Eating to Lose Body Fat

One pound of body fat contains about 3,500 stored calories. You must reduce your caloric intake by 3,500 calories a week to lose one pound per week or increase your activity level to burn 3,500 extra calories per week. You must either eat fewer calories or burn more calories by increasing your activity level, or a combination of both—it’s that simple.
But don't expect getting lean, ripped, or shredded to be so easy. The first few days on a diet, you may lose several pounds. That's because your body takes the easy way out when it needs energy. It uses up your stored carbohydrate (glycogen).
Carbohydrates contain a relatively large amount of water. When you begin a diet, you can lose a lot of fluid—but no fat. You have a weight loss that only lasts until your next drink of water. Your body does other things to preserve body fat. When it has used up its carbohydrate stores, it will shift your metabolism into a slower rate. You will discover you are moving more slowly and have less energy because you have used up your carbohydrate (quick energy) stores. Our bodies have been conditioned, over time, to guard against famine and will do almost anything to conserve fat. If weight loss is not done properly, too much precious muscle mass will be lost. But, if you are persistent, as a last resort, your body will begin to use its fat stores for energy. Don’t look too long for easy answers when trying to lose body fat. You are going to have to “pay a price” if you are truly committed to getting lean. There are no fancy pain-free diets or state-of-the-art supplements that are going to do the bulk of the work for you. Don’t try to fool yourself. Don’t set yourself up for failure and disappointment.
If you want to lose excess body fat, the bottom line is you have to eat fewer calories than you burn each day. There are several ways to burn more calories than you eat. You can add more cardiovascular work to your training regimen. You can also simply eat less food throughout the day. You can even do a combination of these two strategies by doing more cardiovascular training and eating less food. How quickly you will shred that body fat will depend on how much of a deficit you create between the calories you consume and the calories you burn on a daily basis—and for how long you wish to go through the sacrifice and pain it takes to train and/or diet this way.
Although my advice doesn’t make the fat loss process a whole lot easier, it should make the process more simple. Without being distracted by constantly searching for unrealistic, quick-fix solutions, or super-duper supplements, you can now focus on the task in front of you, get to work, and achieve the results you truly desire.

The “Bulking Up” Strategy For Packing On Muscle Mass

Is it better to bulk up for added muscle growth, or stay lean all year around? Unfortunately, this is an area where there are no definitive answers. One school of thought is that if you consistently ingest high-quality protein and train heavily and efficiently, it is not necessary to put on excess weight to gain muscle. The additional body fat does not pack on more muscle. The more fat you put on, the harder you need to work to melt it off when you want to get lean or get ready for a bodybuilding contest. This way of thinking advises you to stay within 10 -15 pounds of lean weight or your shredded contest condition. I, myself, agree with this thought process. Heavy training, adequate recuperation, and consistently eating high-quality protein is what builds rock-solid muscle mass—not excess body fat. The only things extra food and excess body fat can do for you is prevent your body from ever using precious muscle as an energy source, give you the feeling you have more energy and can train heavier in the gym.

 Those are some decent benefits, mind you, but if you are dedicated to be the best bodybuilder you can be, you can get the same benefits by eating smaller,
well-balanced meals consistently throughout the day and becoming more
focused and mentally tough when you’re in the gym.
While I feel certain about my contradicting philosophy, others feel that if you limit the amount of weight you can gain, you will also limit the amount of muscle you can gain in the process.
If you do decide to bulk up, be sure not to get too far away from contest shape.The longer body fat stays on your body the harder it will be to take it off later. If you get behind schedule and need to drastically reduce your calorie intake to be ready for your contest in time, you will undoubtedly sacrifice a lot of precious muscle in the process. This will negate the very reason why you bulked up in the first place! If you are a drug-free bodybuilder, you do not have any chemicals to help you save muscle. You’ll need to use intelligence and discipline. Whether or not you are a competitive bodybuilder, ultimately you will need to decide how much body fat you are comfortable carrying. It may not be worth it to feel "sloppy" most of the year just to display more muscle on that one day of the contest. A good rule of thumb when it comes to eating in the off-season is "eat to gain muscle." Do not eat to get fat or eat to stay lean. Consistently feed yourself high quality protein for muscle growth and enough carbohydrates to keep you feeling your strongest. After prioritizing those needs, consume as much fat as you feel comfortable eating.

"Danger" Too Much Eating Protein

Is eating too much protein dangerous? Many experts will tell you that eating too much protein will cause damage to your kidney. Obviously, by the large amount of protein I’ve been eating consistently every single day throughout my bodybuilding career, I either don’t believe this is true or I am willing to take the risk in order to reach my ambitious bodybuilding goals.

Do I think, regardless of what the experts say, you should ingest a large amount of protein like I choose to do? I can’t make that decision for you. I can, however, share with you the reason why I do despite some people’s warnings. The people that I trust to give me accurate information tell me there are no scientific studies to back up those doom-and-gloom claims. They have theorized that the experts have come to their conclusion because the kidneys play a major role in the synthesizing of protein. Thus, if they are forced to do more work than the average person, they are at a greater risk to suffer damage.
I, myself, haven’t had any problems (at least, any that I am aware of). I always make sure I do the things doctors recommend to help your body digest the protein like drinking a lot of water.
I am certain, however, that I have built a significant amount of muscle mass every single year that I’ve been training. I attribute much of that to consistently eating high-quality protein day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year.
I firmly believe my body is able to assimilate most of the 400 grams I eat every day. There are studies that suggest the hard training athletes can efficiently assimilate up to a whopping 72 grams of protein at a time. That’s far more than the old “multiply your body weight in kilograms times 1.5” formula!
I choose to take my chances, but to be perfectly honest, I am not a doctor or claim to be a medical expert. I don’t know anything about the effects of “excess” protein for certain. You’ll need to make the decision of exactly how much protein to eat for yourself.