It seems people who have more muscle mass lose fat faster and easier than people who have less LBM. If this is so, would it be more beneficial to the “skinny fat” types to begin programs such as OVT rather go straight to something like Meltdown in order to drop bf%?
Oh and to those who responded to my last post, I am dropping the zone diet food delivery service (though it is really friggin’ easy) and taking personal control of my diet (like you guys suggested)…even if its gonna mean waking up at 4:30/5am a few times during the week to cook. argh!
Jimmy
John Berardi answered this question in his Massive Eating column (scroll down a bit).
The thing is that if you have a high (15-20) body fat % and then bulk up, you’re going to be gaining a lot of fat along with muscle, so much so that it can actually be self defeating.
Studies have shown that the body responds differently to changing eating habits depending on the amount of fat one has.
If you have a lot of fat and go dieting you’ll will lose weight faster than someone with a lower amount of fat.
On the other hand if you have high levels of fat and start bulking, you’ll gain more fat than someone with a lower bf% in the first place.
Oh, and kudos on dropping the Zone, just try and make as much food as you can at a time, to save yourself the trouble at less timely moments.
Thanks for the reply. I meant the bulking up in the vein of training methods, not diet wise. I know if I bulked up at this point (I am talking diet here) I’d get bigger but in the wrong way. But I also know I don’t really have enough muscle underneath my fat to justify cutting so much. So I was thinking about ditching meltdown for a few months as well and adopt something like a Big Three program or OVT, eat alot really clean food and keep the carbs below 200 a day. Also maybe embark on a prolonged (8 weeks) 4ad cycle to help me gain some mass. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!