Tip Lose Fat Keep Muscle Know How Much To Eat Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Diet & Fat LossEating Tip Lose Fat Keep Muscle Know How Much To Eat Get your body fat where you want it with easy math Here' s how by Paul Carter December 23, 2015January 28, 2022 Tags Losing Fat, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Approach fat loss by focusing on retaining muscle. Why? Gaining and losing fat is significantly easier than building muscle. And as long as you're not in a time crunch, your best course of action is to take as much time as needed so that you can retain all of your muscle while getting lean. The key is managing your calorie deficit in an intelligent and timely manner, and adjusting training based on your personal goals. If your calories get too low, then it's a matter of basic energy levels falling off, lack of ATP, lack of glycogen, and an overall lack of fuel to function in the gym at a high level. Don't abandon a body recomp process because of short-term strength dips. Put your ego aside and understand you're not going to "feel weaker" forever, and you shouldn't feel that much weaker if you're doing things right in the first place. So how do you adjust your diet in order to avoid the pitfalls of a lifter who quits after a few weeks? It's simple. You just need some basic math. Do The Math Protein: Have 1 gram per pound of bodyweight Fat: 20% of total calories The rest of your caloric intake should be from carbs. After you figure out how many calories will be coming from protein and fat, simply give carbs the remaining percentage. Your calorie starting point for the first week of "dieting" is just bodyweight maintenance. Here's the catch: Eat your maintenance level of calories from quality food sources, no junk. Maintenance level is all going to depend on age, activity level, and genetic factors, but a good place to start is bodyweight x 15 per day. After two weeks, adjust your caloric intake down from your maintenance level, unless you lost weight. If you lost weight there, simply stay there for another week. If you lose weight the second week, then stay there. Your weight loss shouldn't be more than about 1.5 pounds a week. Once the scale stops moving for a week or two, adjust calories down slightly. So if calories were at bodyweight x 15, adjust to bodyweight x 14 and repeat the process. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Eating How to Eliminate Love Handles Man Boobs or Jelly Belly Where you store body fat can tell you a lot about your hormones. Here’s how and, more importantly, what you can do to fix your problem. C3G, Diet Strategy, Losing Fat, Nutrition & Supplements, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Resveratrol, Rhodiola Rosea, Testosterone Optimization TC Luoma September 24 Diet & Fat Loss Tip The Snack That Shrinks Love Handles Snack on these in the late afternoon and lose fat around your waist. Really. Check out the science. Losing Fat, Nutrition & Supplements, Protein, Superfood, Tips TC Luoma March 4 Supplements The Next Best Thing to Testosterone Injections This powerful combo of herbs coaxes your testicles into pumping out more T so you're stronger, more muscular, and have better erections. Nutrition & Supplements, Testosterone Boosters TC Luoma July 31 Eating If It Fits Your MICROS You can lose fat with any diet that puts you in a caloric deficit. But at what cost? Here are the micronutrients you're missing. Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements Calvin Huynh March 19