Bro #1: “Yeah bro, can’t you tell I lost weight? I put on like 10 pounds of muscle too.”

Bro #2: “Crazy how I weigh less, but I definitely put on some muscle.”

I could keep going, but you get the point. Lose fat, gain muscle – at the same time. How many supplements have you seen that claim they’ll let you do this? How many articles have you read that claim you can do this? Plenty, you know why? The consumer market works on fast results, and we all know how impatient we are as humans. We want it, and we want it now. We wouldn’t want it as much if it actually required hard work and dedication, right? So you can see how the fitness industry and media in general work in tandem to provide you with the fastest way to do whatever (six pack abs, big arms, beach body, etc.). However, getting back to reality, the truth is simple. Unless you are using steroids, thinking that you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time is just not going to happen. Well, I shouldn’t be that harsh, let me explain.

The process of thermodynamics is absolute, that means there’s no workarounds. Whatever you’ve read about and been religiously pumped into believing through magazines or the media, you’ll have to let go. The reasoning for that is simple. Our bodies function in one specific way, based on calories (units of energy). Food is made up of calories, which in the end, are used as energy for our every day activities. What we eat per day, is what we take in (calorie wise) and every thing we do (including what happens inside of our bodies) requires energy (calories). Therefore, this translates into: Food (calories in) vs. Activity (calories out).

If we eat more food per day than we wind up burning through our total activity levels that day, we will wind up with excess calories. Over time, if we keep this up, we will put on weight. If we do the opposite and continually burn more than the amount of food we take in per day, over time, we will lose weight. At the same time, there is a maintenance amount of calories that we require (based on our weight/height/activity level) that we will burn automatically per day. For an extreme but simple example, if we remove the activity factor (what we do each day) and just go off of our body’s statistics, just the act of breathing and functioning (while laying still in bed for 24 hours without moving) is going to burn a certain amount of calories, that amount is your maintenance. Therefore, this whole process of calories in vs. calories out is based on whatever our maintenance is per day. If we wind up below our maintenance, we’ll lose weight. If we wind up above, we’ll gain weight (again, over time, unless you literally binge and eat some insane amount in one day). For more on this, read our maintenance calories article.

Now that I’ve effectively summarized the basics (which, in turn, summarizes both of the articles I linked to), let’s get to losing fat and gaining muscle. Understanding the above, you can clearly see that to lose fat, you need to do the opposite of what you do to gain muscle. Right there, you should see how doing both at once does not make sense. In order to illustrate this for you in the simplest of forms, I’m going to use a good old metaphor. So here it goes: Let’s say you are constructing a house -

If you need to build the first floor, but you only have enough materials to build the basement, can you accomplish your objective? On another note, if you’re attempting to remove the window in the basement, but don’t have enough tools to do so, can you accomplish your objective? Without being imaginative, we can clearly see the answer to both questions being a no. Now substitute your body for the house, and your actions for the tools. The end result is the same. If you’re attempting to gain muscle, but you’re not eating above maintenance, you are not giving your body the necessary amount of food needed for it to actually build muscle. If you’re attempting to lose fat, but you’re not giving your body enough of a reduction in calories, you’re not going to able to lose fat because you’re overfeeding your body and it can run off of the excess energy instead of focusing on taking away from your body fat.

In its most basic form, therefore, the concept of lose fat, gain muscle (at the same time) = an oxymoron. How are you supposed to be able to give your body enough nutrients to have enough to sustain itself (and THEN SOME to build new muscle), yet give it less nutrients than it needs so that it can effectively start to burn fat? It’s simple, you can’t. You either have to be eating a bit above to gain muscle, or a little below to lose fat. It sucks, but it’s better knowing this than trying something that’s physically impossible and wasting your time because you’re being lied to, right? I hope so!

Now, to spare ending the article on such a devastating note, there is technically a way to be able to do both. It’s not the optimal way to get things done, but if you don’t mind taking more time to achieve results then you might take a liking to this method. Think about it, if you have to be above to gain muscle, and below to lose fat, where can you theoretically average out to be able to do both? At maintenance! It’s rather widely understood that if you stick to eating right around maintenance for extended periods of time, you’ll be able to accomplish a successful body re-composition (change the way your body looks). Very often that involves losing fat, yet gaining muscle. If you understand how we’ve gotten to this point with all the calorie talk, you can hopefully see how hovering right around your maintenance can bring a mix of both.

Keep in mind, however, that this process is much slower. Usually, if you really get practical, those AT maintenance are supposed to simply stay the same. However, with some heavy training and a strong diet (high protein), some positive body recomp. should be expected. Again, since you’re not focusing on one of the two goals specifically, and allowing your body to be performing at optimal levels by focusing on that goal solely, the results will be much slower. Just like with anything else, doing two things at once is not as productive as sticking to accomplishing one task at a time, this is no different. Nonetheless, it does not mean both can’t be done with time together (lose fat, gain muscle). If you don’t mind taking your time, or you’re not really into the whole bulking/cutting cycle, go ahead, give it a try. Good Luck!

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To begin, the low fat foods campaign erupted out of a hardened position against having fat in your diet overall. Fats were portrayed in a very negative manner, and to learn the real truth about the importance of fats in your diet visit our Is Fat Bad For You? article to get the scoop. With that said, low fat foods became very popular not only because of the stigma of fats but because fats had a high amount of calories. With low fat, the goal was to kill 2 birds with one stone by making sure that the food had a small amount of fats in a serving and as a direct result of that, was a low calorie food. However, as great as it sounds on paper, low fat foods can be quite deceiving.

Now, why low fat food choices at the supermarket might be deceiving to the average consumer ties strongly into the whole concept of maintenance calories. If you burn off more calories in a day than you consume through food, you will lose weight, and if you consume more than you burn, you will put on weight (both happening over time). What often happens with low fat foods is that they really aren’t all that low calorie. They may have lower fat amounts, but many times they unfortunately have a heavy carbohydrate count that is not very noticeable. As a result, “okaying” low fat foods because you believe they’ll keep your calorie count lower can be based on a false premise. Sometimes it will not be wrong to think that, but other times the sugar in that low fat item will still keep the serving size far from a low calorie food. What is required on the part of the consumer is a little bit of diligence, by double checking the low fat food item against having a high carbohydrate count.

As an example, the fat content of a low fat food may say it has 1/3rd the amount of its regular variety. Using 6 grams for the low fat version, that would mean its regular serving has 18 grams of fat. That winds up being a little over 100 calories saved (each gram of fat is 9 calories). However, the carbohydrate amount is still 30 grams. As a result, you’ve shed off a chunk of calories relative to the food items original variety. However, the low fat food is still higher in calories than possible alternatives. This especially rings true for foods that are very high in calories, some people come to believe that eating the low fat variety of that same food item will mean that it is a low calorie food alternative and they can therefore enjoy that delicacy. This reasoning may run folks into trouble, because often that food is only lower in calories relative to its original counterpart, not a low calorie food in general. This distinction is imperative to understand. For healthy food choices, check out Healthy Foods to Lose Weight.

There is nothing wrong with going for low fat foods, but often times people have been lead to believe that as long as the food is low fat, it is going to seem healthier and lower in calories as well. Learning that this is often not the case, if you’re already conscious enough to scope out low fat foods, make sure you take the extra step and look at the overall calorie content (along with the carbohydrate content). You don’t want to be under the mistaken notion you’re consuming a low calorie food when it really winds up being the opposite.

Of course, if you’re stuck between buying something that’s really off the wall and going with the low fat version of the same or similar product, regardless of the carbohydrate amount the low fat version is better as it’ll have the lower calorie count out of available alternatives. However, when you’re dealing with only one type of food, it’s important to check the nutritional label to make sure you’re not buying the item on a false premise of it being healthier or lower in calories. Low fat definitely has its moments, but don’t count on it religiously to be an automatic low calorie food if you’re following any type of diet. Stay on alert at the supermarket. Good luck!

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To start, I’d like to mention that it is imperative that we focus on burning fat, and not weight. Lose Weight vs. Lose Fat demonstrates the significant purpose of this, but in a flash summary what’s important is that you’d ideally like to retain the muscle mass on your body and burn the fat, as opposed to losing both combined. The end result is a lean physique that is appealing to the eye instead of just a smaller version of the previous you. If we’re going to engage in getting in shape, we might as well make sure that it is fat that is being burned off our bodies.

For most, the experience of “cutting” (losing weight/burning fat/etc.) is a long-winded journey that focuses on eating healthy and restricting the overall intake of food in the first place. This is a good start, but quickly leads to people faltering for a variety of reasons. You see, when you’re doing something that you don’t want to do it is easy to find reasons to cut corners, cheat, or give up altogether and rationalize why that is. It is natural, and I’ll go as far as to say, expected. It’s no fun, it doesn’t give you room to breathe and enjoy what you want, and you often wind up cracking. Let’s change this.

To understand how to burn fat we need to understand that the most important factor is making sure that you are below your maintenance calories each day. The fact that you burn more calories in a day than you intake through food is imperative through simple math. Needing 2,000 and eating only 1,600 will, over time, lead to fat loss. A safe amount to stick to below maintenance is anywhere from 200-600 calories. Now, what we’re looking for is to maximize how we look with the comfort of enjoying more types of food than we thought. How do we do this?

Low carb diets could be your answer. Many people have been led to believe that they work, but for the wrong reasons. Ad magazines want to scare you into thinking that carbs turn to fat, that you can’t eat them before bed, and that they make you gain weight. Maybe they could attack you while you sleep as well, no? The great misconception here is that it is not the carbohydrate that does any of this, it is the overall caloric count you manage to rack up each day. Too much of any macro-nutrient can lead to this result, whether it be fat, carb, or protein. All of them are made up of calories, and in the end, the amount of calories you consume through food will be the determining result (bringing us back to the maintenance calories concept mentioned above). However, lowering carbs in exchange for fats can be your key towards burning that fat. Again, it’s not because one is more magical than the other, but lowering carbs in exchange for fats might be the ticket to success for many for a variety of reasons.

Carbohydrates make you retain water, while proteins dehydrate you. Increasing the amount of protein you eat at the expense of carbs will ensure that you look the leanest possible, regardless of body weight, throughout this whole process. Carbohydrates give you that dreaded “bloated” look, so often you’re left looking bigger than you are because your cells are storing a ton of extra water. The combination of fat and protein will help avoid this, making you look leaner than you are based on the scale itself. However, these are just the minor bonus factors.

It is also the easiest to cut carbs, something many people may disagree with. Yes, we all have sugar cravings, we all want carbs, and that’s part of the larger picture keeping people from losing weight. However, the reason we have these cravings is because that is what we put in our bodies. Fat substitutes can crush that sugar crave, keeping you from over-eating. Fat is essential to our bodies (Good Fat vs. Bad Fat) and it can be a great substitute for energy. Many people know that carbohydrates give us energy, but fat can do it too, and often times even better. Fat digests slower, giving you more sustained energy.

By focusing on eating higher fats and protein at the expense of carbohydrates, you can get more out of cutting (less bloat/water weight) as you’re dieting, make sure that you have a wider variety of foods available to fill your caloric needs for the day (keeping you satiated, keeping you more rooted to the cause and not cheating), and give you energy without the possible crashes (which often accompany certain carbohydrates – particularly in higher amounts). Low carb diet foods are plenty, let’s go over some options.

Diet Possibilities:

Some of these may seem a little unconventional, but they’ll help achieve your goals. You might question how you could eat these things when trying to lose fat, but like explained above, high fat + high protein works for many precisely because of the foods available. Clean Food Bad Food might give you some more perspective.

Sausage/hot dogs – yeah, add some ketchup or mustard and eat this solo without bread/buns. Perfect pre-workout meal. High fat, but relatively low protein, so add some protein source if you feel you’re low for the day.

Bacon – it’s allowed. Everything in moderation, of course. Add some to your scrambled eggs and you have a great breakfast option.

Grilled Beef Patties – 300 calories, 30 grams of protein. Fat/Protein greatness. Available in the freezer at your local market, check out Salmon/Turkey patties too, same protein without the fat. You can gauge what you need for that particular meal based on how much of what you have had for the day so far. Delicious.

Boiled Eggs w/Yolk – bad cholesterol from egg yolks? Yeah, right. That’s a myth (unless you’re already suffering from extremely high cholesterol, cause then of course it wouldn’t help either). Fat/Protein, with the protein being the best protein source available.

Steak – I don’t think this one needs any explanation.

A) Herring Fillets in sauce – come in a can like tuna, except they’re rich in Omega 3s and have a high fat/protein ratio. Basically, a meal on its own considered they’re dipped in sauces like tomato, for example.

B) Herring Fillets – slices of herring, can add them to another meal or eat a couple on their own. Once again, high Omega 3s same benefits as option A.

You want a different idea for a salad? Chop up some sausage and mix it with other types of vegetables, such as peppers and onions, add some low calorie sauce and mix it all in a bowl. Preferably as a warm meal that you can make in a pot. Same end result, without “fat-free” or “sugar-free” dressings necessary that you know don’t taste nearly as good.

Almonds are your snack of choice throughout this journey. Unsalted. (Any nuts will do, in fact)

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Of course, as long as you are below your overall maintenance each day you will wind up losing fat (if your protein intake stays high so we avoid muscle loss as well – hitting the gym to make sure this is the case won’t hurt). However, this is a great separate road you can take to achieve the results you are looking for that’s outside of the regular mundane brown rice and grilled chicken routine. Furthermore, having a meal or two with carbs throughout the day is not the end of the world. If you require it to switch things up, or need it for the calories, it’s fine. Just make sure you stick to complex carbs because they increase your satiety greatly (whole wheat, brown rice, etc.).

Burning fat doesn’t have to be mundane, it doesn’t have to be routine and tasteless. Keep those calories under maintenance (not too much!) and you’ll wind up achieving your goals whether you use a low carb diet or any other diet. The key points are: keep protein high, exercise can only help. The reason I say the latter is because you technically do not require exercising, it can certainly help if you want the best results. For those of you weight lifting, hitting the gym is obviously imperative, however, a low carb diet can work for anybody. It is up to you to get creative, find low carb foods, and come up with ideas in the kitchen. What matters is that it is possible, so if you’re up for it try it out and see where it takes you. For a relevant topic on weight loss, check out our Easy Ways to Lose Weight article. Good luck!

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Calculating maintenance calories is the first and foremost step that needs to be taken before an individual can specifically target losing weight or building muscle mass. Maintenance calories, in this regard, are the fundamental starting point that can’t be omitted if you are really serious about achieving your fitness goals. After all, if you don’t know how many calories are needed to maintain your weight, how can you possibly know how many calories you need to lose weight or gain muscle? Let’s begin with the basics.

Calories In vs. Calories Out:

Following the basic laws of science, if you take in more calories through food per day than you wind up burning through activity that same day, over time you will put on weight. On the other hand, if you take in less calories than you wind up burning, over time you will lose weight. Of course, the key is consistency once you figure out your particular goal of weight loss or muscle gain. You can’t be all over the place (irregular) with your intakes if you wish to succeed.

Following this concept, how will you know if you’re over your maintenance calories or under if you don’t know that maintenance in the first place? Well, you can adjust your diet and weigh yourself each week, noting the results and making changes as you go along. However, that’s not exactly what we’re here for, right? Successful results take time, but with the same token, we can’t be wasting valuable time attempting to figure out if what we’re doing each week will yield results. It’s too troublesome, and often times you can wind up staying the same weight and losing a week of results in the process. Adding to this dilemma, irregularity in daily caloric intake can greatly hamper results, since you don’t bother counting calories as there’s no goal amount that you’ve established in the first place. Sounds like an escalating mountain of obstacles? It is. Fortunately, you’re here because you want to figure out your maintenance calories, and we’re glad to help you.

There are two very well known equations that you can use, and I’m not going to tell you which one is better because they are both popular equations for figuring out maintenance calories. Your best bet is to use both, and average out the final number for the best guesstimation.

Harris-Benedict equation: Maintenance (Men) = 66.47 + (6.23*your weight in pounds) + (12.67*your height in inches) – (6.76*age in years)

Maintenance (Women) = 655 + (4.34*your weight in pounds) + (4.69*your height in inches) – (4.68*age in years)

This method was the original method developed in 1919, it’s still very useful to this day (otherwise we wouldn’t be sharing it with you!)

Mifflin equation: Maintenance (Men) = (10*weight in kilograms) + (6.25*height in centimeters) – (5*age in years) + 5

Maintenance (Women) = (10*weight in kilograms) + (6.25*height in centimeters) – (5*age in years) -161

This method is pretty recent and takes into account our more modern lifestyle.

The two methods obviously have different measuring standards so here are the conversions:

1 inch = 2.54cm (Ex. Someone 6 feet tall (6*12 inches = 72 inches)(72*2.54cm =182.88cm)

2.204 pounds = 1 kilogram (Ex. Someone who is 180 pounds = 180/2.204 = 81.67kg)

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Before you go on with the calculations, you have to keep in mind that these numbers will be a guesstimate. You will not know the exact number no matter what you do, but you can definitely come close enough to where the difference is negligible. Furthermore, the end amount that will come from these equations will be determined without factoring in your activity levels. This is a very important problem, because although the calories needed to maintain weight may be the same for individuals with eerily similar stats, their activity levels might be extremely different and make that calculated maintenance quite a bit off. Clearly, the number you get from these equations will work better for an individual who lives a sedentary lifestyle (office job) as opposed to someone who does high a high level of activities (construction). We’re also not counting any gym-going.

In order to solve this problem, we can go about it in 2 different ways:

1) Shortcut Method:
Upon calculating your maintenance calories from the equations above, you can go buy the Jawbone Up3 Activity Tracker. It’s not necessary to do so, but if you want to cut the amount of work you are required to do, this is the most accurate gadget of the lot. The product basically allows you to wear a wristband which counts the amount of calories you are burning not only through activity, but even simple tasks such as breathing and sleeping. What’s good about it is that it actually does this accurately, and if you’re looking for something this precise the Jawbone Up3 is the best out there. Check out our Jawbone Up3 review if you want to know more about this. If you’re not inclined to spend money, no problem! Continue on with method #2 discussed below, it’s less precise, but it will certainly get the job done.

2) Trial and Error Method:
Upon calculating your maintenance calories, we have to do a little bit of improvising. This step is important, and it’s solely up to you. You have to account for your own activity levels throughout the day and guesstimate accordingly from there. If you hit the gym a few times a week, whatever your maintenance becomes, you’ll want to up it up to 500 calories (depending on how intense you are with your workouts, etc.) If you play sports, you do the same. For a ball park figure, I’d up the calculations 250 calories, and below you’ll learn what you can do from there.

Once you’ve estimated what your maintenance is (including the slight increase mentioned just above), it’s time to put it into action. Step on the scale and measure your weight for the next 3 days, each morning upon waking after using the bathroom. Take the average weight you get and use that as your body weight. For that next week, eat at the maintenance you’ve calculated here. Of course, you don’t need to hit it perfectly, round the number to the nearest 100^th. After a week, record your weight. If you’ve dropped a bit, it means you’re in a slight caloric deficit, if you’ve gained a little, you’re on a slight surplus. Since this article is simply about calculating, we’ll finish up by saying that whatever the result is after that week, it will determine your next step.

If you’re on a surplus, drop the calories a bit. If you’re on a deficit, up the calories a little bit. Do this for another week (remember, this is the trial and error part), and you should have a steady weight at the end of that week (anything up to a pound of a difference, because we have to account for possible water weight based on the type of food you eat). Also, keep in mind that you can skip this last step if you already know what you’re trying to do. If you are attempting to lose some weight, you don’t have to up the calories and adjust to find your maintenance…just keep going with the same amount you were using and balance from there as you continue to drop weight (less weight = less calories needed to maintain = small drops in maintenance to continue at the same pace). Of course, vice versa if you’re attempting to build size. However, the step is necessary if you first want to get your maintenance for sure, so that you can track your progress perfectly from the very beginning. Including the extreme that you wind up dropping weight during the time you’re trying to find your maintenance (and you’re attempting to build size), it follows that you’ll up the calories quite a bit more to not only remove the counter-productive deficit but also go above maintenance. It might sound confusing, but it’s not! Just stick to the Calories In vs. Calories Out understanding and you’ll be fine.

(Below you’ll find some guesstimated/rounded maintenance calorie counts – little to no physical activity)

Males:

Age: 20, Height: 5’10, Weight: 180lbs – 2,200 calories

Age: 25, Height: 6’1, Weight: 200lbs – 2350 calories

Age: 30, Height: 5’7, Weight: 160lbs – 1975 calories

Females:

Age: 20, Height: 5’2, Weight: 110lbs – 1,460 calories

Age: 25, Height: 5’7, Weight: 135lbs – 1670 calories

Age: 30, Height: 5’4, Weight: 120lbs – 1500 calories

Once your maintenance calories are figured out and you’re on the right track, for best results in regards to your specific goal, visit our Calories Per Day? article so you know what the best caloric surplus/deficit is for muscle gain/fat loss respectively. Good luck!

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There’s been plenty of times where I’ve heard someone say they need to run to “lose that gut”, or “get back in shape”, assuming running alone is going to cure their bodily woes. If that’s all it truly took I guarantee you plenty more people would be in shape than really are. The assumption, however, is understandable. For an average individual with a “decent” diet that is around their maintenance calorie count, adding a physical activity such as running into the equation will indeed bring results. Assuming their diet stays the same and they do not increase how much they eat due to the fact they began running (which, by the way, is the worst thing you can do…rewarding yourself for running is not going to get you results!), their overall calories consumed per day will drop and they will go below their overall maintenance amount per day. This, in turn, will allow the body to burn fat. Keeping this ideal example in mind, we all know it usually isn’t the case. Therefore, we must account for all these other factors if we really want to use running to get our bodies into the fat burning zone, simply adding it into the equation will most likely not produce results. It’s going to be a good factor in improving your cardiovascular health and keeping your heart healthy, but your regular expected results…most likely won’t occur unless you fit into that ideal scenario.

To change this and make running a great way to help you lose fat, since we’re already on the topic and it’s pretty much explained above, is to add it to your overall altered lifestyle that includes eating a bit less. As is the case with not being able to use exercises to lose belly fat, it also follows that you won’t be able to get results simply from running (again, excluding the scenario above). Therefore, you have to make sure that you really put your focus into your diet as well and stay restrictive to get to the point you want to get to and get that fat off. A good diet is absolutely essential for results. This is a recurring theme, and may seem to be abused around here, but it’s only because we know you’ve been shown myths of quick and easy results through the media and it’s time to stop being conned, and get the results you are really looking for. For overall diet tips when trying to lose fat, check out our Healthy Foods to Eat To Lose Weight article.

Getting back onto the topic of the actual article, running is not necessary to achieve fat loss. As mentioned, it is simply one of many ways. Consider running a “supplement” to help you achieve more calorie loss in a day than the amount you consume through food (calories in < calories out). As long as you make sure that you burn more than you consume in a day, you will achieve fat loss. You can get ripped without doing a single cardio session, I’m serious. On another note, you will not speed up the process by cutting calories significantly and then running on top of that, so don’t get the wrong idea. All that will do is lead to muscle loss and nobody wants that to happen. There’s a big difference between losing weight and losing fat.

By the way, I am not advocating that you do no cardio. I’m simply stating that it is possible to achieve your fat loss goals without ever having to run. Whether you include it as a supplement to your routine is up to you. I’d say it’s a good idea, not only for overall cardiovascular health but also because it allows you to burn off some extra calories to make up for a cookie or something else you’ve eaten to keep sane in the process. If you’re serious though, you’ll find ways to keep sane by finding good things to snack on that are healthy and low in calories, sugar snap pea anyone?

Quick Tip: Consume a higher amount of protein and a lower amount of carbohydrates to enhance your body composition and “look” a bit more lean than you really are because protein is a diuretic (drains water weight), while carbohydrates retain water weight. Water weight often bloats you and makes you look fatter than you are. Watching your sodium won’t hurt either. Running has its place in achieving fat loss, I’d recommend it. However, don’t consider it magic. It is, as mentioned, only one of many supplemental tools. Good Luck!

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Many people don’t realize that with some small fine-tuning, they can accomplish looking fit in the process of losing weight, in the form of losing fat. Although going to the gym and working out is a huge plus, it’s not necessary to see some noticeable benefits when it’s all set and done. In order to understand how this process works, we need to first understand the key difference between the definitions of losing weight and losing fat. The former includes muscle mass, while the latter excludes it. Looking skinnier, yet bland, is the work of the former, while looking more fit is the work of the latter. The sole contributor to this difference is the concept of sparing muscle mass.

Now, before I continue I don’t want to get too scientific and tricky with you, so it’s best you take a look at our articles on: Calories Needed For Maintenance, and How Much Protein per Day for a better understanding and best results. However, to continue, let’s do a little background. There’s 3 major macro-nutrients that calories are made of, and they are: Fats, Protein, and Carbohydrates. In order to build muscle, or sustain it, protein intake must be high. Unfortunately, most people don’t know this, and when they drop the amount of food they eat they drop the protein as much, if not more, than the other two. Since their body does not receive enough to maintain their muscle mass, it withers away along with the fat (if they are successful in eating less calories total than they burn through activity per day). The end result is simple weight loss. (Illustrated below:)

As you can see, the individual technically looks better because he’s leaner overall, but there’s no major changes outside of that visible fact. This is where the stark contrast between fat loss and weight loss is visible. With fat loss, you not only look leaner but more defined, because whatever muscle mass you’ve preserved is more visible (whereas with weight loss, this doesn’t change). With that being said, this can easily be obtained by keeping protein intake high, and eating less carbohydrates and fats to make up for the difference. Therefore, instead of having meatballs and potatoes, a wiser choice would be having grilled chicken and broccoli. Not only will that meal have less calories, but the protein ratio in regards to the big 3 will be much higher, allowing for the sparing of muscle mass (if this is continued properly over time, yet overall calories continue being less than what you burn per day through activity – learn more in the linked articles). The end result will be fat loss, and a more fit look. (Illustrated below:)

Just a small note about the picture above: This individual clearly hit the gym hard in order to achieve his results. Do not mistake his hard work for a simple diet with a higher protein intake. However, the premise is the same. Assuming the transformation follows a direct change from left to right, he already had that muscle mass under all that fat. By stripping away the fat (and the fat only), while retaining that muscle mass, this was his result. If you’ve never hit the gym, and you don’t while you attempt to lose fat, much of your natural muscle mass can be preserved while the fat strips away, for a similar transformation on a much smaller scale.

Like I’ve stated, you don’t even need to go to the gym to see noticeable improvement in body composition when you’re trying to lose weight (hopefully after reading this, fat!), as long as you keep the protein intake high. Although it is ideal to hit the gym to keep those muscles working so that your body knows they are useful and shouldn’t be broken down, you’ll save a good portion of your muscle mass simply by keeping that protein ratio higher, since the protein will help sustain that muscle mass as its the central building block of it in the first place. Although without gym the results won’t be amazing (nowhere near those in the picture shown above, I stress this once again), they will result in a much more fit look than if you were to continue with the regular trend of losing overall weight and winding up like the first of the two pictures. If that’s all you’re looking to do, go for it. However, for such a small difference in lifestyle, simple cost/benefit shows you that losing fat trumps losing weight when you factor in the end result. So be smart about it, and start losing fat, not weight. Good luck!

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Most people tend to focus their progress solely on the scale. If their weight fluctuates, they act accordingly. Gained a couple of pounds? Time to diet. Lost a couple of pounds? Everything’s going great. The problem with this, however, is that actual fluctuations in weight that can change your body composition for the longer-term do not occur in a day or two (well, unless you’re participating in severe binges composed of cake-eating contests – we’ll assume that’s not the case). Therefore, looking at the scale from day to day to gauge whether you’ve lost or gained weight is not a proper way to assess what’s going on.

If you want to be sure you’ve gained or lost weight, you must check the scale on a weekly basis and see what the results are from week to week. Daily changes mostly occur based on the foods you eat, and are not an accurate depiction.  Without veering off track, the reason they’re not accurate is because they are based off of the amount of water weight that is in your system. Ever wonder why you look your best upon waking up? The amount of water weight in your system is low, because you have not eaten since the night before. As a result, your body’s glycogen stores are lower and your body has dumped some water out of your muscles and liver. This makes you feel leaner, and look leaner, albeit temporarily. Once you eat, you’ll start looking fuller and feel as if you’ve gained a couple of pounds in one day. Rest assured, that’s not the case.

Without writing a thesis on this topic, the reason we’re discussing water weight is because that’s the only thing that sweating affects. Sweating, in and of itself, does not help you lose weight. What it does, however, is lower the amount of water weight in your system. Naturally, if you’ve got a couple of pounds of water weight in your body and you begin to sweat profusely, you’re going to sweat some of that weight away. People mistake this slight fluctuation with actual weight loss, and that’s how this myth came about.

Now, a good benefit of getting people to sweat is the fact that producing sweat usually involves engaging in some type of physical activity, which will burn calories. By burning calories, you can aid your fat loss goals by increasing your caloric expenditure. Consistently being in a slight caloric deficit (by burning more calories in a day than you consume) is the key to successfully losing fat. To learn about the optimal caloric deficit, visit our Calories Per Day article.

Outside of pushing you to burn more calories by doing physical activities and sweating, sweating itself plays no other beneficial role in weight loss. As you’ve learned, water weight is a daily fluctuation that is based on what you eat, so even if you sweat some water weight away, it can be back after one meal. Imagine if sweating actually played a major role in losing weight, don’t you think people would simply sit in a sauna and come out 10 pounds lighter each day? Maybe some believe that’s possible, but they’re certainly misinformed. Sure, by sweating some people may quickly see a weight fluctuation, but it is a temporary difference. Always keep that in mind. The key to successful fat loss is not sweating, but consistency with diet (and physical activity, ideally).

In order to really focus on losing weight, you need to learn how to eat below your maintenance calories, and over time accomplish your goals in a healthy and satisfying way. Weight loss is a long-term objective, and sweating isn’t a long-term solution. Focus on the only thing that matters, the calories. Good luck!

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For many, the aftertaste of grapefruit is very bitter, and may be the main reason they stay away from having a couple servings of this fruit a week. For others, it’s the reason they indulge in grapefruits on a consistent basis. Well, I have good news for the latter group and a challenge for the former (it’s time to suck it up!). Grapefruit has been shown to aid fat loss because it reduces insulin spikes after meals. To quickly explain, high insulin levels contribute to weight gain and halt fat loss. During such spikes, your body is prevented from using fat for fuel. Even if you are eating low amounts of food and doing everything else right, your progress may be strongly thwarted due to insulin spikes. That’s the last thing you want to hear, right? Therefore, to help moderate these insulin spikes, fight back with a serving of grapefruit after a big meal.

Another benefit of eating grapefruit after meals is that it contains naringin (a flavanol, which is a plant based chemical). Naringin extends the thermogenic (fat-burning) effect of caffeine, acting to reinforce the strength of the already established thermogenic effect of caffeine (a thermogenic raises body temperature, which in turn makes a very slight impact in the amount of calories you wind up burning). It has also been shown to suppress hunger and is the reason for that bitter aftertaste! Keeping in tandem with our green tea in your diet article, grapefruit and green tea may be a powerful duo in your mission for fat loss.

However, large doses of grapefruit are not recommended for those on medications because naringin has been shown to have an impact on digestive enzymes that help break down these drugs. A grapefruit or two a day after meals, or with some caffeine-based drink is the best way to go. Unfortunately, as with many mythical rapid weight loss fads, there’s articles out there advocating “grapefruit diets.” Do not follow these ridiculous ideas. Although keeping grapefruits in your diet may aid with fat loss, going to buy bags of them in hopes they’ll keep you away from food is an unfortunate myth. Remember, consistency is key, and it is no different when it comes to dieting. Enjoy a grapefruit serving here and there, especially after heavier meals, and reap the small but positive benefits. Good Luck!

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Article written by D. Curt. – and the results posted are his, based on developing and following the general principles shown here.

There are 3 main areas I’d like to address in this article, areas that I found were the biggest contributing factors to my cutting success. The principles are simple, however, you must not only come to understand them but adapt them to your body to get the most optimal results. Everybody is different, so everybody has to track their own progress and make the necessary tweaks.

1. Nutrition

It all starts in the kitchen something most look right past. If you’re planning to get lean or cut down to lose body fat, then you must do exactly that, plan it.

Recommendations:

a) Protein – there has been alot of discussion and confusion as to how much protein should be consumed lately. The method I like best is that of Alberto Nunez (WNBF Pro) who stated that the intake of protein should be what you aim to be in lean weight (lbs) in grams. For example, if I wanted to weigh 190lbs lean, I would strive for 190g of protein per day. There are times when protein may need to be increased a bit more, this especially holds true when there is a need for carbs or fats to be lowered (low carb diets) whilst maintaining the same energy balance (same amount of calories). In simple terms, it’s all about replacement. You compensate for the loss of carbs or fats with protein (most often) in order to stay close to your maintenance calorie threshold.

Protein Sources:

Chicken Breast, Tuna, Turkey, Lean beef mince/pork mince, salmon, basa fillets, whey protein powder, casein protein powder (especially important either in the morning or before going to bed for its slow and timed release).

b) Carbohydrates – when it comes to carbohydrates it is all about maintaining stable blood glucose levels in order to avoid cortisol & catabolism in the process. For that reason, sources of carboyhydrates should be complex/low gi, this also ensures that insulin levels do not fluctuate too rapidly and we are getting a slow release of energy throughout our day to meet our energy demands.

Carb Sources:

Grained breads (whole-grain/multi-grain/whole wheat), sweet potato, oats, long grain white rice/basmatti/brown rice, high fibre spaghetti or pastas.

c) Fats – it is important to obtain fats from each of the following sources in your diet. While we don’t want to completely abstain or ignore saturated fats, keeping them at a minimum is important as they have much larger bonds (chemically speaking). As a result, they take much longer to be broken down into readily available fuel for exercise. Because of that, we want unsaturated fats as our primary consumption & to avoid hydrogenated oils & mcg (found in alot of processed/greasy foods).

Fat Sources:

Monounsaturated: almonds, olive oil, canola oil, avocado, peanut butter, peanuts.

Polyunsaturated: walnuts, margarine, (egg yolks are a good mix of both).

Fish oils (omega 3, 6, 9, EPH/DHA): oily fish, fish oil capsules, margarine.

2. Cardio

Cardio should be thought of as a bonus supplement which can help you lose body fat. It also has direct effects on heart hypertrophy and lung functions, which are integral for living a healthy lifestyle and achieving longevity. Either way, I would definitely recommend some sort of cardiorespiratory training alongside your nutrition and weighted workouts for the health benefits alone.

As an important aside, I’d like to mention that even though cardio may be a supplement, many people would benefit from it when it comes to leaning out. For some, however, cardio isn’t needed to continually lose body fat. This is directly related to the fact that their basal metabolic rates/metabolism is much higher than the average person, thus they burn fat more efficiently both at rest & during exercise (may just use weighted workouts as  their form of cardio). In these cases, quite often, dieting alone can get the job done when it comes to building their sculpted physique.

Recommendations:

Frequency: 3-5x per week (after workouts, as this is when your glycogen stores are depleted)

Intensity: 55-70% MHR (55-65% is the optimal zone where fats are predominantly burned, any point after that & carbohydrates become the primary source of fuel). This type of training is referred to as LISS, don’t be afraid to try HIIT methods either (High intensity Interval Training). If you’re using a HIIT protocol for the purpoe of fat loss, rest ntervals directly equivaent to the amount of work intervals work best i.e if you’re going to work/run at high intensity for 20 seconds then you also rest for 20 seconds.

Both methods are equivalent to each other in terms of amount of fat burned, for those who lack time, HIIT is a great way of getting the same benefits without being on a treadmill or bicycle for long periods of time.

Duration: For LISS a minimum of 30 minutes is recommended, personally I usually do 30-40 minutes & aim to burn 250-300 calories. A minimum of 15 minutes (including warmup) is needed to see any health-based benefits. Again, if you wish you use HIIT as your form of cardio, it would be good to start using a duration which you can comfortably complete. You have to lose that body fat!

3. Supplementation

Like cardio, supplements are an added bonus in helping you achieve your goals. Rememeber to do as the labels say, ‘dont use as a sole source of nutrition‘ as they are only there to help.

Recommendations:

Many of these can be found in foods, however, I would still advise getting the pill/capsule forms as the amount accumulated from foods is often not enough in order to achieve the desired effects.

 Fat-burning ingredients in many supplements: all these have some sort of proven efficacy.

1. ECGC (epigallocatechin-3-gallate)

Found in: Green tea.

Its function: Powerful antioxidant, speeds up metabolism.

2. CLA (Conjugate linoleic acid)

Found in: Eggs, Kangaroo steak, meats

Its function: Said to target visceral adipose fat (the fat surrounding the organs)

3. Inositol (phytic acid)

Found in: Lecithin, fibre, legumes & grains

Its function: Plays a role in the fat metabolism process.

4. Niacin (vitamin B3)

Its function: Interacts with several hormones including the adrenal gland -

relates to metabolism.

5. Caffeine Anyhydrous

Found in: tea, coffee, energy drinks

Its function: speeds up metabolism, more effective sarco-plasmic muscle pumps (allows more time before fatigue as it is a great source of energy).

6. Cayenne/Capsicum/Spices

Its function: Acts as a thermogenic in the body, elevating bodily heat levels via metabolic means (allowing for more calories to be burned).

7. Guarana/Ginseng

Its function: Very  similar role to caffeine, however it is twice the potency, so be careful not to go overboard (speeds up metabolism, also acts as  strong antioxidant).

8. Hoodia

Its function: A powerful appetite suppressant, if you have trouble controlling the amount you eat and tend to go overboard, get your hands on some of this.

9. Apple Cider Vinegar

Its  function: Acts as a bodily thermogenic along with impressive antioxidant effects.

Useful Supplements:

1. Casein/Whey Protein  (post workout/before bed/meal replacement)

2. BCAA’s (anytime of the day, a good idea to use during cardio)

3. Creatine Monohydrate (3-5g per day, increases ATP re-synthesis, aiding strength & lean muscle gains)

4. Waxy Maize/Dextrose/Malto-dextrose (post-workout, 50-80g in order to cause an insulin spike).  Assists in the uptake & delivery of protein to the recently trained muscles.

5. Multivitamin, Night Multivitamin (helps you hit the recommended daily intake for vitamins and minerals which you may be deficient in if relying on diet alone).

It’s time to lose body fat, and get the physique you want. Don’t rely solely on your workout routine to give you the results you need, because without focusing on nutrition and diet you will not be able to attain the type of look you desire. Throw in cardio to give you that extra boost, and use supplements wisely (if you use them at all). Good Luck!

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