I wrote this article in order to educate women and some men who believe that doing cardio and abs will help them shed pounds on their midsection. I also think it will help out trainers who have a hard time getting clients to understand the benefits of lifting moderately heavy weights, which is the best thing for them to do to lose weight.
Everyone knows that cardio is the best thing for you when looking to burn extra calories. Or is it? What most people don’t know is cardio can be the worst thing for cutting fat when it isn’t paired with weight training. If you ask the girl (or even the guy) on the ab machine what she’s trying to do, nine times out of ten she will reply with “lose my stomach fat.” Ten times out of ten, she won’t loss stomach fat. The number one reason for this is that you can’t spot reduce an area. When you lose body fat, the fat will be reduced throughout the body, not just from the area you’re working. If we could lose weight in just one area, don’t you think we’d look a little funny? People would walk around with rock hard abs, saggy glutes, and flabby arms. All beach guys would have fat legs because they only do chest, arms, and abs.
The following is a short story between the girl on the ab machine and me. We will call her Jenny Abs. If you dig deeper, you’ll find out that her full name is Jenny Cardio and Abs. I asked Jenny what she did before the ab machine, and she said, “I normally do an hour of cardio on the treadmill or a cardio class.”
My reply was, “Awesome, you must have burned a lot of calories. How is your eating?”
She said, “Oh, I ate really good—egg whites in the morning, chicken and a salad for lunch, and dinner was something light. And no carbs after 6:00 pm.” Jenny said that as if she had taught me a lesson.
Seems Jenny has listened to all her uneducated group fitness class groupies. In case you haven’t guessed by now, I had my work cut out for me. I wanted to touch on three main things here, and I wanted to do it delicately without hurting Jenny Cardio and Abs, who is now unable to function because she is carb depleted from over an hour of high intensity cardio.
So I said, “That is stupid and you must be too if you believe that.” Kidding of course. It isn’t her fault that everyone who reads a fitness magazine is a professional now. I asked Jenny if she had a minute because I wanted to help her maximize her gym time and of course her goal of weight loss. Jenny didn’t really want my help because she thought that most trainers were either hitting on her or trying to sell her something. However, she agreed to sit down and have a chat with me.
We sat down and I opened with a bunch of nice complements on her workout routine. I then asked her how long she had been working out for and of she had been making much progress.
She was all smiles and said, “Yeah, I have lost eight pounds so far, and I want to lose another ten, but it’s getting tough to drop. I don’t really know why. I’ve been eating even less and upping my time on the cardio. See, I lost five pounds the first week and three pounds the second week. Now, it’s week seven, and I actually gained a pound. It’s pretty frustrating.”
I cut right to the chase. I’m not one to waste time or sugar coat anything.
“You’re working too hard and burning too many calories. Your body is eating your muscle, which is slowing your metabolism down, and you aren’t strength training.”
Jenny’s mouth opened wide and said “Oh, yes I do strength train. I took that extreme weight training class with Krissy with the amazing body.”
“Ok, cool. That isn’t strength training. That’s basically cardio with weights, and it only adds to your overtraining. Let me explain how the body works. Let’s start with this—your body needs a certain amount of calories throughout the day in order to function, and more importantly for you, to maintain muscle.”
Jenny cut in with, “I don’t care about my muscle. What does that have to do with me losing weight.”
“Jenny, it has everything to do with you losing weight. Your muscle is going to be what regulates your metabolism. Your metabolism is going to be the amount of calories you burn at rest throughout the day. Now this is where muscle comes in. Your muscle determines your metabolism. A pound of muscle can burn anywhere up to 50 calories a day depending on its health. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn throughout the day. This is known as your basal metabolic rate, an estimated amount of calories you burn throughout the day. If you don’t take in enough calories throughout the day, your body will have to get the nutrients it needs from somewhere. If you had to choose between eating fat or meat, what would you eat?”
“Umm…meat. Duh!” Jenny replied.
I smiled and said, “That is exactly what your body would do. It would get the nutrients from your muscle, which makes your muscle lose its density and size. Over time, it will disappear and make the scale go down, although that isn’t a good thing. Your metabolism can drop as much as 50 calories for every pound of muscle you lose.”
“Wow, that isn’t good! So what I’ve been doing is wrong?” Jenny asked.
“No, it isn’t wrong. It just isn’t the right way to do it,” I said with a smirk.
Jenny laughed and said, “So what else can I do the right way?”
“How about we talk about meal frequency? You said you eat three meals a day, correct? That is ok if you’re eating the right amount of calories and your metabolism hasn’t been damaged like yours has. The trick to keeping your body burning calories or keeping your metabolism moving is to constantly put food in to be used for fuel for the body. An easy way to understand this is to think of your body as an old furnace that needs wood for fuel. The wood represents the food. To turn on the furnace, you must put wood in it. The wood will burn for a few hours, but in order to keep the furnace on, you must add more wood. The same thing goes for the body. If there isn’t any food to fuel the body, the metabolism slows down. If you are to eat every two and a half to three hours—four being the most—you will keep your metabolism constantly working. Five to six small meals should do the trick.”
Jenny nodded and said, “Ok, do you mind if we go get a shake at the juice bar. It has been six hours since I last ate.”
At that point, I knew I had Jenny’s complete attention. We decided to get a shake. I got mine with a banana in it. She stopped me and yelled, “Are you crazy? It’s after 6:00 pm.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t turn into a pumpkin, and the carbs won’t turn into fat” I responded. “Carbs are good for you, especially after a workout such as yours. You have been in here for over an hour. Any exercise over about 45 minutes can be long enough to completely destroy your carb or glycogen storage. Glycogen is what carbs are stored as in the body. It is stored in muscles and organs. After an intense cardio session, Have you ever noticed that your muscle are flat or you feel thinner? That isn’t just from sweating out fluids. It is also from using your energy storage. This is where the whole low carb diet thing came about.
After one day of cutting out carbs, most people will lose one to two pounds, mostly from water. Not only do you lose weight, but you also feel thinner. That’s because you’re depleting your muscles of glycogen. Carbs will keep your muscles hydrated, making you feel like your muscles are bloated, hence the name carbohydrate. Cutting carbs will decrease your performance physically and mentally. About two-thirds of your carb intake is used for the brain. That is why most people get light-headed until of course they get used to operating on less carbs. You will be able to function but not at your max.
People will tell you that they are carb sensitive, which is bull. They just eat too many carbs and move too little. I say eat carbs and keep your muscles full. It’s what is on top of the muscle that is the problem—fat! The fat stays, and your muscles will constantly inflate and deflate. Most bodybuilders will carb load and deplete all through their training. The reason this works is because normally on low carb days, they take in less calories than they do on high days, which brings us to weight loss 101. If you burn off more calories than you take in, you will lose weight.
Don’t get me wrong—too many carbs are bad, but so is too much of anything. If you were able to have 2000 calories and ate 2500 calories of all protein, you wouldn’t lose weight. The same thing goes if you ate 1800 calories just from cake. You wouldn’t lose weight. Each macronutrient, protein, carb, or fat has its own job. Protein is great because it is the most versatile one. But don’t send a hairstylist to do a make-up artist’s job if you want it done right.”
“This is a lot to take in. How am I supposed to know what to do?” Jenny said.
“That is the tricky part” I said with a sigh. “It is all trial and error. There are many different ways to go about it. For you in particular, I would start by adding a carb in at breakfast and lunch and then two small, healthy snacks in between lunch and dinner.”
“What kind of snacks?”
“ Well, you just had a shake. Those work great. You can do fruit and maybe some almonds.”
“Almonds?? Those are all fat!”
“Some fats are good for you. The body needs fat for certain things, and you shouldn’t deprive your body of it. It is the secondary source of energy and also helps with joint health. There are other things your body uses fat for. But no matter how good it is for you, fat is fat in the end. Too much of any one thing isn’t any good, especially fat. It contains nine calories per gram as opposed to protein and carbs, which both have four calories per gram. That’s why fat should be kept to two servings per day in my opinion. So, yes, almonds. I would have about ten to fifteen as a snack.”
“Ok, got it—some fruit and almonds for a snack” Jenny said firmly.
“No, not together. Separately” I jumped in. “As a general rule of thumb, to help portion meals, I recommend having a small amount of protein with each meal with a serving of carbs or a protein and a serving of fat. It will balance out to about the same amount of calories. If you do a fruit or almonds by itself, that is ok to start. It is a step in the right direction.
Now that you have somewhat of an idea of how to keep your muscle from being used as food for your body, let’s talk about how to increase that muscle mass to make you a calorie burning machine. Follow me to where the little boys curl and the real men move mountains—the squat rack!”
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit us at www.EliteFTS.com.
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Adam Signoretta is a natural bodybuilder who has competed in ten competitions within the past five years. He has also competed in three powerlifting meets in the past two years, earning two overall best raw lifter awards. He is NASM, CES, PES, and RKC certified. If you have any questions on bodybuilding, powerlifting, or kettlebell training, email him at Asignoretta@aol.com or visit Conquestkettlebell.com. 
Like it – simple and clear. I think I am going to bookmark this and send it to any friend of mine who talks about losing weight and refuses to entertain the notion of lifting. Saves me re-explaining this over and over and over…
Best article I’ve read in a long time. Unfortunately, this kind of information isn’t in the magazines that millions of women read.
I like the article. . . . great article. I think people need to realise that they would do better to get their carbs from fresh fruit and veg, beans, pulses and the like. Instead of shit loads of wheat and other stuff that is in pre-packed shelf food. People would also do better to listen to you guys more and look to nature for answers instead of fasionable nice looking pricks.
Good article, I am actually about to copy and paste the link so that I can send it to a girl who is a good friend of mine. This simplifies a lot since I usually have trouble explaining to females the importance of some of these issues.
My husband is a real gym junkie. He is also an avid follower of Elite fitness! He forwarded me this article and it was so very enlightening. I had gastric bypass 8 years ago and I have struggled with many vitamin deficiencies and other problems with my metabolic rate since then. Praise God, I have been successful in keeping the weight off and I do exercise. I now understand how important it is to COMBINE both cardio and weight training in order to keep the weight off AND build the all-important muscle! My diet used to consist of A LOT of carbs because I am hypoglycemic as well. Recently, I have made a big change by eliminating more carbs, but adding in protein rich foods as well as vegetables at fruits with biotin, magnesium and B-12. Not only do I feel a little better, but I know I am going in the right direction. It is a slow process, but I know now what my body requires. Thank you so much for the great article. I will definatly take your advice!
Beautiful article, I will be using this as an aid when I try to explain to my fat friends who only eat salad and work biceps are still in fact, my fat friends.
Most people have this wrong perception that in order to get 6 pack abs, they will just need to strengthen their abdominal muscles. Well, I would say that they are only 50% right. The fact is, in order to exhibit the 6 pack abs, you will have to first strip away that irritating abdominal fats that is covering your abdominal muscles. Only after you have stripped away that irritating abdominal fats then can u start the process of strengthening your abdominal muscles,and losing the abdominal fats is what the abs machines have failed to achieve.
This article is great and really simplifies good eating habits, except for one glaring error – meal frequency has no effect on metabolism. its been shown a number of times recently in research papers. The whole ’6 meals a day to keep the furnace burning’ thing is total baloney, as a few big meals can keep metabolism elevated for many many hours after it is consumed. Its the total number of calories you consume in a day that counts. For more details see Martin Berkan’s ‘ Leangains site’, and also the research reviews by Alan Aragon. Even the ‘Objective Look at Intermittent Fasting’ series here on EliteFTS showed this fact. Lyle McDonald also did a great summary of the truth behind the real impacts of meal frquency.
As a personal trainner, never did I received more valuable information through out my preparation than the articles you guys publish here. I want to thank you for giving me all of these, most valuable tools. God bless!
Great article!
Recent research and the success of intermittent fasting have thoroughly debunked the idea of 5 or 6 meals to “stoke the metabolic fire.” It’s especially inappropriate for women, who will have to eat 5 to 6 very unsatisfying small meals per day to keep calories low enough.
Should have touched on the topic of fuel utilization and how people who lift can easily make effective use of at least 0.8 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight while cardio bunnies don’t have nearly as much tissue repair to do and therefore cant use up as much protein. More protein requirements = more food requirement = more satiety = never go hungry and still lose weight
Thank you for the comments on the article. I have several articles on Elite and more can be found on my personal site Conquestkettlebell.com. Also if anyone wants to contact me, my Email is Asignoretta@aol.com, the one I submitted with the article is no longer. Thank you again for reading.
I was in the military until 1996. At 6’2″ and 230 I was labeled obese by Navy standards. I was wrestling, running a 19 minute 5K and scoring 280-290 on my PRT. I had to attend a “Fat farm” in Jacksonville where the promoted a high carb, moderate protein and low fat diet. I struggled to lose weight until I decided to get out.
I followed a similar nutrition plan until the last year and saw my weight bounce up and down between 250-290. I was even training BJJ 3-4 times a week and still was having trouble. A year ago I re-introduced strength training, and complexes for conditioning. I have been flooding my body with fresh fruits, vegis, lean protein and healthy fats and starches only after working out. I am proud to say that today I walk around between 200 & 205. There wasn’t one magic bullet but rather a complete approach to my well being.
Thanks for the article.
Vince
It’s a pity to see the ‘calorie in/calorie out’ hypothesis trotted out yet again. Aren’t we over that?
Dr.s Alan Kekwick and Dr. G.L.S. Pawan demonstrated that patients maintained or gained weight on a typical mixed diet of 2,000 calories, yet consistently lost weight when placed on a 2,600 calorie low-carbohydrate diet.
Interesting that one group is taking in more calories than the other, yet still losing weight, no?
Macronutrient ratio trumps calorie count every single time.
Your cardio bunny doesn’t need more snacks spread out throughout the day. She needs to eat more fat, weight train, sleep 8 hours, and train less.
Hey sorry Jay I couldn’t solve all the worlds problem in one article.
But reread this
“How about we talk about meal frequency? You said you eat three meals a day, correct? That is ok if you’re eating the right amount of calories and your metabolism hasn’t been damaged like yours has. The trick to keeping your body burning calories or keeping your metabolism moving is to constantly put food in to be used for fuel for the body.
It takes calories to burn calories. In the end of the study no matter how many calories taken in, the body still had to burn it off. The group that was taking in 2600 calories, the body had to work harder to burn it off, increased calories = increased maetabolism = increased weight loss. So therefore if calories in are less than calories out, you lose weight.
The study is stating what I stated in the article, eating more increases metabolism.
Thank you for the article, I plan to give it to every person at my gym that only runs on the treadmills and do a billion crunches
The idea that muscles are burned before fat is not supported by fact. That the fictional character wants to eat muscle and not fat is totally irrelevant.
Rest of the article is good.
Good article, I’m going to save it and send to some of my clients too.
educated skeptic: I agree. There is nothing to support that muscles will be burned before fat during a low-carb or carb depleted state AS LONG AS there is plenty of protein available in the diet to be used in gluconeogenesis.
However, with the ‘cardio and abs’ crowd, there is usually not a lot of emphasis on protein intake, or at least not enough to keep the body from becoming proteolytic in the state of low-carb eating with low protein, low fat and low calories.
great article. you have helped me be able to explain weight loss to clients better.
Great article. We’ve been teaching this methodology since our inception. All of our clients – men and women – spend time improving strength and skill work, not 45 minutes on the elliptical. And we always get on them about proper diet – not starving themselves to lose weight.
Those who are rejecting the multiple feedings concept are doing so for the wrong reasons. The advantage of 5-6 small meals is not that the body’s metabolism is somehow boosted—this would be impossible with chronic caloric deficits. The advantage is in managing insulin and hunger. For some people, this can make a big difference in sticking to a healthy fat-loss plan. For others, 3 meals per day is fine.
Rob’s point about Berkhan’s version of intermittent fasting is misleading, though, since Berkhan merely proposes cutting the available feeding time in half: assuming 8 hours of sleep, he suggests eating all of the day’s meals within 8 hours rather than 16. Under this proposal, 5 smaller daily meals are still possible, with a 2-hour wait between each. This is actually just a distinction without a difference.
Adam’s article makes good, basic points that some people still do not understand, although it grossly overstates the daily basal calories burned by a pound of muscle tissue. This amount is nowhere near 50 kcals: it has been measured at 4.5 to 7 kcals per pound (Elia, 1992). The metabolic improvement in having more muscle tissue than fat tissue is still absolutely valid, but the caloric burn rate is not as significant as is often stated.
Great read
BUT… where is the next article??????????????
Great response, Jay…totally agree
That was a really informative article and I appreciated it, but for your next one, try not to make Jenny sound like she has half a brain cell, especially if this article is intended for women.
The way you described her sentences and reactions made her sound like she was about to enter kindergarten. I’m not arguing that she had many misconceptions she heard from magazines or whatever, and you are simplifying her words to get your message across, which is fine, but women aren’t going to empathize with someone who sounds like a complete idiot. Don’t get my wrong, I learned a lot here, but your overall tone towards Jenny rubs me the wrong way.
brilliant! Now I understand why I get light headed when depriving myself of carbs. A shame this kind of information is not made public.
I liked the article and thought it made real sense, until I came across the sentence “Carbs will keep your muscles hydrated, making you feel like your muscles are bloated, hence the name carbohydrate.” Is this a joke? This is by no means the reason for the name carbohydrate; chemically speaking carbohydrates are molecules formed out of carbon and hydrogen with various other smaller contributions from elements such as oxygen. The hydrogen ‘hydrates’ the carbon, hence the name carbohydrate. Also carbohydrates do not keep your muscles hydrated, water does. These kinds of complete misconceptions unfortunately always make me question the validity of the rest of the article.
Awesome article, first one that clearly explains the cannibalization of your muscles.
Is this like the P 90 X system. I have been looking for some information on it but this seems like it has potential. Exactly want to make the very best decision
Hey, thanks for the great post. Honestly, about six months ago I started a new dieting regime, I’ve been on the chubby side my entire adult life and I’ve tried everything. I found personally that the only thing that worked for me was hard work and putting the effort, take a look at this, it changed my life http://DietingHelp9.cowurl.com. Good luck and thank you for the great article.
Love the article…just one point very small point of contention…
Carbohydrates are named, not because they make a person feel ‘hydrated’, but because they are, as a molecule, made up of carbon and water, which were combined during photosynthesis…
Awesome article!
Very well written article, I had a point of contention as well.
Fat loss and fat gain are all dependent on insulin levels in your body. When insulin levels are high it is impossible for fat to be used as fuel, so when insulin levels are moderated a person is able to lose fat. Fruit, which is considered a carbohydrate, can spike insulin levels the same as a piece of bread. The fruit contains more vitamins and minerals than a slice of bread so it is recommended over starchy refined carbohydrates, but, in the end fruits are still carbohydrates.
Great article.
While I agree that overall, this is a great article, I disagree with the assertion that 5 small meals is the way to go. All this does is create a situation ripe for hyperinsulinemia. If Jenny Abs reduced her crappy carb intake and upped her good fats, she could see fantastic results eating three meals a day.
Great article!
please check out http://www.clickstartfitness.blogspot.com and give me some feedback!
Seems like a rather out-dated article. That “girl” needs to eat more fat and protein, lower carb intake, and only eat when hungry.
This idea that a pound of muscle burns ~50lbs. a day at rest is ridiculous. If I have 50lbs. of skeletal muscle as a 6′ tall, 180lb. man, which is not that much muscle at all, then that would mean my muscle alone was burning 2,500 calories a day. Never mind all the calories I’d be burning just by my heart beating, breathing, regulating temperature, and walking around, among other things. I’d be looking at a caloric requirement of over 3,500 calories a day just to maintain (I probably eat that many calories in a day maybe twice a month). I don’t in any way want to oppose the overall view that weight training is important and helps to burn fat, and helps people look more toned and feel better. However, by perpetuating this 50lbs./day idea, you’re really selling people a bill of goods.
Sorry, should have read “burns ~50 calories a day” above.
Many of the comments on here are fake. The writer did them or hired a company to do them. You can tell.
Visa and Anneke obviously do not know what they are talking about first of all. Apparently they are the self-proclaimed experts who read magazines and talk to people in the gym. Lipids are not what are used as the main energy source (especially the CNS) and you won’t train your body to use them unless you start aerobically training. SJ, you apparently do not understand how carbohydrates are stored within the body. The body stores carbohydrates with water at a 1g:2.6g ratio, so yes when you stop taking in carbohydrates, you lose a lot of water. SL, that is actually what has been proved. Protein is not meant to be used for fuel, rather for more important things like repair, cell structure, and to create antibodies. If you consume too much protein, it may actually cause ketosis, which is possibly deadly. The person who wrote this had the right idea but was slightly misguided in some of his information.
LOVE this! I lost about 80 pounds and started off with just cardio– you can imagine the wall I hit. 20 pounds from my goal, I was doing an hour of cardio a day and eating 900 calories and I gained weight. I was going insane. I had no idea why I would be gaining weight while I was practically starving. I started to weight train. I lost all the extra weight and then some– and I was able to eat! To actually eat without being hungry constantly!! I am proud of myself, but I think every woman trying to lose weight needs to read this and take your advice seriously.
“Carbs will keep your muscles hydrated, making you feel like your muscles are bloated, ‘ hence the name carbohydrate’ ” , “About two-thirds of your carb intake is used for the brain.” so wrong . . .
This article was written years ago as a joke for the women at my Kettlebell training studio. I am very sarcastic and bits and pieces of it are jokes such as the name of carbohydrates is because it hydrates the body, yes it does hydrate the body,but it was more of a joke to and something that would stick in the girls heads. Burning 50 cals at rest is an exaggerated comment but can happen in those gifted or on AS, it again was written to get the point across to women for weight lifting.
There are 100s of styles of dieting, I have done alot…What works best for me, and Layne Norton who I trained under 2 years ago, and the 100′s of ciients I train is overtall calorie portion and macronutrient timing. You can eat 1 meal a day if you want, and you get in the amount of calories you need. The reason why I reccomended 5 to this girl, is because if she needed 1500 calories for the day and she is not eating to being with, getting her to each 500 calories in a sitting would be tough, so 300 a stiting would be more reasonable. Anyone can split off scientific facts from a book they read, but not everyone can impliment them in real life where it counts.
Unless you have great genetics, or are on AS, then low carb is not the best, since carbs are a major role in protein breakdown. Anyway everyone has an opinion and if you have a problem with mine or want to waste your time complaining or “Educating” me on why your way is better feel free to drop me a line on Asignoretta@aol.com.
I am still laughing at the comment that myself or the site paid people to comment….Sure I paid a few people to come on a free site to comment on an article I have forgotten I wrote. And obviously some one on the site likes this article because it was on the top off 2010 and 2011. So above all stop your crying and write your own articles and not comments. I hope this response stirs up a bigger buzz and I won’t read the responses for another 2 years….Have some respect for Elite and their writters, i know plenty of writers that stopped posting on free sites because of ignorant people. Remember your manners and use them to help keep Elitefts an amazing site.
To those of you that have enjoyed my article and that it has helped, I thank you for your support and please feel free to email me at Asignoretta@aol.com for help on further enhancing your healthy lifestyle.
Thanks,
Adam Signoretta.
I liked it, very useful info and understood the irony in some parts of the article, it made reading more entertaining but some people is so serious these days.
Saludos
I liked this article but i was still lost at the end of it. I wish you would have re-enforced the point at the end. The point is that we all have to lift weights? Excuse my fitness stupidity, I’m trying I really am.
Also what if you’re a runner? Is that too much cardio? I don’t weight train. But I love running and signing up for races and stuff, am I slowing my metabolism?
Thanks