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In this forum we frequently talk about the diet and training elements needed to obtain a hard, lean body, but it's been a little while since we pulled all that together in one thread to talk about the basic philosophy behind why those principles work.
Understandably, many of us develop our ideas about achieving fat loss from stuff we've read in woman's health magazines, and from our friends, and from our boyfriends and husbands. To get skinny for those revealing Summer clothes we cut calories and spin our asses off. The thought behind those activities is to lose fat. Lose fat. "I need to get rid of these fat thighs, these chunky hips, this paunchy belly". We only think about the fat.
Now think for a minute about how female bodybuilders (FBB) look. They are muscular and lean, right? Do we think a FBB would ever do anything to jeopardize her muscle mass? Not likely.
The FBB wants to build muscle for much of the year. Then, when shifting into competition phase, she works to preserve her hard won muscle while losing fat. But how is her fat loss regime different from that "typical woman" I characterized above? The FBB knows a few things the other woman does not, specifically:
1)The value of eating frequently throughout the day
2)Never allowing her calories to fall so far below its maintenance level that her body enters starvation mode
3)Always consuming enough protein to keep her skeletal muscle
4)Being careful to not do too much cardio.
Ulimately the FBB is able to create a very hard body using these principles because she pays attention to the muscle and the fat.
Ok, but I don't want to look like a female bodybuilder. Why are you telling me all this?
But you do want to look lean though, right? You do want to be able to still eat reasonably and be happy when you get to that ideal body shape, right? If so, you want to follow the FBB's same principles. Preserve all your current skeletal muscle and only lose the excess body fat. This is the way to go. Losing only the fat will keep your body's caloric demand higher because it will have more lean body tissue to nourish and you get to eat more calories and still look hard at the same time. Dude talk about having your cake and eating it too!
10 pounds of skeletal muscle require something like 600 calories every 24 hours. That means if you inadvertently lose that much muscle in your "typical woman" diet regime, that's 600 calories fewer every day you can not eat if you want to maintain that new lower body weight.
Ok let's close with an illustration. (those of you with reading overload at this point can take a break and come back later)
Kristina weighs 160lbs and has 35% bodyfat, which gives her a lean body mass of about 104lbs. She cuts her calories to 1000 every day and does 60 minutes of spinning every morning, seven days a week. In 12 weeks she's down to 130lbs and 26% bodyfat. So she's a success, right? That's 9% bodyfat dropped. She can get into that bikini from 3 seasons ago so she's happy....sort of. She notices that if she eats even one cheat meal weekly she gains a pound, which never used to happen.
Problem is Kristina now has a lean body mass of 96.2lbs. She's lost 8 pounds of muscle along with that fat! Now her body needs something like 480 fewer calories every day to maintain itself, which means it's going to be considerably harder for her to stay this size than it was 3 seasons ago.
Joanna weighs 195 and is 38% bodyfat, which gives her an LBM of 120.9. She calculates her daily caloric needs and ensures she eats 200-350 below that every day. She spins 30 minutes, 4 days a week and does a total body weightlifting workout the remaining 3 days. In 24 weeks she weighs 165 and has a bodyfat percentage of 25%. This gives her an LBM of 123.75, a gain of 2.85lbs. Jo has actually gained a bit of muscle while losing a substantial amount of fat. Jo likes her curvy figure and decides she's reached her goal. She finds she can eat the same number of calories as before (though from different sources) and really enjoy her food.
Understandably, many of us develop our ideas about achieving fat loss from stuff we've read in woman's health magazines, and from our friends, and from our boyfriends and husbands. To get skinny for those revealing Summer clothes we cut calories and spin our asses off. The thought behind those activities is to lose fat. Lose fat. "I need to get rid of these fat thighs, these chunky hips, this paunchy belly". We only think about the fat.
Now think for a minute about how female bodybuilders (FBB) look. They are muscular and lean, right? Do we think a FBB would ever do anything to jeopardize her muscle mass? Not likely.
The FBB wants to build muscle for much of the year. Then, when shifting into competition phase, she works to preserve her hard won muscle while losing fat. But how is her fat loss regime different from that "typical woman" I characterized above? The FBB knows a few things the other woman does not, specifically:
1)The value of eating frequently throughout the day
2)Never allowing her calories to fall so far below its maintenance level that her body enters starvation mode
3)Always consuming enough protein to keep her skeletal muscle
4)Being careful to not do too much cardio.
Ulimately the FBB is able to create a very hard body using these principles because she pays attention to the muscle and the fat.
Ok, but I don't want to look like a female bodybuilder. Why are you telling me all this?
But you do want to look lean though, right? You do want to be able to still eat reasonably and be happy when you get to that ideal body shape, right? If so, you want to follow the FBB's same principles. Preserve all your current skeletal muscle and only lose the excess body fat. This is the way to go. Losing only the fat will keep your body's caloric demand higher because it will have more lean body tissue to nourish and you get to eat more calories and still look hard at the same time. Dude talk about having your cake and eating it too!
10 pounds of skeletal muscle require something like 600 calories every 24 hours. That means if you inadvertently lose that much muscle in your "typical woman" diet regime, that's 600 calories fewer every day you can not eat if you want to maintain that new lower body weight.
Ok let's close with an illustration. (those of you with reading overload at this point can take a break and come back later)
Kristina weighs 160lbs and has 35% bodyfat, which gives her a lean body mass of about 104lbs. She cuts her calories to 1000 every day and does 60 minutes of spinning every morning, seven days a week. In 12 weeks she's down to 130lbs and 26% bodyfat. So she's a success, right? That's 9% bodyfat dropped. She can get into that bikini from 3 seasons ago so she's happy....sort of. She notices that if she eats even one cheat meal weekly she gains a pound, which never used to happen.
Problem is Kristina now has a lean body mass of 96.2lbs. She's lost 8 pounds of muscle along with that fat! Now her body needs something like 480 fewer calories every day to maintain itself, which means it's going to be considerably harder for her to stay this size than it was 3 seasons ago.
Joanna weighs 195 and is 38% bodyfat, which gives her an LBM of 120.9. She calculates her daily caloric needs and ensures she eats 200-350 below that every day. She spins 30 minutes, 4 days a week and does a total body weightlifting workout the remaining 3 days. In 24 weeks she weighs 165 and has a bodyfat percentage of 25%. This gives her an LBM of 123.75, a gain of 2.85lbs. Jo has actually gained a bit of muscle while losing a substantial amount of fat. Jo likes her curvy figure and decides she's reached her goal. She finds she can eat the same number of calories as before (though from different sources) and really enjoy her food.
you! 
