According to Science, what is the best way to lose fat?

We have gone through the article about energy balance in weight management, weight gain and weight loss. Only when you have an energy surplus or deficit that aligns with your goals can you start thinking about gaining muscle and losing fat.

If you have not read the above article, you can refer to: Law of conservation of energy, weight gain, weight loss and common mistakes

When it comes to muscle gain and fat loss, the two most important things we need to consider are:

• How to gain minimal fat during muscle gain phase?

• How to minimize muscle loss during fat loss?

And that is also the content of this article. We'll talk about the Principle of Muscle Gain, The Principle of Fat Loss, decipher some common myths, and summarize the most important steps in the process of gaining muscle and losing fat.

I. PRINCIPLE OF GROWTH

Ensure an excess of energy

To ensure weight gain, no matter if it's muscle or fat, we must have an excess of energy. The amount of excess calories for most people should be around 300-500kcal a day to ensure muscle growth and minimize excess fat.

If the excess energy is too large (>1000 calories), then in addition to muscle growth, it will significantly increase the rate of fat tissue formation and lead to many consequences as follows:

• Skinny fat. In case you are new to exercise and are still thin, if your body tends to build fat tissue faster than muscle tissue (“genes”), then overeating will cause you to fall into the phenomenon of Skinny Fat. doesn't look fat, but has a lot of fat and hides muscle.

• Negative effects on mobility. This is almost a taboo for professional athletes, or young people playing sports who want to build muscle strength to improve performance. When you build muscle, weight goes up but strength also increases, so that shouldn't be a problem. However, if you add a lot of excess fat, then it will definitely affect your mobility (speed, flexibility, ...) because fat has absolutely no function in generating force.

• Muscles will not be sharp. This is merely a matter of aesthetics.

Also, keep in mind that when body fat percentage is too high (>20% for men), the body environment is not optimal for muscle gain. So maintain a reasonable calorie surplus, because the weight you want to gain is definitely better if it is mainly muscle, not fat.

See more:

Make sure you get enough protein (PROTEIN)

To gain muscle basically you have to make sure that the factor of muscle synthesis is greater than that of muscle breakdown (Muscle protein synthesis > Muscle protein breakdown) to maintain a positive nitrogen environment in the body.

The most important factor to maintain a positive nitrogen balance in the body is to provide it with a complete protein. This can happen in both deficit and excess energy environments. However, an environment of excess calories with not too high 1 percent fat, as mentioned, will create the most favorable, optimal muscle anabolic conditions.

The recommended amount of Protein for an adult is about 1.8-2.2g/kg body weight.

For example, if you weigh 60kg, to maintain an optimal nitrogen positive environment for assimilation, you must eat between 108-150 grams of protein per day. It sounds like a lot, but if your meal is full of rice, vegetables and 200g of meat, you have loaded in about 50-60 grams of protein. In addition, if due to work or some other reason you cannot get enough protein through food, then you can completely supplement from whey protein supplements...

Guaranteed muscle stimulation

Nutrition is a necessary condition, a sufficient condition for muscle gain is stimulation. If your muscles aren't awakened, stimulated, and signaled to your body to increase protein synthesis, you won't gain muscle either.

Therefore, resistance training is always a factor that must be accompanied. Training with a reasonable volume, intensity, and frequency will increase muscle damage, increase metabolic pressure, and increase the storage capacity of the non-contractile components of muscle fibers (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy) to help you increase muscle efficiency. more fruitful. In the scope of the article on nutrition, we will not talk in detail about how to exercise here. You can refer and read more here:

Bodybuilding curriculum from basic to advanced (different types of strength and muscle, intensity, volume of training ... are covered in great detail in this article). In case you already have your own way of training, don't forget the principle of gaining weight to increase muscle to ensure continuous and long-term development ...

In addition, all the articles about exercise you can refer to in the Bodybuilding Knowledge section above

Maybe you can read more:

• https://bellyfatzone.com/lose-belly-fat-while-sleeping/

• https://bellyfatzone.com/drinking-honey-to-gain-weight/

• https://bellyfatzone.com/yoga-to-reduce-belly-fat-in-1-week/

II. PRINCIPLE OF REDUCTION CODE

Guaranteed Calorie Deficit

Calorie deficit when losing fat is usually divided into 2 ways,

• 1 is a moderate deficit

• 2 is a large deficit.

Moderate deficit

A moderate calorie deficit is a calorie intake that is 300-500 calories less than the calories consumed, and greater than 500kcal is considered a major deficit.

A moderate deficit will be suitable for those who have moderate training experience (about 2 years of training compared to the time criterion) and do not want to lose fat too quickly. This level of deficit will limit the risk of muscle loss and physiological dysfunction ...

Huge deficit

Large calorie deficit will be suitable for those who are new to exercise and have a high percentage of fat. The “beginners” effect will help them lose fat fast and still gain lean muscle and strength at the same time. However, for those who exercise longer, at lower bodyfat, eating a large deficit will have a higher risk of muscle loss, loss of strength, along with physiological function and health may be affected. benefit depending on the level.

It is recommended that you keep your calorie intake lower than your TDEE by about 300-500kcal a day to minimize the loss of strength/muscle during fat loss. You can keep a deficit greater than 500 calories if you want to lose fat quickly and drastically, but it should be noted that the intake must be greater than the BMR to limit the negative impact of the fat loss process on the body. (as mentioned in part 1 – don't put your body in a state of survival if you don't want to be counterproductive).

See more articles: What is TDEE? The most accurate TDEE calculator measures calories consumed

Ensure protein intake

When it comes to fat loss, we often need large amounts of protein to limit the risk of loss of strength and muscle, largely because the homeostasis is not optimal for protein synthesis.

It is recommended that you consume > 2.2g/kg of body weight.

Make sure to practice

1/ Resistance Training

Resistance training is important in maintaining muscle mass. This is considered a stimulating factor, reminding the body of the heavy demand of muscles, thereby increasing protein synthesis, keeping the nitrogen balance stable and tilted in the positive direction.

As mentioned in the muscle gain section, when you stimulate muscles to increase protein synthesis, plus a little extra energy, your muscles will grow. In the case of fat loss, exercise also acts as a stimulus, but due to the lack of energy, your muscles will have a hard time growing, but it will KEEP the loss of muscle and strength too much. This is very important because muscle and strength are things you have to work very hard to get.

If when you lose fat, you lose too much strength, it is a sign that you are losing muscle. So, pick a few core exercises for each movement, and try to keep strength in each of these exercises throughout the fat loss process (the more the better – a sign of not losing muscle and strength). nervous system strength is improved).

Losing fat is like reducing the amount of gas in the car, the car can go shorter (endurance is affected by lack of energy), but power as well as top speed, can still be maintained.

Note: there will be exceptions when you can still gain muscle during the fat loss phase. Which cases are those? You can read about the decoding of myths at the end of the article.

2/ Cardio training

Cardio also plays an essential role in fat loss, in addition to increasing the amount of calories consumed, contributing to a calorie deficit, cardio also plays a role in muscle retention and growth such as:

• Increases muscle anabolic signaling

• Increases muscle anabolic response to insulin and nutrition.

• Enhance amino acid transport

• Increase blood circulation and heart health

• Reduce myostatin

• Reduce inflammation

• Enhance mitochondrial activity

However, you should not do cardio for too long in a calorie deficit, it is very likely that our body will burn muscle tissue to get amino acids for energy, especially for slow running. for a long time. Running slowly for a long time belongs to the low-intensity movement group and the Oxidative energy system will play a key role in providing energy for this activity.

As detailed in the article The Law of Conservation of Energy, the Oxidative system will use starches (carbs) first, then fat (adipose tissue) and protein (muscle tissue). In a state of energy deficit, it is more likely that this system will increase the rate of burning fat tissue and muscle more and lead to “muscle loss” if you overuse… In the above article (in the System section). Oxidative) has explained why long-distance runners (marathons) can be quite atrophied, which is a testament to the phenomenon of muscle loss due to too long activity at low intensity ...

Therefore, in the fat loss phase, instead of running slowly for a long time, run at a higher intensity but for a short time (under 30 minutes) to force the body to mobilize other sources of materials besides protein to make it work. energy. If you want to be more confident, don't forget to get enough protein in your pre-workout meal!!

Find out more: [Disclosure] Gym or cardio to lose weight, lose fat faster?

III. Decoding Myths About Muscle Gain and Fat Loss

Myth 1: Gain Muscle and Lose Fat at the same time?

Gaining muscle and losing fat is the goal and the saying that most people talk about, and the desire of nearly everyone when entering the training path. However, gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is difficult and sometimes impossible for some people, except in the following cases:

• Beginners, not yet familiar with stimulation

• Those who come back to practice after a long time

• People with very high bodyfat

• People taking exogenous hormones, steroids

• People with good "genes"

• If you are not in these categories, and still want to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. There is still one way.

It's about keeping the energy deficit small (200-300 calories), getting enough protein (>2.2g protein/kg body weight), working out hard, and trying to keep or gain strength throughout. progress.

However, for this method, you have to spend a lot of effort from carefully measuring your nutritional intake and working hard, but the changes in the body will happen quite slowly and you need to must be patient to wait for the results (if any)…

Therefore, either gaining muscle or losing fat in stages is a better option. The most detailed guide on how to gain muscle and lose fat for gym people

Myth 2: Abdominal exercises help reduce belly fat? Exercises to slim the waist? Exercises to make small thighs? …

Many studies have proven that we cannot choose one area of ​​the body to lose fat.

Remember, your body doesn't care if you're beautiful or ugly, or where you want to lose fat… If you have excess energy, it will store it where it's easiest to store. If there is a shortage, it will burn away in the easiest places to burn. And this depends on each person's "genes", specifically the composition and balance of hormones in the body.

For men, fat will usually be stored in the abdomen first, and gone last. For women, it will be the buttocks, thighs (before birth) and abdomen (after birth). And of course this is just a trend, the majority, not everyone. Some people have higher testosterone, or higher cortisol, and the difference in hormones affects areas of body fat...

What does this mean?

This means that abs will not help you lose belly fat faster, arm training will not only help you lose fat in your arms… Instead, do exercises that require strength, coordination of many joints / large muscle groups to maintain muscle, do more moderate cardio to burn less calories, eat right, aim to reduce body fat, and finally let the body decide it will lose fat at where first and where last. When your body fat percentage is within a good range, then you will automatically have the desired body shape.

Bonus: In fact, according to personal experience, as well as the sharing of some famous coaches in the world (although it is still scientifically proven), reducing fat in each part is still possible.

But it requires complex training and non-exercise activities, along with the support of supplements to help improve the composition and balance of hormones in the body, not simply do sit-ups, or practice more in a certain area… However, within the scope of the article, I will not go into this, but just want to emphasize that: reducing total body fat is still a measure. Safest and surest way to achieve the desired shape. And you should focus on that instead of painstakingly reducing each part separately.

See more: Gain muscle and lose fat at the same time – Although difficult, this article will help you

CONCLUDE

To summarize, drawing from both sections, here are the things you should do to reach your Muscle Gain or Fat Loss goal:

1. Energy balance: If you can't secure this "foundation", you won't be able to do anything else. Maintain a 300-500 calorie surplus/shortage depending on your goals. Note that you will only be able to balance the calories as accurately as possible, and the amount consumed may vary more. All calculation formulas are relative, no one will be able to calculate exactly how many calories you have burned in a day. So try to measure calories as accurately as possible, monitor your weight regularly and adjust. If you can't measure, then aim, monitor, and adjust.

Tip: you should practice counting calories for your meals. It is an important skill in life. You just need to put in a little effort to calculate the calories per meal, within a few weeks to get used to it. Then, at a glance, you will be able to approximate the amount of energy in meals with relative accuracy. That's why I say counting calories is an important life skill, it helps you manage your weight in the long run.

2. Macronutrients (mainly protein): Whether eating less/more, energy deficit or excess, still try to keep the protein intake at a high level (at least 1.8g/kg body weight). body). What about starch and fat? Because as mentioned in part 1, starch does not make you fat, fat does not make you fat. So you don't need to worry too much about exactly how much, as long as you don't exceed the daily energy limit, it's fine.

Tips: For those of you who want to improve physical performance and progress in training, prioritize carbs over fats because carbs will be the main source of energy for high-intensity activities. But be careful because starch is also an extremely easy thing to abuse!!

3. Trace elements: Remember to eat more vegetables, tubers and a sufficient amount of fruit for fiber, vitamins and minerals. Although they do not directly affect muscle gain, fat loss or exercise, these trace elements are essential for your health. Imagine your body is a machine, the macro-element is the fuel, the trace element is the oil, the lubricant... The body's machinery will malfunction and everything will not go as planned if you don't have enough micro-elements. matter.

4. Timing of nutrition: not so important as 1-2 (unless you are really serious and want to optimize everything like a professional bodybuilder). Basically, don't go to the gym on an empty stomach and eat a nutritious post-workout meal as soon as possible. If you can eat protein at intervals throughout the day, instead of focusing on 1-2 meals, it's better.

Tips: There are many women who go to fried spring rolls milk tea to have to 2000 kcal but dare not eat starch after 8 pm. I don't worry about the first thing that needs to be prioritized, but I do worry about this. This is also very important and helps us to optimize the results, but don't worry about building a house without a foundation. If you can't manage your energy intake, you can't control what you eat but you're worried about having dinner and gaining weight, you shouldn't.

5. Food supplement: as the name suggests, you should only consider it a supplement when you don't have the time/condition to get the required amount of nutrients. Don't depend on it too much. People's culinary habits (Asian in general) tend to consume less protein (meat, fish ...), so it is a good thing to add more from Whey when needed. In addition, if your diet does not have enough trace elements (article 3), can use multi-vitamins or fish oil to supplement.

All of the information here is the foundation of Muscle Gain and Fat Loss and will apply to the vast majority of people. However, the 80/20 rule always exists, and there will always be exceptions. That's when training and nutrition need to become more complex to accommodate those exceptions.