Cutting - strategies, physiology, stimulants, hormones.

Writing about weight/fat loss seems simple, but as soon as I started to put the things I think need to be recorded in order, I realized that it is not that simple. 

The First Difficulty

Today, the internet is infested with strategies, medicines, stimulants, hormones, coaches, and all kinds of miracle offers. I have been in this field for a few years now, unfortunately I have not yet witnessed any miracles. 

The Second Point

I know that there are some not so common strategies that work, but I will not dwell on them. I will write about what I have seen work. If you want opinions on different strategies, you can ask questions below. If I know, I will answer; if not, we will ask for help from the good experts we have on the forum (yes, we have great professionals participating here daily). 

The Third Point

Is to understand the differences in the process, since they involve adopting a lifestyle. The process of a sedentary person, with years of poor eating habits and a body fat above 30% (or someone who is fat/obese) is not the same as that of a person who has been working out for years, has a lot of muscle mass and recently did a bulk to gain even more mass, and with that came a little fat too. 

We usually say that building muscle is much harder than losing weight, and it really is, as long as you are already a follower of the lifestyle with a routine of workouts, diet and cardio. If you are not a follower, this will require a great deal of effort on your part, because changing years of comfortable behavior to create routines is a big and relatively complicated step. 

It is worth remembering the law of inertia at this point, as it fits perfectly with this reasoning: 

"An object that is at rest will need a large amount of energy to get moving. Once in motion, it will need another large amount of energy to return to rest." 

What I mean by this is that it will require a lot of effort on your part to change your lifestyle, but once you change, you will never stop. I guarantee you: over time, losing an hour of sleep to do cardio or workout will become much more enjoyable than staying asleep. I know that if you don't have this routine yet, you may read this and think it's absurd, but BELIEVE ME, it happens. Exercising will be more important in your life than an extra hour of sleep. Not overnight, but by putting a lot of energy into it in the first few months, it will happen, it's inevitable. 

Lifestyle Change

Don't try to become a super athlete overnight. It won't work. You've spent years living a lifestyle, you won't be able to jump out of it and dive headfirst into another without first learning how to swim. The vast, vast majority of people who try to change fail at this. 

Changes are slow and gradual. Understand this. You need to slowly realize the need to add X or Y to your life.

Start by signing up for a gym and make an effort to go at least 3 days a week. Set this as your first goal to achieve. After your first workouts, try to do a few more minutes of cardio. It could be on the treadmill with a quick walk, a bike, whatever. Just by doing this, you will feel your energy change, your libido will increase, and believe me, you will feel very mentally rewarded with each workout you complete. It is a feeling of victory. Liberating. Enjoy this feeling. 

Slowly, you will realize that, although your life has improved a little, the weight on the scale is still not going down. Again, do not go on a restrictive diet. Start by cutting out sweets after lunch or dinner, replace soda with diet soda or something you like to drink (yes, here it can still be natural juice), and try to avoid moments of binge eating. When the binge comes, remember all the effort you made in your last workout. Swap the junk food you were going to eat for popcorn made in a pan with a little oil, or for gelatin. Always have some ready in the fridge. 

With just this small and simple change, and keeping up with the workouts and cardio you've been doing, you'll notice that the weight on the scale has started to go down. Don't weigh yourself every day. Leave it to do it every 2 weeks. Always weigh yourself in the morning, right after you wake up and have already gone to the bathroom. You'll experience a new sense of victory, and that your life is starting to change. 

After that, try adding cardio outside of the gym. Set a goal of going for a 1-hour walk on Saturday or Sunday. It could be in a park, a square, on a treadmill. It could be biking, or swimming if you want. Just adopt this 1 hour of cardio, and make it sacred. 

Your weight will continue to go down. 

After a while, it might be time to cut back on pizzas, hamburgers, and high-calorie foods. Swap pizza night for a healthy meal. Cook. If you go out to eat, don't overdo it with fats. Eating a sandwich for lunch and eating a plate of beans and rice at a buffet take almost the same amount of time. You don't have to cut it out completely, but if you used to eat pizza once a week, start eating it once every two weeks. 

These slow and gradual changes will change your lifestyle and bring you countless benefits: health, mental health, disposition, libido, metabolism, everything will get better. 

In this lifestyle change, we noticed that 3 things were slowly adopted into your routine: 

• Workout 

• Cardio 

• Diet 

These 3 words are responsible for the weight loss process. Once adopted, you will be unstoppable. Since they are now part of your life, there will be no rebound. There will be no weight gain. There will be no side effects from crazy medications. There will be no looking at yourself in the mirror and feeling like a failure once again for not being able to achieve your goals.

Let's now break down these variables and then explain the most appropriate way to use them for your situation, adding, as in my other posts, the physiological theory behind the process so that the practice is more interesting and makes sense. If you don't like theory, just skip to the practical part, although knowing why things happen will help a lot in your future decisions. 

Training Training

with weights is essential for weight loss for several reasons: 

• Preservation and Increase of Muscle Mass 

• Muscle Mass : Maintaining or increasing muscle mass is crucial, as muscle is metabolically active and burns more calories at rest, increasing the basal metabolic rate. 

• Prevention of Muscle Loss : In a caloric deficit, without strength training, the body can catabolize muscle along with fat. Weight training helps preserve muscle mass. 

• Thermogenic Effect 

• Post-Workout (EPOC) : Weight training increases post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), resulting in greater calorie burning even after the exercise is over. 

• Improved Body Composition 

• Toning and Definition : In addition to fat loss, weight training helps tone and define the body, improving physical appearance. 

• Metabolic Health 

• Insulin Sensitivity : Increases insulin sensitivity, improving carbohydrate metabolism and reducing the risk of metabolic diseases. 

• Function and Quality of Life 

• Strength and Functionality : Improves strength and functionality, making it easier to perform daily activities and reducing the risk of injury. 

How It Works 

• Progressive Overload : The principle of strength training is progressive overload, which involves gradually increasing resistance (weight) to challenge the muscles. 

• Muscle Hypertrophy : This constant challenge causes micro-injuries in the muscles, which repair themselves and grow stronger and larger, a process known as hypertrophy. 

• Metabolic Stimulation : Post-workout muscle recovery requires energy, which increases overall caloric expenditure. 

So incorporating weight training into a weight loss program not only helps you lose weight, but also improves your body composition and maintains your metabolic health. 

It’s very important to understand the importance of muscle mass in the weight loss process. And I’m not telling you to build up a bunch of muscle, I’m simply telling you to either reduce your body fat (BF) and gain muscle instead, or simply try your best to preserve your existing muscle mass. What’s the difference?

Example of Difference in Weight Loss Processes

A 6'4" tall guy weighing 220 lbs and 12% body fat (BF) on a 3000 calorie diet is cutting and losing weight, while a person with the same height and weight but a 25% body fat (fake skinny) on the same 3000 calories is bulking and gaining weight. Do you see the difference? Your body uses much more energy to preserve muscle mass than fat (fat is already an energy store). 

This type of training is still one of the signals to activate the mTOR pathway, which I will talk more about later.