Column 15 | The 3 points of the diet

ANSWER

Almost every bodybuilder who has ever been on a diet has struggled with this or similar problems. Therefore, to carry out a successful and sensible diet, three factors must be considered: nutrition, the pendulum diet and cardio.

FOOD

The most important point in a diet is a targeted diet: If you want to lose weight, i.e. fat, you need to consume less energy than you use. With your body weight of 106 kilos, you need (assuming a normal, average metabolism) around 3500 kilocalories per day to neither gain nor lose weight. You should reduce this value by 500 kilocalories in order to achieve fat loss.

It is important to PROTEIN INTAKE to prevent muscle loss, because dietary protein prevents the breakdown of body protein. BRANCHED CHAIN ​​AMINO ACIDS (BCAAs) have a major impact on maintaining lean mass during a diet, as studies have shown that they can provide a muscle buffer (see: STUDY: THE EFFECT OF BCAAs ). For this purpose, BCAAs should be taken with main meals and before and after training. It is also important not to reduce fat intake. This is often done incorrectly. If the body is not supplied with fat, it switches to "low power" and stores its own fat - a completely natural protective reaction of the body, since fat is the most important source of energy and heat for the organism.

You have to differentiate between "good" and "bad" fats. Bad fats include all saturated fats, such as those found in pork, for example. Good fats are polyunsaturated fats, especially those from plant sources, such as safflower, rapeseed and especially linseed oil. You can find more helpful information in the article THE BIG FAT REPORT read more.

I recommend that you consume 80 grams of fat per day, based on your body weight, divided into 3/4 polyunsaturated and 1/3 monounsaturated and saturated fats.

To ensure low insulin levels, which significantly supports effective fat burning, you should reduce your carbohydrate consumption. Stick to the following nutrient composition:

During a diet, the body eventually gets used to the reduction in nutrients and slows down the metabolism to protect itself. This measure is intended to protect the body from starvation in the long term. After this adjustment, there is hardly any weight loss. Many bodybuilders then make the mistake of reducing their diet even further. The metabolism reacts to this by reducing its intake, which means that nothing is burned. It is a vicious circle that leads to the so-called yo-yo effect. This means that when you start eating "normally" again after the diet, the body immediately channels the food energy into its energy stores: the fat deposits. This is because the metabolism has become too slow during the diet for the food energy to be burned. One way out of this dilemma is the pendulum diet, which keeps the metabolism at a high level in a simple way.

THE COMMUTER DIET

The pendulum diet involves constantly varying the amount of calories you consume each week. A distinction is made between training days, training-free days and the so-called "feeding" or "loading" day. A typical plan that is recommended for you is as follows: By eating day, you increase your metabolism enormously, which affects the energy burn throughout the week. It is important to stick to the diet days, which help burn fat due to the low calorie content. I have been following the pendulum diet for more than ten years! You can do it in both diet and build-up phases, and it always works! However, a perfect diet is of little use if physical activity does not also help to reduce body fat. More information and background on the pendulum diet can be found in the article THE COMMUTER DIET .

CARDIO TRAINING

To ensure maximum fat burning, I recommend three to seven sessions of 30 to 60 minutes each per week. Slowly increase from 2 x 30 minutes to up to 7 x 60 minutes per week.

Your pulse should be between 140 and 160 beats per minute. It has been proven that this pulse promises a much higher fat burning than, for example, 120 beats. Cardio or endurance training is less about burning fat during the session than about increasing your metabolism after the session.

If used wisely, targeted cardio training can increase your metabolism 24 hours a day - and over several months.

The article AEROBIC TRAINING provides further information and tips for effective cardio training and optimal metabolism boosting, which is why I can highly recommend this to you, in addition to the information already received in this column!