00:00:00
Getting lean is hard and staying lean is
00:00:03
even harder. A 2001 meta analysis found
00:00:05
that 5 years after a diet, the average
00:00:07
person regains nearly 80% of the lost
00:00:10
weight online. The confusion's endless.
00:00:12
People chase hacks, follow conflicting
00:00:14
advice, and miss the fundamentals. In
00:00:16
this video, I'll cut through the noise
00:00:18
and use the latest science to show you
00:00:20
how to get lean and stay that way.
00:00:21
Before diving into strategy, let's
00:00:23
clarify one thing. All successful fat
00:00:25
loss diets walk through the same basic
00:00:27
principle. eating fewer calories than
00:00:29
you burn. That's the foundation. What
00:00:31
differs is how you get there. If you do
00:00:33
this, your body will need to draw upon
00:00:35
its stores of energy to keep fueling
00:00:36
you, ideally your fat tissue. We'll
00:00:39
divide this video into four sections.
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Let's start with metabolism science. In
00:00:43
simple terms, metabolism is your total
00:00:45
daily energy burn. How many calories you
00:00:48
use just by living, moving, eating, and
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exercising. Your energy expenditure is
00:00:52
made up of four factors. First, we have
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basal metabolic rate. the calories your
00:00:56
body burns just to stay alive at rest.
00:00:59
Next, we have non exercise activity
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thermogenesis or NEAT. Those are the
00:01:03
calories you'll burn through any
00:01:05
physical movement that isn't intentional
00:01:06
exercise. You also burn calories when
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digesting food, which is why you may
00:01:10
feel warmer after a meal. This is called
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the thermic effect of feeding. Finally,
00:01:15
you can obviously burn additional
00:01:16
calories by exercising, like performing
00:01:18
cardio. We refer to this as exercise
00:01:21
activity thermogenesis. There are many
00:01:23
claims of our metabolism on the
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internet, so we should go ahead and
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discuss a few. People often blame a slow
00:01:29
metabolism for struggling to lose fat.
00:01:31
While that can sound like an excuse, the
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research is clear. At the same height
00:01:35
and weight, two people can burn
00:01:37
drastically different amounts of energy.
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In one of the largest studies on human
00:01:41
metabolism ever, the researchers sought
00:01:43
the chart metabolism across the human
00:01:45
lifespan of over 6,000 individuals. The
00:01:48
factor that most reliably predicted
00:01:50
total energy expenditure was fat-free
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mass. But at a given body weight,
00:01:54
different people could have very
00:01:55
different metabolisms. For example, at a
00:01:58
body weight of 80 kg, the average person
00:02:00
burned around 2600 calories per day.
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However, at the same weight, it wasn't
00:02:05
uncommon for people with a faster
00:02:07
metabolism to burn over 3,800 calories.
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Likewise, at the same weight, some
00:02:11
people burned fewer than 1,900 calories.
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That's why one sizefits-all calorie
00:02:16
targets don't work. At 80 kg, 2,000
00:02:19
calories might be a great deficit for
00:02:20
one person, but a surplus for another.
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This variability matters. It isn't all
00:02:24
doom and gloom, though. Just because you
00:02:26
have a slow metabolism doesn't mean you
00:02:28
can lose weight. In fact, that's exactly
00:02:30
what a large 2022 study found. The
00:02:32
authors concluded that a slow metabolism
00:02:35
was not a risk factor for fat gain, nor
00:02:37
was a fast metabolism protective against
00:02:40
fat gain. A slow metabolism isn't a dead
00:02:42
end. With the right strategy, fat loss
00:02:44
is still completely possible. You'll see
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a lot of content online claiming that
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building muscle will speed up your
00:02:49
metabolism like crazy, making fat loss
00:02:52
easier. And indeed, the Ponzer study did
00:02:54
find that fat-free mass was the factor
00:02:56
that most closely predicted your total
00:02:59
daily energy expenditure. There's some
00:03:01
truth to the idea that building muscle
00:03:03
speeds up your metabolism, but the full
00:03:05
picture is more nuanced. On average, a
00:03:07
kilogram of fat burns around 4.5
00:03:09
calories per day, while a kilogram of
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muscle burns around 13 calories per day.
00:03:13
That's nearly triple. But that's still
00:03:15
relatively modest in the grand scheme of
00:03:17
your daily energy expenditure. Here's
00:03:19
what often gets overlooked. When we talk
00:03:21
about fat mass, we're not just talking
00:03:23
about muscle. It also includes vital
00:03:24
organs like your brain, liver, heart,
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and kidneys. And these organs are
00:03:28
metabolic powerhouses. For example, your
00:03:31
liver and brain burn hundreds of
00:03:33
calories per day despite their small
00:03:35
size. Some emerging research even
00:03:37
suggests that when you gain significant
00:03:39
muscle mass, some of your organ mass
00:03:41
increases as well, likely due to
00:03:44
increased physiological demand. This
00:03:46
might explain why the metabolic benefit
00:03:48
of gaining muscle is greater than you'd
00:03:50
expect from muscle tissue alone. It's
00:03:52
not just the muscle, it's the support
00:03:53
systems around it ramping up as well.
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Even after gaining 15 kg of fat mass,
00:03:58
your metabolism might only increase by
00:04:00
around 270 calories per day. It's
00:04:02
helpful, but it's not magic. Most fat
00:04:05
burning hacks like green tea or vinegar
00:04:07
are also negligible. We're talking 5
00:04:08
calories a day, if at all. Finally,
00:04:10
increasing the thermic effect of feeding
00:04:12
is also challenging. There are a couple
00:04:14
strategies you can use to achieve this,
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which we'll keep for the nutrition part
00:04:18
of this video. Let's move on to the two
00:04:20
most impactful ways we can improve our
00:04:22
metabolism. Physical activity. Lifting
00:04:24
weights doesn't actually burn that many
00:04:26
calories. Even a hard leg day may only
00:04:28
burn between 200 to maximum 500 calories
00:04:31
or so. Cardio, on the other hand, can
00:04:33
give you a relatively low fatigue way to
00:04:35
boost your calorie burn. The best forms
00:04:37
of cardio will be the ones that you
00:04:38
enjoy doing or the ones that weigh you
00:04:40
out the least. I really enjoy playing
00:04:42
basketball, but fatigue wise, basketball
00:04:44
isn't great. You would ideally want
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something with low impact and few
00:04:48
eccentric contractions where your muscle
00:04:50
is lengthening under load. Ideal low
00:04:52
fatigue options include incline walking,
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the elliptical, rowing, or cycling.
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Anything sustainable and repeatable.
00:04:58
After my workouts, I'll sneak in an
00:05:00
extra 30 minutes of cardio, aiming to
00:05:01
keep intensity reasonable. You should be
00:05:03
able to hold a conversation at any time
00:05:05
with no difficulty. But that's only part
00:05:07
of the puzzle. The most meaningful way
00:05:09
to boost your metabolism and your health
00:05:11
is non exercise activity or neat. Going
00:05:14
from a sedentary lifestyle where you
00:05:15
spend all day sitting to a more
00:05:17
physically active one will turbocharge
00:05:19
your metabolism and health. Look for
00:05:20
ways to naturally fit more movement into
00:05:22
your day. Instead of driving to the gym,
00:05:24
walk. Instead of ordering groceries,
00:05:26
walk to the grocery store. Instead of
00:05:28
calling your friend while sitting on the
00:05:29
couch, go for a walk. Neat. Your
00:05:31
everyday movement is one of the most
00:05:33
underrated fat loss tools. Walk more,
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stand more, do more. It all adds up. You
00:05:38
don't need to walk. Cycling to work,
00:05:40
gardening, or even doing some chores all
00:05:42
count. The magic of non-ex exercise
00:05:44
physical activity is that it doesn't
00:05:45
fatigue you that much compared to more
00:05:47
intense exercise, preserving more energy
00:05:49
for your workouts in the gym. This won't
00:05:51
only help with fat loss. A ton of
00:05:53
research also suggests it'll improve
00:05:55
your health. If you like more ideas,
00:05:57
just check out this huge list of
00:05:59
activities and figure out what you could
00:06:01
incorporate into your routine to speed
00:06:04
up fat loss. Now, there's one thing I
00:06:06
haven't mentioned. Speeding up your
00:06:07
metabolism through physical activity
00:06:09
does work, but that doesn't mean you
00:06:11
should just skyrocket your activity. A
00:06:13
paradigm shifting 2016 study suggested a
00:06:15
more moderate approach could work best.
00:06:17
Your body inherently wants to stay at
00:06:19
your current weight. This is called
00:06:21
homeostatic pressure. For example, if
00:06:23
you start doing 20,000 steps a day, you
00:06:25
may subconsciously start fidgeting less,
00:06:27
reducing the net effect on energy
00:06:29
expenditure. As a result, you likely get
00:06:31
diminishing returns on physical
00:06:33
activity, especially when your calorie
00:06:35
intake is low. That's why my best
00:06:37
recommendation for boosting your
00:06:38
metabolism is to achieve a calorie
00:06:41
deficit through a combination of diet
00:06:43
and moderate physical activity. I
00:06:45
recommend doing anywhere between 6 to
00:06:47
12,000 steps per day. Cardio is more
00:06:49
optional, but you can do a few easy
00:06:51
30-inute cardio sessions after workouts.
00:06:53
Boosting your metabolism will only take
00:06:55
you so far, though. In a 2012 study,
00:06:57
Foster, Schubert, and colleagues split
00:06:59
overweight participants into one of four
00:07:01
groups. cardio only group, a lowc
00:07:03
calorie diet group, a diet plus cardio
00:07:05
group, and a control group. While the
00:07:07
participants in the cardio group did
00:07:08
lose 2 kilograms, the diet group lost
00:07:11
7.2 kg, and the diet plus exercise group
00:07:14
lost 8.9 kg. The research is clear. You
00:07:17
can't out exercise a bad diet. When it
00:07:19
comes to fat loss, you know how to boost
00:07:21
your metabolism, but how many calories
00:07:23
should you eat? This is where many go
00:07:24
wrong and crash diet. If you don't eat
00:07:26
enough calories, you can get side
00:07:27
effects like altered hormone profiles,
00:07:29
irritability, increased risk of injury,
00:07:31
loss of your period, and even increased
00:07:33
muscle loss. This is known as relative
00:07:36
energy deficiency. Relative energy
00:07:38
deficiency is simply characterized by a
00:07:40
low calorie intake relative to your body
00:07:42
weight independently of how physically
00:07:44
active you are. This is where the 30
00:07:45
calorie rule comes in. As a rough guide
00:07:48
to avoid the side effects of crash
00:07:50
dieting, research suggests that you
00:07:52
shouldn't be eating fewer than around 30
00:07:54
calories per kilogram of fat-free mass.
00:07:57
My own fatree mass is around 90 kg, give
00:07:59
or take. This suggests that I should eat
00:08:01
no fewer than around 2700 calories per
00:08:04
day to reduce my chances of side
00:08:06
effects. If I go lower than this,
00:08:08
there's a good chance that I'll risk
00:08:09
losing muscle. A 2023 study had trained
00:08:11
lifters consume a high protein diet and
00:08:13
perform both lifting and cardio.
00:08:15
However, the researchers only fed them
00:08:17
25 calories per kilogram of fat mass per
00:08:19
day, placing them in a state of relative
00:08:21
energy deficiency. Just 10 days of this
00:08:24
resulted in reduced muscle protein
00:08:26
synthesis, a decent proxy for long-term
00:08:28
muscle growth. Now, in rare cases,
00:08:30
people may also experience side effects
00:08:31
of relative energy deficiency above this
00:08:34
30 calorie threshold. Additionally, for
00:08:35
some people, and in some circumstances,
00:08:37
you'll have to go lower than this 30
00:08:39
calorie threshold. If you're getting
00:08:41
very lean for a photo shoot or a
00:08:42
physique competition, this could happen.
00:08:44
And if it's for a short stint, that's
00:08:46
acceptable. Likewise, if you have a very
00:08:47
slow metabolism, it's also possible you
00:08:50
will need to do this before setting
00:08:51
calories below 30 calories per kilogram
00:08:54
of battery mass. I would personally try
00:08:56
boosting my metabolism. The last thing
00:08:57
you want to do is end up losing the
00:08:59
muscle you gain during your bulk by
00:09:01
crash dieting. This naturally leads us
00:09:02
to the question, how fast should you
00:09:04
lose weight to minimize muscle loss? The
00:09:07
best data on the topic is a study by
00:09:08
Murphy and colleagues. In their meta
00:09:10
regression, they analyzed all the
00:09:12
studies that had participants lift
00:09:13
weights, reported calorie intakes, and
00:09:15
lost weight. They found that around a
00:09:17
500 calorie deficit was the largest
00:09:19
deficit participants could get away with
00:09:21
before they started losing fat free
00:09:23
mass. Crunching the numbers, it turns
00:09:25
out participants could safely lose about
00:09:27
0.54% of their body weight each week.
00:09:29
The average BMI in this data set was
00:09:31
around 29. So, it's likely that most
00:09:33
participants, who were mostly gym noobs,
00:09:35
were somewhat higher in body fat. So,
00:09:37
for the average lifter who's a bit
00:09:38
leaner and more experienced than
00:09:40
participants in this data set, I think
00:09:42
rounding to 0.5% of body weight per week
00:09:44
makes sense. You can absolutely lose
00:09:46
weight faster than this, but you will
00:09:48
probably risk some muscle loss. That
00:09:50
being said, losing some muscle isn't the
00:09:52
end of the world since research finds
00:09:54
time and time again that regaining lost
00:09:56
muscle is much easier than gaining it in
00:09:58
the first place. Here are some
00:09:59
recommendations. But what does that
00:10:01
translate to in terms of calorie target?
00:10:03
Here's how to figure it out. First,
00:10:05
you'll need to calculate an estimate of
00:10:07
your maintenance calories using the
00:10:08
Cunningham total daily energy
00:10:10
expenditure calculator. I'll link it in
00:10:11
the description. While most people think
00:10:13
you need a 3,500 calorie deficit to lose
00:10:15
one pound of fat, the true number really
00:10:17
depends on how much fat mass you lose.
00:10:19
Because even body fat isn't just fat, it
00:10:21
contains proteins, fluids, and more. The
00:10:24
energy density of a pound of adapost
00:10:25
tissue is actually around 3,750
00:10:28
calories. In the best case scenario
00:10:30
we're aiming for where we lose no
00:10:31
muscle, this is the number we'll use to
00:10:34
lose half a percent of your body weight
00:10:35
per week. Here's how to calculate your
00:10:37
daily calorie deficit. Simply subtract
00:10:39
your target deficit from your
00:10:40
maintenance calories and you have your
00:10:42
calorie target. Pause the video to read.
00:10:44
How do you know when to adjust your
00:10:45
calorie intake? The answer is simple,
00:10:47
your weigh-ins. If your weight is
00:10:49
dropping at the right pace, you don't
00:10:50
need to change anything. If it's been a
00:10:52
couple weeks and you haven't lost an
00:10:53
average of around half a percent of your
00:10:56
body weight per week, drop your calories
00:10:57
by one to 200 depending on how much
00:10:59
weight you did lose. Likewise, if you're
00:11:01
losing too fast, bump your calories up
00:11:03
by 1 to 200. I only adjust my calorie
00:11:06
intake at the most once a week on
00:11:08
Sundays. This prevents me from
00:11:10
overcorrecting my course. For most
00:11:12
people, I recommend setting your
00:11:13
calories to at least 30 calories per
00:11:15
kilogram of fat mass per day. If you're
00:11:17
not losing weight fast enough, but
00:11:18
decreasing calories or decrease your
00:11:20
intake below this amount, I recommend
00:11:22
increasing your calorie deficit with
00:11:24
more physical activity instead. Weighing
00:11:26
yourself consistently and tracking your
00:11:28
calories can feel like a chore, but just
00:11:30
like a chore, it can lead to greater
00:11:31
success. A systematic review on the
00:11:33
topic concluded that there was a
00:11:34
significant association between
00:11:36
self-monitoring and weight loss. Think
00:11:38
of calorie counting, tracking steps, and
00:11:40
weighing yourself. Besides calories, you
00:11:42
also need to pay attention to the
00:11:43
so-called macronutrients. Protein,
00:11:46
carbohydrates, and fats. Protein is
00:11:48
arguably the most important
00:11:49
macronutrient for muscle mass. But how
00:11:51
much protein do you need to maximize
00:11:53
muscle retention? That's exactly what a
00:11:55
brand new metagression by Rafaling
00:11:56
colleagues looked at. And people
00:11:58
consistently lifting for every
00:12:00
additional gram of protein per kilogram
00:12:02
of body weight consumed, there was a 97%
00:12:04
chance of improved factory mass
00:12:06
retention. Protein may also have
00:12:07
metabolic benefits. Remember the thermic
00:12:10
effect of feeding. Protein actually
00:12:12
burns more calories than carbohydrates
00:12:14
or fats during digestion. Meaning you
00:12:16
can have more food for fewer calories if
00:12:18
your diet is high in protein. More
00:12:20
muscle retention, more satiety. It's a
00:12:22
win-win. For each meal, pick a protein
00:12:24
source you enjoy. Here's a table you can
00:12:25
use to draw inspiration from.
00:12:27
Practically, just set your protein
00:12:28
intake as high as you can while still
00:12:30
having a reasonable amount of
00:12:32
carbohydrate and fat in your diet. But
00:12:34
how many carbohydrates would that be?
00:12:36
There's a few layers to this question.
00:12:37
The first is health. As concerns health,
00:12:40
Gran was right. Fruits and vegetables
00:12:41
are arguably the most important food
00:12:43
groups to include in your diet. In fact,
00:12:44
a meta regression on fruit and vegetable
00:12:46
consumption found that individuals
00:12:48
consuming 400 grams a day or five
00:12:50
servings a day had 20% lower chances of
00:12:52
dying compared to people who didn't
00:12:54
consume anything, whereas consuming 10
00:12:56
servings a day resulted in even lower
00:12:58
risk. Fruits and vegetables are also
00:13:00
excellent sources of fiber and have a
00:13:01
low calorie density. You get more food
00:13:03
for fewer calories. At the very least,
00:13:05
we want enough carbs in a diet to get
00:13:06
these important foods in. The second
00:13:08
layer is performance. Everybody knows
00:13:10
that carbs are the body's primary source
00:13:12
of fuel. So, how much do you need as a
00:13:14
lifter? Well, you probably don't want to
00:13:16
follow the ketogenic diet for the best
00:13:18
training performance. A 2022 systematic
00:13:20
review on this topic suggested that
00:13:22
while some carbs help, there's no
00:13:23
compelling evidence for more than 4 g of
00:13:26
carbs per kilogram of body weight
00:13:27
boosting performance in the gym. So, I
00:13:30
would personally aim for 2 to 4 g of
00:13:32
carbs per kilogram of body weight when
00:13:33
losing fat. This will allow you to get
00:13:35
fruits and vegetables in easily and have
00:13:37
enough fuel for training. There is one
00:13:39
more science-based tip about carbs for
00:13:41
working out. Perry workout carbs when
00:13:43
you're bulking. Perry workout nutrition
00:13:45
usually isn't worth worrying about
00:13:47
during a cut. It might be different. The
00:13:49
one thing you want to avoid is going
00:13:50
into a workout hungry as this doesn't
00:13:52
seem to lead to the best performance.
00:13:54
You also don't want to be so full you
00:13:56
get nauseated and throw up.
00:13:57
Additionally, there is some early
00:13:58
research suggesting that ingesting
00:14:00
carbohydrates before a workout could
00:14:01
boost performance. The amount of
00:14:03
carbohydrates doesn't seem to matter in
00:14:05
the context of lifting. Even a piece of
00:14:06
fruit seems to be enough. Personally, if
00:14:08
I'm feeling hungry going into a workout,
00:14:10
I'll have a piece of fruit or a small
00:14:11
snack to keep me satiated. There's one
00:14:13
more macronutrient we haven't covered,
00:14:15
fats. Fats contain the most calories out
00:14:17
of any macronutrient at 9 calories per
00:14:20
gram. They neither support muscle growth
00:14:22
as directly as protein does, nor are
00:14:24
fats as good a fuel source for working
00:14:26
out as carbs are. Fats support hormone
00:14:29
health. Just don't go too low. The
00:14:30
research suggests around 40 g for
00:14:32
smaller individuals or around 60 for
00:14:35
larger ones is a good baseline. So, you
00:14:37
know how many calories to eat and how
00:14:39
much protein, carbohydrate, and fat to
00:14:41
consume? How many meals should you have
00:14:42
per day? On the one end, you have
00:14:44
intermittent fasting. Intermittent
00:14:45
fasting involves restricting your
00:14:47
feeding times, usually having only one
00:14:49
or two meals a day. The latest research
00:14:51
hasn't found a benefit to intermittent
00:14:52
fasting in terms of hunger, perspective
00:14:55
calorie intake, or weight loss compared
00:14:57
to a traditional eating pattern.
00:14:58
Instead, the leading researcher on
00:15:00
protein intake for muscle hypertrophy,
00:15:02
your troolin recommends having four
00:15:04
protein containing meals per day. This
00:15:06
is straightforward. Just breakfast,
00:15:08
lunch, dinner, and an extra snack either
00:15:10
before training or before sleep. Spread
00:15:12
these meals out evenly throughout the
00:15:14
day. Having the fourth meal as a snack
00:15:16
before training can ensure you're not
00:15:17
hungry. Whereas having a snack shortly
00:15:19
before bed can make sure you're building
00:15:21
muscle while you're sleeping, especially
00:15:22
if dinner tends to be quite early. This
00:15:24
can help retain muscle. After all, when
00:15:26
losing weight, most people aren't just
00:15:28
looking to lose fat. For a fat loss
00:15:30
phase to be successful, we also want to
00:15:32
maintain muscle. And that's another area
00:15:34
where many people make mistakes. They
00:15:36
finished their cut no more muscular than
00:15:37
they were when they started the bulk to
00:15:39
begin with. This can result in years of
00:15:41
wheel spinning. Fortunately, retaining
00:15:43
muscle during a cut actually boils down
00:15:45
to just a few basic principles. The most
00:15:47
powerful way to do this is through a
00:15:49
solid lifting routine. Here's the latest
00:15:51
recommendations from the research. We'll
00:15:53
go variable by variable, giving
00:15:54
recommendation for the minimalist who
00:15:56
just wants to maintain muscle and the
00:15:58
maximalist who's trying to continue
00:15:59
gaining size and strength during the
00:16:01
cut. How many days should you out? For
00:16:04
the minimalist, just three workouts a
00:16:06
week is likely enough to maintain
00:16:07
muscle. For the maximalist, five or six
00:16:09
days a week is a better bet. If you're
00:16:11
training three days a week, a full body
00:16:13
routine is best. If you're training five
00:16:15
days a week, you could do upper, lower,
00:16:16
upper, lower, upper, or push, pull legs,
00:16:19
upper, lower. If you're training six
00:16:20
days a week, a push, pull, leg split can
00:16:23
work. For maintenance, 5 to 10 sets per
00:16:25
muscle group per week is enough. For
00:16:27
growth, aim for at least 10 to 20 sets.
00:16:30
Scale based on your goals and recovery.
00:16:32
To preserve muscle mass, your sets
00:16:34
should be taken pretty close to failure,
00:16:36
especially if you're taking a more
00:16:38
minimalist route. I'd probably take most
00:16:40
sets between a rep shy of failure and
00:16:42
past failure for your last set. To make
00:16:44
sure you're not neglecting any muscle
00:16:46
groups, I'd pick at least two exercises
00:16:48
per muscle group across the week, or up
00:16:50
to four for more complex areas like the
00:16:52
back. Different exercises can target
00:16:54
slightly different areas of the muscle,
00:16:56
both different heads and more proximal
00:16:58
versus distal areas. As far as rep
00:17:00
ranges go, research suggests 5 to 12
00:17:02
reps per set makes it easiest to push
00:17:04
close to failure. You can go higher for
00:17:06
variety and completeness, but most of
00:17:08
your training should be in this rep
00:17:09
range for muscle maintenance. Aim to
00:17:11
have some control on the way down, pause
00:17:12
in the stretch, and explode up. There's
00:17:14
no need to go overboard with control. As
00:17:16
far as how you organize exercises in
00:17:18
your workout, the research suggests the
00:17:20
order doesn't really matter. I still
00:17:22
find it helpful to do compound movements
00:17:24
first to maximize total body stimulus.
00:17:26
Most people rest too long between sets.
00:17:28
We published the most comprehensive
00:17:30
study on the topic and found that 1 to 2
00:17:32
minutes of rest is sufficient to
00:17:34
maximize muscle growth. Closer to 1
00:17:36
minute for upper body isolation style
00:17:37
exercises and closer to 2 minutes for
00:17:40
lower body compound mass builders is a
00:17:41
great place to start. You might have
00:17:43
noticed these recommendations are really
00:17:45
similar to training while bulking with
00:17:47
the exception of volume. Indeed, all
00:17:48
else being equal, you probably need a
00:17:50
bit more training volume in a cut to
00:17:52
maintain or gain muscle compared to in a
00:17:54
bulk. To gain muscle at maintenance or
00:17:56
in a surplus, you only need around four
00:17:58
weekly sets, but you need a bit more in
00:18:00
a deficit. After all, being in a calorie
00:18:02
deficit tips the scales in favor of
00:18:04
catabolism or muscle loss. Adding a bit
00:18:06
more volume helps compensate for this.
00:18:09
But the idea that you need to flip your
00:18:10
training on its head when bulking versus
00:18:12
cutting is a myth. People claim that
00:18:14
higher reps are superior for fat loss,
00:18:16
but this is also largely incorrect. The
00:18:18
increase in calorie expenditure from
00:18:20
higher up training is negligible and
00:18:22
training exclusively with higher reps
00:18:24
will make it harder to push close to
00:18:26
failure. If you'd like to take all the
00:18:28
thinking out of training, consider my
00:18:29
adapt. My is a smart coach in your
00:18:32
pocket. It works exactly like coach
00:18:34
does. It will ask you questions like how
00:18:36
you're sleeping, whether you're
00:18:37
stressed, and whether you're bulking or
00:18:38
cutting. It'll build a truly
00:18:40
personalized routine for you, fitting
00:18:42
your schedule to a tea. You can also
00:18:44
easily adjust workouts on the fly. You
00:18:45
only have half an hour to work out. MADP
00:18:47
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00:18:49
in an instant. MAP is launching very
00:18:51
soon. Go to mapp.com now to be notified
00:18:53
when it launches. If you sign up on
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launch, you'll receive a free trial of
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the app and a lifetime discount. If you
00:18:59
followed all the information in this
00:19:00
video and you've stuck with it for a few
00:19:02
months, I hope you've lost weight. But
00:19:05
here comes the most important part. How
00:19:06
do you maintain that weight loss? How do
00:19:08
you keep the fat off? The answer is
00:19:10
simple, but it's really not easy nor
00:19:12
sexy. Plan the diet after the diet.
00:19:15
maintain the behaviors that helped you
00:19:17
lose weight in the first place. Now,
00:19:19
obviously, you don't need to stay in a
00:19:21
calorie deficit. That would be
00:19:22
unsustainable. That's why I don't
00:19:23
recommend reverse dieting after a fat
00:19:25
loss phase. You spend more time in a
00:19:27
deficit than you need to, and the
00:19:29
research simply doesn't support the idea
00:19:30
that it will boost your metabolism
00:19:32
anymore than returning to maintenance
00:19:34
straight away. Instead, I utilize the
00:19:36
downscaling approach. Let me explain.
00:19:39
Let's say that during my cut, I
00:19:40
increased my daily steps from 4,000 to
00:19:42
10,000. Instead of returning to 4,000
00:19:44
steps, I'll keep at it my habit of going
00:19:46
for more walks, but scale it down
00:19:48
slightly. I'll aim for 8,000 steps. The
00:19:50
same goes for monitoring your calories
00:19:52
and weighins. You may not need to
00:19:53
continue tracking everything perfectly,
00:19:55
but as much as possible, maintain some
00:19:57
consistency in this newly acquired
00:19:59
habit. The key to maintaining fat loss
00:20:01
is simple. Hold on to the habits that
00:20:03
helped you lose the weight in the first
00:20:05
place. Keep tracking, keep moving, and
00:20:07
stay consistent. Just loosen the reins a
00:20:09
little bit. All right, that's it for
00:20:10
today. If you learned something, please
00:20:12
consider subscribing. There's a lot more
00:20:13
coming, like how I personally got
00:20:15
shredded without counting calories. If
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you can use for 10% off. Wolf, have a
00:20:26
phenomenal week and I'll see you in a
00:20:28
couple weeks.
