Friday’s Fitness Philosophies – Weight loss vs Fat loss

When I started leaning Tony out our goal was to maintain his muscle mass and just get rid of fat mass.

Unfortunately, this normally doesn’t happen. Consider this startling statistic. “Weight loss studies show that as much as 20%-30% of the body weight lost during dieting is from lean body mass!” Body composition can be categorized into 5 different classifications 1.Fat 2. Muscle 3.Water 4.Bone 5. Organ tissue.

If you’re like Tony you want to lose fat mass….your objective is not to lose WEIGHT but to lose body fat. Muscle burns anywhere from 6-10 calories per pound a day at rest (some studies have shown 17 none have shown 50!!!) Fat burns 2-4 calories per pound.

Muscle also takes up 5 times less space per pound than fat. That being said if you want to look like a someone on a fitness magazine you need to maintain muscle mass while losing body fat. But how do you do it? How do you maintain muscle while losing fat? Losing body fat is very simple when it comes to the average person. Losing 30 pounds of fat with someone who has 60% body fat is easier than losing 5 pounds of body fat for someone who is 15% body fat. If you need to lose 100 pounds lower your calorie intake and soon you will be a smaller version of your former self. If you want low teen or sub teen body fat percentage your body will fight you tooth and nail.

Side Journey: Essential body fat for a woman is 10-12% for a man it’s 2-4, that’s science. I HATE BODY FAT TESTING PROCEDURES for the simple reason people think they are accurate gauge for determining body fat.  THEY ARE NOT IN FACT THEY ARE AWFUL AT IT.  (They can be a good gauge to determine progress just not actual body fat percentage)

Recently I read an article that confirmed something I have known for years…. “While the recommended daily intake of protein in the U.S. is 0.8 grams per kilogram, consuming three times that amount was more effective for improving body composition than consuming 1.5x that amount.”

“Overweight young men consumed a high protein or moderate protein diet during a 40% calorie reduction diet, while performing high intensity exercise six days per week, for four weeks. The high protein group (three times the RDA for protein, or 2.4 grams per kilogram of bodyweight) was able to increase lean body mass, while the moderate protein group (1.5x the RDA, of 1.2 grams per kilogram) was able to preserve, but not increase, their lean mass. Both groups lost the same amount of weight, but the high protein group was also able to lose more fat mass.” –E.R.D.

Contrary too popular belief protein will not make you fat or gain to much muscle!

If you want to look good on the beach or at the pool this year it is very important to maintain muscle while you lean out. I suggest having several portions of high-quality protein.

Tony maintained his muscle mass while he was leaning out!  You can do the same thing.

Your Turn Click Here to take the next step.

This is for REAL

Coach Don