2696: What to Do When Fat Loss Slows by Christian Finn of Muscle Evo on Losing Bodyfat & Physical Fitness

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Health Daily. What to Do When Fat Loss Slows by Christian Finn of Muscle Evo.net and I'm Dr. Neal Malik.

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey there, happy Monday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily where I act as your narrator of the best health and fitness blogs all

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: for free and always with a bit of my commentary at the end. And now let's get right to it and start optimizing your life.

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: What to Do When Fat Loss Slows by Christian Finn of Muscle Evo.net

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_00]: One Muscle Evo reader wrote,

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I read your post about building muscle and a calorie deficit but I'm still a bit confused.

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I have a belly that I want to lose which I surely can't do just by focusing on building muscle.

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: But from what I can tell, if I restrict my calories it will affect my metabolism as well as my ability to build muscle.

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been restricting my calories using an online diet tracker. It seems to be working but I'm starting to get the feeling that

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: fat loss is slowing. Should I be eating more? Any advice would be appreciated.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: To lose fat, you need an energy deficit. Putting yourself in that deficit will affect your metabolism in several ways which I'll talk

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: more about in a moment. It will also affect your ability to build muscle.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_00]: It is possible to build some muscle while you're in a deficit. Your ability to do so will be affected by a bunch of factors

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: including your genetics, your training age, your biological age as well as the type of training program you're following

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: since some work better than others. But your rate of muscle growth will be slower than it otherwise would be if you were eating more

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_00]: which is fine. Remember, your goal isn't necessarily to build muscle while you drop fat. It's to retain the muscle you already have.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: If you do gain some muscle, great! If your training program is set up properly, I'd be surprised if you didn't.

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: But think of it as an added bonus rather than something you should be expecting.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Should you be eating more because fat loss is slowing?

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: It's quite normal for your rate of fat loss to slow down over time. Someone who is very fat, think your typical biggest loser contestant,

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: will be able to lose fat very quickly when they start dieting, several pounds of fat per week in some cases.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: A lean competitive bodybuilder trying to drop from 8% down to 6% body fat in the last few weeks before a show is going to lose fat a lot more slowly.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: If they tried to lose several pounds of fat per week, the large calorie deficit required to do so would result in the loss of muscle as well as fat.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: That being said, while it's quite normal for fat loss to slow down over time, you don't want it to come to a halt completely.

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_00]: But eating more calories probably isn't going to help. Here's why.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: You've lost weight. As a result, your body is now smaller and a smaller body requires fewer calories to maintain it.

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Think about it. If you lose 20 pounds of fat, you have 20 pounds less weight to carry around with you.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: So, it takes less energy to walk up the stairs, run on the treadmill or whatever else it is that you're doing.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: At rest, 1 pound of fat burns around 2 calories per day. The same amount of muscle burns roughly 6 calories per day.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: So let's say that of those 20 pounds you've lost, 17 pounds came from fat and 3 pounds came from muscle.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Based solely on the amount of weight lost, you're now burning around 52 fewer calories per day.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: But even that number doesn't tell the whole story.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: There's also a drop in energy expenditure in response to dieting, which is not entirely explained by changes in body composition.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: This is known as adaptive thermogenesis.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Adaptive thermogenesis is defined as the

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: quote,

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: decrease in energy expenditure beyond what can be predicted from body weight or its components under conditions of standardized physical activity in response to a decrease in energy intake.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: End quote.

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_00]: When observed, it's been found to range from as little as 79 to as much as 504 calories per day beyond what's predicted from the amount of weight lost.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: While a reduction in body mass reduces the amount of energy required to move around,

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: there's also some interesting research to show that your muscles become more efficient in response to weight loss.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: In other words, even if you replace the weight you lose by wearing a weighted rucksack everywhere you go,

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: the amount of energy it takes to complete a given task is still going to be lower than it otherwise would be.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Something else to consider is the impact of non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT for short.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT refers to the calories burned during physical activities other than exercise.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking about things like gardening, doing the housework, or even just getting out of your chair and walking around.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: When you go on a diet, there is usually a measurable reduction in non-exercise activity thermogenesis,

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: which also means fewer calories burned over the course of the day.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: According to some estimates, a formerly obese individual will require roughly 300 to 400 fewer calories per day

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: to maintain the same body weight and physical activity level as a never obese individual of the same body weight and composition.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: All of which means that the accuracy of an online diet tracker will change over time.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: It might start out working just fine, but it can't predict how your daily energy expenditure is going to change in response to the diet.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: In summary, the reason that your rate of fat loss has slowed is that the energy deficit required to lose fat

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: has been substantially reduced or even lost completely.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: So, now you've got two options.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: You can accept the slower rate of fat loss as normal, which it is,

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_00]: or you can increase the size of your energy deficit by burning off some more calories

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_00]: or cutting back a little more on your calorie intake.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, this isn't the right approach for everyone.

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: If you're already eating a very low level of calories, your weight loss has stalled, and you're going crazy with food cravings,

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_00]: then eating less is most definitely NOT the way forward.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: But, if all that's happened is that you're now losing fat more slowly than you once were

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and you want to speed things up a little, a few tweaks to your diet or activity levels should be enough to get things moving again.

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to the post titled,

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_00]: What to do when fat loss slows by Christian Finn of MuscleEvo.net and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Neil here for my commentary.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_00]: When it comes to weight loss and fat loss, everyone will plateau at some point.

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Meaning, the weight loss and fat loss will just sort of stop.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Just as Christian described in today's article, the body starts getting used to there being less of you.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of like when our bodies get used to the same workout we've been doing for weeks and months.

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_00]: If we want to continue making progress with our fitness, let's say, that means we need to mix things up a bit.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: We have to change something about the workout to experience new results.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: That same idea applies to when we hit a weight loss or fat loss plateau.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: We either change the amount of calories we're consuming or the amount of calories we're burning.

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Then with time, we should start to see weight changes happening again.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Alright, that'll do it for today.

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for being here and listening through to the end.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I hope you have a great start to your week and I'll see you back here tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits!