Build Lean Muscles and Lose Fats Permanently
Thank you for visiting our site. If your goal is to build lean muscles and lose fats permanently then you are at right place. Nutrition and exercise for building lean muscles and losing fats can be confusing subjects, so when you first get started, the initial challenge is that you don’t know what to do. Now that you have access to this program, knowing what to do will no longer be a problem. However, gaining knowledge is only half the battle. The far greater challenge for most people is applying that knowledge and taking action. There is a big difference between knowing what to do and doing what you know. Goals are the bridges that span this gap.
Transforming yourself from a sedentary, out-of-shape person to someone fit is not instant. Many people think they can change their bodies quickly, but fitness and good health don't come about overnight. That should be no surprise. After all, we didn't add those extra pounds or become unfit overnight. Shaping up is a process that has to start with a few fundamental steps. Figure out where you are, set realistic goals, and try to determine how you can accomplish them. Then begin Building lean muscles and Permanent Fat Loss Program. Here is a short detail how and what you will learn in this program to build lean muscle and lose fat permanently.
Step One: This might be the most important Section in this entire program – even though it has nothing to do with calories, protein, carbohydrates, fats, cardio, weights or anything else related to nutrition or training. You see, there is a simple, but critical procedure you must complete before you lift a weight, jog a mile, start a nutrition program or even set foot in the gym. If you successfully complete this procedure, the nutrition and training will come easy and a lean body will soon follow. If you ignore this step – like most people do – you are destined to fail no matter what you do or how hard you try. This crucial first step is goal setting. Download my short manual Fit-Goal. In this short manual I’d like to share with you the most powerful goal setting formula in the world, but before you will learn the hidden reasons why goal setting is so important. Then come back right here and read each section step by step. If you want you can download each article in pdf format to save in your pc by clicking on the pdf Icon on the top of each article.
What are Macronutrient Ratios?
What are Macronutrient Ratios?
We’re now ready to get into the nitty gritty of macronutrient ratios (Also called "nutrient ratios"). The first thing you should know is that nutrient ratios simply refer to the percentage of your total daily calories that come from protein, carbohydrate and fat. For example, 60-30-10 or 40-30-30 are nutrient ratios. A nutrient ratio of 30% protein on 2400 calories per day would be 720 calories of protein (.30% protein X 2400 calories = 720 protein calories).
Developing nutrition plans based on ratios of protein, carbohydrates and fats has been practiced for decades among bodybuilders. However, it wasn't until 1995 that nutrient ratios gained widespread attention from the public with the release of a book by Dr. Barry Sears called "The Zone." This book made “meal ratios” household words because the entire Zone program is based on the nutrient ratio of 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat (or "40-30-30"). By following the 40-30-30 ratios, Dr. Sears claimed you would lose weight, gain muscle, improve athletic performance and cure a whole host of diseases and health problems.
Two valuable lessons you can learn from the Zone Diet - even though 40-30-30 got thumbs down from most mainstream health and nutrition organizations
Despite its popularity and best-seller status, the Zone Diet has some serious shortcomings. The biggest flaw of the Zone program as Dr. Sears prescribed it in his 1995 book, is dangerously low calories. The Zone is basically just another very low calorie diet. That’s why Zone dieters often run into to the same pitfall that every other low calorie dieter succumbs to - the starvation mode.
Suppose you weigh 175 lbs. and your body fat is 10%. That means you have 17.5 lbs. of fat and your lean body mass (LBM) is 157.5 lbs. If you work out five times per week for one hour, then according to Dr. Sears, you should consume .8 grams of protein per lb. of LBM. That's an "activity factor” of .8 X 157.5 (LBM), which equals 126 grams of protein.
There are four calories in each gram of protein, so that's 504 calories from protein or 30% of your total calories. Your fats should also be 30% of your total calories. 504 fat calories, divided by nine calories per fat gram equals 56 grams of fat. Your carbohydrates should be slightly higher, about 40% of your total calories, or 672 carbohydrate calories. There are four calories in each gram of carbohydrate so that's 168 grams of carbohydrates. Add up all these calories and you get 1680 calories for the day:
Zone diet recommendations for a 175-pound moderately active man: Carbs: 672 calories = 168 grams = 40% of total calories Protein: 504 calories = 126 grams = 30% of total calories Fat: 504 calories = 56 grams = 30% of total calories Total: 1680 calories
1680 calories is too low for a moderately active man. The protein recommendations fall short as well: 126 grams of protein is plenty for a couch potato, but not enough to support a program with cardio and high intensity weight training. Will you lose weight on 1680 calories? Sure - but it won't be long before the starvation mode kicks in.
As a whole, the Zone program was denounced by nearly every mainstream health and nutrition organization in the world, including the American Dietetic Association, the Mayo Clinic, the American College of Sports Medicine, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and many others. However, you can learn some important things from the Zone by reading it selectively, plucking out the useful tidbits and throwing away the rest.
The Zone made two particularly important contributions to modern trends in nutrition that have shifted the predominant thinking about fat loss in the bodybuilding and weight loss world since 1995.
First, The Zone brought to the public's attention the importance of having a good balance between proteins, carbohydrates and fats instead of being heavily slanted towards mostly carbohydrate at the expense of protein and fat - a big mistake in our day and age of "fat phobia" and “high carbohydrate mania.” It also pointed out the dangers of eating large amounts of processed carbohydrates such as white breads, white pastas, fat free snack foods and baked goods.
The second important point made by the Zone program was the idea of always combining a lean protein and complex carbohydrate food at every meal. This is probably one of the most important aspects of a nutrition program designed for improving body composition, because it helps to control the hormones responsible for fat storage and it provides a steady flow of amino acids from protein foods for muscle growth and maintenance.
8 Reasons Why you Must Eat Lean Proteins and Complex Carbohydrates Together at Every Meal to Maximize Fat loss and Muscle Growth
8 Reasons Why you Must Eat Lean Proteins and Complex Carbohydrates Together at Every Meal to Maximize Fat loss and Muscle Growth.
To gain muscle and lose fat, it's not only unnecessary to separate carbohydrates and proteins - it's counterproductive. Here are 8 convincing scientific reasons why. Read them and then you be the judge of whether you want to eat a meal without your protein and carbohydrates.
1) To maintain positive nitrogen balance, a state where you are retaining more protein than you excrete, resulting in a net gain of muscle tissue, you must consume protein approximately every three hours. Proteins cannot be stored like carbohydrates. This requires protein feedings with every meal. Eat carbohydrates by themselves without protein, and your body must break down muscle to get the amino acids it needs (You "eat up" your own muscle tissue!)
2) To get the protein (amino acids) into the muscle cells efficiently requires insulin. Insulin is secreted most readily in response to eating carbohydrates. Therefore, a moderate (but not over-sized) portion of carbohydrate should be eaten with your protein to facilitate the uptake of the amino acids into the muscle cell. The exception to this rule is when you’re on a "contest diet," and carbohydrates are being restricted (More on carbohydrate restriction in chapter 12).
3) Eating carbohydrates by themselves, especially the simple variety, causes a rapid increase in blood sugar. Peaks in blood sugar are always followed by valleys in blood sugar (also known as "hypoglycemia"). Cravings, hunger and fatigue usually follow. If you get hunger or bad cravings, it could be because you're eating too many simple carbohydrates by themselves (Fat-free snack foods, etc.).
4) Quick elevations in blood sugar caused by eating carbohydrates by themselves cause a large release of insulin to remove the excess glucose from the bloodstream. A slow, moderate output of insulin is desirable; a large release of insulin is not. High concentrations of insulin in the bloodstream are lipogenic; they promote the storage of body fat as well as prevent stored body fat from being mobilized. In the long run, this can also lead to a diabetes-like condition in those genetically prone to it.
5) The body's stores of muscle glycogen are very limited (Between 300 and 400 grams). Muscle glycogen is the primary source of energy for weight training. If your glycogen levels become severely depleted, your training will suffer. Advocates of very low carbohydrate, high protein, high fat diets claim that your body will learn to function on fat and protein and they make convincing scientific-sounding arguments to back up their position. However, if you were to ask any champion bodybuilder how a low carbohydrate diet affects their training, virtually all of them would tell you that it reduces their energy, lowers their intensity, and makes it difficult to get a pump. Even on carbohydrate-restricted programs it's important to get some carbohydrates or your workouts will suffer badly. If you cut out your carbohydrates completely or separate your protein and carbohydrate feedings in a food-combining diet, your glycogen stores will be compromised. You need a slow and moderate, but steady flow of complex carbohydates throughout the day. Eating too many carbohydrates at once can cause fat storage, so the ideal way to consume them is in moderate portions at every meal.
6) Protein eaten with every meal slows the digestion of the carbohydrates, resulting in steadier blood sugar and energy levels and a more moderate output of insulin - without the ups and downs of eating carbohydrates by themselves.
7) Eating fiber-containing carbohydrates at every meal slows the digestion of the carbohydrates, resulting in a steadier blood sugar level and more moderate insulin output.
8) Eating protein at every meal enhances the thermic effect, which helps to speed up your metabolic rate. A meal consisting of only carbohydrate is less thermic than one containing a lean protein and a complex carbohydrate. A meal or snack that’s high in fat without protein is the least thermic of all (sugar and fat, i.e., doughnuts, pastries, potato chips, etc.).
The Ultimate Meal Combination for Burning Fats and Building Lean Muscles
The Ultimate Meal Combination for Burning Fats and Building Lean Muscles
In a muscle building and fat burning program, a meal is not a meal if it doesn't contain a complex carbohydrate and a lean protein. Occasionally, eating a piece of fruit, a nonfat yogurt, a cup of cottage cheese, a protein drink, or another carbohydrate or protein all by itself is fine, but that doesn't count as a full meal, it only counts as a "snack."
The ultimate meal combination for burning fat is a lean protein, a starchy carbohydrate and a fibrous carbohydrate eaten together at the same meal
Here are three examples of the "Ultimate meal combination"
Example 1:Brown Rice (complex carb) Mixed green salad (complex fibrous carb) Salmon (lean protein)
Example 2:Sweet potato (complex carb) Broccoli (complex fibrous carb) Chicken breast cutlet (lean protein)
Example 3: Oatmeal (complex carbohydrate) Egg white omelet with one yolk (lean protein) Grapefruit (natural simple carb – optional)
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Always Eat Proteins and Carbohydrates Together
The first rule of macronutrient ratios: Always Eat Proteins and Carbohydrates Together
Before we get into specific ratios and percentages, you must first understand the most basic rule of nutrient ratios: Your diet should never consist primarily of one food type or one macronutrient type; there must be a proper balance between proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Without even doing any sophisticated number crunching, you'll always be in the ballpark simply by having a serving of lean protein and a serving of complex carbohydrate at every meal. If you frequently eat carbohydrates or proteins by themselves, your ratios will be "out of balance" and your results will be compromised.
The myth of "food separating" and why it's not effective for improving body composition
A common myth in the diet world says that you should never eat certain carbohydrates and proteins together in the same meal. This diet fad is known as "food combining" (Actually, it would be more accurately described as "food separating," referring to the belief that certain combinations of foods, such as meat and potatoes, shouldn't be eaten together). Popularized in the 1980's by Judy Mazel's Beverly Hills Diet, Marilyn and Harvey Diamond's "Fit For Life Diet," and more recently by Don Lemmon's "Know How" diet, this fad still attracts followers to this day.
Arguments for separating proteins and carbohydrates usually go something like this: Protein digests in an acidic medium of pepsin (a digestive enzyme) and hydrochloric acid, while carbohydrates digest in an alkaline medium. Therefore, when protein and carbohydrates are consumed together, they can’t be fully assimilated, resulting in poor digestion, incomplete absorption of nutrients and gastrointestinal disturbances. Mazel went as far as to claim that by eating large quantities of fruit alone, the fruit enzymes would prevent the calories from being stored as body fat. It’s also been suggested that poor digestion from improper food combinations will weaken you, sap your energy and stress your immune system.
These ideas make for excellent book sales, but where this fad diet falls flat on its face is that it vastly underestimates the power of the human digestive system. There’s no evidence whatsoever supporting the practice of separating carbohydrate and protein feedings.
I know several people who say that these programs removed their gastrointestinal distress and made them “feel” better. However, I don't know a single bodybuilding or fitness champion who successfully uses "food combining" diets to achieve low body fat or excellent muscular development (Although there are some who get paid to say they do). If muscles and low body fat are your goals, then lean proteins and complex carbohydrates should always be eaten at every meal.
Calculate Your Calories First, then Split them up into the Proper Ratios of Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat
Calculate Your Calories First, then Split them up into the Proper Ratios of Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat
The first step in developing your own custom-tailored fat loss program is to do your calorie calculations. Only then should you divide up your daily allotment among the three macronutrients; carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Many authorities suggest calculating how many grams of protein, carbohydrates and fat you need based on bodyweight and then the calories will take care of themselves. There's some merit to this method if the gram recommendations are figured properly for your personal needs, but the shortcoming of this method is lack of precision; it can only give you a ballpark estimate.
For example, a common guideline for protein consumption is one gram per pound of bodyweight. Serious bodybuilders engaged in high-intensity training are often advised to eat as much as 1.25 to 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight. One gram per pound is an excellent general guideline for bodybuilding or fat loss programs. The problem with this method is the same one we discussed with calorie calculations based only on body weight – it doesn’t account for training and activity levels. Always calculate your calorie needs FIRST (based on activity, goals, body weight or lean body mass), then once you’ve figured out your calorie needs, you can divvy them up like you’d slice up a pie.
Dividing your calories into the right ratios can have a profound impact on your body composition. As in the tuna fish and potato chip example, two diets of equal calories can have totally different effects; one 2400-calorie diet can get you ripped and another 2400-calorie diet can get you fat.
Why a Calorie is not just a Calorie
Why a Calorie is not just a Calorie?
One misconception about fat loss is the conservative scientific view that "a calorie is just a calorie" and the only thing that matters is calories in versus calories out. If fat loss were that simple, then you could eat anything you wanted and you would still lose fat as long as your calories were below maintenance. For example, you could eat nothing but Hershey's bars and drink nothing but Coca Cola and if you were 100 calories under maintenance, you'd lose weight. Common sense alone tells you this isn't true.
If a calorie is just a calorie, then three diets at the same calorie level, the first composed of 100% protein, the second 100% carbohydrates and the third 100% fats, would all have the same effect on body composition. Believe me, a diet consisting of 100% tuna fish (lean protein) will not have the same effect as a diet consisting of 100% potato chips (fat and carbohydrate).
Calorie balance is the most important issue in fat loss but there's more to it than that. Other variables include the thermic effect of food, the effect of each food on hormones and blood sugar levels and the macronutrient ratios of each meal.
Is All This Calorie Counting Really Necessary or can You just Count “Portions”
Is All This Calorie Counting Really Necessary or can You just Count “Portions”
Some people claim that meticulous calorie counting is not practical. Instead they insist that you should count “portions.” Controlling portion sizes instead of calories is a start, but as Ian King said in the display quote at the beginning of this chapter, “Any discussion about optimal calorie intake is really a total waste of time - unless you are actually counting the calories!”
In his outstanding book, “Everything You Need to Know About Fat Loss,” Chris Aceto, one of the top bodybuilding nutritionists in the world, wrote, “I feel that number crunching is a very important part of learning about nutrition. You will never be able to build an exact diet, one that really works, and one that it built especially for you without knowing how to count calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat.”
Chris is right. Although a few genetically gifted bodybuilders and fitness competitors can just “wing it” and guess at everything with positive results, almost every top-level physique athlete in the world meticulously counts calories. They leave nothing to chance and neither should you. This is especially true during periods when you’re working hard on achieving a major goal, whether it’s a competition or losing 6% body fat for vacation.
If you don’t become familiar with the calorie content of your daily staple foods and keep a detailed nutrition journal at least once, then you’re not just serious about your goals - you’re guessing! Once you’ve completed this journal exercise, you’ll be able to at least make an educated ballpark estimate of your caloric intake from that point onward.
A simple way to make this process quick and easy is to type out your menu on an Excel spreadsheet with all your calorie and macronutrient totals calculated and then tape it to your refrigerator (and stick a copy in your Day Timer or appointment book too). If you follow the same basic menu every day, or close to it, then there’s no more calorie counting to be done – you only have to do it once to set up your initial menu.
From a practical standpoint, eating the same thing every day takes the painstaking daily calorie counting out of the picture. However, from a nutritional perspective, it’s a good idea to incorporate a wide variety of foods over the course of each week so you get the complete spectrum of vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients that are necessary for optimal health and body composition.
With the exchange system you will learn about in an upcoming chapter, you will discover that substitutions are quite simple. Using the exchange system guidelines will allow you to closely monitor your calorie levels even when you diverge from your regular menu. If you really enjoy the variety, you can create a few days or even an entire week of menus and rotate them. I’ve never met anyone who got bored or who failed to obtain a sufficient variety of foods by creating three or four days of menus. So you see, calorie counting will require a little bit of work and discipline in the beginning, but once your menus have been worked up on a spreadsheet, making exchanges is a cinch and there’s really nothing to it.
Calorie counting is a discipline that pays off
Although it’s clearly not necessary to write down the calorie amounts of every crumb that goes in your mouth every day for the rest of your life, it’s important that you understand the law of calorie balance and you always have at least a ballpark figure of your current daily intake. If you’re just guessing and you don’t have the slightest clue how much you’re eating, you could be way off in either direction. If you’re not making any progress, this lack of attention to detail might be the only thing holding you back. Do you really want to take that chance?
Ultimately, whether you decide to track calories meticulously should depend on your results. Results are what count. Counting portions and “ballparking it” is fine ONLY if you’re getting the results you want. If you’re losing fat while maintaining lean body mass without counting calories, then keep doing what you’re doing. However, most people who refuse to count calories are NOT getting the results they want because they are guessing, which simply demonstrates a lack of discipline.
You might not consider calorie counting and number crunching fun or easy and you might not feel like doing it. However, calorie counting is a discipline just like anything else. The best definition of discipline I’ve ever heard was by achievement expert
Brian Tracy, who said, “Discipline is doing what is hard and necessary rather than what is fun and easy and doing it when it’s necessary, whether you feel like doing it or not.”
So if you want the best results, then get out your calorie book, measuring cups, scale, daily nutrition diary (or spreadsheet) and start counting. In the upcoming chapters, get ready to learn about more disciplines you’ll want to adopt in order to slash your body fat to ridiculously low levels, revealing the chiseled muscle definition you’ve always wanted!
Adjust Your Caloric Intake Gradually if Necessary
Adjust Your Caloric Intake Gradually if Necessary
It’s usually not wise to make drastic changes to your caloric intake all at once. After you’ve done all your calorie calculations and determined your optimal calorie level to reach your goal, compare that amount to what you’ve been averaging over the past few months.
If your current caloric intake has been substantially higher or lower than your new target amount, then you may need to adjust gradually. For example, if your optimal caloric intake is 2600 calories per day, but you’ve only been eating two meals and 1500 calories per day for the past year, your metabolism may be sluggish from the low meal frequency and calorie intake. An immediate jump to 2600 calories per day might actually cause a gain in body fat if your body has adapted to the lower calories. A sudden increase would create a temporary surplus.
The best approach would be to gradually increase your calories from 1500 to 2600 over a period of weeks to allow your metabolism to gradually increase. Simply eat the same foods and the same number of meals, but gradually increase your portions to let your body acclimate.
The reverse is also true; if you’re eating a lot more than your recommended amount, it may be wiser to gradually reduce your calories than to drop them suddenly. Cutting too many calories too quickly often causes diet relapses because the change is too dramatic for some people to handle.
Keep a nutrition journal: Read labels, count calories, and weigh or measure everything…at least once
During the initial stages of this program, I strongly encourage you to keep a "Daily Nutrition Journal" in which you keep track of your calories and other important nutrition information. You’ll find a sample page in the appendix. Feel free to make photocopies or set up a similar spreadsheet on your computer. Or, just keep your nutrition journal in a plain old spiral notebook.
If you’re not familiar with calories, you should keep a detailed nutrition journal at least once for a period of one to three months. After you’ve done this exercise, you’ll have gained a new perspective on calories that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Get yourself a good food scale like the "Health-O Meter" (available in the Kitchen section of better department stores or at housewares stores) and get a complete set of measuring cups. For any packaged foods that you don’t know the caloric value of by memory, read the “Nutrition Facts” panel on the label. For produce and natural foods that don't come with labels (Potatoes, yams, vegetables, fruits, etc), use your calorie book or chart to look up the food values.
Compare Your Estimated TDEE to How Much You’ve been Eating
Compare Your Estimated TDEE to How Much You’ve been Eating
In order to know where you should begin, you need to know how many calories you were consuming prior to starting this program. Most people have absolutely no idea how many calories they eat every day. If you fall into this category, then it’s time to start the new positive habit of calorie counting!
Before you make any major alterations to the quantity of food you’re eating now, figure out exactly how many calories you’ve been averaging over the past few months. Think back to a recent “typical” day of eating and write down everything you ate from the time you got up in the morning to the time you went to sleep at night. Don’t forget the little things like sauces, condiments, the milk in your coffee, the sports drink during your workout, that beer on the weekend and late-night snacks.
Then, get out your calorie list found in the appendix and add everything up. (I also recommend Corinne Netzer’s “Complete Book of Food Counts” for an exhaustive listing of over 12,000 foods). If your food intake always varies and you don’t have a typical day, then write down three days worth of recent menus, add them up and divide by three to get a daily average. After you’ve tallied it all up you may be surprised (often unpleasantly) at the amount you've been eating.
Make it a discipline to learn the calorie values of all the foods you eat on a regular basis and commit them to memory. There are probably only about a dozen or so. For foods you eat only occasionally, have your calorie counter book or calorie chart handy to look them up.
The Zig Zag Calorie Rotation Method for Maximum Fat Loss: The Most Effective Nutritional Technique
The Zig Zag Calorie Rotation Method for Maximum Fat Loss: The Most Effective Nutritional Technique for Fat Loss Ever Developed!
Every time you cut calories below your maintenance level, it’s never long before your body recognizes the deficit and adjusts your fat burning thermostat so fewer calories are burned. The larger the drop in calories and the longer the drop is maintained, the bigger the drop will be in metabolism.
Your body is an amazing machine that is remarkably adaptable to any situation or environment. Your body likes to stay in a state of equilibrium and will always fight your efforts to change.
Fortunately, there is a way you can “trick” your body into keeping your metabolic rate up while you’re dieting for fat loss – It’s called the zig zag method and it’s without question the most powerful fat burning technique ever developed.
You must have a deficit to lose fat, but what you don’t want is a large deficit for a long period of time. The way to “outsmart” your body’s starvation response is to avoid prolonged calorie deficits. You simply drop into a calorie deficit for a brief period of three days, then – before your body has a chance to decrease your metabolic rate– you raise your calories back up to maintenance level (or even above maintenance) for one to three days. You then repeat this process until you reach your desired body fat percentage.
Some bodybuilders zig zag their calories completely at random and this seems to be effective for them. Other people use low, medium and high days in a pyramid fashion. My research, based on personal coaching programs with over 600 clients and on 14 years of competitive bodybuilding experience, has shown conclusively that the zig zag method works best in three day cycles. When your calories are kept in a large deficit more than three days, that’s when your metabolic rate starts to dip. By raising your calories every fourth day, you spike your metabolism and the starvation mode never fully kicks in.
Here’s how the zig zag method works: You will use two separate menu plans – one high calorie day, and one low calorie day. Your low calorie day will be initially set at 15-20% below your maintenance level. Your high calorie day will be initially set at your maintenance level. You will then “cycle” your calories on a three days down, one day up rotation as follows:
Basic “zig zag” rotation
Low calorie days (15-20% below TDEE): 2240 calories – 3 days
High calorie days (maintenance level): 2800 calories – 1 day
Adjustments in calories may need to be made according to your weekly results, and some experimentation is usually necessary before you find your correct numbers. For example, to accelerate fat loss, you could create a larger deficit of 25-30% for the low days and a 10% deficit on the high days. 30% is a large reduction, but as long as you raise your calories every fourth day, your metabolism won’t be affected. If loss of LBM ever becomes a problem, you can raise the number of calories you consume on your high days, or you can even take two or three high calorie days in a row (a three-down, two up or three down, three up rotation)
Accelerated fat loss zig zag rotation
Low calorie days (30% below TDEE): 1960 calories – 3 days
High calorie days (maintenance level): 2520 calories – 1 day
Zig zag rotation to prevent lean body mass loss
Low calorie days (15-20% below TDEE): 2240 calories – 3 days
High calorie days (5% over maintenance level): 2940 calories – 3 days
The zig zag method is without question, the most effective method of fat loss ever developed. It is also one of the best-kept secrets of the world’s best natural bodybuilders and fitness models. Bodybuilders frequently use this method prior to competitions to help strip their bodies of all visible fat while maintaining their lean body mass. This method is also effective for breaking plateaus, accelerating slow fat loss, maintaining lean body mass and preventing sluggish metabolisms from slowing down further.
The zig zag method is also great way to make a reduced-calorie nutrition plan work most effectively for an endomorph or “slow-metabolism” body type who tends to lose fat slowly and with great difficulty.
The “Skinny” on Gaining Muscle While Losing Fat
The “Skinny” on Gaining Muscle While Losing Fat
Supplement advertising in bodybuilding and fitness magazines has brainwashed many people into believing that gaining muscle and losing fat at the same is an easy and common occurrence (with the right "miracle" product, of course). IT'S NOT! It's quite rare.
It's common to see a large decrease in body fat with a small increase in lean body mass. It's also common to see a large increase in lean body mass with a small decrease in body fat. But one thing you will almost never see is a large increase in lean body mass and a large decrease in body fat at the same time (especially if you are drug-free or genetically average).
Because so many people can’t make up their minds and they flip flop back and forth between trying to gain muscle and trying to lose fat, they sometimes end up accomplishing neither! Clear goals and a laser-like focus are critical if you want to make the most efficient use of your time, energy and effort. Make up your mind and follow through!
It’s physiologically impossible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same moment in time. You can't gain muscle in a calorie deficit and you can't lose fat in a calorie surplus, it's that simple.
Here’s an illustration: The average man with a daily maintenance level of 2800 calories needs approximately 500 calories extra to gain weight – a total of 3300 per day. To lose weight, he needs about a 500-calorie deficit – a total of only 2300 calories per day. The difference between these two nutrition programs is 1000 calories! They are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
There are several situations where gaining large amounts of muscle and losing large amounts of fat can occur at the same time:
1) When steroids and/or fat burning drugs are used.
2) In beginners, whose bodies are extremely responsive to exercise (some of the rapid muscle and strength gains in beginners can be attributed to neurological adaptations).
3) In advanced trainees after a long layoff (the muscle gain can be attributed to "muscle memory” i.e., they are not gaining new muscle, they are simply regaining what they previously lost).
4) In genetic superiors.
The most efficient method of improving body composition is to put 100% focus on your single most important goal; losing fat or gaining muscle – one or the other. If you have above average amounts of body fat, then your number one goal should be to focus on losing fat first. Then, once the fat is off, you can re-write your goals and work on gaining muscle while maintaining your new, lower body fat level.
More Articles...
- Calorie Deficit Thresholds: How Low is too Low?
- How to Adjust Your Calories for Fat Loss
- Methods of Determining Caloric Needs
- The 6 Factors Influencing Your Daily Calorie Needs
- How to Determine Your Daily Caloric Needs
- Pay Attention to Portion Size and Never Stuff Yourself at One Sitting
- The Law of Energy Balance
- The Reason why Calories Count
- The Calorie Bank Analogy
- The Definition of a Calorie
- Conclusion
- Make No Excuses – You are in Control
- Assume 100% Responsibility For Your Results
- Beware of Absolutes
- The Most Accurate Measure of Your True Body Type
- The Endomorph and Their Training and Nutrition Strategies
- The Mesomorph and Their Training and Their Nutrition Strategies
- The Ectomorph and Their Training and Nutrition Strategies
- Understanding Your Body type: The Theory of Somatotyping
- The Importance of Understanding Variations in Body Type
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