Fat Loss Simplified, Videos and Q&A... Ask Me Anything On The Subject Of Fat Loss.

[Katie4004]

I would consider a clean bulk (meaning a bulk with a very small caloric surplus) but with a reverse diet first. Add 100 calories a week until you reach what should be your maintenance without any metabolic damage from previous cutting.

When you say small surplus, do you mean around a 10% increase? Also, should my workouts be the same during the cutting and bulking phases? During the bulking phases, how much weight should I be gaining per week?
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

[JasonDB]

When you say small surplus, do you mean around a 10% increase? Also, should my workouts be the same during the cutting and bulking phases? During the bulking phases, how much weight should I be gaining per week?
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

.5-1% of your bodyweight at the most per week on a clean bulk. 10% surplus would be a good start.

The only real difference in training for bulking than cutting is that you need a little more volume and total sets to gain muscle as quickly as possible vs what you do to preserve muscle when cutting and you need a quicker progression on weight increases (meaning weight on the bar). If you aren't increasing overload you are not stimulating much if any new growth.

[JEPARK]

Hey Jason,

Can you give us your expertise on how sleep and stress affect weight loss?

[JasonDB]

Hey Jason,

Can you give us your expertise on how sleep and stress affect weight loss?

Lack of sleep can raise TDEE by keeping you awake thus moving around more but prolonged it can slow metabolism, cause muscle loss etc. Stress can cause one to eat more or less depending on the individual.

[RedeemerZG]

when we are talking about keto diets...(restricting carbs)
is it necessary to increase fatty stuff?

i mean... eggs on fryed bacon vs boiled eggs
tuna with mayo vs plain tuna
sausages vs lean meat...
(at same caloric input... less fatty stuff vs more lean)

do you get a picture?

thanks!

i've figured out that second solution (lean protein only) will lead to "rabitt starvation" and therefore = extreme muscle loss

[PlehMeh]

Hi Jason. Love your videos and I have subscribed to your channel.

I'm a bit unsure about where I am right now.
I know I lack mass, but I have a small pouch on my stomach that is irritating the hell out of me (and some lovehandles that won't go away).

Do you have any advice on the smartest way to get rid of it?
Do I bulk? Or should I engage in some special cardioregimen? Thinking maybe some fasted cardio might do the trick.

What would you do?
Thanks!

[blackd]

Hey Jason,

Would you recommend any specific kind of diet for someone coming off a CBL bulk to a more "sustainable" diet?

Xoxo,

Doug

[JasonDB]

Hi Jason. Love your videos and I have subscribed to your channel.

I'm a bit unsure about where I am right now.
I know I lack mass, but I have a small pouch on my stomach that is irritating the hell out of me (and some lovehandles that won't go away).

Do you have any advice on the smartest way to get rid of it?
Do I bulk? Or should I engage in some special cardioregimen? Thinking maybe some fasted cardio might do the trick.

What would you do?
Thanks!

You need to clean bulk from where you are. Put some more muscle on and after 6 months of that you'll find dropped some of the stubborn pockets, you are already pretty lean, will come easier.

Hey Jason,

Would you recommend any specific kind of diet for someone coming off a CBL bulk to a more "sustainable" diet?

Xoxo,

Doug

See my video on flexible dieting made simple and how I do it. Something like what I do is sustainable for life for maintenance calories unless you are preping for an event of some type where you need to be shreaded.

[ivxenz]

hey jason i have a couple of questions:

1. what would be the consequence of not hitting your macros but still being in a deficit while training for cutting. I am not talking about completely botching your macros but more like hitting 80% rather than 100% so if your protein was 150g, you averaged about 120g - 130g. Of course doing this whilst keeping up with strength training and a little bit of cardio and I mean doing this for the last few stubborn kilos before you are at a stage where you could start a bulk. I only ask because I live in small town India and the options to eat lean and protein rich foods are very limited and I am sick of having to eat 12 egg whites everyday to hit my macros and it makes it harder to stay in a deficit because eating the same things over and over makes me more likely to overeat and also just to reach those macros with the kind of options i have makes the calories a bit too high.


2. do any of these foods hinder fat loss or make you retain too much water weight:
Diet coke (especially late at night)
Multivitamins
Fiber Suppelements
Fish Oil tabs


thanks!

[JasonDB]

hey jason i have a couple of questions:

1. what would be the consequence of not hitting your macros but still being in a deficit while training for cutting. I am not talking about completely botching your macros but more like hitting 80% rather than 100% so if your protein was 150g, you averaged about 120g - 130g. Of course doing this whilst keeping up with strength training and a little bit of cardio and I mean doing this for the last few stubborn kilos before you are at a stage where you could start a bulk. I only ask because I live in small town India and the options to eat lean and protein rich foods are very limited and I am sick of having to eat 12 egg whites everyday to hit my macros and it makes it harder to stay in a deficit because eating the same things over and over makes me more likely to overeat and also just to reach those macros with the kind of options i have makes the calories a bit too high.


2. do any of these foods hinder fat loss or make you retain too much water weight:
Diet coke (especially late at night)
Multivitamins
Fiber Suppelements
Fish Oil tabs


thanks!

1) If you chronically do not hit your fat macros you will have reduced hormone production and suffer negative effects from this eventually. If you miss your protein needs too frequently you risk losing muscle mass, but it depends on how severe it is and how chronic it is.

2) Water retention is a tricky subject and outside of your individual trigger foods for it there isn't a lot you can do other than consistency. Meaning don't change your sodium intake dramatically up or down or you will have some short time water weight issues. A focus on water weight should not be your goal, unless you are preping for a photo shoot or bodybuilding show as there is no way to ensure long term water weight loss, 99% of methods used at some point will cause a rebound in the other direction. Diet soda bloats some people. I couldn't tell you what supplements bloat people, I could probably only name 3 or 4 supplement companies off the top of my head, you'll have to go to the supplement forum where everyone uses them to get those answers.

[PlehMeh]

Thanks for the answer! Will do so!

Is it OK to eat just before you work out, and not after?
I find myself performing better if I have eaten a lot of carbs before working out.

[mitten]

hey jason,
what would you recommend for a girl who has a hard time reaching her BMR and is trying to lose weight. She is 5'3, 150 lbs. She does something like your 5x5 novice routine. She is never hungry and its pretty hard to get her to eat protein.

[JasonDB]

Thanks for the answer! Will do so!

Is it OK to eat just before you work out, and not after?
I find myself performing better if I have eaten a lot of carbs before working out.

Meal timing should be based upon personal preference, lifestyle, personal energy and personal appetite control. Nothing else matters regarding when you chose to eat as far as impacting your body composition.

hey jason,
what would you recommend for a girl who has a hard time reaching her BMR and is trying to lose weight. She is 5'3, 150 lbs. She does something like your 5x5 novice routine. She is never hungry and its pretty hard to get her to eat protein.

If she will not eat enough protien to meet her goals, then she is chosing not to achieve her goals effeciently. She isn't serious about achieving them and you cannot make a person become serious about a goal they don't want to achieve very badly.

[JEPARK]

Hey Jason,

For the past 2 and a half months my weight has been bouncing between 227-232. My TDEE is estimated to be around 3000 calories. I've been eating around 1800 calories per day measuring everything using a food scale. I lift 3 times per week. I've recently had blood work done and my thyroids are fine. I've gone on 2 2-week diet breaks already. This is starting to become extremely discouraging and I'm not sure what's causing this plateau.

[JasonDB]

Hey Jason,

For the past 2 and a half months my weight has been bouncing between 227-232. My TDEE is estimated to be around 3000 calories. I've been eating around 1800 calories per day measuring everything using a food scale. I lift 3 times per week. I've recently had blood work done and my thyroids are fine. I've gone on 2 2-week diet breaks already. This is starting to become extremely discouraging and I'm not sure what's causing this plateau.

Why are you running a 1200 calorie deficit? That is excessive other than for short periods of time. Was total thyroid fine or did the doctor say your actual t3 (not t4) levels were in the normal range?

[JEPARK]

Why are you running a 1200 calorie deficit? That is excessive other than for short periods of time. Was total thyroid fine or did the doctor say your actual t3 (not t4) levels were in the normal range?

The 1200 caloric deficit was to lose about 2.5lb per week which I thought was still moderately healthy. I was told for an overweight person like myself, a higher caloric deficit would be fine. Just a note though, I started consuming at 1,800 calories just 2 weeks ago because at 2,300 I wasn't making progress. I got a call from the nurse saying my thyroid was fine. I didn't ask about t3/t4 (I don't know much about it). They're mailing me a report of my blood work so once I get it, I'll report back.

Even though 1,200 is excessive, shouldn't I still be losing weight?

Also I'm consuming 1g protein per lb bf, .4g fat per lb bf, rest carbs.

[caseyjohnson]

Hey Jason I have a question thats been on my mind for awhile, well actually a few questions.
1) How much protein do we actually need to retain LBM on cutting phases and Build Muscle on Bulk phases? The reason I ask this is I saw a study done ( I tried to find the thread I saw the study done and I wasn't able too). I'll generalize what it was from what I remeber. It basically said is that our bodies can only process up to .85 grams per LBM in order to build muscle. Anything above that does not get processed unless on performance enhancing drugs or high physical activity. I know this site is a Bodybuilding site, but not everyone here wants to have their life all around bodybuilding. Some may just want to look good and thats their reason for weightlifting. What is your take on the study of your body only using .85 grams per pound of LBM for muscle growth? It sounds reasonable to me and part of me thinks that 1g per LBM is kind of "overexaggerated" since this is a Bodybuilding site. What do you think? Ps. there is a guy here who averages out 60-80 grams of protein a day and he went on a cut and he turned out great. I just want to see what someone who has much more experience than I in this.

2) This question is about what potentially could be my Maintence. I do not know what category I fall under whether its lightly active, active, or extremely active. Basics is I am a college student and I have about 2-3 hrs of class and I do walk around campus a lot (not too big of one but its a decent amount of walking) I live on the 5th floor and I try to take the stairs up and down instead of the elevator. Right now I am weightlifting 3 days a week. I have a Delivery Driver job at Domino's and I usually work 10-15 hours a week. Im always on my feet and walking besides driving of course. From your experience and I know its different for everyone, do you think my maintence is around 2500 or possibly 2900? My Height is 5'7 and weight 175. 19 yrs old.

[Katie4004]

What do you think of leangains? leangains.com/2010/03/maintaining-low-body-fat
What is the benefit of intermittent fasting? Will cycling calories (eating at a deficit on non workout days and eating at a surplus on workout days) drastically increase the time it takes to reach my goal physique? Also, what would happen if someone my size lifted heavy while eating at maintenance? I know my muscle increase would be hampered but is it possible to "tone up" and get a better appearance while at maintenance or would nothing happen at all? Would doing this ruin my newbie gains?
I'm also curious about how muscle mass is maintained during cutting. If you lift heavy while on a calorie deficit wouldn't it make sense that doing this would make a person lose more muscle mass as opposed to not lifting at all. Lifting weights causes muscles to break down. The extra calories is what builds them up again. So during cutting aren't you just breaking down the muscles without building them back? Do the extra calories used to repair the muscle somehow come from body fat? There must be something i'm not understanding about this whole process.
Thanks.

[JasonDB]

Hey Jason I have a question thats been on my mind for awhile, well actually a few questions.
1) How much protein do we actually need to retain LBM on cutting phases and Build Muscle on Bulk phases? The reason I ask this is I saw a study done ( I tried to find the thread I saw the study done and I wasn't able too). I'll generalize what it was from what I remeber. It basically said is that our bodies can only process up to .85 grams per LBM in order to build muscle. Anything above that does not get processed unless on performance enhancing drugs or high physical activity. I know this site is a Bodybuilding site, but not everyone here wants to have their life all around bodybuilding. Some may just want to look good and thats their reason for weightlifting. What is your take on the study of your body only using .85 grams per pound of LBM for muscle growth? It sounds reasonable to me and part of me thinks that 1g per LBM is kind of "overexaggerated" since this is a Bodybuilding site. What do you think? Ps. there is a guy here who averages out 60-80 grams of protein a day and he went on a cut and he turned out great. I just want to see what someone who has much more experience than I in this.

As to using individuals who got good results... given what we know about the science of this in the human body... what makes you think these individuals would not have gotten slightly better progress had they consumed more protein? I know people who use training methods I do not approve of who got good gains and I give the same response (had you done it the way I explain instead you would have gained muscle 50% faster so would have put on 15 lbs of it potentially instead of 10 lbs of it this year).

2) This question is about what potentially could be my Maintence. I do not know what category I fall under whether its lightly active, active, or extremely active. Basics is I am a college student and I have about 2-3 hrs of class and I do walk around campus a lot (not too big of one but its a decent amount of walking) I live on the 5th floor and I try to take the stairs up and down instead of the elevator. Right now I am weightlifting 3 days a week. I have a Delivery Driver job at Domino's and I usually work 10-15 hours a week. Im always on my feet and walking besides driving of course. From your experience and I know its different for everyone, do you think my maintence is around 2500 or possibly 2900? My Height is 5'7 and weight 175. 19 yrs old.

1. The 1g thing is to give you a safety margin in regards to bulking... you are incorrect when you use the word "process" the body can easily absorb and process 1,000g of protein in a day effeciently. However we have not seen evidence that protein intake above what you mentioned will produce improve MPS when in a caloric surplus. However people mismeasure, misestimate etc and by going with 1g instead of .85g it gives a nice safety margin to ensure optimal intake and I think it is very wise even if not perfectly accurate advice for getting results in the real world. You can throw that away when cutting. I've seen data, via Eric Helms who is doing his doctorate in nutrition on this subject right now and is a natural pro bodybuilder, that 1.1-1.2g per lbs of lbm shows superior muscle retention when in a caloric deficit to lower intakes.

2. Plug in what you think is appropriate and use that as a baseline. If you are losing weight at that maintenance then you know you are burnign more if you gain weight you know you are burning less. Adjust accordingly. Also your maintance will change month to month in either a bulk or a cut even with the exact same activity so you will have to adjust based upon changes in scale weight anyway. This puts you in the ballpark to help you find a starting point.

What do you think of leangains? leangains.com/2010/03/maintaining-low-body-fat
What is the benefit of intermittent fasting? Will cycling calories (eating at a deficit on non workout days and eating at a surplus on workout days) drastically increase the time it takes to reach my goal physique? Also, what would happen if someone my size lifted heavy while eating at maintenance? I know my muscle increase would be hampered but is it possible to "tone up" and get a better appearance while at maintenance or would nothing happen at all? Would doing this ruin my newbie gains?
I'm also curious about how muscle mass is maintained during cutting. If you lift heavy while on a calorie deficit wouldn't it make sense that doing this would make a person lose more muscle mass as opposed to not lifting at all. Lifting weights causes muscles to break down. The extra calories is what builds them up again. So during cutting aren't you just breaking down the muscles without building them back? Do the extra calories used to repair the muscle somehow come from body fat? There must be something i'm not understanding about this whole process.
Thanks.

I've done videos on why calorie staggering isn't useful. Your understanding of what training does to muscle tissue is incorrect. Study after study after study has shown that intense resistance training spares far more muscle than other forms of exercise when people are dieting. In some studies sedentary people have literally lost 25-50% of the weight they lost in the form of muscle tissue. People fairly new to training who go on a hard cut in studies often lose zero muscle tissue. In a few cases they gain a small amount. Weight training, particularly heavy weight training not only preseves lbm it preserves metabolism longer.

The calories you consume in the form of protein, carbs etc are still used to repair muscle tissue in a deficit, just you have less to work with thus making gaining muscle difficult for most and impossible for others.... but the lack of total fuel will mean that your day to day activities (as you should be consuming at least your BMR unless you really know what you are doing) will have to tap into your energy stores (aka fat tissue) to fuel them.

[kmac1196]

So, hey! I liked your FB page and have been watching your vids. Very cool stuff. Does your advice differ for fat loss with an obese female? I've been lifting weights for 15 years but diet has yo yo'd. Since August I've been in a calorie deficit and lifitng weights 3 x's per week following a plan (currently NROWLW). Also, currently not doing cardio (other than walking the dog)...I have a phsical job (housecleaner...burn about 600-900 cals per day doing that according to my Polar HRM). I've lost 33 lbs. Suggestions? Currently Cals 1650, 140g protein (lean body weight /g ?) , 56g fat (ish), fill in the rest with carbs (mostly fruit and veggies, though. 5' 4.5" 217 (down from 249.6). I do have 1 meal a week (sometimes 2 if we have a gathering) where my cals will go over for the day (only to about 1800ish). Thanks!

Kristen

[JasonDB]

So, hey! I liked your FB page and have been watching your vids. Very cool stuff. Does your advice differ for fat loss with an obese female? I've been lifting weights for 15 years but diet has yo yo'd. Since August I've been in a calorie deficit and lifitng weights 3 x's per week following a plan (currently NROWLW). Also, currently not doing cardio (other than walking the dog)...I have a phsical job (housecleaner...burn about 600-900 cals per day doing that according to my Polar HRM). I've lost 33 lbs. Suggestions? Currently Cals 1650, 140g protein (lean body weight /g ?) , 56g fat (ish), fill in the rest with carbs (mostly fruit and veggies, though. 5' 4.5" 217 (down from 249.6). I do have 1 meal a week (sometimes 2 if we have a gathering) where my cals will go over for the day (only to about 1800ish). Thanks!

Kristen

First off nice job on the fat loss so far. Thanks for being a fan of my work.

As to your question for females my advice does not differ largely other than a few small points. Make sure the fat intake does not drop too low as I've noticed women tend to be a little more sensitive to hormone levels getting messed up from excessively low fat or excessively large caloric deficits. Also a heavier focus on lower body training will go a bit further as women tend to have more muscle fibers in your lower bodies than upper bodies compared to us males.

Overall your strategy on diet is pretty good.... I do not see any flaws in it and as long as it is working don't change it.

[kmac1196]

First off nice job on the fat loss so far. Thanks for being a fan of my work.

As to your question for females my advice does not differ largely other than a few small points. Make sure the fat intake does not drop too low as I've noticed women tend to be a little more sensitive to hormone levels getting messed up from excessively low fat or excessively large caloric deficits. Also a heavier focus on lower body training will go a bit further as women tend to have more muscle fibers in your lower bodies than upper bodies compared to us males.

Overall your strategy on diet is pretty good.... I do not see any flaws in it and as long as it is working don't change it.

Awesome!! Thanks so much!

[00200293]

What is the fastest way to lose 10lbs of fat even if some muscle loss is fine. I'm looking to lose a good chunk of weight before Jan 1st. I have a decent muscle base 5'8" 170lbs, but would rather get cut to around 160lbs and then build back up. I'd estimate I'm at about 15% BF. Would you advise I drop my calories to 1000 below maintenance or would it make no difference in regards to fat burning?

[JasonDB]

What is the fastest way to lose 10lbs of fat even if some muscle loss is fine. I'm looking to lose a good chunk of weight before Jan 1st. I have a decent muscle base 5'8" 170lbs, but would rather get cut to around 160lbs and then build back up. I'd estimate I'm at about 15% BF. Would you advise I drop my calories to 1000 below maintenance or would it make no difference in regards to fat burning?

You already named how to do it. I wouldn't advise it at all however. Also a 1k daily deficit isn't large enough to drop 10 lbs of fat in a single month. Furthermore according to your estimates you have 25-26 lbs of body fat on you... that being said losing more than about 1.4-1.5 lbs of fat in a single week, and this will be reduced with every couple lbs of fat you lose as you get leaner, is going to require you to start losing muscle mass with it. So assuming 50% of every lbs you drop beyond this is muscle and 50% fat as a basic guideline to drop 10 lbs of fat in a single month you will need to drop around 14 lbs of tissue weight(4 lbs of muscle loss which will require you 2-3 months of bulking to regain) at 3500 calories per lbs. That is around a 1600-1650 calorie deficit per day. That is assuming linear fat loss also, and using rapid fat loss methods like this will start to slow down metabolic rate by the 3rd week noticably unless you are using thyroid drugs to offset this. So the final week you might need to be on 500 calories a day and near starvation to drop the last 2.5 lbs.

This is all hypothetical of course as I am not advising this and I personallly think it is moronic however you are free to do as you please with your own body.

[00200293]

You already named how to do it. I wouldn't advise it at all however. Also a 1k daily deficit isn't large enough to drop 10 lbs of fat in a single month. Furthermore according to your estimates you have 25-26 lbs of body fat on you... that being said losing more than about 1.4-1.5 lbs of fat in a single week, and this will be reduced with every couple lbs of fat you lose as you get leaner, is going to require you to start losing muscle mass with it. So assuming 50% of every lbs you drop beyond this is muscle and 50% fat as a basic guideline to drop 10 lbs of fat in a single month you will need to drop around 14 lbs of tissue weight(4 lbs of muscle loss which will require you 2-3 months of bulking to regain) at 3500 calories per lbs. That is around a 1600-1650 calorie deficit per day. That is assuming linear fat loss also, and using rapid fat loss methods like this will start to slow down metabolic rate by the 3rd week noticably unless you are using thyroid drugs to offset this. So the final week you might need to be on 500 calories a day and near starvation to drop the last 2.5 lbs.

This is all hypothetical of course as I am not advising this and I personallly think it is moronic however you are free to do as you please with your own body.

I appreciate the reply. I understand everything you are saying. What method would you approach to "look the best" by Jan 1? Slow bulk, gain more muscle than fat, lower bf percentage in the process?

[JasonDB]

I appreciate the reply. I understand everything you are saying. What method would you approach to "look the best" by Jan 1? Slow bulk, gain more muscle than fat, lower bf percentage in the process?

Do you have some specific event with your shirt off on Jan 1st or something? If so you should have started planning months ago to peak for it, there is nothing you can do in a single month to vastly improve your physique... anything you do fast is going to leave you looking terrible. I would do a nice moderate cut for 3.5 weeks and then do a proper carbup a couple days from Jan 1st and down a bottle of vodka the night before to dry you out a bit to go with the glycogen supercompensation for the day. There isn't much else you can do.

[lee__d]

hi jason

[JasonDB]

hi jason

Sup, Leebrah. You know me... helping all kindzzz of noobs.

[lee__d]

Sup, Leebrah. You know me... helping all kindzzz of noobs.

Keep it up bro. Liked the video on natural bb'ing. I was aware of the 24hour Test from MLB, but I didn't realize how easy/quick everything else is to clear the system.

[JasonDB]

Keep it up bro. Liked the video on natural bb'ing. I was aware of the 24hour Test from MLB, but I didn't realize how easy/quick everything else is to clear the system.

Yep... Ronnie Coleman could have passed the drug testing at any major natural show at his peak. Furthermore my video should have given a good idea of how professional athletes easily get around random testing in sports where it is done without needing designer drugs (although they do help). Testing athlete is a waste of time, energy and focus. We are teaching our children a false value when in the real world, be it business, sports, politics whatever the reality is "those who are willing to do anything to win or be number one are the one's who will do so... those who will not will be passed up by those with the same amount of natural ability who are willing to do anything it takes to be successful without any limits. Either you want it or you do not." It isn't pretty but it is reality and people don't seem to grasp reality very well.

A bit off topic however... this is about fat loss without drugs. LoL