Both come with specific dietary recommendations to boost your results, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Before we answer that, a little insight.
As you may or may not know, I’ve recently quit discussing “weight loss.”
Why?
It’s a junk term that causes nothing but confusion , and burns lots of money.
WHOA.
“That seems a little like ‘overkill’ there buddy.”
… You may be wondering.
And of course, you’re welcome 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 making billions on “weight loss” drugs that have “side effects” like nausea, puking your guts out , and completely halting 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 shaming anyone.
I’m simply highlighting 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 attentively at the second picture.
They both weigh the 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 reveals 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 heckuva lot different than 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, 15% body fat .
The first looks bulkier 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?”
Definitely not.
Why not?
Because BODY COMPOSITION is the here “thing” we should be talking about.
NOT “weight.”
I have been “banging this drum” since 1996.
And it used to freak people out .
They couldn’t understand why the scale didn’t change as much as they expected , but their measurements did. Smaller waists, bigger arms - that sort of thing.
(Except the ladies - smaller waists, hips, thighs, and arms…)
Focus on muscle growth 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 excuse 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 structure 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 large muscle groups and require your body to burn a lot of energy:
Swings, Cleans, Presses, even TGUs come to mind.
Snatches are also fantastic .
3- Exercise for both muscle & power. Then conditioning :
When you do that, you’ll build “go” muscle instead of “show” muscle.
Both seem impressive. The first you can use.
4- If you’re going to “diet” -
[a] Prioritize protein
It makes you feel full .
It reduces 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 radically speed up your results so you burn fat faster and see muscle definition sooner.
5- Sleep more:
Sleep is where you recover 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 useful .
Stay Powerful ,
Geoff Neupert.