The myth of turning fat into muscle - Page 2© Matt Danielson
Page 2
Aug 10, 2002
When you've packed on perhaps 5 or 10 pounds of muscle (or whatever your goal was,) switch gears and start the diet. As always, you'll have to keep a daily log of what you eat and carefully adjust your eating patterns so that you eat an average of 500 calories less than you burn each day. Here's where you reap the benefit of having gained the muscle beforehand: Remember the analogy of your muscles being like an engine running in neutral? Muscle burn calories 24/7, and the more mass you have, the more calories are burned without you even having to lift a finger. This in turn translates to a more lenient diet. In other words, if your added muscle mass boosts your natural metabolism by, say 200 calories per day, that's 200 calories more you can eat and STILL lose bodyfat! In other words, you'll look better, get to eat more, and will still lose fat at the same rate. How sweet of a deal is that? As you diet, you want to keep the protein intake up. Also make sure to keep hitting the weights as you did before -- it's your best insurance policy against losing your hard-earned muscle mass. The goal at this point is to slowly but surely shave off the fat without sacrificing mass, so take it easy. No sudden changes in eating habits will improve your situation, only worsen it. After a few months you should have lost at least 10-15 lbs of fat, and if you played your cards right, you should have kept most of the gains you made prior to the diet. Ta-daa! By taking a little more time and splitting up your two goals, you achieved what you wanted. Had you tried to chase both rabbits simulateously, you'd been almost guaranteed to fail at least one of the goals.
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