I’ve been going to the gym for a while now and have noticed improvements in strength and size. I’m looking to trim my abs and after research have found that the most important thing is to burn fat. However I was told that if you do too much cardio you will burn muscle aswell.
Cardio will NOT burn muscle, I am a football player we run ALL the time, cardio just helps you get your heart rate up to help you blood flow so you can burn more calories. Thats why people do cardio before their weights alot of the time. But its not only about working out its all about intake of calories vs. calories burnt.
Here is an article I found that will help you. It helped me ALOT from going from 210 pds to 173.5.
Since I got several PMs and requests on the boards regarding weight loss and dieting in general, this post is a roundup of all the information I have been handing out so far. I’ll maybe post updated versions here in the future when I think it’s necessary. I should mention that I’m lifetime natural and thus have no experience whatsoever with anabolic steroids and other hormones / pro-hormones. For people using those substances, the rules may be different.
The goal of a cutting diet is to improve body composition by losing fat while preserving as much muscle as possible. In my experience, these are the requirements:
- Workout with weights 3 times a week.
- Drink about a gallon of water each day.
- Eat at least 1g protein / lb of lean body mass a day.
- Eat some fruit, veggies/salad, and some essential fatty acids (EFAs) every day.
- Above that eat whatever you want, preferably a wide variety of foods.
- Adjust your food intake so that the desired rate of weight change is maintained.
- The rate of weight change should not be above 3lbs/week, 1-2lbs/week is recommended.
IMO, any diet (resp. cutting method) that follows the above rules is optimal for cutting, any further details will not have significant effect on body composition. If you already have a meal plan, just check if these rules are followed and adjust if not. If you have never done a cutting diet, it’s always better to start with more calories and reduce slowly until the desired rate of weight change is maintained. For measuring progress and adjusting food intake, follow these rules:
- Weigh yourself once a week, always at the same time (e.g. right after waking up).
- Don’t panic if your weight stays the same or even goes up for one or two weeks.
- If your weight does not go down for more than two weeks, slightly reduce calories.
- If your rate of weight loss is above the recommended value, slightly increase calories.
- The change in daily calories from those adjustments should not exceed 500 cals.
- After adjustment, stay on the new value for at least three weeks before adjusting again.
If you stay patient, you will not have to adjust very often. On my last cutting diet, I only had to adjust one time during the whole diet. With more experience, you will not have to count calories anymore, but as a beginner it is probably a good idea.
Since many questions revolve around further details of cutting diets, here is a list of factors that I believe to be of insignificant effect for body composition:
- Cardio and fat burners,
- Meal timing and meal frequency,
- Protein / Carb / Fat distribution throughout the day,
- carb / fat ratio,
- Sodium intake,
- Moderate alcohol intake,
- Use of supplements resp. meal replacements,
- "Clean" food vs. Junk food (sugar and saturated fat).
All these factors should be used as tools to make the diet as convenient as possible. Many people e.g. have an easier time dieting with eating more calories and doing cardio or taking fat burners. Some people like myself have an easier time without cardio and fat burners. In my experience, the end result (body composition improvement) is not significantly influenced. Another example is protein supplements. I e.g. use whey powder to meet my daily protein intake out of convenience. I could just as well get all my protein from other sources. A third example is meal frequency and timing. This tool should be used to reduce hunger as much as possible throughout the day. For some people that means eating 6 times a day, for others it means eating only once or twice a day.
Last but not least, here are a few psychological tips and tricks to easily stick to the diet:
- It is possible that you will not "see" changes in the mirror until your bodyfat gets rather low. Don’t panic, as long as the rules are followed, everything is right on track.
- If at all, only assess your physique right after a workout. At other times it’s too dependent on water retention, and the mind will play tricks on you (telling you your progress sucks, etc.).
- Have a cheat day (pig-out day) once in a while, where you eat what you want. I had one every week on my last diet. Don’t feel guilty about it, as long as the rules are still followed, everything is allright.
- Don’t take the whole thing too serious. It’s better to not care about it so much. See it more as being the coach of another person, rather than yourself.
Good luck!