A simple question re fat loss

[Mikeg68]

I have a simple enough question and wondered if someone can give a simple answer? I know it's not as easy as 'this will work for everyone'

So, you work out 3-4 times a week, do 3-4 ab sessions a week, but losing body fat isn't happening very quickly, my question is this, if someone requires say 2500 calories to maintain present body weight, by reducing that to 1500 clean healthy calories, very clean healthy sensible diet, and your weight begins to decrease, is it fat loss or muscle and fat loss giving that weight loss?


Does the body use the consumed carbs first, then fat next as energy then move onto tissue if there is no longer fat stores?

Cheers

 

[Jasthace]

Muscle stores will also be lost, leaving you weak and flat. With the help of Drugs you can increase the fat loss over muscle stores.
You are not actually losing Muscle so to speak, just using muscle stores nitrogen, glycogen, ATP... Muscle hypertrophy will be temporarily halted.

 

[woodswise]

I have a simple enough question and wondered if someone can give a simple answer? I know it's not as easy as 'this will work for everyone'

So, you work out 3-4 times a week, do 3-4 ab sessions a week, but losing body fat isn't happening very quickly, my question is this, if someone requires say 2500 calories to maintain present body weight, by reducing that to 1500 clean healthy calories, very clean healthy sensible diet, and your weight begins to decrease, is it fat loss or muscle and fat loss giving that weight loss?


Does the body use the consumed carbs first, then fat next as energy then move onto tissue if there is no longer fat stores?

Cheers

Jasthace gives an excellent answer.

The body consumes carbs first, and depending on circumstances, either protein or fat next. For example, you are in a slight Kcal defecit compared to your maintenance Kcals and dieting while eating carbs, proteins and fats. Your body will first use up the carbs in the muscles and bloodstream, then start burning primarily fat.

Similarly when dieting while eating proteins and fats (a ketogenic diet, without carbs) so long as you are in a slight Kcal defecit, your body will burn mostly fats.

But that changes if you eat a very low Kcal diet, because if that continues for very long (more than a few days) your body thinks you are starving and conserves the fat and burns muscle. In an evolutionary sense this would give your body the best chance of surviving the starving time by cutting down on muscle which burns a lot of energy compared to other cells and saving the life sustaining fats for last. This is called doing metabolic damage to your body and is the worst possible approach to dieting to lose fat. People who go onto very low Kcal diets for extended periods end up doing metabolic damage to their bodies and many of them just balloon up with fats when they start eating normal again. It could take years to bring their bodies back to normal, and many of them never recover.

Finally, ab work won't help you lose the fat on your stomach any more than a similar amount of cardio or other exercises coupled with the right diet. That is called spot reduction and it has been proven not to work over and over again. Some recent studies indicate it might work a little, but at most the effect is negligible.

 

[gotclen]

All great answers:
IMO at first it will be fat and water that is causing the first weight drop. You picked an extreme calorie reduction in your example. You body will think it is starting to starve quickly. You would be better off dropping 250 to 300 calories under your daily maintence needs. Then you will preserve much more muscle in your weight loss goals.

Once your body fat levels get lower that is when the body starts to want to hold fat and burn lean muscle as a way to survive.

The thing to remember is weight training will remind your body to hold onto the muscle. So, KEEP training. Work those muscles. The body will hold more lean mass if you keep working that mass.

Best of luck,
GC

I have a simple enough question and wondered if someone can give a simple answer? I know it's not as easy as 'this will work for everyone'

So, you work out 3-4 times a week, do 3-4 ab sessions a week, but losing body fat isn't happening very quickly, my question is this, if someone requires say 2500 calories to maintain present body weight, by reducing that to 1500 clean healthy calories, very clean healthy sensible diet, and your weight begins to decrease, is it fat loss or muscle and fat loss giving that weight loss?


Does the body use the consumed carbs first, then fat next as energy then move onto tissue if there is no longer fat stores?

Cheers

 

[Mikeg68]

Thanks for the replies

 

[dr jim]

All great answers:
IMO at first it will be fat and water that is causing the first weight drop. You picked an extreme calorie reduction in your example. You body will think it is starting to starve quickly. You would be better off dropping 250 to 300 calories under your daily maintence needs. Then you will preserve much more muscle in your weight loss goals.

Once your body fat levels get lower that is when the body starts to want to hold fat and burn lean muscle as a way to survive.



The thing to remember is weight training will remind your body to hold onto the muscle. So, KEEP training. Work those muscles. The body will hold more lean mass if you keep working that mass.

Best of luck,
GC

Very important proviso indeed. In fact if you don't exercise your BMR will remain unchanged, and although the exact proportions will vary from one person to the next, a considerable amount of PROTEIN LOSS does occur, regardless of caloric reductions..

However the degree of protein catabolism which does occur can be reduced CONSIDERABLY providing an exercise routine is initiated.

This primarily occurs because REGULAR exercise raises one's BMR. Consequently physiologic energy expenditure is increased, because of NOT only the exercise itself, BUT also the post-exertional BMR elevation.

Finally the unequivocal best means of increasing your BMR (and weight loss) is aerobic activity.

That's because A.E. requires a continual source of energy, to maintain serum glucose levels, which in turn necessitates a greater degree of FAT catabolism via the GLYCOLYTIC pathway!

jim

 

[mike_chang1]

You will make your metabolism completely crash. You should reduce calories gradually. I would start with a 500 calories deficit per day if we're only talking about diet (if you do more cardio, it will equal to a greater calorie deficit). At this rate, we are looking at a 3500 calories deficit a week or 1 lb of fat. It is acceptable to say you can lose 1 lb of fat a week without losing muscle. Once your fat loss stalls, reduce again by another 500 calorie. If you can't even reach your daily macros and stopped losing fat, then you need to increase workout intensity or add in some cardio to create the deficit.

 

[MuscleAddict83]

Great info in here! I might add that that is a HUGE deficit! You're body will go into starvation mode quickly with a deficit that large. If you're bodyfat loss has halted you need to spend a couple weeks back up at maintenance to let your metabolism reset. Then, start slowly. I prefer dropping only 200 calories at a time and that will be over the course of several weeks to even a month or two. My maintenance calories are around 3200. I spent from January to May cutting. During that time, I managed to drop 30 lbs and may have even added some muscle. Now, I was using anabolics, but this is a very similar method to what I did as a nattie bodybuilder as well. The main difference is I was able to get my BF lower because the anabolics kept me more, well, anabolic while dropping the BF. The concept doesn't change. I went from my 3200 calories in January to 2400 calories in May dropping 200 calories from my diet each month.

 

[dr jim]

Sound advice MC and MA!

 

[Eatcleanathlete]

Listen to these guys. By reading their posts and following their recommendations I was able to drop 30 pounds in 20 weeks. I also put on muscle and gained strength at the same time.