It’s a physiological fact that cutting calories too severely slows down your metabolism and causes
the loss of lean body mass. So that leaves us with the question, “How low can you go without
negative effects?
The most common guideline for losing fat is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more
than 1000 below your maintenance level (TDEE). For some people, who are at low body weights
and low activity levels, 1000 calorie cut might be too large of a deficit. The ACSM’s guideline for recommended and safe calorie levels are 1200/day-minimum for women and 1800/day-minimum
for men.
Your lowest allowable calorie intake should be:
A) 1000 below maintenance or,
B) 1200 for women and 1800 for men
Choose the one that gives you higher calories/day.
A more individualized technique is to cut down your calories by a percentage relative to your
personal calorie needs (again referring to TDEE). Reduce your calories by 15-25% below your
maintenance for optimal, safe and permanent fat loss!
This method is much more precise way to determine your correct calorie deficit. Cutting down
calories by 15-25% below maintenance level is a good place to start. A larger deficit (25-30%)
might be necessary for some of you, but the best approach would be to keep your calorie deficit
from diet small, while using exercise to increase your deficit, if needed. Keep in mind, the larger of
a deficit you create, the sooner your body will notice that you are dieting and the sooner it will start
slowing your metabolic rate, thus decreasing the amount of calories burned.
Using the "minus 500 method":
Your weight is 78 kgs.
Your TDEE is 2820 calories
Your calorie deficit to lose weight is 500 calories
Your optimal caloric intake for weight loss would be 2820 - 500 = 2320 calories
Using the "percentage method":
Your calorie deficit to lose weight is 20% (.20% X 2820 = 564 calories)
Your optimal caloric intake for weight loss = 2256 calories
Adjusting your caloric intake according to your weekly results
All caloric expenditure formulas are just estimations for giving you a starting point. The only way
to tell if your estimate is accurate is to get going and see your results! To see how your body
responds to your calorie calculations, measure and record your results in terms of weight, waist
lines etc. and body composition measurements.
Btw, here's a great and simple body fat measuring tool which gives you a good indicative of your body composition.
If you don’t get results you are expecting, you may need to adjust your caloric intake or exercise
levels according to these instructions here and here.
The “skinny” on gaining muscle while losing fat
Supplement advertising in bodybuilding and fitness magazines have brainwashed many people into
believing that gaining muscle mass and at the same time losing fat is an easy and very common
occurrence (with the right "magic" product, of course!).Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but
IT'S NOT!
However, it's common to see a large decrease in body fat while gaining a little muscle mass. It's
also common to see a large increase in lean body mass with a small decrease in body fat. But one
thing you hardly ever see is a large increase in lean body mass and a large decrease in body fat at
the same time (especially if you are steroid-free or not genetically blessed).
Because so many people can’t make up their minds and they go back and forth between trying to
gain muscle and trying to lose fat, and that usually leads in failure on both of those goals! Clear
goals and a laser-like focus are critical when you want to make the most efficient use of
your time, energy and effort. Make up your mind and determinedly follow it!
It’s physiologically not possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same moment in your body. You
won't gain muscle mass in a calorie deficit and you can't lose fat in a calorie surplus, it's that simple.
Let’s illustrate:
The average man with a daily maintenance level of 2800 calories needs about 500 calories extra to
gain weight – a total of 3300 per day. To lose weight, he would need about a 500-calorie deficit –
a total of only 2300 calories per day. The difference between these two nutrition programs is 1000
calories! They are at completely opposite ends of the scale.
There are, however, several situations where gaining large amounts of muscle and losing large amounts
of fat can happen at the same time:
1) When steroids and/or fat burning drugs are used.
2) In beginners, whose bodies are extremely responsive to training.
3) In advanced athletes/active people, after a long layoff. The muscle gain is due to "muscle memory”
i.e., they are not gaining new muscle, they are just regaining that muscle mass they previously lost).
4) In genetic superiors.
The key to improving your body composition and get the body you've always wanted, is to put
110% focus on your single most important goal; losing that extra fat or gaining muscle mass – one
or the other.
If you have above average amount of body fat, then your number one goal should be to
focus on losing fat first. Then, once the fat is off, you should re-write your goals and work
on gaining muscle while maintaining your new, lower body fat level!
And at this point, I suggest you read my previous post about the zig-zag method , to really overcome
and "trick" your body's starvation mechanism by tampering calories.
That's all for today, more to come!
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