Trying to decrease body fat while maintaining and/or increasing your strength? Confused about supplements, food intake, and nutrient timing? Read on…

According to most studies on the subject, the human body is mostly anabolic around the 10–15% body fat range, which is actually fairly low. As you gain body fat, your body will actually increase the production of estrogen and “learn” to store body fat better. For dieting, while maintaining strength, rotate your carbs and calories.

Keep your carbs and total calories higher on heavy training days (ME days for example), drop them a bit on other training days, and take your carbs and calories very low on off days. Your low carb off days could also be a day to focus on cardio.

You don’t have to lose strength when losing fat. Don’t let yourself believe that. The muscle is still there. You still have the contractile tissue to move the weight. Your leverages will change and you may have less energy reserves, but your strength potential should still be there. If you believe you’ll lose strength, you will.

For example, one of my training partners and good friends, Steve Kuclo, is a two time teen national bodybuilding champion and won a national qualifier overall at the age of 20 in bodybuilding. When he did his first bodybuilding diet, he didn’t know that you were “supposed to lose strength” on low carbs and low energy. He was young, and no one told him that farce. So, he just didn’t lose strength. He didn’t know that was supposed to happen. He figured that he was going to the gym and training. He assumed that when you lift weights, you’re supposed to get stronger. So he just kept getting stronger.

Keep the nutrition basic. You will get the vast majority of your gains in nutrition from a few simple, basic things:

1.      Eat protein every few hours.

2.      Eat multiple times per day (I eat six or more times a day).

3.      Eat complex carbohydrate sources with higher amounts around your workout

4.      If you eat fat, make it good fat, and watch the calories.

If you do that EVERY day, you’ll be farther ahead after five years than you would be by missing just one day of that per week but knowing EVERYTHING about perfect supplementation. Supplements provide a big boost IF your basic nutrition is in line. Remember, if you can’t pick it, grow it, or kill it, you shouldn’t be eating it.