An article each week on fat loss written by Bob Myhal, published by Apollo Fitness & Nutrition of MUSCLEMASTER.COM
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Reducing Bodyfat while trying to preserve muscle is often a complicated task, however there are certain factors that can make it easier and more straight forward. This goal has to be divided into several stages and each one must be combined in order to gain the most benefit. If you stick to the basics it is quite possible to lose 10-15 lbs over a 6 week course while preserving the muscle tissue you currently have. It is also possible to gain new muscle, however this is much more difficult than just trying to keep existing muscle and dropping bodyfat. It takes 3500 extra calories to gain one pound of bodyfat. Likewise it takes a negative energy balance of 3500 calories to lose one pound. By putting this plan into action if you reduce calorie intake to 500 below maintenance level per day then over the period of 1 week you should lose approximately 1 pound of fat / week. Providing that a few other things are implemented it is possible to take this figure up to 2-3 lbs of fat loss a week. Remember it is easier to lose the most amount of bodyfat early on in a weight loss program and as the weeks go by it becomes more difficult. The reason this happens is that your body reacts to being on limited calories by slowing down its metabolism which inturn not only makes it harder to lose wieght but also easier to gain it. This is the main problem posed by any wieght loss programs and the number one reason why so many people give up. The good news however is there are ways in which the body can be tricked into burning off fat even after it has slowed down its metabolism. There are also a number of methods to speed up your metabolism once it has slowed down which will keep the fat burning at a high level. A good fat burner, if used after the first week or two will help in a very big way. Fat burners help in a number of ways, one of which is to speed up your metabolism. A good one i suggest is Hydroxycut fromm Muscle Tech, or the new Dymetradine Extreme from AST Sports Science (this is a great new one out and very effective). It is vital if you want to get all the benefits that you dont start using a fat burner until at least 1 week into your program but a better period would be 2 weeks (the reason for this is that your body can do a very good job at losing weight right at the start of the program and the fat burner is only needed when it starts getting difficult). You must not forget that it is essential to keep up weight training if you already train with weights and if not then to begin. It is a great way to burn calories not only during the workout but also it keeps your body burning calories long after the workout is over. Many people trying to keep muscle and lose bodyfat tend to diet far too much and stop the wieght training. As a result of this mistake they lose a lot of weight but much of it comes from muscle.
Remember while trying to drop bodyfat you must train hard and heavy, and not for more than one hour each gym sessionm, also no more than 3, maximum 4 gym sessions a week. Also try to do 45 minutes of aerobic training 3 times a week on top of the weight training but dont go all out. Keep intensity levels down on the aerobics (your aim is to burn fat not muscle) One of the best ways of losing wieght and trick your body into keeping its metabolims high is by eating smaller more frequent meals. For example if you eat 6 meals instead of 3 you are really giving a kick start into the fat burning process. What you must make sure of is that you are consuming a total amount of calories no more than your basal metabolic rate (what I mean by this is that you must find out how many calories your body burns each day and then reduce this amount by 500 calories). Once you have arrived at the right amount this it should be divided into the number of meals you are planning on consuming each day. If you dont know the exact amount your body requires then just e-mail me and let me know how active a person you are and what your lifestyle is like, also let me know if you find it hard or easy to gain or lose weight and I will calculate it out for you and e-mail the reply back.
One more things that is essential in losing bodyfat but keeping muscle tissue is the amount of calories from Protein you are consuming. Providing in general you stick with the basics, 10-15 lbs of bodyfat loss is possible over a 6 week period of time depending on how committed you are. I have helped a few people lose a lot more wieght than this over the same amount of time (in particular one woman lost 43 Lbs in 6 weeks and one 31 Lbs, however it must be said that they were overweight and so had a lot more weight than the average person to lose and it must be noted that not all of this weight was fat loss but also some muscle loss. GOOD LUCK WITH WITH YOUR TRAINING AND FAT LOSS PROGRAM
