Lose Fat, Gain/Maintain Muscle

[BeardedOneParticipant 57]

I’m trying to figure out how I can lose fat & still keep most of my muscle. On a calorie deficit, muscle is naturally sacrificed, but I’ve read that whey protein or other protein powders can help prevent muscle loss. The theory is that if you keep your protein levels high & your carbs low, you should be able to lose fat & maintain or even gain muscle — gaining apparently isn’t likely. I’m just looking to keep as much of my muscle as I can.

I lost about 95 pounds when I was 17-18 by basically just walking & biking epic amounts of miles. I lifted minimally & I didn’t make an effort to keep my protein levels up. So I went from 280 to 185 & I was basically just a skinny bastard. I lost this weight in about 7 months — approximately 3.5lbs a week. After I lose this weight, I ended up getting with a girl who is now my ex-wife, got comfortable, ate a lot of trash, & 5 years later ended up being back up to 265lbs again.

I’m currently going through a lot of s~~~, & I’m back in my mode of epic treks. I basically have to do this & I pretty much can barely bring myself to eat. This is just how I react to adversity. Except this time, I’m making an effort to up my protein intake & lift at least every other day. I can’t do anything about how much I end up reducing my calorie intake by, & I can’t stop myself from constantly moving. I understand this isn’t necessarily healthy, but what I am eating is way healthier than before. So, has anyone here had any luck treading the line of fat loss/muscle maintenance?

By the way, after I get back down around 190-200lbs, I’m going to increase my calorie intake again & hit the weights hard. I just have to get to my goal first.

 

[MjolnirParticipant 23]

 

To be fair, if you want to lose fat and gain muscle, do it right from the start. Work out with weights a few times a week and preferably do big exercises that involves a lot of muscle. Weight is less important, good stimulation of the muscle is the key. At least i found (went down 25 lbs over 3 months in this summer and lost around 12% body fat).

Quality of food doesn’t matter, it’s the amount you eat. At least until you are starting to get lean. Focus on not eating too little protein or fat, both are important for your body. Don’t undereat calories either, you’ll stall in your weight loss and tank your energy levels. I think one pound of fat can lose 30ish calories per day. So there’s a limit how much you can lose. So I’d get an online calorie calculator and calculate you energy requirements, then reduce it by 750ish-1000 calories per day. This means about 1kg/ 2.2 pounds per week lost.

You’ll lose weight fast at the beginning and you’ll stop for a while, just continue eating the same every day and it will eventually continue. The bigger caloric deficit you have,t he more often you will stall in your weight loss. Get some multivitamin pills and omega 3 fat oil as well if you can.

Dont weight yourself more often than once a week or you might start getting obsessed with the weight.

Losing fat comes down to easy and hard, it’s really easy to do, the basics are very simple to understand. The hard part is sticking too it every day and sometimes doing less than you want to do to lose weight.

[RoyDalParticipant]

I need to weigh in on this. Quality of food does matter! Sugar and starch cause your body to store fat. That is a fact of human physiology. It has to do with the insulin metabolism. Therefore, avoid sugar and starch. Some research is in order — there are heaps of books and articles on this.

Sgt. Moore issues weight loss advice:

(The diet plan starts at the 2 minute mark.)

Society asks MGTOWs: Why are you not making more tax-slaves?

[johnconnor777Participant 85]

RoyDal is totally right, it is not the same eating 2000 kcal of McDonalds crap that the same amount of kcal in organic food. The best two pieces of advice I can give you are: 1.  to lose weight you basically need to use more calories per day than you take int, simple right? but in order to maintain the muscle mass, try increasing the % of the macro that is protein (something like 40/40/20).

2.  As much as possible cook your meals, use fresh fruits and vegetables, quality meats and fish… and above all UNPROCESSED food. It is amazing how simple is cooking using slow cookeers or a pressure cooker, and that’s the best way to know what you are actually putting on it. I’d say that diet is like 60-80 of everything, you can work out like crazy and run 10 miles a day that if your intake is crap, you won’t see much change.

 

Cheers

 

[RoyDalParticipant]

johnconnor777 wrote:

As much as possible cook your meals

This might come in handy .. once you claw your way past the ads. I haven’t thought of these guys for years, but I used to be an avid reader back in the old days. You have my thanks for siccing me on them again!

Muscle & Fitness Magazine / Nutrition and recipes section
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/nutrition

Society asks MGTOWs: Why are you not making more tax-slaves?

[DukeParticipant 6]

Fasting w/ just water..is also a very powerful experience!!

[DukeParticipant 6]

A slow sustained burn of the muscle….will reap a different type of muscle than a herky / jerky type weight lifting.

[RoyDalParticipant]

Why weight training is better for your waistline than running
A new Harvard study has found that weight training is a better way of keeping the middle-aged spread at bay than aerobic activity
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/11310141/Why-weight-training-is-better-for-your-waistline-than-running.html

Duke is right:

A slow sustained burn of the muscle….will reap a different type of muscle than a herky / jerky type weight lifting.

Keep your movements slow and careful. Observe strict form. Resist the urge to throw body English into the move to get more reps or a higher weight — really, don’t do that!

Society asks MGTOWs: Why are you not making more tax-slaves?

[MendokusaiParticipant 256]

Yes and my trainer tells me that if you only have time for one exercise dead lifts are best.Forget about how much you are lifting and concentrate on how you are lifting.

[DualityParticipant 9]

Hello,

 

Here is my advice in the simplest of terms, you have to understand there is a lot of information out there, sources that say do this and do that etc etc etc. So it can become a very confusing thing for someone who is starting out.

Simple way to put it, start looking into BCAA’s and do some HIIT. 

Ever wonder why marathon runners look like they are about to die from cancer because they have no muscle mass yet sprinters have insanely nice sculpted greek bodies? Sprinters do HIIT. Marathon runners cardio.

 

HIIT Conserves and helps stimulate and build muscle while burning fat.

 

Now BCAA’s spare muscle after a workout, you drink them ( do not take them in pill form) mix it in with your water and drink them before any kind of HIIT session and it will spare muscle and cut fat. Every person that is serious about bodybuilding at some point of their training uses BCAA’s.

 

 

Now Incorporate some 20-30 minutes of HIIT sessions within your weekly routine and within 1-2 months you will reap the benefits.

 

One question for you before I go, What is your training weekly like? do you train 2-3 times 4-5 times? what body parts you hitting per week?

 

Sometimes you want to make sure you are working out all body parts, squatting and dead lifts help release a huge amount of test and stimulate your body tremendously just like dips, pull ups, and bench press.

Many pro body builders dedicate a full day to squat and deads but only do it 2 times per month because they are that powerful exercises.

[DurandalParticipant 1]

I know I’m new here but I thought I’d weigh in with my own personal workout routine that is the result of 2 years of experimenting and research and learning on my own at the gym. It’s taken a while to get to this point but I am getting great results now that I’m doing this. Basically, I have four workout days:

Pull: biceps, forearms, upper back/neck

Core: abs, obliques, lower back

Push: triceps, chest, shoulders

Legs: quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors/abductors and calves

 

I cycle through these four workout days (in that order) and rest one day a week. So my workout routine repeats after two weeks, and those two weeks look like:

Week 1: Pull, Core, Push, Legs, Pull, Core, Rest

Week 2: Push, Legs, Pull, Core, Push, Legs, Rest

This has the benefit of working every muscle group 3 times per 2 weeks but still providing enough rest time for the muscles to fully heal before they are employed again, and breaks the workout up enough that I can really work on each group of muscles during my 1.5-2 hours at the gym per day. I don’t know if this would be helpful to anyone but I certainly hope so.

[ChevDogParticipant 30]

I went from 6’2″ and 208lbs with a 1RM of:

Bench: 155

Squat: 185

DL: 225

To weighing 192lbs with a 1RM of:

Bench: 225

Squat: 275

DL: 335

The way to do it is to hit you caloric intake on the money. My TDEE was 2300 cal/day. What you need to remember is that you really shouldn’t be basing you caloric intake on days. It should be on weeks. If you happen to eat more than planned and go over you TDEE one day, then make sure the next day you’re equally under. Now along with hitting you macros right on the dot, the food you eat also has to be good quality food. No McDonalds, no cake, no candy, no taco bell, no soda….. The list goes on.

Before you looks at loading up on supliments, learn to basic fundamentals of the way your body metabolizes food. Pick up some whey protein, start hitting the gym daily, add a HIIT to your workout, and make sure you’re not eating s~~~. Once you’ve gotten into a routine and understand what you should be eating and when, then look into suppliments like BCAAs, creatine, Omega 3s and such.

[d-fensParticipant 18]

I went from 130kg to 90kg and didn’t loose muscle mass. Basically eat 2000kcal per day (if you are an average male), if you go below that, your body will make shortcuts (reduce muscle). You can loose weight without doing any sports at all, if calories in < calories out. Cardio is fine if you don’t overdo it. Your body won’t reduce muscle if you run 10km every two days and eat afterwards. Of course a marathon runner looks pretty bad, but that is due to the fact that he has a diet to complement his sport goals (for a marathon runner it is more efficient to have less muscle). Doing weight lifting is obviously the best for the body frame, but by itself alone you won’t loose any fat from it. Muscle cells do not burn that much more energy than fat cells (it is a common myth). So the best bet is to do weight lifting, have a reduced caloric intake with sufficient protein intake (ideally directly after a workout) and reasonable “cardio” (running 10km _fast_) every other day.

 

Edit: HIIT is of course fine, but it is not strictly necessary for non-athletes. The bad thing about HIIT is that it puts a lot of stress on joints and your system, so that is a risk to take into consideration. HIIT is generally designed to increase VO2max in already very well trained athletes, for normal amateur sport people it has very little benefit compared a regular hard workout at 80% V02max (which is associated with much less risk).

[ChevDogParticipant 30]

Doing weight lifting is obviously the best for the body frame, but by itself alone you won’t loose any fat from it.

That’s not true. It depends what your goals are. It’s a fact that the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest. If you’re somebody that would like to focus more on building muscle, you will lose fat eventually as long as you’re not eating like s~~~. It will take a lot longer, but like I said, it’s about what your goals are. If BeardedOne’s goals are to lose fat while gaining muscle, as long as he has patience, weight lifting and healthy eating will eventually help him reach his goal.

 

[d-fensParticipant 18]

Sorry ChevDog but that is just not true. The resting metabolic rate of a male adult is 20 % brain, 15-20% heart, liver 15-20% and other organs also significant amounts. Muscle only accounts for 20-25% RMR. So if you calculate the average caloric need of a male adult at about 2000kcal at rest that is about 400kcal for all muscles. Now that is all muscles not only the ones you gain by doing exercise. At best you can gain 100-200kcal additional calories burnt/day by building and maintaining “exercise” muscle. Do get me wrong that is better than nothing, but there is a reason there is a lot of overweight people with lots of muscles. Running 1 hour on a tread mill burns 1000kcal. It is much more efficient.

[Brashen015Participant 4]

98 percent of the fitness community is bro science with that being said what works for me or anyone else may not work for you, or it may be amazing. Its gonna take work for you to find your own sweet spot. Lets start though with a few things we KNOW is true and then give you some areas to branch.

Calories in VS Calories out: You HAVE to be at a caloric deficit to lose weight. Find out what your RMR is and eat less then the calculation. A simple google search will get you a decent calculator which you can use as a starting point.

Weight training: Is a must else you will just be skinny fat, walk into any gym and see the cardio bunnys, they are fluffy no matter how much they run. Along with the lifting comes whey, creatine and the above mentioned branched chain amino acids. Although research isnt 100 percent on BCAA supplementation these 3 supplements are the most heavily researched and point to them being very beneficial.

Diet: you will not get ripped on mcdonalds. 1 gram per pound of bodyweight of protein is the way to go to ensure your muscles stick around.

Sooo no cardio? Yup thats right. That run on the hamster wheel for 2 hours, that 5 hour cycle ride. Both are known to burn CALORIES but your body is gonna use any fuel it has and muscle is fuel. Now the guy who mentioned HIT training was on the money. HIIT stands for high intensity Interval training which is fancy for intense sprints. See sprinting tells your body “Hey we need to be fast. This fat is dragging us down. Lets get rid of it, however keep that muscle or else we cant be fast. Muscle=speed.”

Now for some bro science of my own. If you want to lose fat and build muscle/maintain you can look into intermittent fasting or lean gains.

Im a rabid fitness enthusiast and im currently trying IF, its to soon for me to say go for it but give it a glance it might suit you. Ive been doing it for just about 2 months a bit less, however the scale has gone down a few pounds and the mirror ive seen some nice changes. Its not mind blowing but is a decent tool.

[Randall12Participant 0]

Hey BeardedOne!! One year ago I also wanted to lose fat but I didn’t want to lose my strong muscles. Then my friend suggested exercising regularly and taking Green drink every morning. He suggested adding natural weight loss ingredients in the drink. I followed all his instructions and lost weight within few weeks.

[RoyDalParticipant]

There’s something for everybody in this book, and it’s still in print after all these years:

The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding: The Bible of Bodybuilding, Fully Updated and Revised
by Arnold Schwarzenegger; Bill Dobbins
Simon & Schuster. 1999
ISBN 978-0684857213

Society asks MGTOWs: Why are you not making more tax-slaves?

[BDParticipant 1146]

Hey Brashen, the 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day is the golden rule when building muscle. Great point!

The best supplement you can have is your own inner fire of intensity, you must work your ass off without overtraining and burning muscle. Here is a link to an awesome program that will build muscle and burn fat. This program is for people who want to be ripped with strength and endurance, it is  not to become bulky, so always be sure to choose the appropriate program for your goals. I’ve tried this program and it causes some great muscle confusion and growth.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mft28-greg-plitts-4-week-military-fitness-trainer-by-met-rx.html

Because in order to be able to think, you have to risk being offensive.

[Author]

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