Accelerate Fat Loss

Losing fat is good, but gaining/retaining muscle while you do it is the key.

We know that being in a caloric deficit will allow us to lose weight. But being in a caloric deficit without eating enough protein (at least 0.7g protein per lb of body weight) can expose us to losing muscle rather than fat. And that's bad news.

Muscle is:

• More metabolically active than fat

• Improves insulin sensitivity

• Reduces the chance of fractures

• Is an predictor of disease survival

• A predictor of a stronger immune system

So, we want to keep it and ideally add some.

Here are the principles you need to apply to gain muscle.

Progressive overload:

You have to be consistently challenging your body to "do more". This could be: increased weight lifted, increased number of repetitions, increased amount of time holding a weight or body position etc. You have to tell your body that it needs to change.

Protein intake:

You need to be eating enough protein to supply your body with the building blocks it needs to actually create muscle. This is at least 0.7g protein per lb of body weight but ideally more (1g per lb body weight).

Resistance training not cardio:

Stimulating muscle growth is harder if your body is metabolically taxed from excessive cardio. What's excessive cardio? Anything that is detracting from you being able to effectively grow your muscle. That may not be that helpful but if you are finding that you are sapped of energy and not able to complete a resistance training program (2 x per week minimum, 3/4 x per week is optimal). Rule of thumb: Some intense cardio = good (Sprints, HIIT etc..), more than 2 x PW of steady state cardio = bad.

Here is a fantastic article from bodybuilder Jeff Nippard about efficient training if you are time poor.

https://fitnessvolt.com/jeff-nippard-minimalist-training-program/

Here is a fantastic online resource for free training programs:

https://liftvault.com/

Here is one of the best online resources for training articles:

https://articles.poliquinperformance.com/articles/

Remember:

Consistency is king

Don't get injured

Don't lift with your ego

Doing something is better than nothing

Finlay ⚡