How To
Lose Fat Maintain Muscle...

and achieve the ultimate body!

It is possible to lose fat maintain muscle and improve your health all at the same time by following proven, tested principles. Many guys especially want to lose weight gain muscle and achieve a muscular physique and in this article we will cover the best principles to use.

Lose Fat Maintain Muscle
Nutrition Principles

If you have a slight deficit or excess of calories that is okay because there are so many other factors that come into play when it comes to burning fat and maintaining muscle. Plus, your body will adjust its metabolism depending on your food intake and exercise output.

If however, you want to lose weight build muscle and achieve a lean, muscular physique, then it is essential to create a slight calorie excess. This way, your body can use the extra calories to build muscle.

Manipulate Insulin
Your nutritional habits play such an important role in losing fat and maintaining or building muscle. One of the important factors in achieving fat loss whilst simultaneously maintaining or building muscle is to manipulate the body's production of insulin.

Insulin is a 'double-edged sword'. It is an anabolic (muscle-building) and lipogenic (fat-storing) hormone. Therefore, controlling its production is critical to your success.

As a general rule, you want to keep insulin low all day long. This may be achieved by having small, regular meals, by controlling your intake of carbohydrate (smaller portions and emphasising more low GI vegetable-based sources of carbs) and by always having 'complete meals'.

The exception to this rule is post-exercise. Whilst you don't want to have a post-exercise shake immediately after your workout as you would do if your goal was to build muscle exclusively, you still want to have one around 20-30 minutes post-exercise.

The shake should contain protein, high glycemic index carbs (honey or glucose), creatine, glutamine and must be with water not milk. Milk slows down the absorption rate of the nutrients so water is the best option.

The shake should promote a massive insulin spike, which drive the nutrients into the muscle cells and promotes 'cell volumisation'. The benefit of waiting 20-30 minutes post-exercise is so that you can keeping buring fat during the 'post-exercise window'. Having the shake immediately after the exercise session will induce insulin production, which in turn, stops fat burning.

High Protein Intake
A relatively high protein intake does assist the body with muscle growth, espcially in hard-training people. It is interesting to note that bodybuilders have been using this principles successfully for years despite many academics disputing the benefits of doing so. Then, slowly, every few years, the academic's daily protein recomendations slow creep up, getting closer to the current bodybuilding usage.

Not only does protein provide the building blocks (amino acids) for building muscle, but protein also has potent appetite-suppressing effects, which indirectly assist fat burning.

Lose Fat Maintain Muscle
Exercise Principles

Nothing could be further from the truth. Building muscle is a slow, deliberate process that the body fights all the way and weight training is the essential stimulus that is required. It forces the body to adapt to the stress that is placed upon it. It does this by increasing muscle size.

Without the weight training component the body will lose both fat and muscle during weight loss because it will indiscriminantly lose both tissues. The weight training forces the body to maintain its existing muscle mass, which then keeps your metabolism elevated, making fat loss much easier.

Cardio After Weights
It is definitely worthwhile doing 20-30mins of cardio (aerobic exercise) after each weight training session. This will assist the fat-burning process in the body. Click on the link to find out why cardio after weight training is so beneficial.

It is also worthwhile taking a thermogenic like, XLR8 Thermogenic prior to the workout. By doing so your body will burn even more fat during the cardio session after the weights.

Extra Cardio Sessions
It is also worthwhile performing a cardio session on the non-weight training days as well. This will help you achieve more rapid fat loss. The best time to do the cardio is first thing in the morning. Click on the link to find out why it is the best way to lose weight.

Lose Fat Maintain Muscle
Supplementation Principles

Not only do you need to know what to take, but more importantly, when to take it.

Of course, everyone should use a good quality multivitamin, omega 3's and antioxidants.

However, in addition to these, thermogenics should be used, particularly pre-exercise to promote the fat-burning process in the body.

Protein, creatine and L-glutamine should be added to the post-exercise shake to promote greater cell volumisation, and at the same time of having the shake it is definitelty worthwhile having some glucose disposal agents.

These will help to increase the uptake of the nutrients from the shake into the muscle cells even further.

Even though many people believe it is not possible, you can lose fat maintain muscle and achieve great health by using the principles discussed in this article.

If you would like more information on how to lose fat effectively, get a copy of my e-book, Look Good Feel Great.

It contains all the information you need to lose fat maintain muscle and improve you health dramatically.

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