In bodybuilding, proteins are the booster of muscle development. They are also essential for bodybuilding recovery....

Weight loss and fat loss in bodybuilding
Posted on: 03/12/2016In order to lose weight, your body needs to burn more calories than it takes in, but keep in mind that your body needs calories, whether it's for energy to keep your organs running, or even more for strength training.
Before talking about the energy calories provide, the first thing you need to understand is that losing weight is not the same as losing fat.
Losing weight doesn't necessarily mean losing fat, but neither does losing fat mean losing weight.
In most cases, when people talk about losing weight, they actually mean losing excess fat in order to achieve a more attractive physique.
The energy of calories
What happens when you eat? The body uses most of the calories it swallows. If you eat more than you need, it will store these calories as body fat. On the other hand, if you don't consume enough calories during the day, you'll lose weight but feel a lack of energy.
When you don't consume enough calories, the body will compensate by using the calories that are most quickly available. Unfortunately, it's not the calories stored as fats that will be used first, but proteins and carbohydrates (carbs) that will provide the bulk of your needs.
Your body will therefore lose not fat, but muscle mass (say goodbye to your small muscles). This will force your metabolism to reduce its expenditure, and of course, a slow metabolism is one that loses little or no fat.
When this happens, the body needs less energy to maintain a lower weight (remember, the body weighs less due to the loss of muscle, not fat).
So, what happened? Your body has adapted to the lack of food and reduced its energy expenditure. This means you won't be losing any more weight.
It's important to understand that most of the weight you lose comes from the water stored in your cells. What's more, you'll be able to put it back on in the form of fat, not muscle.
When the carbohydrates and proteins present in your body are used as an energy source, your body will only lose water, because carbohydrates retain a considerable amount of water in the cells. It's as if you were dehydrated, which will induce weight loss, but little or no fat will be eliminated.
On the other hand, the situation will probably be worse if you practice a cardio sport that will increase caloric expenditure, because a reduced calorie intake combined with your exercise, the body risks burning even more muscle and reducing your metabolism all the more.
You could say that your body "cannibalizes" you, and you lose your gains so quickly that you become discouraged.
What's more, suppressing calorie intake will send the wrong message to your body. It's all the more likely to store the few calories in the form of fat, in anticipation of future energy expenditure.

Solutions for losing fat
Solution 1, eat properly
The solution to this problem? Eating! But eat well, and in the right way. This is when you realize that diet is probably the most important aspect of bodybuilding, far more important than exercise.
This article is quite long, so to sum up:
- Not eating enough will lead you to lose muscle, get dehydrated, stop the fat-burning effect and force your body to adapt to a slow metabolism!
The limits of this method:
- You won't be able to maintain food restriction over the long term. You're bound to eat more again, at some point... so you'll regain the weight you've lost..
Solution 2: Increase your metabolism
To lose weight properly, i.e. lose fat, you need to increase your metabolism and your oxygen intake. You need to ingest as many calories as your body needs, to provide it with sufficient energy to carry out its functions as well as training.
Most importantly, you need to maintain a sufficient protein intake for muscle building (catabolism), which indirectly helps burn fat.
This also gives me the opportunity to explain an important point. When you build muscle, your weight will increase, because muscles are made up mainly of water. At the same time, your fat content will decrease, because building muscle increases your metabolism, which in turn promotes fat loss.
In other words, it's highly likely that you'll see little difference on the scale, but don't be fooled, as muscle takes up less space than fat, so your weight may be the same, but your figure may be slimmer.
Be careful to focus on fat loss, not weight loss. Your objective should be to lose weight by eliminating fat mass, not water or, worse still, muscle mass.
Enjoy your training!
Author Alexandre CARPENTIER
Bodybuilding Champion N.A.C 2012
Alexandre shares his bodybuilding experience with MegaGear blog readers
Posted in:
Sports nutrition