3 Tips for Cutting Fat & Keeping Muscles

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There is normally a tradeoff to be made between cutting fat and gaining muscle, which is every modern and upcoming bodybuilder’s dilemma. The following tips will help you cut down your fat ratio while retaining your bulk of muscle mass.

Step 1 – Protein should be Number One

We cannot emphasize it enough that protein is the number one muscle building ingredient in your body. It is recommended that you keep protein at 1.25 grams per pound of body weight if you want to look and feel good. While taking whey protein is one way to go, it is recommended to get protein from other sources as well. Popular protein rich foods are milk, cheese, yogurt, chicken, lean red meat, fish and turkey. Protein contains amino acids, the building blocks that fuel the muscles in your body.

Step 2 – Treat Fat as a Friend, Not an Enemy

Don’t believe all the bad hype about how fat can affect your body. Like cholesterol, fat is also needed to bind your body’s muscles and there are both good fats and bad fats. Dietary fat helps in the process of burning adipose tissue and regulate the metabolism by keeping key hormones like testosterone in check. It is recommended to keep fat intake levels at 30 percent of your total calories consumed. Good sources of fats can be found in such foods and vegetables as avocado, almonds and other nuts, egg yolks, oil based salad dressings, fatty fish like salmon and peanut butter.

Step 3 – Cycle the Carbs

In the last few years or so, carbohydrates have been given all the blame for why it is so difficult to lose weight. There are simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates and each of these have their own benefits. However complex carbohydrates have a slower process of being absorbed and digested by the body. Recommended sources of carbohydrates include quinoa, brown rice, sweet potatoes, spinach, apples, oatmeal and green vegetables.

Here is how to make weight loss quicker and more, using the magic of simple and complex carbohydrates. Use different levels of carbs in your diet every day and switch from a low to a medium to a high level of carbs alternatively so that weight loss and muscle gain is maintained.

Using the above formula in your diet, you should be able to lose between one and two pounds of weight per week. Any more or any less than this would be counter-productive or even ineffective.

There is also the question as to whether promoting a high protein diet would be good for the body. This was the main criticism of the Atkins Diet as well. Well, the jury is still out on this one but results indicate that one gram of protein in the diet per pound of body weight is a good starting point. Finally, if you as a beginner find that there is too much fat per pound of muscle in your physique, by all means cut out the fat first so that you look leaner and more muscular at the beach.

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