How To Lose Weight and Get Back in Shape

8/5/2019 How to Lose Weight and Get Back in Shape - VICE
VICE VICE NEWS VICELAND I-D BROADLY
Health
How to Lose Weight and Get Back in Shape

A personal trainer explains why you don’t need a detox, a fad diet, or
a boutique workout to burn fat and build muscle.
By Christian Finn
Jul 23 2018, 6:11pm
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gy3v43/how-to-lose-your-gut-and-get-in-shape?utm_source=vicefbus&fbclid=IwAR1AX8VIjdyJv6EZg3u5mLyiwDhP6gh8brymf89LY1BYXcRO64s9WunmITA 1/20
VICTOR FREITAS/UNSPLASH
Earlier this week, I was talking with one of my best friends. He’d recently
started dating again after getting divorced from his wife of 11 years. And let’s
just say that he wasn’t quite as lean as he was when they first met. Not only
had his waistline expanded considerably, his confidence had taken a hit. He
was disappointed with his lot in life, and didn’t feel good about himself and
things in general.
He had, to put it bluntly, let himself go. And he wanted me to help him get
rid of his paunch and shape up again. I'm a personal trainer with an
advanced degree in exercise science, so I get this a lot. Here’s what I told
him:
First, don’t tell anyone what you’re doing.
The stock advice is that you should share your goals with other people,
because it makes you accountable and gives you more motivation.
Personally, I think this is a mistake. Research shows that you’re far better off
keeping things to yourself.
Don’t plaster it all over Facebook.
Don’t tweet about it.
You want to go about your business like the SAS, on some covert operation
behind enemy lines, where nobody hears about it until the job is done.
I’d also suggest that you go and do something that represents a simple “first
step” towards getting in shape.
Maybe set your alarm 20 minutes early so you have time to get up in the
morning and go for a brisk walk. Or take some of the food in your kitchen
that you know you shouldn’t be eating and get rid of it.
You want to go and do something positive. Something that says you’re

serious about getting in shape, rather than just contemplating starting to
consider thinking about it.
Next, you’ll need to make some changes to your diet.
You don’t need anything complicated or fancy.
Nor do you need to cut out sugar, carbs, fat, lectins, wheat or whatever else
the food police say is bad for you this week.
The first and most important thing to focus on is creating an energy deficit.
What exactly do I mean by that?
When you’re in an energy deficit, there is a mismatch between the amount

of energy your body needs and the amount it gets from your diet. So, it
starts looking for something to make up the deficit.
As long as your diet and training program are set up right (which I’ll tell you
how to do in a moment), that “something” will be the fat you want to get rid
of.
You also need to make sure you’re eating enough protein. Research shows
that protein does a better job at filling you up than carbohydrate or fat, as
well as helping you retain (or even gain) muscle while you drop fat.
There are many ways to achieve those two things, from a ketogenic diet to
intermittent fasting.
Ultimately, the “best” diet for losing your gut is one that you can stick to.
Compliance and consistency trumps most other things when it comes to
getting in shape.
Are you hitting your calorie and protein targets for the day? Are you eating
mostly wholesome, nutrient-dense foods? Are you cutting down on the junk
that you know isn’t doing you any good?
If so, you don’t need to worry too much about the rest.
You certainly don’t need to eat six small meals a day, avoid carbs late at
night, or any of the other minor details that people like to waste time
thinking about.
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What about exercise?
I’d suggesting lifting weights at least twice a week. Three times a week will
be better. And, if you’ve got the time, four workouts a week is better than
three.
Lifting weights isn’t just for people who want to gain muscle, and will
improve the way you look in two ways.
Firstly, if you don’t do some form of weight training while you diet, a good
deal of the weight you lose will come from muscle as well as fat.
Second, strength training makes a direct contribution to the energy deficit

required to lose belly fat.
And, if you’re doing exercises that work large muscle groups – squats,
deadlifts, rows, lat pulldowns, presses, and so on – that contribution will end
up being fairly substantial.
Make sure to train hard and push yourself. Aim to get each workout done in
45-60 minutes.
As far as cardio is concerned, I like to think of it as an optional extra. As long

as your diet is set up properly, getting rid of the fat from your belly doesn’t
have to involve any cardio at all.
You also need to start taking better care of yourself.
And that starts with getting a decent night’s sleep.
Sleep is something that’s very important.
Studies show that lack of sleep can screw around with some of the
hormones involved in both hunger (the physical need for food) and appetite
(the desire for food), as well as lowering your testosterone levels.
Not getting enough sleep will make it a lot harder for you to get in shape, no
matter how well your diet and training program are set up.
If you’re struggling to sleep because you’re worried about stuff, pick up a

pen and paper and write down everything that’s on your mind.
You don’t necessarily need to find a solution to any of it.
Just get all the crap that’s bouncing around in your head down on paper.
That by itself will often make it a lot easier for you to relax and fall asleep at
night.
You also want to monitor your progress on a weekly basis.
There’s no point wasting money on getting your body fat tested, mainly
because most body fat tests (especially the body fat scales) are a waste of
time.
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They’re not accurate enough for you to use the information to make better
decisions about what to eat or how to train.
Instead, focus on the way you look in the mirror, how your pants fit around
the waist, your weight on the scales and your strength levels in the gym.
Always be willing to change what you’re doing if the results dry up.
Don’t keep on doing the same thing if it’s not working. Stay committed to
your goals, but flexible in the approach you use to get there.
Finally, you’ll need to be patient.
You’ll come across a lot of crazy claims about how fast it’s possible to lose
fat or gain muscle. Don’t let them distract you or push you off course.
You’re not going to lose 25 pounds of fat in 25 days, or gain 30 pounds of

muscle in a month. It’s all marketing BS.
No two people respond in the exact same way to an identical program of

diet and exercise.
Which means that nobody can predict in advance exactly how fast you’ll lose
fat or gain muscle, because they don’t know you.
They don’t know what your genetics are like, how much fat you want to lose,
or how close you are to your maximum muscular potential, all of which can
affect your rate of progress.
What I suggest you do instead is take some advice from John Wooden.
Wooden was college basketball’s most successful coach. His teams won 10
national championships in a 12-season stretch from 1964 to 1975. No NCAA
men’s basketball coach has won more than four championships since
Wooden retired.
Wooden’s theory was that you worry only about your preparation and the
performance of your team.
You have to accept that the result is ultimately out of your hands, but that it
is in your control to make sure you have done your very best.
And that’s exactly what I suggest you do.
Focus on what you can control—the food you eat, the training you do, the
amount of sleep you get, and so on—rather than the things you can’t.
Do the right things, every day, and let the results take care of themselves.
Christian Finn is a UK-based personal trainer who holds a masters degree in

exercise science. This article originally appeared on Finn's personal site,
MuscleEvo. Read the original article.
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Health
How to Lose Weight and Build Muscle at the

Same Time
Gaining strength while burning fat isn't easy to do, but research
shows that it is possible.
By Christian Finn
Oct 29 2018, 7:15pm
ALORA GRIFFITHS/UNSPLASH
Losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time can seem like an impossible
task. To lose fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit. To gain muscle, you need
to be in a calorie surplus. It’s just not humanly possible for both things to
happen at once. Others claim it can be done, but only if you take steroids, or
follow a fancy carb cycling protocol, the instructions for which are more
complicated than the blueprints for a nuclear power station.
So who's right? Although there are lots of ifs, buts, and maybes, it is in fact
possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Not everyone can do
it, and not everyone can do it to the same degree—but there are many
studies that document fat being lost and muscle being gained
simultaneously. Here's how you go about it.
The first and most important step is to put yourself in a calorie deficit.
There are lots of different ways to achieve that, from intermittent fasting or
keto to just cutting down on the junk you know you shouldn’t be eating. But
no matter how you go about creating that deficit, you most definitely need
to be in one if fat is going to be lost.
You’re said to be in a “calorie deficit” when there is less energy coming from
the food you eat than your body needs to move, pump blood around your
body, break down and synthesize new muscle protein, along with all the
other stuff involved in keeping you alive. When you’re in a calorie deficit,
there is a gap between the amount of fuel your body needs and the amount
it gets from food. So, it starts looking for something to fill that gap. In most
cases, that “something” will be the large pool of chemical energy—aka, fat—
stored in your body.
Second, you will need to be an overweight beginner. By that, I’m talking

about someone who is walking around with a significant chunk of body fat
and is new to lifting weights. When you first start weight training, your body
is highly responsive and can add muscle very quickly. In fact, researchers
from the United States Sports Academy found that a group of overweight
beginners lost over 16 pounds of fat and gained almost 10 pounds of muscle
during a 14-week training program.
In other words, they gained a decent amount of muscle while also losing
slightly more than one pound of fat per week. When calories were cut, there
was still plenty of stored energy available to supply their muscles with the
fuel required to grow. Being an overweight beginner means you can get
away with a lot. Even with a highly restrictive liquid diet containing less than
1000 calories a day, weight training still led to an increase in muscle size in a
group of obese women.
In short, if you haven’t touched a weight in your life, you’re going to have a
much easier time dropping fat and replacing it with muscle. But as you get
leaner, things become progressively more difficult. A bodybuilder, for
example, who is closing in on the upper limits of his natural muscular
potential, is doing well just to hold on to the muscle he currently has while
getting shredded for a contest.
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In one case study, researchers followed a 21-year old male bodybuilder as he

prepared for a contest. Over a period of 14 weeks, he cut his body fat in half,
dropping from 14% to 7.2% body fat. However, almost half of that lost weight
came from lean body mass. In other words, he lost rather than gained
muscle. That’s despite the fact he was doing a lot of the things that are
supposed to help you retain muscle—eating plenty of protein, lifting weights
four times a week, and doing interval training.
For anyone in this type of condition, the main benefit of strength training
during fat loss is to retain rather than gain muscle mass. What this means is
that you’ll need to modify your expectations as your body composition
changes. All other things being equal, you’ll find it easier to build muscle
while losing fat when you’re going from “overweight” to “lean” than you will
going from “lean” to “ripped.”
If you’ve been lifting weights for some time, the speed at which you gain
muscle will have slowed down. And it doesn’t matter how many supplements
you take, what type of complicated carb cycling protocol you use, or how
many muscle-building “hacks” you try, muscle just isn’t going to be gained
that quickly once you’ve moved past the beginner stages of training. On a
related note, anyone who’s been in shape before will find it easier to build
muscle and lose fat simultaneously when they return to training after taking
a few months off.
In a study of elite rugby union players returning after the off-season break,
four weeks of pre-season training led to three pounds of fat being lost and
over four pounds of muscle being built. That’s because of a phenomenon
known as muscle memory. When muscle is gained, lost, and then re-built, it
will grow more quickly during the re-building phase compared to the initial
training period from an untrained state.
Next up is protein. If you want to lose fat and gain muscle, you’ll need to eat
enough protein. Other than lifting weights, getting a sufficient amount of
protein in your diet is probably the single most important thing you can do
to gain muscle while losing fat. Researchers at McMaster University
discovered as much in a 2016 study.
They rounded up a group of young men and put them on a month-long diet,
where they ate just 60 percent of what they’d normally need to maintain
their weight. Alongside the diet, the men also trained hard six days a week,
lifting weights and doing intervals, as well as various other forms of intense
exercise. Half the men ate a protein-rich diet, getting around one gram of
protein per pound of bodyweight per day. The rest of the group received
just half that amount.
As you’d expect, both groups lost fat. Men in the high protein group,
however, were the only ones to gain muscle, finishing the study with an
extra 2.5 pounds of muscle mass. While the low protein group didn’t lose
muscle, they didn’t gain any either. To sum it all up, it is possible to lose fat
and build muscle at the same time. Even when you’re in a calorie deficit,
lifting weights and eating enough protein will allow for muscle to be gained,
or at the very least retained, while you drop fat.
How to Lose Weight and Get Back in Shape

CHRISTIAN FINN
While you can do both at the same time, however, it's highly unusual to do
both at the same rate. That is, unless you’re an overweight beginner,
returning to exercise after a layoff, very genetically gifted, or you’re on the
sauce, you won’t build muscle at anything like the same speed at which you
lose fat.
There are a number of carb cycling methods that claim to be able to get
around the problem, but even then you’re not going to replace every pound
of fat lost with one pound of muscle. The best that most people can hope for
is to generate a small amount of muscle gain while losing a much larger
amount of fat.
In other words, it’s far more realistic to drop 10 pounds of fat while gaining a
pound or two of muscle. Losing 10 pounds of fat at the same time as
replacing it with 10 pounds of muscle, however, is not an attainable goal for
most people most of the time.
Christian Finn is a UK-based personal trainer who holds a masters degree in

exercise science.
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8/5/2019 How to Lose Weight and Get Back in Shape - VICE

VICE VICE NEWS VICELAND I-D BROADLY

Jul 23 2018, 6:11pm

First, don’t tell anyone what you’re doing.

Don’t plaster it all over Facebook.

Don’t tweet about it.

You want to go and do something positive. Something that says you’re

consider thinking about it.

Next, you’ll need to make some changes to your diet.

You don’t need anything complicated or fancy.

What exactly do I mean by that?

When you’re in an energy deﬁcit, there is a mismatch between the amount

More from VICE:

What about exercise?

Second, strength training makes a direct contribution to the energy deﬁcit

As far as cardio is concerned, I like to think of it as an optional extra. As long

You also need to start taking better care of yourself.

And that starts with getting a decent night’s sleep.

Sleep is something that’s very important.

If you’re struggling to sleep because you’re worried about stuff, pick up a

You don’t necessarily need to ﬁnd a solution to any of it.

You also want to monitor your progress on a weekly basis.

Finally, you’ll need to be patient.

You’re not going to lose 25 pounds of fat in 25 days, or gain 30 pounds of

No two people respond in the exact same way to an identical program of

affect your rate of progress.

And that’s exactly what I suggest you do.

Christian Finn is a UK-based personal trainer who holds a masters degree in

MuscleEvo. Read the original article.

TAGGED: HEALTH, MUSCLE, NUTRITION, WORKING OUT, DIET, WORLD, BODY, MIND, WEIGHT LOSS, TONIC,

Watch This Next

Proud Boys and Refugees: The Right-Wing Latinos of Miami

Newsletters are the new newsletters.

Your email Subscribe

How to Lose Weight and Build Muscle at the

Oct 29 2018, 7:15pm

Second, you will need to be an overweight beginner. By that, I’m talking

More from Tonic:

In one case study, researchers followed a 21-year old male bodybuilder as he