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Are you having problems developing a lean muscular body? Well the reason is because you are probably working too hard to try to lose the fat with cardio, but you aren’t actually building any muscle! The way to accomplish this is to also incorporate a weight lifting routine. Combining a few weight lifting sessions during the week will help you build the muscle needed to develop a lean muscular body, and the intense cardio you may be doing will help you lose fat. This is assuming that you are eating properly as well!

If you are a woman, you will probably have some doubts about developing a lean muscular body since you probably don’t want to look all manly.  You probably just want to get lean and not all buffed up.  However, women becoming manly looking by doing weight training is simply a MYTH. Those women you see in the magazines who look like the female version of Hulk Hogan are on steroids! There’s no way you will ever get that big by following a simple weight training routine. You can start with the machines in the weight room, and if you feel inclined to do so, you can also start with the free weights. There’s no boundaries in the gym that says, “this is the guys section, and this is the girls section”. A gym is a gym. So don’t worry about lifting free weights. Actually using free weights is even better than machines because you’re not just isolating one muscle. Machines also place more stress on joints which can lead to injury. But do use precaution on anything in the gym, whether machine or free weights! Always use good form and make sure you are making progress every week. This is key.

Developing a lean muscular body isn’t easy, but it isn’t impossible either. You can do it with commitment to a solid program that gets you results. If you’re interesting in learning more about how to develop a lean muscular body, and you don’t have any direction or program to follow, I highly recommend Tom Venuto’s, “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle” program. I have reviewed the top online fat loss programs online, and since you will be more focused on getting lean and hard, I highly recommend his program out of any program. Check out the review!

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Now lets look at an in depth example for calculating your daily calories that you need in order to lose weight safely. If you haven’t done so, read part 1 of this section. Part 2 is quite long and you should take the time to work through your own requirements, but first take a look at the example. Once you have you have read through it, then calculate your own daily caloric requirements using the exact same process below. Once you have done this once, everything else will become easier. Just get this part done.

Example

Female (Jane)

Weight: 62 kg

Height: 165 cm

Age: 25

Activity Level: Moderately Active (moderately exercises 3-5 times per week)

Step 1) Calculate BMR for women:

BMR = 655 + (9.6 X bodyweight in kg) + (1.8 X height in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

= 655 + (9.6 X 62) + (1.8 X 165) – (4.7 X 25)

= 655 + 595 + 297 – 118

= 1429

Step 2) Multiply BMR by Activity Multiplier

Total Caloric Intake = BMR X Activity Multiplier

= 1429 X 1.55

= 2215 Calories/Day

We can now see that Jane’s caloric intake should be approximately 2215 calories per day in order to maintain her weight. In order to lose weight we know that we must create a caloric deficit, so that means that she should be consuming about 20% less calories than the maintenance requirement. She should also be consuming this many calories on a daily basis from a variety of healthy foods comprising of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, lean meats, legumes, unsaturated fats, etc.

Step 3)

Final Calories = (Weight Maintenance Calories) - 20%

= 2215 – (2215 X (0.20))

= 2215 - 443

= 1772 Calories

Therefore Jane should be consuming approximately 1772 calories per day in order to lose weight safely. It’s not necessary to be exact on the numbers calculated, but to be as close as possible, since these figures are fairly accurate.

Now that we know her caloric intake per day in order for her to lose weight safely, we need to calculate what types of calories Jane should be consuming daily. Neglecting to eat the right amount of carbohydrates, proteins and fats will not allow her to fully maximize her potential for optimal weight loss and health. As stated before, the right ratio should be approximately 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 20% fats. Let’s now calculate Jane’s requirements per day for each of these ratios. To understand how we calculate this a bit better we need to know a few things. Carbohydrates and protein contain 4 calories per gram, while fats contain 9 calories per gram. Fats contain more energy than either carbohydrates or proteins; therefore they are considered to be more calorie-dense foods. This is another reason why we need to consume less fat than the other macronutrients.

Step 4) Macronutrient Daily Requirements

Calories from carbohydrates = 1772 X 40%

= 1772 X (0.40)

= 709 Calories

Grams per day from carbohydrates = 709/4

= 177 grams

Calories from protein = 177 grams (since the ratio and density is the same as carbohydrates 40% and 4 cal/gram respectively)

Calories from fats = 1772 X 20%

= 1772 X (0.20)

= 354 Calories

Grams per day from fat = 354/9

= 39 grams

Jane’s daily requirements for carbohydrates, proteins and fats are 177 grams, 177 grams and 39 grams respectively.

Since Jane should be eating 6 small meals per day as opposed to 3 larger meals, we can now calculate how many grams of each macronutrient Jane should be consuming:

Step 5) Macronutrient requirement per meal

Carbohydrates = 177 grams/6 meal

= 30 grams/meal

Protein = 30 grams/meal

Fats = 39grams/6 meal

= 6.5 grams/meal

Therefore, approximately 30 grams of Jane’s meal should come from carbohydrates and proteins each, and 6.5 grams from fat. Jane should be consuming 6 of these nutrient rich meals everyday spaced about 2-3 hours apart, in order to ensure an adequate supply of energy throughout the day.

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So how many calories do you need to consume in a day to lose weight safely? After all, one can eat 500 calories of healthy foods and burn off 250 of that, and lose weight, right? Wrong! Our bodies need a certain amount of calories to give us the energy needed to carry out basic tasks, especially when we are doing strenuous activity such as cardio and weight training. And if you aren’t getting the necessary calories in the body, then you won’t have the energy needed to lose weight safely. Now the easiest way to estimate our daily requirements of calories is to calculate our basal metabolic rate (BMR). Basal metabolic rate is the total amount of calories the body requires in order to properly carry out its daily functions such as digestion, breathing, regulating body temperature etc. In other words, our basal metabolic rate gives us the approximate number of calories needed in order to maintain our weight. There is a formula that allows us to calculate our BMR, called the Harris-Benedict Formula. Once you’ve figured out your BMR then you can plug that into the activity multiplier to determine your caloric maintenance level. Once we have all that, then we can look at how to lose weight safely and efficiently while maintaining as much as lean muscle mass as possible. This should be our goal at all times.

Calculating Basal Metabolic Rate

Men: 66 + (13.7 X bodyweight in kg) + (5 X height in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)

Women: 655 + (9.6 X bodyweight in kg) + (1.8 X height in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Take that number and multiply it by…

Activity Multiplier (choose only one from below)

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little to no exercise)

Lightly Active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise: 1-3 days a week)

Moderately Active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise: 3-5 days a week)

Very active = BMR X 1.725 (intense exercise: 6-7 days a week)

Extremely Active = BMR X 1.9 (intense daily exercise and strenuous physical job)

Whatever number you get is the number of calories you should be eating everyday in order to maintain proper bodily functions. Then in order to lose weight safely we must burn off MORE calories than we are consuming through cardio and weight training. Take the number you calculated and cut off 20% of calories. This should be your daily caloric intake everyday.

In part 2, we will look at an example that you can follow.

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