Logical Body Fat Reduction

[Builderofmuscle]

Logical Body Fat Reduction
by Mike Mentzer

Reducing body fat can be done safely (without losing muscle),
simply, methodically and in a predictable fashion so that the
individual achieves his goal on a predetermined date. The
process begins by establishing one's present maintenance
level of calories. This can be accomplished by keeping a
five-day food diary wherein you record everything you eat,
including the quantity, for that period. At the end of each day,
sit down with a good calorie-counting book and tally the total
calories for that day. On the fifth day, take the five daily totals,
add them up for a grand total, divide by five, and you'll have
your daily average calorie intake. If you didn't gain or lose
weight over that five day period, your daily average calorie
intake will also represent your daily maintenance level of
calories.

Once you've established your daily maintenance level of
calories, reduce your food intake so that you are 500 calories
below maintenance. Since there are 3500 calories in a pound
of fat, a 500 calorie daily deficit will lead invariably to a loss
of one pound of fat a week. Over a period of time, as you
continue to lose weight, your maintenance level of calories
will go down, and weight loss will slow down or come to a halt.
When this happens, reduce your calories another 500 or so
and the weight-fat loss will proceed.

[ptrainer]

Right on the dot, builderofmuscle.

I wanted to just add, that people need a certain amount of stimulation to their muscles in order to minimize loss of lean body mass (lbm). A lot of people think that it's the cardio, but that's mainly to increase overall caloric expenditure to assist with the deficit. Because the body is constantly adapting to one's lifestyle, proper resistance training will cause the body to "hold on" to it's lbm as you create the deficit.