Bulletin #86 discussed some of the basic concepts of nutrition and training used to lose fat and gain muscle. Losing fat and gaining muscle are separate and distinct physiologic processes and were initially discussed separately for just that reason. When you are gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time your body weight doesn’t change much, which is a bit deceptive. When your caloric intake roughly matches your energy expenditure, nothing happens to your body weight yet you are undergoing an incredible transformation. Ideally, the energy cost of building new muscle tissue will be met at the expense of stored body fat. While body fat does not provide the protein needed to build new muscle, fat can supply the energy needed to fuel the anabolic process. The net result is fat is burnt off while new muscle tissue is built.

With summertime fast approaching, shedding any excess fat you might have put on over the winter is a hot topic. How would you like to get into super shape by summer? Now is the time to start. There are specific strategies of diet, exercise, and supplementation that maximize fat loss while retaining hard-earned muscle. When I use the word “diet” I’m NOT referring to classical “low calorie” diets. Restricting calories will work over the short term but always fails in the long run. The body has specific defense mechanisms in place to defend against body weight loss (specifically fat stores) and these biologic mechanisms are triggered when a drastic reduction of calories occurs. During severe caloric restriction you lose as much muscle as fat - and this bodybuilding nightmare reduces the metabolic rate like slamming into a wall. It aslo brings fat loss to a screeching halt. Reduced caloric intake primes your enzymes and hormones to preferentially replenish fat depots after normal caloric intake is resumed. Rather than restricting calories and call into play the body’s starvation response, we need to work with our bodies, giving them the nutrients and energy they require - but in a clever way that promotes fat loss while retaining hard-earned gym muscle. There is no magic here and it’s really not too complicated once you know what to do.