HOW TO GAIN MUSCLE WITHOUT FAT: RULES FOR YOUR DREAM GAINS

One of the most prominent myths in the fitness world is that gaining muscle means you also gain fat. This is just simply false.

It’s on countless fitness magazines – you have to eat a lot to gain muscle and mass. For some people, this becomes an endless cycle of eating too much to bulk up and then go to awful crash diets to shed excess fat and reveal those hard-earned muscles.

Some turn into fat-burners, which are in most cases unhealthy, if not dangerous. Needless to say, this cycle is not the best way to go about it.

Also, many people get stuck at the first step and are unable to lose excess fat. This is why some people are turned off on the idea of weight training.

Ways on How to Get Your Dream Muscles without Fats

So you want to know how to gain muscle without fat? Here are some tips.

Eat Lean, Increase Your Protein

PHOTO COURTESY | UnSplash

Exercise and training are just parts of clean bulking. The other half of the battle is in the kitchen. And this battle can boil down to one word – quality.

Choose quality calories

Do your muscle a favor and stay away from refined grains, sugar, poor-quality protein. Examples of quality protein include lean and grass-fed meat, wild seafood, free-range eggs, beans, and nuts.

Of course, the readily available protein bars and protein shakes are good options. This is because they come with essential vitamins and minerals, but make sure it’s a good quality brand.

The key is to eat a balanced meal around protein. Also, make sure you include nutrient-rich food and low-glycemic carbohydrates (i.e. dried beans and legumes, most fruits, non-starchy vegetables, and some starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, cereals, whole-grain bread, etc.). Healthy fats such as those from avocado, egg, cheese, dark chocolate, fatty fish, nuts, chia seeds, etc. are also good.

Fuel Right

When you’re working out, your body will need the right food to perform at its best and recover better. Try to breakdown your daily food intake into 40/30/30 percentage, that’s 40% protein, 30% carbs, and 30% fat. You need to save most of your carbs to your workout days for a quick energy boost.

Also, since your body’s metabolism is kicking after your workout, it is best to eat a big and healthy meal to help your muscles recover.

Skip the Processed Food

Burger and fries may be super convenient and can get you to your desired calorie intake. However, it can’t contribute anything to your desired goals and can hinder. All those salt, sugar, and saturated fat will cause your body to crash.

You will feel low in energy and unable to perform at your best at your workout. Do this while putting in extra and unwanted fat to your body.

When looking for fuel to get you through your workouts, choose healthy alternatives such as brown rice, whole grains, potatoes, yams, oats, etc. Also, stay away from refined oils, as this can add extra calories to your diet and leads to more fat.

Move Often

You are already training religiously five times a week, eating clean, and stayed discipline against food binges. However, if the rest of your days is sedentary (working in front of a computer), you are still on a fat-storing mode.

Prolonged sitting causes the body to release cortisol, the stress hormone. When this happens, the body turns on its fat storage mode. The best way to get around this is to get up and move around every 30 minutes, especially if your job is sedentary by nature.

If possible, you can also get a standing desk. Standing for a prolonged time can help your body burn fat. Of course, do it gradually to allow your body to develop those muscles required for prolonged standing.

Hit the Gym Hard

There’s no going around it. You can’t slack off at the weight room and expect changes to your body. You need to clock at work.

So talk to your trainer about your goals. Don’t have a personal trainer? Easy, there are lots of resources online that can help you get started.

As you progress in your training, or if you want to be serious in your training, then you need to find a fitness coach. Most gyms have their trainers that can guide you through the process.

Tone Down the Cardio

Cardio exercises have long been touted as the go-to fat loss solution. Many people assume they need to do hours on the treadmill or elliptical for it to be effective.

While this seems logical (as we always see lean runners), the catabolic activity that our body gets while doing cardio results in a tradeoff of muscle.

Cardio releases adrenaline and cortisol hormones, they breakdown tissues. Doing too much of it, especially when there are not enough calories, interferes with muscle development (anabolic process) and slows down your metabolism.

Should you need to do cardio, make sure you don’t exceed 30 to 45 minutes a day, a maximum of five times per week. Also, you can get a better and more challenging workout doing HIIT (high-intensity interval training).

These routines combine aerobic and anaerobic exercises. They are short, quick, but intense exercises that can challenge your whole body.

Get Enough Sleep

Rest is crucial for muscle development. We build muscles when we sleep. If your body is not getting enough sleep, or your sleep is constantly interrupted, then your body won’t be able to go to its recovery phase thoroughly and will switch out its fat-burning mode.

So how do you make sure you get enough sleep? Take enough calories throughout the day. You can supplement your diet with magnesium as well.

Take Supplements

You can double up on your effort to gain muscles with the intake of supplements. The right weight gainer supplements can fast track your way to building the muscles you want. There are supplements for women that workout and men, too.

Make sure you choose the right supplement for your needs to get the best results. If you have a hard time choosing the right supplement, you can consult with your trainer or nutritionist.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

DOES LOSING WEIGHT MEAN HAVING TO GO HUNGRY?

For many people losing weight is synonymous with restriction and sacrifice. In an effort to acquire the body of their dreams, patients obsess over every calorie and cut too many corners, leaving their body starved and tired. Dr. Niket Sonpal, an NYC Internist and Gastroenterologist, tells us malnourishment is not the key to a healthy lifestyle and could be the “gateway into difficult health problems.”

Dr. Sonpal, who is an Assistant Professor at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine and Associate Director of Brookdale Hospital's Residency Program, says, “Starving yourself is a technique that quickly backfires on patients. It can cause ma ss to be stored, water to accumulate, and hormone imbalances, among other things. If we aren’t careful about our nutrition and our weight loss, we can end up worse than when we started.”

Hunger is defined by bodily sensations ranging from mild pains in the abdominal region, headaches, mood changes, a decline in energy or light-headedness. These sensations signal the body’s instinct that it needs to replenish energy by consuming food. Biological cues arising from hunger inform the body of what to how to operate some of its essential functions to adapt to your circumstance. Remember though society has evolved tenfold since the first Neanderthals roamed the earth, our biological instincts are still quite similar, and hunger is at the center of how our body assesses its ability to survive. Simply put, if our body is not receiving the energy it needs, it will adapt its functions to survive what it perceives as hard times. During this adapting period, we can undergo mild to serious health implications that run contrary to our overall goals of losing weight and improving our health.

Here are 6 Major Reasons to Refrain from Starving Yourself and what to do instead:

Your Metabolism

Prolonging your body’s state of hunger regularly and for extended periods can cause your system to slow down your energy expenditure during periods of rest. Your Basal Metabolical Rate dictates how much energy your body burns in order to fuel your essential bodily functions while at rest. In the absence of regular and consistent nourishment, your body may begin to store energy, often in the form of fat.

Many people get caught up in an unhealthy obsession with calories. While calorie counting is sometimes necessary to get rid of stubborn fat and techniques like intermittent fasting can help people jumpstart their metabolism. Studies show that for people who are already obese or lack muscle while packing excess body fat, extended periods of hunger can worsen their situation.

To avoid going down the path of starvation and fat storage, start to slowly and sustainably build a schedule and regiment that has you eating high volumes of low calorie and low carb foods. Vegetables and lean proteins are your friends. Instead of eating two or three huge meals, space them out throughout the day with space for small healthy snacks that keep your energy up throughout the day.

Stress and Bingeing

Hunger and stress have an interesting relationship. People come in a great many varieties, and they react to stress differently. However, it is common for stress, in short doses, to decrease appetite. Prolonged stress, on the other hand, can lead people to binge-eat, especially if someone has developed the habit of food-for-comfort over time. Hunger, prolonged periods of fasting, and eating disorders can increase the body’s production of cortisol, known as the stress hormone. This can make you moody, anxious, and uncontrolled. Stress also inhibits our ability to control our appetite, often leading to overconsumption of calories. Once your system becomes overwhelmed with stress, you break, and the result may very well be binge eating.

Instead, focus on eating as healthily as possible without sacrificing the fulfillment of feeling nourished. If you have a craving for sweets or some treat, navigate the situation reasonably. For example, if you are a fan of chocolate, as many of us are, treat yourself to a piece of dark chocolate after dinner. Dark chocolate is an excellent way to get a taste of cocoa without overdoing the sugar. As for your cortisol production, don’t revolve your entire life around dieting and counting calories. Take time to run outside and feel the sun. Working out is a natural stimulant of endorphins, the hormones that help us feel good. Endorphins are also helpful in helping relieve stress and pain.

Your Calorie Intake Helps Dictate Your Calorie Output

As previously mentioned, our bodies burn calories daily to cover our essential bodily functions while at rest. Reducing calories in an extreme way can reduce the number of calories you regularly burn in an extreme way also. This makes it more difficult over time to lose weight, maintain weight, and remain lean. This is especially true for people who are predisposed to having a hard time shedding pounds, such as postmenopausal women and people with a family history of high cholesterol, diabetes, or obesity.

Instead, focus on the quality of your calories. 200 calories of broccoli will not affect your body the same way as 200 calories of ice cream. Giving our bodies an appropriate amount of food at an appropriate amount of calories is key to our metabolic health. The best way to cover our bases on the calorie front and on the hunger front, meaning fulfilling our energy needs while still satisfying our hunger is to eat foods that are high on nutrients, fiber and vitamins.

Hydration is key to your health

In their incessant battle for an “Instagram-worthy” body, people concentrate overwhelmingly on the solid foods they eat and very little on the liquids they drink. Needless to say, our bodies are dependent on water to help keep them regulated, hydrated and refreshed. If we are dieting like madmen while drinking sugary drinks, dairy products, and alcohol all the time, we are essentially counteracting everything we have accomplished at the gym and the dinner table. In other instances, people forget to drink water leading to dehydration and water retention.

Drinking ample amounts of water is also an effective way to send signals to the brain, informing it that you are not on an empty stomach. Drinking water before a meal has been shown to effectively decrease the amount of a person consumes once they sit down to eat.

Keep in mind water is extremely useful in keeping your digestion working properly.

Fiber is your friend

Fiber is a useful tool for staying regulated and healthy. Fiber is interesting because, though it is a carbohydrate, the body is unable to dismantle the nutrient to convert it to a simple sugar molecule. This results in Fiber passing through our gastrointestinal tract accomplishing many beneficial tasks to help us with our diet and health goals. Fiber is a healthy way to increase fullness hormones in the body. For many people who have built up resistance to this hormone, called leptin, this becomes more beneficial as your body becomes leaner and you become healthier. Fiber also helps to keep you full and it shows up in a variety of foods from fruits to vegetables to grains. The versatility of fiber means it is easy to work it into your diet without a lot of stress. Fiber helps fill you up as well without the risk of it staying and accumulating in your body to be processed into fat.

Opt for healthier choices that are rich in fiber, as opposed to processed and sugary drinks with little nutritional value. Because of where fiber is found, odds are the foods you eat to incorporate it into your diet will be full of many other vitamins and nutrients that will help keep your body healthy.

Fat Storage

The term “starvation mode” is incredibly common and if you confess your fasting weight loss methods to a caring friend or family member, odds are they will mention starvation mode as a reason against going hungry.  You may be tempted to roll your eyes and ignore the advice, but your loved one may be right. When we are constantly hungry, skipping meals and only feeding our bodies with one or two big meals a day, even if the meals are mostly healthy the body will do everything it can to store as much fat and nutrients as it can. This is especially true if you eat at inconsistent times of the day. Why? Because the body’s biological clock does not know when its next meal will come and how big that meal will be. So while you go hungry, your body grows anxious and looks for ways to compensate for the insufficient and inconsistent way with which it is fed.

To avoid starvation mode, make sure you are eating consistently and snacking on something natural and healthy between meals. Make sure to never skip breakfast as it jumpstarts your metabolism. Breakfast is also a signal to the body that its overnight fast is now over. It helps to keep track of the times you eat and make an effort to stay relatively consistent when it comes to your eating schedule. This will help alleviate some of the body’s anxieties about being left without food until further notice.

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.