Stripping fat but keeping gains

[jaydee]

Cardio is fairly new to me, I've always had low body fat but as Im getting older, stripping fat is needed.

Is it better to strip fat by cutting carbs or is it best to keep the carb intake high and rely on cardio or HIIT twice a week and then start cutting carbs?

Wouldn't it be best to just not eat as much and therefore not have to burn it off? Easier on digestion with less food going in etc too?

 

[Xlgx]

All options you mention are feasible. Pick one and test it out.

 

[jaydee]

Should you have post workout dextrose/whatever if you're trying to lose fat or do you look at this as simply replacing glycogen and so should be added for that purpose which is a separate issue to fat loss (assuming you believe that post workout glycogen replacement is necessary)

 

[Xlgx]

Don't know what you should do. I know what I do. Your questions are in a vacuum. Might as well do a google search.

How old are you? How long have you been training? What does your training schedule look like? What are your macros and daily meal plan. What are your goals etc.?

 

[Docd187123]

A calorie deficit is required to lose fat. This deficit doesn't have to come from carbs. Protein shouldn't be cut obviously but you can also cut back on dietary fats to help make your deficit. Cardio and HIIT have no special fat but in properties. They simply help you create an energy deficit.

There's no reason you can't have dextrose post workout, IF it fits into your macro/calorie needs, but why would you want to add it when it's got no other nutrients? You would be better off finding a more nutritious food to fill that.

 

[jaydee]

Xlgx, Im pretty much after general guidelines, nothing specific.

I'm training a 3 on, 2 off split because it works for me hitting each muscle once every 5 days. Im currently doing no cardio at all and have recently cut my carbs by a couple of hundred callories, but I need more. My goals are to pretty much get a good beach bod, nothing over the top - certainly all natty. Ive been training on and off for decades, but only recently started a couple of months ago.

Most people might tell me not to worry about it and just bulk up but I want to stay as lean as I can through the process.

 

[jaydee]

Im having enough protein and fats, the rest is just carbs so Im getting over 1g per pound protein and about 70g of fat per day, the rest is carbs.

 

[RodgerThat]

If that's your fats and protien macros I'd cut it from your carbs until you are in a 500 cal deficit from your TDEE start there then when you pleateau or don't lose the desired 1lb a week drop calories again. Never start with too low of a deficit or else when you plateau there's nowhere to go

 

[Xlgx]

What are your stats? Height, weight, approx bf% ?

 

[Docd187123]

If that's your fats and protien macros I'd cut it from your carbs until you are in a 500 cal deficit from your TDEE start there then when you pleateau or don't lose the desired 1lb a week drop calories again. Never start with too low of a deficit or else when you plateau there's nowhere to go

I prefer the opposite although it might be harder to stick to for some. I'd rather do an extreme deficit from the beginning and not have to cut for as long. Won't work for everyone though as many will break the diet after a while.

 

[RodgerThat]

I prefer the opposite although it might be harder to stick to for some. I'd rather do an extreme deficit from the beginning and not have to cut for as long. Won't work for everyone though as many will break the diet after a while.

Also a lot of people have further to go then yourself or me as we are usually doing it for making weight purposes. If they have a further journey and haven't done it before that's going to cause more of a yo-yo IMO

 

[jaydee]

Xlgx my body fat is ROUGHLY around 20%.

 

[Xlgx]

Xlgx my body fat is ROUGHLY around 20%.

I would introduce Miss cardio 5x week at 20mins. Once u warm up and get to a 130bpm.

 

[jaydee]

So no low carb days?

 

[Xlgx]

Put up your daily meal plan...

 

[jaydee]

Basically as per my macros im getting enough protein and fat. I wont lower either of those so you could say to lose fat I either have to do cardio or trim carbs or both.

Posting my whole meal plan wont shine any more light on it. My meals are spread out over 5 meals every 3 hours ish with about 40 - 50g of carbs per meal except for the second and fourth meal which ive cut to 17g of carbs each.

 

[Xlgx]

Do the cardio as prescribed and keep the diet consistent. Run this and see how your body responds over the next few weeks.

 

[OlderWolf]

Cardio and HIIT have no special fat but in properties. They simply help you create an energy deficit.

True to some extent but IMO there's more to it than that, there's ways to manage your energy deficits for a specific purpose. Cardio at a lower % of your MHR will use fat stores as energy more than HIIT which will use primary glycogen stores which are fueled mainly by carbohydrates. What I like to do is work out first and utilize my glycogen stores for the "heavy lifting" per say then once I'm done I do anywhere from 30-50 min cardio at a lower % of my MHR to use more fat stores because at that point my glycogen stores are empty and more of your total energy used is being taken from fat store cells. It is true that cardio and HIIT in themselves have no special ability to burn fat but your management and utilization of your calories, glycogen stores and over all energy consumed during both cardio and HIIT can play a significant role in your fat burning abilities. It's really about what you want to achieve and it is very case specific; depending on your diet, workout schedule, metabolism, genetics, age, etc.

 

[Docd187123]

True to some extent but IMO there's more to it than that, there's ways to manage your energy deficits for a specific purpose. Cardio at a lower % of your MHR will use fat stores as energy more than HIIT which will use primary glycogen stores which are fueled mainly by carbohydrates.

But at the end of the day this really doesn't matter.

LISS cardio does tend to use fat stores more but since you're not depleting glycogen, the rest of your day fill be fueled by glycogen and thus not as muh fat gets burned the rest of the day.

HIIT uses more glycogen than fat so not as much fat will get burned during the exercise but since you depleted your glycogen a lot more than you would have via LISS, the rest if the day you'll need more fat burned bc not enough glycogen is present.

Bottom line is neither is significantly better for fat loss although they each have pros and cons in other areas.

 

[OlderWolf]

But at the end of the day this really doesn't matter.

LISS cardio does tend to use fat stores more but since you're not depleting glycogen, the rest of your day fill be fueled by glycogen and thus not as muh fat gets burned the rest of the day.

HIIT uses more glycogen than fat so not as much fat will get burned during the exercise but since you depleted your glycogen a lot more than you would have via LISS, the rest if the day you'll need more fat burned bc not enough glycogen is present.

Bottom line is neither is significantly better for fat loss although they each have pros and cons in other areas.

That is exactly why I use it the way I stated above; after depleting glycogen during my workout. After working out my glycogen stores are empty and if at this point I do cardio at a lower % of my MHR I will be mainly burning fat.

That's why I also said it depends on your workout schedule and diet regimen. For instance, for me, I workout around 5 and finish around 7 so after cardio I replenish my glycogen stores with a fast acting carbohydrate (moderate amount) then I only consume slow digesting carbohydrates such as fibrous vegetables and such at dinner to minimize and/or prevent any extra calories from being stored in fat cells. This method for ME works because I consume all my calories needed for muscle growth during the day but end up burning all the unnecessary calories after cardio; depleting my glycogen stores during the workout and burning fat during cardio. Using this method I stay lean year round and I am able to gain muscle mass at the same time.