Being a bodybuilder is far beyond what we see on videos and in the gym. The guys and girls that set on this road have to endure a lot of things over time if they want the best results.
Bodybuilding is a sport that we all grew up with. I recall when I saw my first bodybuilder and how blown away, I was. The physique and the constitution on that guy were remarkable. The number of muscles and the definition of those was something that I thought was impossible to achieve. The sad truth behind this is that for most of us trying to become like that is nearly impossible due to mistakes we all make. Just like in any other sport, there are easy routes you can take to the goal and there are hard ones, that pay off in the end.
One thing that is important in bodybuilding is mass which you must have to sculpt it the way you need to. If you don’t have mass you can’t achieve the constitution and the form required for you to show off all of those muscles. There is a problem though., with mass comes fat, which is nearly inevitable, and the number one problem all bodybuilders have is just how to lose fat without compromising the muscles they built up?! Today we will try and help with that, and if you want to know, even more, try here.
The basics behind this are that your diet is the sole culprit for fat and muscle gain but it is also the sole culprit for both fat and muscle loss. The idea is to find the perfect balance so you can easily lose fat and retain or even gain muscle mass. Bodybuilding diets can be implemented good or bad. When it is implemented well you will have no issues but sadly, people often implement those diet in the wrong way which limits the amount of fat you lose and also compromise your ability to retain or even grow muscles. The result of a diet shouldn’t make you simply skinnier or skinny fat. The result you are after is stripping away a significant amount of fat while maintaining or building up your muscle mass that will make you achieve a lean and defined physique.
Mistake number one that you should avoid as much as possible is losing weight too fast too much. In the process of forming and building muscles and muscle mass, fast weight loss is never good. For your muscles to function properly and to keep growing you need to feed them with something. That something is energy and nutrients that can be achieved by slowing down the rate at which you lose your weight. Fats are important in so many ways and if you aim strictly to get rid of your fat really fast you are compromising your muscle mass as well.
A 2011 study showed that a group of participants placed on a diet that aimed at a slow fat loss, resulted in them losing 30% fat in 2 months and gaining around 2% in their muscle mass. The same study applied a fast fat burning diet and a group that participated in that lost 20% of fat in less than a month and a half but they lost around 1,5% of their muscle mass as well. The general recommendation when it comes to dieting for fat loss is to try and aim to lose up to 1% of your body weight per week, and then reduce the percentage from there to start building muscle mass.
Drastic reduction in everything as soon as you start dieting is another mistake that will end up costing you a lot more muscle mass than fat. Reducing your food intake and cutting away the carbs completely is never the answer, especially if you are ramping up your gym time. The reason why this doesn’t work is the fact that this type of losing fat is really difficult to sustain for a longer period.
Besides this, it will impact you negatively in a way where you will experience the negative side effects of your diet quickly. Harshly dieting and increasing in exercise will result in your organism adjusting for the lower calorie input and usage by lowering your metabolism accordingly, and that is something you don’t want. Doing too much too fast will result in you being stuck at one point from which you are not losing fat nor gaining muscle mass. The way to fight this is to start slow and lower your calories as you go in increments and start slow with cardio and other exercises.
When it comes to losing fat, everyone wants to get rid of it as soon as possible and with the best possible results. In that process, you all forget one crucial thing and it is to take a break and rest from time to time. When we say take a break, we don’t mean just take a break from exercising, we are also saying take a break from dieting as well. Don’t go straight to junk food, balance your diet slightly but generally take a break from the strict and harsh diet you were on. If you are dieting for a month, for instance, pick one whole week in that month and take a break. This brake will help you reverse a lot of physiological adaptations that your body had to make to respond to your diet. These dieting brakes will be a lot more effective for both fat loss and muscle gain and retention.
These diet breaks will yield you a lot bigger fat loss, weight loss but you will retain and, in some cases, increase your muscle fat which is important here. Another thing you will do is experience less of a metabolism fall and that will help you maintain your weight way better after the dieting period is over. The only downside with these diet breaks that we can think of is that they will extend the length of your diet, but you can balance that yourself in the way it suits you the best. You can have 4 to -8 weeks of dieting and after that have 1-week of a diet break. This method will yield the same results but will not prolong your dieting period that much. Play with this a bit and find what suits you the best.
