burn the fat feed the muscle by tom venuto

So last week i was off sick from work on thursday and friday due to flu so i decided to browse my laptop and came across an e book i bought 2 years ago called burn the fat feed the muscle (bffm). So with all that free time i had i decided to start reading this 300 plus pages that can claims that by applying these principles the author Tom venuto dropped his bf to 3% and maintains it at around 6%. Now most of what he writes most of us pretty much know however there have been some key tips that i picked up on and began to implement and i must say although its early days it is working.

Now the key of this is to drop your bf by 1 pound per week. The 1st step was to work out your daily calories for maintainence. If you know your bf % then its best you use the katch mckardel calculator. If you dont then you can use the harris benedict which factors in age height and weight to calculate your daily needs. Both calculators use an activity level multiplier. For most of us that train once a day 5x a week then that would mean you multiply your calories by 1,55.

My maintainence calories for a day works out to 3400. Now im trying to lean out before my cycle so i put in a 20% deficit which makes mine 2700 cal/day.

Now the macro split he recommends is 50-55% /30%/15-20% carbs/protein/fat. He suggests this as a starting point for most and all of his clients have seen success with that split. He believes that on 20 to 30% of the population are truly have problems with insulin sensitivity and only if you feel that you are then you should adjust the percentages. I based mine on 40 -40- 20. So its 270 -270-60.

This is to be done for 3 days cycle and then i go up to 3400 maintainence cal for the 4th day before going back down again to 27 00 cal coz after 3 days your body senses the deficit and goes into starvation mode and the higher cal on day 4 jacks up the metabolism.

The mistakes that i made in the past:
Intermittent fasting after someone recommended it here a few months ago. The 16 hour starvation made me lose a lot of water and drop a few kgs but i looked skinny, slowed my metabolism and made me lose some muscle. After a few days i was in starvation mode with a slow metabolism and the 1200 cal plus per meal just resulted in fat and a skinny fat look

2) not eating 6 meals per day. Whole food has thermic effect and keeps the metabolism burning. By missing meals you slow it down. So eat every 3 hours.

3) supplementing most of my calories was the next mistake. Our bodies arent designed to drink calories and protein drinks etc dont have the same thermic effect of whole food. Keep your supps to less then 30% of your cal and only for times of convienience.

4. Substituting my carbs for fats. The bodys preferred source of fuel is carbs. It also has a much higher thermic effect than fat meaning if u eat 100 calories from carbs then30 cals will be burnt just to digest it. 100 cal from fat, only 3 calories are burnt to digest. Protein is the same as carbs. So provided u are eating low gi carbs and lean proteins throughout all ur meals, u will be speeding up your metabolism. Yes fats are important to maintain ur hormonal balance however more than 20% is an overkill and a waste. I was so afraid of carbs being an endomorph but now im full of energy and can see the diference in just a few days. My strength is also up in the gym

5. Not tapering off my cals in the evening. Before i would eat most of my cals post workout even though i trained late some nights. I know taper off towards the evening with breakfast as my biggest meal and supper my smallest.

To me the bffm book was a good investment if u have the time to re learn and just do the basics. Extremes like 50percent protein and 20percent carbs dont work well for me and imho opinion should be used for short periods like pre contest. If u are like me then a moderate carb protein and fat split should work well. Lets see how it goes but so far so good

intermittent fasting after someone recommended it here a few months ago. The 16 hour starvation made me lose a lot of water and drop a few kgs but i looked skinny, slowed my metabolism and made me lose some muscle. After a few days i was in starvation mode with a slow metabolism and the 1200 cal plus per meal just resulted in fat and a skinny fat look : i think i warned u about that

2) not eating 6 meals per day. Whole food has thermic effect and keeps the metabolism burning. By missing meals you slow it down. So eat every 3 hours. :

look u can diet on 4 meals a day,meal frequence has been debunked by a couple clinical studies bud,it just does make it easier to get in 6-8 meals a day when u trying to get 3000-5000 calories a day in, gary straydom when he was here in sa used to sit down after a work out and eat for 2-3 hours and then didnt eat again for another 5 hours,yet he was 150kg with abs at that stage...so like i said clincal studies have debunked this so dont stress,as long as u getting in your calories...

3) supplementing most of my calories was the next mistake. Our bodies arent designed to drink calories and protein drinks etc dont have the same thermic effect of whole food. Keep your supps to less then 30% of your cal and only for times of convienience.

here again i explained above... try and eat all your calories makes you hate food,ask anyone that works with hany rambod,he makes u eat 7-8000calories a day even in the off season, eating is a mission so sometimes shakes are needed to make life easier...try and eat all your meals when u are in your car for 3-4 hours a day,not the easiest thing

4. Substituting my carbs for fats. The bodys preferred source of fuel is carbs. It also has a much higher thermic effect than fat meaning if u eat 100 calories from carbs then30 cals will be burnt just to digest it. 100 cal from fat, only 3 calories are burnt to digest. Protein is the same as carbs. So provided u are eating low gi carbs and lean proteins throughout all ur meals, u will be speeding up your metabolism. Yes fats are important to maintain ur hormonal balance however more than 20% is an overkill and a waste. I was so afraid of carbs being an endomorph but now im full of energy and can see the diference in just a few days. My strength is also up in the gym

now i dont agree with this at all,i start all my clients on roughly a 40:30:30 split and then work things up depending on how they progress...yes your stregnth will be up seeing that you are now retaining water in the muscle in the form of muscle glycogen,so that will give u strength,but going over 30% fats isnt taboo, sometime 50% carbs will not work with people,i am one of them,also by utalising fats and proteins together u keep your blood sugar levels stable through out the day as there are no sugars to effect the levels in the blood. yes carbs are thermogenic,but thats why u keep them in the right times of the day and u wont have an issue,

5. Not tapering off my cals in the evening. Before i would eat most of my cals post workout even though i trained late some nights. I know taper off towards the evening with breakfast as my biggest meal and supper my smallest.

makes no difference what so ever, how does your body know that u need more calories in the morning than at night,say u need 3000 cals for the day,u have 1500 in the morning and 1500 cals at night,doesnt mean u are going to get fat cos your biggest meal is in the evening! if u structure your nutrients when u need them that makes a big difference, like carbs in the morning to fuel your day,carbs pre work out to fuel your work outs and carbs post work out to replenish glycogen stores will ensure that you dont spill over on the carbs and over replenish glycogen stores making u retain excess fat...

there is no hard and fast rule here,thats what makes this sort've thing a difficult process to work out.

i generally keep carbs between 1 - 1.5g per LB of weight to start and the n 1.5g - 2.0g of protein depending on the goal of the client and then the rest from fats...its each to their own... i have read that book many a time,i have also read chris aceto's books while their principles are solid not all of them work for everyone.... good luck.

thanksDj and yes u did warn me about I.F. But i guess i had to learn from my own mistakes and was looking for an easier way.

I hear you wrt to all the points you have made above however for me from an adherence and long term point of view, i think the slightly higher carbs makes this plan practical for me.

Whats ur thoughts on bumping up to3400 cals every 4th day. Not too much?

maybe,a bit too high, maybe manipulate the macros.. so from 40:40:20 at 2800 calories rather do 20 % protein 70% carbs 10% maybe,i do things differently by incorporating cheat meals instead.

LOVE the cheat meal it is the pinnacle of my week

so how hectic can we go on the cheat meal. I normally love a spur double rib burger and extra chips or a panarottis three cheeses with extra mozarella. So is there really alimit coz those meals are loaded in saturated fat

Spur two for one on mondays, replace the chips with baked potato leave the onion rings and use tobasco instead of spur sauce my favourite day of the week.

well dude u need to choose a principle to stick to,if u are sticking to BFFM then do that, my guys work differently where i give them a cheat meal once a week that can be anywhere between 700- 1500 calories depending on work load,how they are responding to the diet,how long they have been dieting etc..eventually when work load and training gets increased the cheat meal becomes every 5 days not 7. stick to 1 principle,dont try a little of this and a little of that.

Read that book its ok... ill stick to what i know