[CHIQUITITA]

Here's a great read for tips and great reminders in maximizing your results for wieght loss....

Keys to Fat Loss & Low Bodyfat Maintenance
By Andrew Natale

As bodybuilders we are concerned with body composition rather than body weight. Put bluntly, we want to be huge and ripped! So after a period of adding muscle, it?s time to shed the fat. So what?s the best way to lose fat while maintaining our precious LBM? First- know your body! Find out what works for you. Sounds simple, but this can take a considerable amount of experimentation and time. That's why other people's plans sort of work generically (for the masses).use them, but adapt or tweak them to your own needs.


Second- what worked yesterday, doesn't always work today- or say the next time you cut- or after a few weeks and the body has adapted to a program. So have a Plan A, B, C..., the same way you change up your workouts to recruit more muscle fibers- you alter your cutting, maintaining or bulking program to keep you body from adapting and slowing progress! This is why mini-cycles of 3-4 weeks work so well, especially to stay lean (i.e. 3 week bulk- 2 week cut, then repeat. or cut, then tweak, then tweak harder etc)

Now the part you have been waiting for: Use those clean carbs to fuel your metabolism at your (I repeat your) level to bulk, add in enough protein for positive nitrogen balance, and then fat and fiber to slow insulin and digestion down so that you don't go thermo when bulking (this is also why we use clean-slow burners). If your carbs are not high enough, your body does hepatic gluconeogenisis (makes glucose not amino peptides) with your protein, that's also why high levels of protein give you a little edge on muscle building if you are carb deficient.

There is a difference between lean and ripped. The secret here is to turn your body into a FAT OXIDIZER. This requires a short transitional period that is kind of uncomfortable. But after a few days of adjustment, performance can even improve. When cutting, your body prefers to burn glycogen (glucose) and protein (muscle) for fuel. It does not want to tap into your fat stores because it thinks you are starving. As BB's we try to circumvent this by using meal frequency and small 200-500 calories adjustments, however it is more critical to make macronutrient changes. You have to change the body's fuel preference away from carbs and protein and towards fat. How? Limit carbs- without carbs the body must chose between fat and muscle. We use anti-catabolics to preserve LBM at all costs, so if there is less glycogen, and muscle is spared, then what becomes the preferred energy source - FAT!!! This requires eliminating ALL sugars- even from supps- and even post workout! It also means raising your fat intake in order to teach the body that this is the new fuel source- tell it to GET USE TO IT! So now, even though you are eating more fat, you still want to maintain a level slightly under the body's energy requirement- this is when you turn to your FAT STORES- the new preferential fuel source! Where do the CLEAN carbs play into this? Well, every so often you need to replace some glycogen in the liver and muscles, this prevents ketosis and ketoacidosis which can cause LBM loss.

What?s a clean, slow burning carb? Generally we take into consideration where a carb sits on the Glycemic Index, it?s fibre content and how rapidly it will convert to sugar once in the body. Slow-burning carbs include sweet potatoes, yams, old fashioned/steel cut oats, scotch/Irish oats, long grain brown rice, apples, berries, peaches, grapefruit and dark green veggies such as spinach and broccoli.

We all work very hard for our gains, therefore our first job is to preserve those LBM gains at all costs. Each pound we preserve can burn 30-50 more calories, potentially fat calories.