If you've landed on this page, it means that you want to lose fat and build muscle but you’re not quite sure about the best way to do it.
Maybe you feel overwhelmed by all the conflicting advice about what to eat and how to exercise.
Perhaps you've been eating right and training hard, but your results just aren’t living up to that picture you have in your mind of how you want to look.
Or maybe you’ve fallen into the trap of just doing the same thing week in and week out, either because you’ve lost motivation or you’re not really sure what to do next.
I'll explain exactly how to get out of that rut in just a moment.
First, I want you to imagine what would happen if you woke up tomorrow with the kind of body you've always dreamed of having...
Visualize looking in the mirror and actually feeling good about the way you look.
Picture yourself walking down the beach without worrying what other people think of you... and maybe even have them secretly admire the way you look.
Think about wearing your favorite clothes any time you want and know you're looking your best... hearing friends and family you haven't seen for months tell you how great you look... walking into a crowded room and finally getting the kind of attention you deserve... feeling the confidence and self-esteem that may have been missing for years come flooding back.
The benefits don't end there. Like it or not, people with a strong, lean body earn more money. They're more popular and attract members of the opposite sex with an almost "magnetic" ease. They project an aura of self-confidence, charisma and power. They demand respect. In short, they are far more likely to "get on" in life.
Are you suffering from information overload?
The biggest reason most people find it almost impossible to get into the kind of shape they really want isn't that they don't try hard enough.
So many people out there work hard, but just don't see the results they deserve. That's because all the conflicting advice about exercise and nutrition leaves them feeling lost and confused about what to do.
Chances are, you've probably learnt a lot about how to get in shape. But how much of it are you actually USING?
I bet you're running around the Internet reading everything out there about building muscle and burning fat: Should you be doing interval training? Metabolic conditioning? 5 sets of 5? Following a paleo diet? Intermittent fasting?
If information was water, most people would be drowing.
You do a bit of research and think you know what you’re doing... then you end up reading something that says the exact opposite.
The so-called "experts" can never seem to agree on anything.
Truth is, much of what passes for health and fitness news is either meaningless or plain stupid. Most of it is a complete waste of your time.
You don't want empty promises about how to get a summer body in 7 days or a 6 pack in 24 hours. No more "instant ways to get this" and "easy ways to do that." And you don't want any more conflicting advice that leaves you feeling even more confused about what to do.
If nothing you've tried has worked so far, I want you to know that I can help you get the body you want. And you won't have to turn your life upside down to get it. So let’s talk about how to make it happen.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Can Carb Cycling Increase Your Fat Loss?
No Progress (Needs Some Tweaking)
No weight/fat loss or no drop in body fat% lost after 7 days means no forward progress (assuming your weigh in and body fat test was correctly performed).
If you go 7 days with no progress, you must re-analyze your compliance for the last week (did you stick with it? Be brutally honest). Then tweak your approach - chapter 4 in BFFM gives guidelines on doing this - it's called our feedback loop system).
So basically we're not looking for any different kind of results with carb cycling. This isn't "magic." It's not necessarily going to give you better than average fat loss.
The carb cycling is probably most helpful at "end-stage" plateaus when your fat loss has started stalling due to metabolic slowdown. It also helps when you're experiencing poor compliance because you've been deprived of calories and or your favorite foods (carbs). In either case, carb cycling can "increase" your fat loss by getting your fat loss back up to normal.
Also remember that without a calorie deficit, carb cycling doesn't guarantee you will lose fat at all. In fact, think about what happens to your weekly deficit with carb cycling:
If you were on a deficit 4 out of every 4 days and then you go to deficit 3 out of every 4 days, then technically you have a smaller cumulative weekly deficit don't you? So you can see that carb cycling /zig zagging doesn't work by increasing a calorie deficit, it works by restoring metabolism-regulating, appetite-stimulating, satiety-inducing and anti-starvation hormones back to normal levels.
The problem with prolonged deficits, especially after you are already lean, is that your body really does slow down the metabolism a bit, and even tricks you by increasing appetite. Both of these effects can be controlled hormonally.
By raising calories (carbohydrate calories in particular) every 4th day or so, you stimulate hormones like leptin, which is an anti starvation hormone. This tells the body you are no longer "starving" and brings metabolism comes back to normal, at least temporarily.
What carb cycling is really doing is not accelerating fat loss, but allowing you to lose fat like you normally would (or, it helps to prevent those plateaus from happening in the first place).
Carb cycling also has psychological benefits.
When you're on low calories all the time, you get physiologically (hormonally) hungry. But you also get cravings, which can be different than physical hunger. You tend to crave what you cant have (carbs anyone?).
But if you use carb cycling, you know you get to eat more every several days and you get to eat carbs. So even if you do feel some hunger/cravings on the low days, it's easier to hold out. This is how carb cycling also helps most people with compliance.
The end result is you avoid plateaus and falls off the wagon (overeating, binges, "unauthorized" cheating, etc).
Carb cycling and body re-composition
A possible third benefit of carb cycling is that it may explain how some people add lean body mass while in a calorie deficit. That's because when you're raising calories every several days you're actually NOT always in a deficit, and your body is given more fuel on "high days", which could be directed into muscle tissue for growth.
The extra fuel also makes for more intense training, and if you can train harder, you can build more muscle and burn more fat.
What if carb cycling isn't working for you?
If you've been carb cycling and it doesn't seem to be working, it's sometimes for the same reason as if you weren't carb cycling - you didn't get your calories quite right and you weren't in a deficit.
That's one reason I'm partial to controlled refeeds or "high carb days" rather than (non-counting) free-for-all cheat days. While the latter approach works for some, it can backfire if you go overboard, and it's quite easy to cut into (or erase) a few days of deficit with one giant binge.
If you hit a plateau (no change for at least 7 days), it's helpful to count calories carefully and weigh/ measure foods. Any time you are struggling with results or simply just working on the last few pounds of fat in the stubborn areas, the attention to detail at that point is more important than ever.
Another thing you might want to do is start tracking a number that most people don't consider: your weekly deficit (or weekly average daily caloric intake). Add up your calories every day for the entire 7 day week and divide by 7 for a daily average. Then make sure you have an adequate weekly deficit to reach your weekly goal.
Getting better results out of carb cycling may require being more strict on the low carb days. When you're carb cycling, in general, the whole idea is that the low carb days ARE very strict "diet" days and sometimes with a fairly aggressive calorie deficit - 30% below maintenance (and sometimes people even push the envelope and go even lower on low days, knowing that they have a big refeed coming up.
Making Sure You've Got Your Calories Set Properly
When you think about setting your calories for both high and low days, I want to refer you to a recent article I wrote about customizing calories for your body size:
1 Reason For Slow Female Fat Loss and 5 Tips To Fix It
http://www.burnthefat.com/how_to_fix_slow_female_fat_loss.html
You may not like the message in this article because it doesn't seem "fair" (to smaller people), but it may also make a light bulb go off that will keep you consuming the right amount of calories for you: Smaller people don't need as many calories. Someone who is 5' 2" and 124, may still want to lose fat, even though she is not a big person.
This would apply to short/ small framed guys too, but it affects women the most, since they are on average, much smaller than men.
Keep in mind, this important point (small women can't eat very many calories or carbs compared to big people), applies whether you are carb cycling or not - you have to get the calories right for your body type / body size / activity level. And if you really want to eat more, the only way is to burn more.
Watch Out - The Scale Plays Tricks On You When Carb Cycling
One last thing to consider: Suppose you are trying to asses your results after day 4, wondering when it is going to start working.
One thing about carb cycling that many people don't account for is the swing in body weight due to glycogen and water. With 3 strict days of lower carb, lower calorie eating, you may actually have already accrued a pound of fat loss. But then you carb up on day 4. Your body composition has improved, but the carb up makes you gain total body weight (water and glycogen).
If you only judge your success by the scale and if you only look at short term (daily) numbers, you may be misled into thinking you were not successful when you really were.
For that reason, you must have patience, watch the trend over time and avoid obsessed with short term fluctuations in body weight especially on high carb day and or the day after high carb day.
Once you have an understanding of all the above factors, and you've been carb cycling without getting weekly results, then do the same things to break the plateau that you'd normally do - including increasing the calorie burn from training/ cardio and or decreasing the calories.
The one thing you'd do that's unique to carb cycling is on your low carb days, a tweak you might make to break a plateau is to simply make the low days even lower in carbs (that means lower in calories, but you are specifically lowering the calories from carbs... leaving the protein, healthy fats and fibrous carbs/veggies alone
No weight/fat loss or no drop in body fat% lost after 7 days means no forward progress (assuming your weigh in and body fat test was correctly performed).
If you go 7 days with no progress, you must re-analyze your compliance for the last week (did you stick with it? Be brutally honest). Then tweak your approach - chapter 4 in BFFM gives guidelines on doing this - it's called our feedback loop system).
So basically we're not looking for any different kind of results with carb cycling. This isn't "magic." It's not necessarily going to give you better than average fat loss.
The carb cycling is probably most helpful at "end-stage" plateaus when your fat loss has started stalling due to metabolic slowdown. It also helps when you're experiencing poor compliance because you've been deprived of calories and or your favorite foods (carbs). In either case, carb cycling can "increase" your fat loss by getting your fat loss back up to normal.
Also remember that without a calorie deficit, carb cycling doesn't guarantee you will lose fat at all. In fact, think about what happens to your weekly deficit with carb cycling:
If you were on a deficit 4 out of every 4 days and then you go to deficit 3 out of every 4 days, then technically you have a smaller cumulative weekly deficit don't you? So you can see that carb cycling /zig zagging doesn't work by increasing a calorie deficit, it works by restoring metabolism-regulating, appetite-stimulating, satiety-inducing and anti-starvation hormones back to normal levels.
The problem with prolonged deficits, especially after you are already lean, is that your body really does slow down the metabolism a bit, and even tricks you by increasing appetite. Both of these effects can be controlled hormonally.
By raising calories (carbohydrate calories in particular) every 4th day or so, you stimulate hormones like leptin, which is an anti starvation hormone. This tells the body you are no longer "starving" and brings metabolism comes back to normal, at least temporarily.
What carb cycling is really doing is not accelerating fat loss, but allowing you to lose fat like you normally would (or, it helps to prevent those plateaus from happening in the first place).
Carb cycling also has psychological benefits.
When you're on low calories all the time, you get physiologically (hormonally) hungry. But you also get cravings, which can be different than physical hunger. You tend to crave what you cant have (carbs anyone?).
But if you use carb cycling, you know you get to eat more every several days and you get to eat carbs. So even if you do feel some hunger/cravings on the low days, it's easier to hold out. This is how carb cycling also helps most people with compliance.
The end result is you avoid plateaus and falls off the wagon (overeating, binges, "unauthorized" cheating, etc).
Carb cycling and body re-composition
A possible third benefit of carb cycling is that it may explain how some people add lean body mass while in a calorie deficit. That's because when you're raising calories every several days you're actually NOT always in a deficit, and your body is given more fuel on "high days", which could be directed into muscle tissue for growth.
The extra fuel also makes for more intense training, and if you can train harder, you can build more muscle and burn more fat.
What if carb cycling isn't working for you?
If you've been carb cycling and it doesn't seem to be working, it's sometimes for the same reason as if you weren't carb cycling - you didn't get your calories quite right and you weren't in a deficit.
That's one reason I'm partial to controlled refeeds or "high carb days" rather than (non-counting) free-for-all cheat days. While the latter approach works for some, it can backfire if you go overboard, and it's quite easy to cut into (or erase) a few days of deficit with one giant binge.
If you hit a plateau (no change for at least 7 days), it's helpful to count calories carefully and weigh/ measure foods. Any time you are struggling with results or simply just working on the last few pounds of fat in the stubborn areas, the attention to detail at that point is more important than ever.
Another thing you might want to do is start tracking a number that most people don't consider: your weekly deficit (or weekly average daily caloric intake). Add up your calories every day for the entire 7 day week and divide by 7 for a daily average. Then make sure you have an adequate weekly deficit to reach your weekly goal.
Getting better results out of carb cycling may require being more strict on the low carb days. When you're carb cycling, in general, the whole idea is that the low carb days ARE very strict "diet" days and sometimes with a fairly aggressive calorie deficit - 30% below maintenance (and sometimes people even push the envelope and go even lower on low days, knowing that they have a big refeed coming up.
Making Sure You've Got Your Calories Set Properly
When you think about setting your calories for both high and low days, I want to refer you to a recent article I wrote about customizing calories for your body size:
1 Reason For Slow Female Fat Loss and 5 Tips To Fix It
http://www.burnthefat.com/how_to_fix_slow_female_fat_loss.html
You may not like the message in this article because it doesn't seem "fair" (to smaller people), but it may also make a light bulb go off that will keep you consuming the right amount of calories for you: Smaller people don't need as many calories. Someone who is 5' 2" and 124, may still want to lose fat, even though she is not a big person.
This would apply to short/ small framed guys too, but it affects women the most, since they are on average, much smaller than men.
Keep in mind, this important point (small women can't eat very many calories or carbs compared to big people), applies whether you are carb cycling or not - you have to get the calories right for your body type / body size / activity level. And if you really want to eat more, the only way is to burn more.
Watch Out - The Scale Plays Tricks On You When Carb Cycling
One last thing to consider: Suppose you are trying to asses your results after day 4, wondering when it is going to start working.
One thing about carb cycling that many people don't account for is the swing in body weight due to glycogen and water. With 3 strict days of lower carb, lower calorie eating, you may actually have already accrued a pound of fat loss. But then you carb up on day 4. Your body composition has improved, but the carb up makes you gain total body weight (water and glycogen).
If you only judge your success by the scale and if you only look at short term (daily) numbers, you may be misled into thinking you were not successful when you really were.
For that reason, you must have patience, watch the trend over time and avoid obsessed with short term fluctuations in body weight especially on high carb day and or the day after high carb day.
Once you have an understanding of all the above factors, and you've been carb cycling without getting weekly results, then do the same things to break the plateau that you'd normally do - including increasing the calorie burn from training/ cardio and or decreasing the calories.
The one thing you'd do that's unique to carb cycling is on your low carb days, a tweak you might make to break a plateau is to simply make the low days even lower in carbs (that means lower in calories, but you are specifically lowering the calories from carbs... leaving the protein, healthy fats and fibrous carbs/veggies alone
Muscle Building Workout Routines
Today let's talk about muscle and how you can
build more of it.
Muscle Building Workout Routines
I recently got an e-mail from a guy I'll call Joe.
His question is a common one. If you want to build
more muscle, and what you're doing at the moment
isn't working, pay attention.
What I have to say to Joe might give you the
information you need to get better, faster results.
"I am new to the whole bodybuilding thing and
have been at it for almost a year," Joe wrote in his
e-mail.
"I don't have any technical knowledge about
setting up a routine and have just been using the
bodybuilding routines I see in the magazines.
"At the moment, I'm doing my biceps and triceps
on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while my
shoulders and back are trained on Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday.
"In each workout I do about 25 sets per muscle
group. Does this look like a good workout plan to
you?"
Here's what I told Joe
build more of it.
Muscle Building Workout Routines
I recently got an e-mail from a guy I'll call Joe.
His question is a common one. If you want to build
more muscle, and what you're doing at the moment
isn't working, pay attention.
What I have to say to Joe might give you the
information you need to get better, faster results.
"I am new to the whole bodybuilding thing and
have been at it for almost a year," Joe wrote in his
e-mail.
"I don't have any technical knowledge about
setting up a routine and have just been using the
bodybuilding routines I see in the magazines.
"At the moment, I'm doing my biceps and triceps
on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while my
shoulders and back are trained on Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday.
"In each workout I do about 25 sets per muscle
group. Does this look like a good workout plan to
you?"
Here's what I told Joe
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