Both include specific dietary guidelines to boost your results, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Before we answer that, a little context .
As you may or may not know, I’ve recently given up discussing “weight loss.”
Why?
It’s a junk term that causes nothing but frustration, and burns lots of money.
WHOA.
“That seems a little like ‘overkill’ there buddy.”
… You may be wondering.
And of course, you’re entitled to your opinion.
But let’s look at the facts:
Obesity is now a health epidemic in BOTH adults AND children - 73.6% of all Americans. (It’s about 50% for the world as a whole.)
Combine that with Big Pharma raking in billions on “weight loss” drugs that have “side effects” like nausea, throwing up, and completely shutting down your digestive system (to name but some)...
And Big Weight loss hit an all-time high of $90 BILLION in 2023…
And yet people are gaining weight by the second.
For a point of reference, one of my customers sent me this pic (first picture)
It wasn’t far off from the last time I was at the beach in Florida.
Now look, I’m not blaming nor embarrassing anyone.
I’m simply emphasizing the problem and it’s this:
“WEIGHT LOSS DOESN’T WORK.”
Still don’t believe me?
Let’s answer our original question:
Which is heavier -
Muscle or fat?
Most people will say fat.
But look closely at the second picture.
They both weigh the EXACT SAME - 5 Pounds!
Where people get puzzled is that 5 pounds of muscle takes up about ⅔ less volume than 5 pounds of fat.
And this shows the disappointing state of the Weight Loss Industry.
When someone wants to lose 20 pounds, all he / she is focused on is the number on the scale.
But someone who is 6 feet tall, weighs 200 pounds, and has 30% body fat looks a noticeably different than someone who is 6 feet tall, weighs 200 pounds, and has 15% body fat.
The first occupies much more volume than the second.
So, if you set out to “lose 20 pounds” and “only” lost 10 - but you lost 15 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of muscle, would you be a “failure?”
Absolutely not .
Why not?
Because BODY COMPOSITION is the “thing” we should be focusing on .
NOT “weight.”
I have been “banging this drum” since 1996.
And it used to confuse people .
They couldn’t understand why the scale didn’t move as Weight much as they wanted, but their measurements did. Smaller waists, bigger arms - that sort of thing.
(Except the ladies - smaller waists, hips, thighs, and arms…)
Focus on building muscle and burning off body fat (by improving your conditioning), NOT “losing weight.”
If you do the first - build muscle, you will almost always “lose weight” IF you don’t use “working out” and building muscle as a permission to eat like a condemned man at his last meal.
I call this “Recomping”. (Recomposition training - training to change your body composition.)
HOW do you do that, exactly?
1- Train three times a week :
If you have good recovery, or know how to design your program, you can train four times a week.
Some even train five times a week.
Train a minimum of 20 minutes up to 45 minutes per session.
2- Use “big” lifts that use major muscle groups and require your body to burn a lot of energy:
Swings, Cleans, Presses, even TGUs come to mind.
Snatches are also awesome .
3- Train for both strength & power. Then endurance :
When you do that, you’ll build “go” muscle instead of “show” muscle.
Both appear great . The first you can use.
4- If you’re going to “diet” -
[a] Emphasize protein
It keeps you satiated .
It kills cravings for both fatty and sugary foods.
[b] Clean the junk food out of your pantry and fridge so you’re not tempted to eat it.
Doing both [a] and [b] will dramatically accelerate your results so you burn fat faster and see muscle definition sooner.
5- Sleep more:
Sleep is where you regenerate the most .
No sleep. No recovery. No results.
It’s really that simple.
If you need some resources, I’ll leave a link to a 3-day a week and a 4-day a week Recomp Plan in the description below.
Hope you found this helpful .
Stay Motivated,
Geoff Neupert.