Best Ways to Lose Fat Without Losing Muscle?

[ucimigrate]

Hi Everyone,

I tend to have a hard time gaining muscle and strength, but I gain fat easily. When I try to cut down with diet and cardio, my muscles atrophy fast.

I have heard that Mike Whitfield's Bodyweight Finishers, and Shaun T's "Insanity" are good for trimming down without losing muscle.

What do you guys think?

 

[jameschoi]

No sugar drinks, no cereal, no bread, no junk food. When I eat those foods I feel the weight around my waist.

 

[Jm88888]

I think the atrophying you are describing isn’t really atrophy. You are losing “size” so that makes you feel smaller, and then you are probably still at a high enough body fat percentage that you don’t see your results. I would suggest fighting through this phase and just accept the fact you are going to be “smaller”. Once you start getting close to 10% bf you’ll be able to notice changes easier. Try to focus at least 2 days on strength, then maybe 2 days of lighter weights, with some steady state cardio( light days) and HIIT stuff (strength days)
Combine with a good diet. I like going carb-less while using intermittent fasting. Throw a cheat day in every 2 weeks to a month to stay sane (depending on current leanness)
Towards end through some fat burners and stims in the mix.

That’s my 2 cents

 

[John Smeton]

Eating Clean ! Yes even in the offseason

Thats not to say once in a while ill have a glass or two of wine and go off a little bit, but for the most part eating clean

 

[CompeteNPC]

The more you eat clean the more gains you will keep and make. You put in the hard work right? Therefore you shouldn't waste it by abusing junk food. A treat once in a while is fine, but 95 % of the time eat clean. You will thank yourself in the long run and look and feel your best.

 

[BlockBuilder]

It’s what happens to natural lifters lol. There is nothing that can stop it. The best way for a natural lifter to maintain mass while losing fat is to cut very very slowly. I kept more strength and size doing a cut that lasted 6-8 months than any short cut. Regardless you will still atrophy. Steroids and other drugs are the game changer. They make a world of difference in every area. BTW you should be lifting weights while cutting. Don’t do insanity if you want to keep mass. You want to be getting stronger while you’re losing weight. That requires a log and a program. You can’t just walk into the gym and do whatever you want. During a cut I log every workout for progressive overload and time my rest periods with a stop watch. It is not possible to determine progression during a cut without a log. No ones memory is that good.

 

[THOR 70]

Losing muscle mass is more bro science than anything imo. The body will catabolize unneeded or damaged material for amino acids through autophagy and maintain the integrity of muscle, brain, organs. Jm8888 explained this well above. You’re just losing muscle glycogen and inflammation when you clean up your diet.

Best ways to lose weight are going to be by optimizing your diet and environment.

-clean whole food
-Gut Health
-Lower emotional stress
-improve sleep and dial in circadian rhythm
-stay hydrated with clean/energizing water

The list goes on and on but those are a starting point

 

[AntM1564]

Hi Everyone,
I tend to have a hard time gaining muscle and strength, but I gain fat easily. When I try to cut down with diet and cardio, my muscles atrophy fast.
I have heard that Mike Whitfield's Bodyweight Finishers, and Shaun T's "Insanity" are good for trimming down without losing muscle.
What do you guys think?

There are a few things you can do to retain as much lean mass as possible while dieting.

First, do not go in a high deficit right away. Just taking a few hundred calories away versus 500+ is a good starting point. Second, don't do cardio unless you need to. Remember, to lose weight, you just need to eat less calories than your body needs. You can create that deficit by restricting food. There is no need to restrict food and do cardio until your deep into a cut. I would also lift heavy and keep your strength up.
I would look into forskolin too. You can buy the ingredient solo or find a product with it, such as OxyMax XT.

Oxymax XT is a great option. Not only from a fat burning standpoint, but also from a mood enhancement and appetite suppression one as well.

Whatever supplement you decide one, I would look for anything with at least 50mg of forskolin, which Oxymax XT has. Forskolin will increase cAMP levels and help with increasing fat loss while also increasing lean mass. Now, diet needs to be on point, but it is a great ingredient. Here are some good reads on the ingredient.

Forskolin increases metabolism, burns fat, breaks down triglycerides, and increases lean-body mass
The thyroid stimulating strength of forskolin has been compared to TSH (thyrotropin). Thyroid hormone levels are important for leanness.
Forskolin has increased total testosterone by 16% in male subjects during a 12-week trial.

https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/burn-fat-pile-on-muscle-with-forskolin

Fat Mass:  The colforsin group lost 4.52 kilograms (9,94 pounds) of fat, plus or minus 5.74 kilograms, while the placebo group lost only 0.51 kilograms (1.12 pounds), plus or minus 1.91 kilograms.
Lean Body Mass:  The colforsin group gained 3.71 kilograms of lean body mass (8.162 pounds), plus or minus 4.07 kilograms, while the placebo group gained 1.57 kilograms (3.45 pounds), plus or minus 2.56 kilograms.
Testosterone:  The Testosterone of the colforsin group rose 33.7 percent, while it decreased 18.35 percent in the placebo group.

https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/dont-kill-the-messenger

The total body weight of a mixed group of men and women in a 12-week study decreased from 74.7 kilograms to 73.5 kilograms while experiencing increases in lean body mass (without weight training).

https://www.t-nation.com/supplements/tip-the-t-boosting-capsule-you-need-to-take

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16129715

https://legionathletics.com/forskolin/

5 Reasons to Use Forskolin -

 

[John Smeton]

There are a few things you can do to retain as much lean mass as possible while dieting.

First, do not go in a high deficit right away. Just taking a few hundred calories away versus 500+ is a good starting point. Second, don't do cardio unless you need to. Remember, to lose weight, you just need to eat less calories than your body needs. You can create that deficit by restricting food. There is no need to restrict food and do cardio until your deep into a cut. I would also lift heavy and keep your strength up.

This is true. for contest time I think a lot of people automatically jump onto the cardio bandwagon because its contest prep. I've always did cardio in my preps except when i did training twice a day, which i got very lean with.

what is the leanest, most ripped you've been?

 

[GAINZFORDAYZ]

After a bulk have you ever tried a keto style diet paired HIT style training? The Keto diet will help you drop body fat sparing muscle and the HIT style training is good for leaning out.

 

[ucimigrate]

1. I've tried ketosis. Although I have read a blood test is the only proper way, I used keto sticks.

It takes me 6 days of zero carbs (not even vegetables) to cause any sort of ketosis. Within half a day, my energy is so low I can barely get out of bed.

I understand the idea that if someone wants to cut calories, doing so from carbs rather than lipids might improve insulin sensitivity and the lipids in the diet would keep hormones regulated. However, for me, a low fat diet is best.

2. I will take each of your advice. I agree that lifting, and perhaps either bodyweight finishers and Insanity is the best way to go.

I simply think long, slow cardio is generally a waste of time. I just lose muscle size and strength too quickly. It just makes me look skinny fat.

3. I agree that sticking to a long-term plan is best. Aiming for one pound of fat lost per week is good if done for a whole year. It allows more flexibility in the diet, is not necessarily "weak" to not be so aggressive in calorie cutting, etc.

 

[GAINZFORDAYZ]

1. I've tried ketosis. Although I have read a blood test is the only proper way, I used keto sticks.

It takes me 6 days of zero carbs (not even vegetables) to cause any sort of ketosis. Within half a day, my energy is so low I can barely get out of bed.

I understand the idea that if someone wants to cut calories, doing so from carbs rather than lipids might improve insulin sensitivity and the lipids in the diet would keep hormones regulated. However, for me, a low fat diet is best.

2. I will take each of your advice. I agree that lifting, and perhaps either bodyweight finishers and Insanity is the best way to go.

I simply think long, slow cardio is generally a waste of time. I just lose muscle size and strength too quickly. It just makes me look skinny fat.

3. I agree that sticking to a long-term plan is best. Aiming for one pound of fat lost per week is good if done for a whole year. It allows more flexibility in the diet, is not necessarily "weak" to not be so aggressive in calorie cutting, etc.

That the end of the day you got to choose a program/diet that works for you and that you can adhere to. I agree that slow cardio is a waste of time if your utilizing to try to loose weight.

In terms of the keto diet you bring up the most common reason why people don't last on low carbs. Your energy crashes and it take times for you to actual start burning fat for energy. For myself it took almost 3 weeks after getting into ketos to feel like my energy levels were back to normal. Even after a couple months you never really regain the same strength levels then when on carbs. Keto is defiantly not for everyone but personally it has been an effective tool for myself to slim down after a bulk.

Let us know what you opt for interesting to hear the route you take.

 

[AntM1564]

Here is a good article on how one should lift when trying to retain muscle.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-go-heavy-to-retain-muscle

 

[jbatts77]

Heavy lifts.
IF diet.
HMB multiple times a day.

 

[R1balla]

Heavy lifts.
IF diet.
HMB multiple times a day.

This is great advice.

One of the most common mistakes I see when people cut is that they tend to think “since I am cutting I need to do higher reps”. Higher reps do have a place in training, but you usually see better results from lifting heavy. Preserving muscle that you have. IF is great. I mainly load up on chicken breast, low carb (or carb cycling- works for me when cutting to help retain mass. Usually on training days for me), and keep the calories from lean meats. Chicken and fish are my 2 main sources. Experiment with it and see what works for you.

 

[HIT4ME]

I think most people worry too much about muscle loss while dieting.

Just like losing weight doesn't equate to fat loss in a diet, losing strength and even size itself doesn't equate to muscle loss during a diet.

We often think of things as if a caloric deficit will cause muscle loss, but this of course is nonsense. If you have the bodyfat stores, your body HAS the calories it needs unless you are doing something pretty extreme.

What we miss is that calories aren't the only thing we need. Yes, we need vitamins and minerals...but amino acids themselves are needed for so many metabolic processes. If we don't have the amino acids for life processes, we will get them. And much like we will use fat for calories, we will use muscle for these amino acids.

But if you have a sufficient supply of amino acids, this tissue will not have any reason to be broken down.

As a matter of fact, the more severe your diet, the more difficult it will be to utilize muscle for energy. The more moderate, the more easily you can use it for energy.

Get yourself plenty of proteins and aminos in your diet during a cut, lift heavy and sure...use things like HMB, HICA, etc.

 

[Jm88888]

I’ve been pulsing 72 G protein 3 times a day, and then eating 700 to 1000 calories in a 3 hour window at night. Seems to be working pretty well so far for me.... 1 chest day every 2 weeks. Pretty extreme.
I’ve done the moderate approach, and very poor success with it.

 

[THOR 70]

I think most people worry too much about muscle loss while dieting.

Just like losing weight doesn't equate to fat loss in a diet, losing strength and even size itself doesn't equate to muscle loss during a diet.

We often think of things as if a caloric deficit will cause muscle loss, but this of course is nonsense. If you have the bodyfat stores, your body HAS the calories it needs unless you are doing something pretty extreme.

What we miss is that calories aren't the only thing we need. Yes, we need vitamins and minerals...but amino acids themselves are needed for so many metabolic processes. If we don't have the amino acids for life processes, we will get them. And much like we will use fat for calories, we will use muscle for these amino acids.

But if you have a sufficient supply of amino acids, this tissue will not have any reason to be broken down.

As a matter of fact, the more severe your diet, the more difficult it will be to utilize muscle for energy. The more moderate, the more easily you can use it for energy.

Get yourself plenty of proteins and aminos in your diet during a cut, lift heavy and sure...use things like HMB, HICA, etc.

My goodness, THANK YOU. All the catabolism bro science drives me nuts. The body will use damaged tissue through autophagy before it breaks down healthy muscle tissue. Sure if you don’t exercise a muscle it wont maintain the same strength or endurance, but it’s not dissolving! And of course if you lower carbs your muscle glycogen will drop with size.