound movements such as
squats, bench, overhead press, rows, and deadlifts is best way to go. Without a foundation of strong back, shoulders, legs, and glutes, everthing else will lag minus PED usage. Google something like Starting Strength or Stronglifts for beginners, practical programming or MadCow’s 5X5 for intermediate, etc.
Wow dude, you really went full bro science on this one. 5, 6, 7, 8 complete BS.
The lowering volume tip makes sense. Overall all these are great tips thanks for sharing!