Saturday, August 1, 2015

Lose fat not weight

We want to lose fat not weight

A healthy level of body fat makes the human body functional. Males should hold at least 15 % fat. Females should hold 20% body fat. These numbers seem high if you have been in fitness circles. These are healthy levels of fat.



Females need fat to be healthy. Females reach their first menstrual cycle at 12% body fat. There is no age constraint here. Girls are reaching their first menstrual cycle younger and younger and there is a direct correlation between this and obesity



There are more studies than the fitness industry want us to see. They want everyone thinking they are unhealthy so they can sell their snake oil remedies. I will give you a baseline plan to eat healthy and manage body fat store later in this post.

We have all heard of the “athlete” holding 4% body fat. I say these are bogus claims. The human simply cannot hold less than 6% and be healthy. If anybody is 4% body fat they are most likely asleep. They would not have energy for anything else.



Zig Zag dieting

Let’s say you want to lose fat and you are 10lbs overweight. You require 2500 kcal daily. You only eat twice daily and exercise twice weekly for thirty minutes.

§  3-4 days eat 2200 kcal
o   Eat this amount over 5 or more meals
§  1-2 days eat 2500 kcal
o   Eat this amount over 5 or more meals
§  A meal is carbs, fat, and protein from natural sources
o   Nothing processed eat what Mother Nature made
§  Exercise daily – take a walk, take the stairs, park a mile from work, walk to see if your coworkers want to have lunch rather than sending an email, walk before your first meal and see the results, I think you get the point.
§  Take a multi vitamin and mineral supplement several times daily with food
o   Change the brand with every bottle of pills
§  Drink water and nothing else
§  Train with weights to increase your metabolism (muscle is metabolism so eat and train like you want to gain muscles)
§  Work up to the place where you train daily (work with a trainer 2-3 times per week minimum and work on your own 4-5 times per week)
§  Eat for what you will do not what you have done
o   Eat for the following 2-3 hours of activity
o   If you will sleep eat no carbs
o   If you will workout eat more carbs
o   If you will sit at a desk eat fewer carbs
§  Carbs are the way to manipulate the size of the meal
§  Protein and fat should remain relatively similar
§  I recommend more fat and protein pre workout so when this food is in a usable form it has been broken down (digested) sufficiently when the windows of opportunity for replenishment open post workout
§  No post workout meal is recommended with the exception of eating for what you will do for the following three hours
§  This plan will allow you to lose fat, gain muscle, and remain energetic throughout your day

To gain muscular weight we must do the same planning going upward with the weight and not downward. Let’s use the same person from the previous example.

§  Eat 2750 kcal for 3-4 days
o   Eat 5+ meals daily every 2 ½ to 3 hours
§  Eat 2500 kcal for 1-2 days
o   Eat 5+ meals daily every 2 ½ to 3 hours
§  Train basic weightlifting movements 5 days per week
o   Train single joint movements 3-4 days per week
§   Supplement as you see fit
§  All the rules set above for the weight loss goal apply here in the opposite direction





 Do not attempt to lose weight. Lose body fat only. Do not attempt to go below 10% body fat as it is both impossible and unhealthy. Anyone claiming to be less than 10% body fat is not telling the truth. They may appear to be that low but it is not possible. They store fat intra-muscularly (a well marbled piece of meat is my example). Why do you think the strongest people always appear to be holding more fat? They store fat extra- muscularly. Their muscles are so dense they cannot store fat there.


People with intra-muscular fat stores are weaker than their counterparts with extra-muscular fat stores so they are unhealthy.


Get stronger doing YOUR workout!

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