Optimal Body Fat Loss for Bodybuilding and Fitness by Jerry Brainum 8/22

 

The ultimate goal for bodybuilders and fitness advocates is to develop more muscle mass and lose excess body fat. This goal, however, is easier said than done. Overtraining and poor dietary practices too often result in loss of fat and excessive loss of muscle mass. Indeed, when the average person who doesn't exercise goes on a diet, as much as half the weight loss that results comes from a loss of lean mass or muscle. Dieting without exercise is senseless from a physiological point of view. Yet, many "experts" often say that when it comes to losing body fat, diet is everything, with the contribution of exercise being relatively minor. On the other hand, studies show that the most successful dieters, defined as those that are able to maintain weight loss for 5 years or more always include an exercise component. That makes sense since a large amount of the resting energy expenditure comes from muscle mass, and only exercise will maintain muscle mass. With the current emphasis on extreme muscular definition in bodybuilding contests, bodybuilders often resort to practices that they think will promote very low body fat levels. 

The most common way to do this is to use various drugs thought to help reduce body fat levels. Such drugs include thyroid drugs, clenbuterol, and the most dangerous drug used in bodybuilding, Dinitrophenol or DNP. This drug is also being sold on the Internet and has killed people despite following "safe" dosing instructions. Diuretic drugs don't promote fat loss but do stimulate water loss that can improve muscular definition. However, they also can severely deplete essential mineral levels and that could lead to such problems as heart rhythm disturbances, fainting, and possibly death. Hormonal drugs, such as anabolic steroids and growth hormone, favor the oxidation of fat, so they, too, affect the degree of muscularity. But no drug can ever replace safe and sensible dieting practices.

Bodybuilders have a wide choice of diets to choose from. The adage related to fat-loss diets is that they all have one thing in common: a significant decrease in daily caloric intake. According to this notion, it doesn't make any difference what the diet composition is, as long as it features an appreciable decrease in daily caloric intake. While there is no doubt that reducing calories to a significant degree will promote weight loss, the "calories are everything" concept doesn't take into account such factors as appetite control and hormonal influences on body fat loss. For example, studies have shown that those with insulin resistance have a reduced ability to handle a larger carbohydrate intake. If such people go on a low fat, high carbohydrate diet they will lose weight if the calories are low enough, but the compliance to this type of diet will be low because the weight loss will be slow and appetite levels will be high. Thus, it would require extreme willpower to adhere to this . . .