Comments on: Fat Loss for Athletes: Part 3

By: father

father — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:25:18 +0000

Lyle, I really appreciate this article, but I got somewhat confused. So I am following your ketogenic diet book’s targeted keto diet for a month or so and I am strength training (compounds 4x/week, about 1h in gym with ~3min rests, 5/3/1 program). So here I read that I should lower my fat intake and focus on protein. Right now I am taking 1g/lb of protein, 10-15g carbs (rest) 45-55 (workout) and rest is fat (45% on workout day, 65% rest). Which approach (my current) or discussed in this article would suit better for me if I don’t care about sanity so much, but rather want to see my abs and not lose hard gained muscle?
Thank you in advance! I am 18% bodyfat at the moment.

By: lylemcd

lylemcd — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:53:41 +0000

Not sure what you’re saying or even referring to but athletes can typically work out far more intensely (i.e. more work per unit time) than the untrained. In that sense, they will burn more calories.

By: Jacque

Jacque — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:12:50 +0000

I am confused. After having 2 children, there are some very stubborn areas of fat (just the tummy, everything else is coming a long fine). Every thing I have read up to this point says that the smaller you are, the harder it is to burn off calories. Is this the case if you are athletic? From the above article, it seems it is saying that athletic people burn more calories when working out.

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Thu, 05 May 2011 10:28:43 +0000

Super interesting article! I’ve just one question, can all of this be applied to a female athlete?
Im in the mixed sports category and with your calculations it seems like my daily intake would be something like this: 2000kcal, 200g protein, 175g carbohydrates, 55g fat. I run 3 times per week and go to the gym 2-3 per week.

By: hany

hany — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 13:11:59 +0000

Regarding the refeeds,with which frequency do you recommend if someone will follow this program 4 weeks e.g 7 days dieting the 8th refeed or 11 days like RFL cat 1etc.

By: lylemcd

lylemcd — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 23:15:36 +0000

Refeeds exist completely outside of the specific diet. They are incorporated regardless.

By: Nason

Nason — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:34:26 +0000

Do you recommend a regular carb refeed when following this kind of program?

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:34:44 +0000

I’m very glad you touched on why powerlifters, weightlifters, and other strength-based athletes should not be doing cardio past what is needed to get their work capacity to where it needs to be for training or competition. I only wish that more people would echo these statements.

It’s all too often that I see too many people suggest HIIT or steady-state cardio to aid in fat or weight loss for strength-based athletes, and while I might try to refute those claims, the idea that some type of cardio is required for weight loss is so ingrained in people’s minds that I’m usually quickly shot down.

On top of that, the suggestion that even mild steady state cardio will hurt their performance is dismissed by most just as easily, when the truth is, as you stated in your article, that just about any type of this activity has the potential to hinder performance in these types of athletes.

By: hany

hany — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 08:40:55 +0000

Great article and I’ve tried it personally,and I got great results but as usual u must be careful with the portions and macro nutrients and do the math precisely u’ll get great results ,I have a question I’ll go for intermittent fasting for one month how can I divide my carbs among 2 meals I’ll be eating only 2 meals and a snack maximum if I have time for it.when I calculated I’ll go for 200 gm of Carbs and 235gm Protein and 55gm of fats,will train for 2.5 hours 45 minutes general body weightlifting for major muscle groups (as a volleyball player) and the rest will be volleyball training it will be late at night so my schedule will be as follows fasting from 4 a.m to 7:00 P.M when I take my first meal, then a snack at 10 PM and post workout meal at 2 am as the training will be from 11 p.m to 1:30 a.m .My question is where to put higher or lower carbs and alternatively fats or divide them evenly it doesn’t matter. Thank you

By: Bret

Bret — Mon, 17 May 2010 18:35:23 +0000

Great series of articles, Lyle. I didn’t do all my proper research beforehand this year, training for a (running) road race. I followed a CKD plan and lost a ton of weight. However, I suffered during the sharpening phases of my training cycle, and only after the damage was done, performance-wise, discovered that I could have followed a more sensible plan like TKD.

Nonetheless, I have recently tried TKD, and learned that I can’t pyschologically (or hormonally – whatever) handle having regular carbs in my diet – I just end up craving them too much. This isn’t really a problem when I followed the CKD, because I would basically “carb myself out” on the carb up days. However, having carbs regularly in my diet (even if only around workouts) I find that I can’t control the cravings and end up bingeing anyway.

So, I think you allude to an important principle in this series. If you want to minimize bodyfat, don’t count on performance. If you want to maximize performance, don’t be overly concerned about body fat levels. Of couse, there are elite athletes who can do both, but the above is most likely true for the majority of us!