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🎓 What is the ideal body fat percentage to star

🎓 What is the ideal body fat percentage to start a lean bulk?⁣⁣⁣
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There’s actually a science to it. ⁣⁣⁣
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As your bulking starting point is within 9-12% in men or 21-24% in women, you will probably gain more muscle and less fat over the course of a long bulk.⁣⁣⁣
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I recommend you keep ‘lean bulking’ like this up to the point of 16-18% for men and 27-29% for women. ⁣⁣⁣
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Thereafter, research hints, more of your calorie surplus likely ends up in your fat cells.⁣⁣⁣
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This is because of 2 main factors: ⁣⁣⁣
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1. Higher chronic inflammation.⁣⁣⁣
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2. Lower testosterone (or estrogen) levels.⁣⁣⁣
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Just so you know: Higher insulin sensitivity does *not* contribute to a better muscle-to-fat gaining ratio during a bulk. Not even in identical twins. ⁣⁣⁣
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Want to learn more about preparing to optimizing your lean gains on a bulk? ⁣⁣⁣
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In my bio you find the link to my most popular article to date, on this topic.⁣
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At what body fat percentage do you normally start bulking?

How many calories below your expenditure should yo

How many calories below your expenditure should you eat to lose fat at an optimal rate, while sparing / gaining muscle mass?

2 meta-analyses (high quality evidence) show that for overweight / obese people it doesn't matter much how quickly they lose weight until they reach 22-25% (males) body fat: they will probably retain their muscle [2, 3].

I do stress that keeping your protein moderately high (>1.2 g / kg bodyweight) is important for this [4].

What if you get leaner than 20% body fat?

One well designed experiment in non-overweight, weight training people compared a smaller calorie deficit of 19% (slow route) to a bigger one of 30% (fast route) in non-overweight [1].

In non-overweight, slower weight loss can actually preserve (or enhance) your muscle while dropping similar amounts of fat.

🎬 Action points
- When you get leaner than ~20% body fat, start with a 20% calorie deficit that gets smaller over time to preserve muscle mass: aim for 0.5 - 0.75% body weight loss per week.

- When you're quickly getting weaker on one of the main lifts (bench press, squat, etc.): ouch! See if you can lose weight more slowly.

🍝There are many many bad choices you can make w

🍝There are many many bad choices you can make when you want to lose body fat. ⁣⁣
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Understandable, with all these myths circling around.⁣⁣
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What you *should* do (image) and their reasons:⁣⁣
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1. For every 14 g of fiber you eat, you intuitively consume 10% less calories per day (if you're not tracking) [Howarth 2001]. This is because it keeps you full longer.⁣⁣
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2. Sleeping only 5.5 instead of 7.5 hours a night makes you lose up to 60%(!) less fat [Nedeltcheva 2010].⁣⁣
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3. High volume, low calorie veggies prevent you from feeling sluggish and hungry all day. I suggest zucchini, squash, green pepperbell, and pickles.⁣⁣
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4. Liquids like tea, (decaf) coffee (with a splash of milk) and diet soda keep your hunger at bay.⁣⁣
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Reasons for things you should *not* do:⁣⁣
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1. Water stores and stomach/intestine food content change from day to day depending on many factors, like hormones, salt intake, your stool, your sleep, stress levels, etc. A bottle of water can add 1 lb to your weight in less than a minute.⁣⁣
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2. In a dieting phase, sometimes weight loss comes to a sudden halt. A plausible theory tells us that when fat is burnt from fat cells, the body temporarily replaces this fat with water. Suddenly, this water is 'whooshed' away, with a steep drop in weight.⁣⁣
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3. Adding those avocado and nuts to your salad *might* make it "healthy" (what does that even mean?). But it *will* increase its calories to that of an average double whopper. To lose fat, you need to consume less calories than you expend. Period.⁣⁣
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What mistakes did you use to make while dieting?

Could Netflix affect your testosterone levels?⁣⁣⁠
If you often watch series in bed as I do, it might if it causes you to miss out on sleep.⁣⁣⁠
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Two experimental studies show that restricting sleep to 5 hours or less (compared to 7-9 hours) decreased overall testosterone levels by 10-15% [Leproult 2011, Reynolds 2012].⁣⁣⁠
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And 'correlation' research supports this: seriously sleep-deprived men can have up to 50% lower testosterone levels than their sweet sleeper counterparts [Goh 2010, Cortés-Gallegos 1983, Penev 2007].⁣⁣⁠
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So what difference does 10-15% testosterone make for your physique? Probably not much. ⁣⁣⁠
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And this comes from serious sleep deprivation, not a mere hour less; multiple hours less.⁣⁣⁠
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But sleep is good for other things as well. Overall well being [Medic 2017]. Cognitive functioning [Alhola 2007]. ⁣⁣⁠
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So putting your head on the pillow in time - and keeping it there without thinking too much about work (that's me!) - is generally a wise idea.⁣⁣⁠
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I personally love to watch "Chef's table" or the new series "Our planet" to unwind after an intense day of work. "Friends" is another one I am rewatching now. ⁣⁣⁠
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What do you prefer?⁣⁣⁠
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For more on how sleep deprivation affects your thinking, check out my free Patreon post: (bio)⁣⁠
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Leproult 2011: 21632481⁣⁣⁠
Reynolds 2012: 22844441⁣⁣⁠
Goh 2010: 19684340⁣⁣⁠
Cortés-Gallegos 1983: 6405703⁣⁣⁠
Penev 2007: 17520786⁣⁣⁠
Medic 2017: 28579842⁣⁣⁠
Alhola 2007: 19300585

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