10 Rules for Fat Loss

  1. Do anaerobic cardio in the AM before eating on off days (Tues, Thurs, and Sat).

  2. Eat Breakfast (Oatmeal and a protein shake)

  3. Increase protein intake to 1 - 1.5 grams per pound of LBM Use Grow in the AM and after lifting and Low Carb Grow in the evening

  4. Lower carb intake below 100g and eat no simple carbs after 3:00pm

  5. Lift at least 3x per week concentrating on the big Heavy Lower rep lifts, Bodyweight and Olympic Lifts.
    a) Bench Press
    b) Deadlift
    c) Pull Up
    d) Squat
    e) Power Snatch

  6. Increase good fat intake and supplement with Fish Oils and Flax Oils

  7. Do 30 Min of cardio after lifting

  8. Keep a food log and keep caloric intake 500 calories below maintenance to take advantage of caloric deficit.

  9. Eat 6 small meals a day using P+C and P+F rule.

  10. If you want it you have to eat clean and lift Heavy.

Lets discuss this!

This is what I am doing. Did I miss anything major? Did I include anything controversial?

Kraig Y

The statement “Eat no simple carbs after 3 PM” is too cookie cutter. I’m going to take in my simple carbs in my post workout shake regardless of the time of day I train.

  1. The AM cardio before eating has been beat to death on this site already.
  2. Low Carb Grow is excellent if needed to reach your protein goals, but SURGE is the BOMB for post workout!
  3. No simple carbs after 3PM - not for everyone, I workout at 11PM and get to bed about 2AM, so my requirements are different.
  4. Not everyone needs to do cardio after every workout. I reserve dedicated days for cardio. By the time I finish my workout, I’m spent.
    I’m not arguing or saying your wrong, but there are no rules set in stone that apply to everyone. We are all individual and respond differently to different things. Cutting carbs is not the only way to lose weight. I’m not saying that anything is detrimental (except cardio in a fasted state), but different strokes for different folks. Just my opinion.

KraigY,

I like the way you think! You placed it all right out there in a very concise manner. I made a copy of this to place on my office wall.

I would only disagree with one thing that your wrote. Number five, relative to the reps. I think that mid range repetiions can do the job as well as “heavy lower rep lifts.” At least they have worked well for me.

Prior to the most recent Pull-up contest that I entered I worked almost exclusively with mid range to high end reps, as the contest was how many Pulls/Chins you could do.

Obviously, you want to get your body fat down as low as possible because you are hauling excess fat up to the Chin bar with every rep. I got my body fat down to 8.5%.

I followed most of the things on your list. I cut out cardio completley during the final two weeks of training. I am now thinking that could have been a mistake, relative to fat loss. But, I was training quite hard with the Chins and other supporting exercises four times per week.

Thanks for the list!

Zeb

I agree with everything exzcept the order of numbers 1 and 2.

I don’t see how it’s overly beneficial for you to be doing intervals on an empty stomach, but I don’t have the scientific knowledge to back that up.

Overall, great guidelines that would result in a terrific looking physique in just about anybody. I like the emphasis on OLYs, in particular. However, it looks like a solution that’s simple, but sure as hell not easy!

Cheers.

While I agree that SURGE is the bomb. I also have cut it out of my diet. When I was training MMA it was an indespensable part of my diet. But, now that I am not tearing my body down as much I feel that plain old grow with a scoop of creatine does almost as good a job and is a hell of alot cheaper.

No simple carbs after 3:00 except your post workout / Recovery shake.

Zeb-

How did you do? Did you meet your personal goals? Did you train doing weighted pull ups?

KraigY,

Hey man thanks for asking! I pulled 31 dead hang chins in a row, which was good enough to win it.

I mostly trained with high reps, but did include a set of negatives only with a 10lb. weight belt on at the end of each session.

I would like to drop my body fat down below the 8.5% level for the next contest. If I go in weighing 187lbs and have a body fat of 7% instead of 8.5% that means that I will be pulling almost three pounds less in fat! That has to mean an extra two or three reps if all other things are the same. What do you think?

How can I get to the 7% body fat…any ideas? Not trying to hijack your thread but since you asked.

Rule 11 - Hot Rox!

Zeb-

Wow man that’s a hell of alot of chins. I cant say how to get that low in BF% sorry. But I would think that doing IBUR and Fat Fast as outlined in The Beast Evolves by Christian Thibaudeau would get you pretty close.

KraigY

1.Not really needed until trying to lose that last little bit. 2.given 3.Don’t we all eat this much protein already? 4.Depends on time of training 5.train 3-4 times per week with weights. The rep range doesn’t really matter if you train hard. You did pick some great excercises though. 6.All the way. Again, shouldn’t we do this anyway? 7.Not if you train hard enough. 8.Definitely keep a food log. Remember your maintenance level will change and to keep an eye on this. 9.Yes, but maybe 6-8 meals depending how long you are up. 10.If you want it, you have to eat clean, train hard, and have some will power. Overall, you have ten rules that will work for many people. Just not all of the people. I guess you didn’t claim that though. Good luck with your plan.Peace.

Even though it has been beat to death, I still don’t understand why or why not. I’ve read and reread posts and the cardio roundtable but there are so different opinions but no conclusive answer.

Why not eggs instead? Real food…and this is a serious no brainer.

Is it per pound or kg? I’ve read both.

What about the malt I add to my PWO shakes? And, doesn’t JB recommend the bulk of carbs should be taken in after workouts?

"Well, for starters, there is a key principle at work here. Basically, the muscles are most efficient at carbohydrate and energy uptake during this time. Therefore the bulk of an athlete?s calories (especially carbohydrates) should come during this post-workout period.

Since fat is burned at high rates during the post exercise period regardless of what food you eat, during this time most of the ingested energy (protein and carbohydrates) will go to replenish the depleted muscle energy stores and to enhance recovery.

Think of it this way. If you were to eat 100g of carbohydrates for lunch and 50g were to end up in muscle stores to promote recovery and 50g were to end up in fat stores to make you fatter, your body composition wouldn?t be improving and recovery wouldn?t be maximized. But if you were to save those 100g of carbohydrates until after exercise, all those carbohydrates would go to the muscles for recovery with none of them going to fat cells. So which scenario do you prefer?"

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/women/post_workout_interview.htm

[quote]5. Lift at least 3x per week concentrating on the big Heavy Lower rep lifts, Bodyweight and Olympic Lifts.
a) Bench Press
b) Deadlift
c) Pull Up
d) Squat
e) Power Snatch [/quote]

I really think dips and chins should be added.

Agreed but does good fat intake need to be coordinated with P+C and P+F meals?

Is this cardio after very lifting session? And what type? I don’t do cardio on lower body days only upper body days and off days (non including Sun)

Agreed

Yep.

Plus sleep.

[quote]Lets discuss this!

This is what I am doing. Did I miss anything major? Did I include anything controversial? [/quote]

I like the list but there seems to be an over emphasis on cardio and lifting and not enough on diet. I am a firm believe that diet is 95% of weight loss. I’ve lost pound after pound with only doing 15 minutes of HIIT type activity 2 or 3 times a week in addition to my normal lifting.

I am not saying that lifting and energy expenditure don’t play a part but the list appears to say that physical activities rather than diet are the keys to fat loss.

cDog,

You make some good points. First I agree that Diet is very very important and overall it is probably MY biggest hurdle in getting lean and ripped.

so I would add.

11.Foods to Eat

Protein Foods:

Fish (salmon, tuna, cod)

Eggs

Chicken breast

Cottage cheese

Milk protein isolates

Whey protein isolates

Lean red meat

Carbohydrate Foods

Vegetables

Mixed beans

Low glycemic index fruits

Oatmeal/oat bran

Mixed grain bread

Small amounts of protein-enriched pasta

Fat Foods

Flax oil

EPA/DHA

Olive oil

Mixed nuts (no peanuts)

  1. Drink 15-20 glasses of water per day

14.foods to avoid:

Protein
Fatty meats

Fatty dairy foods

Most lunch meat

Whole milk

A lot of soy

Carbohydrate foods to avoid:

Regular bread

Sugar added foods

Most cereals

Soda

Fruit juice

Bagels

Fruit bars

Candy

Fat foods to avoid:

Margarine

Vegetable oil

Corn oil

Heated or fried oils in general

Also I do not count the carbs consumed in my post workout shake in either the after 3:00 rule or the 100g of carbs per day rule.

In regards to cardio I know that it considered the evil muscle stealer on this site but for me it is a must. So for the anaerobic cardio I do Jump Rope / Bike Sprints / Rowing Sprints or Hill Sprints for 15 minutes in the AM and for good old boring cardio I ride a bike for a half hour at 85% MHR.

As far as lifting I am currently doing The Creation Continues by John M Berardi. the lifts listed are only examples of great lifts not the end all by any means.

Why? I have read this numerous in forum posts but don’t know why we should stay away from peanuts. I do remember a JB article in which commented on peanuts and allergic reactions. I haven’t seen anything emprical though that states peanuts should be avoided. In fact, I believe many people on this board work all natural peanut butter in to their diets. I eat about 1/4 to 1/2 cup per day.

I know mixed nuts offer a wider variety of nutrients and but from a financial stand point, I just can’t afford fancy nuts. Besides, I have two fancy nuts that do must just fine.

And sorry, if have begun hijackin’ your thread with my questions.

2 rules:

  1. stop eating HoHo’s fat-ass.
  2. workout more, tubby

BEdz, I believe it is because the Ratio of good fats to bad fats are not as optimum as other choices of nuts.

bangs,
Another insightful post. Thank You!

The ONLY rule for fat loss:

“Energy out must exceed energy in”.

BEdZ,

Don’t listen to anyone who tells you not to eat peanuts! If you are not allergic to peanuts then munch away.

Peanuts and natural peanut butter have something in them called “Resveratrol”. This is also found in certain types of red wine, and grapes. It is a natural anti cancer and anti heart disease nutrient.

In fact, they now sell a supplement with just Resveratrol in it!

I would disagree with the fasted AM anaerobic cardio…this is based on what energy system is working. Depending on how long your intervals are you are using the phos. creatine system or anaerobic glycolisis (a combination of both to get technical). The PC system relies mostly on cellular energy, however anerobic glycolisis relies on glycogen to work. If you carb intake isn’t adequate to replenish glycogen stores after your last glycogen depleting workout you will have limited glycogen stores in your muscles (you can store a large amount of carbs in your muscles). If you’ve also eliminated your carb intake since 3pm by 7am (16 hours) the next morning the glycogen in your circulating blood and your glycogen stores in your liver are gone according to the glucose time curve. Just to run the systems in your body that require glucose your body has to use gluconeogenisis to create glucose from non glucose sources (the muscles will not release their glycogen stores to fuel those bodily proceses and this can’t be done from fat either). Ok, so now with limited muscle glycogen, and an empty liver your are gonna perform a workout that requires glycogen. Most people think that this is great since your body will run on fat…this is false, your body cannot convert fat to glucose, its impossible. So again your body will resort to gluconeogenisis to form glucose, which can cause the breakdown of muscle, something nobody wants to do.