Quote:
Originally Posted by ILoveLifting
Never having played with diet much, how effective would it be just listening to your body? For a cut example, lower carbs until feeling weak. Or, reducing food intake until hunger pains set in and then, re-fuel a bit. Obviously, I have no subject knowledge; I'm very uneducated and ignorant. My basic question is: how effective would it be in regard to dieting to rely on reading your body, only?
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Well, when you look at maintaining muscle mass, there are two variables that generally can't be changed:
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Protein. To maximize muscle while dropping fat, it is essential to keep protein levels normal, or even slightly higher than normal.
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Fat. Most bodybuilding cut diets maintain a 20-30% fat intake. Very few drop fat intake while cutting.
This leaves carbs as the primary macronutrient variable for cutting. If you are trying to maximize muscle, you need to be as scientific as possible.
Reading your body or
listening to your body can work well for general weight loss, but if you want to look good after the fat loss, and to maintain muscle, fat cutting approaches have to be well-structured and well-thought out.
The best examples are bodybuilders and figure competitors. There are the masters of modern fat cutting. They know how to maximize muscle while losing fat.
Simply losing weight without a proper eating approach will cost you to lose fat and most likely a substantial amount of muscle, which will result in a thinner, but still somewhat flabby physique.
By this I mean someone may lose 40 pounds, but they have lost so much muscle that their bodyfat percentage is still around 20%, or they now look more frail from muscle loss.
Looking fit requires precision.