Why Diet & Cardio Can Cause You to Gain Weight
What It Actually Takes to Lose Fat
Recently a close buddy of mine hit me up on Facebook to shed some light on a conundrum that has been eating at him for sometime. He’s been dieting like a model and training like a beast, but is stuck. His weight has plateau’d and he can’t seem to get any leaner.
He wanted to know if there were any foods or substances that were causing a holding pattern, rendering him unable to lose fat. As we know, no specific food in and of itself, is responsible for fat loss or fat gain. The only way to ensure fat loss is to create a calorie deficit.
I explained to him the law of thermodynamics. However, he had been eating very little and exercising rigorously and was surely in a deficit, yet he was not losing any weight. And I quickly uncovered the dilemma.
Why Excessive Cardio & Low Calorie Diets Stop Weight Loss
I’ll first precede by saying that low calorie diets combined with cardio works great for overweight people. The problem surfaces when you start to get leaner and leaner. Your body becomes much more sensitive to calorie deficits because your energy reserves are low. With low levels of body fat comes increased risk of starvation and death in the case of a famine.
This may not sound like a concern today, but we still have the same genetic code as our hunter gathers. So when you are in the sub 13% body fat range, and dieting hard with lots of cardio, you are doing more damage than good. You are essentially setting yourself up for a big rebound.
Moreover, in the lean state, big calorie deficits place an incredible amount of stress on the body. The body is essentially fighting off starvation and to do so, it starts to pull more energy from muscle tissue and less from fat. Extreme dieting and high amounts of exercise also increases cortisol levels. Cortisol is strongly linked to water retention. When cortisol goes up, your body holds more water weight.
Cortisol, Water Retention & Holding Patterns
So the reason my buddy wasn’t able to lose weight on extreme dieting and cardio anymore was because he was holding lots of water. He knew there was a holding pattern in place, he just didn’t know what exactly was causing it. He thought it must have been a food or food substance.
It turns out he was pushing his body too hard. Not eating enough and training too much. I since told him to smarten up and relax on the training and dieting. I got him eating significantly more carbs (russet potatoes wedges baby) and refining his training down to three lifts per week.
Within the next three days, he flushed out 4-5 lbs of water weight, made gains on his lifts and his muscles became fuller and tighter. Not to mention, he started sleeping like a baby at night. He was pretty darn well astonished. Since eating more and training less sounds so counter productive. But it works!
Why So Many People Can Never Get Ripped
This water retention dilemma is quite possible one of the biggest reasons why so many people can’t break through that last barrier. Every time they get close, they get stuck. When they’re stuck, they train harder and eat less. When in actuality, they have to do the opposite.
Once you realize that you can’t pound your body to shredded status… That you have to coax it there… Well, finally you’ll be well on your way to a shredded physique.
And if you want my full course to leaning down, be sure to check out The Warrior Shredding Program.
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You moved your friends training to only three lifts per week? Why only three and which ones?
So in the journey I’m on I’ve gone from 252 to 195 in 9 months. I read this article and can see myself hitting this dilemma. I workout 6 days a week but that includes boxing and running 2 times a week (long and short runs) for a marathon training. So I lift about 3-4 days sometimes doubling up. I feel absolutely amazing and the IF is working great. But at the same time should I cut back on some things? I love doing all these different workouts but am worried about the cortisol, water retention you mentioned. I would love to hear your thoughts.
I’m really glad someone has finally written an article about this. I have been wondering why the cardio people at them gym always leave, year after year looking exactly the same.
Hey greg I just started the Greek god program and I’m positive that chin ups are a vital workout in the program. The thing is that I messed up my rotator cuff. It has a small tear and is inflammated. It hurts my shoulder to do chin ups or pull ups. What do you recommend?
Take a break from the chin ups and pull ups until your shoulder is healed. So yeah, skip them. If you can do rows then go with rows. If not then just rest on the back until it’s better.
Hey Greg,
How the heck did you go from looking super great to looking f@#ken insane???
Ive seen the videos of how you look currently and you look freakin way more chiseled than youve been for some time (still looked great though).
Is it because you went from 9-10% bodyfat to lower? If so, how much? So is this Superhero Body but with lower bodyfat? Cause if it is, then its my new goal long-term. You look like you did when you where in your best Warrior condition, but super built
Thanks Alan! Yeah, i’ve spent the last couple years holding a ‘cut’ level of definition but focusing on building strength and adding muscle – specifically to my shoulders and arms, which were lagging points for me. So yes, when I leaned, back down, to the ‘ripped’ condition, I created a superhero effect with awesome definition.
It’s amazing what losing a few pounds of fat can do. That’s why I always have people get lean first, so they look awesome, while they work on putting on the muscle.
I recently have leaned down a ton due to your warrior shredding program. It was amazing thank you for putting out a great product. I’m interested in your Superhero program should I complete the greek god program first or can I dive right into the Superhero program when it comes out?
It’s really up to you. I generally recommend someone have a good base level of strength and muscle before going into the superhero program.
Thanks for the kind words John.
Greg,
I have been doing Warrior for six months. When do you recommend purchasing superhero?
Definitely when you get to your leanness goal and you’re ready to pack on some solid muscle.
Hey, I am performing RPT regularly. My question and issue is, for bench I do 235 for 5, then 205 for 6, then 185 for 8. By the time I get to incline bench, my chest is blasted. I can barely do my reps. Is there a way to get past this quick exhaustion? I see other people/programs doing high reps for high weight. Is it my age (30) or low weight (180) keeping me from these long workouts? Thanks Greg. I tell everyone about this site and am patiently waiting for the superhero program.
I hear you Dave, I’ve had a similar experience. At this point I would recommend just doing 2 sets of bench. Then rest 5 minutes before going into incline. Then you can do 2-3 sets of incline.
Hello Greg,
Awesome info! I just discovered your site yesterday and have been devouring it pretty much since.
I just started my fitness journey 4 months ago on my own and have made some progress but not nearly enough. My goal is to be in the best shape of my life by age 40, which gives me 16 months.
I love your approach to mind and body fitness and believe you are the guy who can help me reach my goals.
I am currently built more like Seth Rogen, soft and doughy, love handles and man boobs, but want to achieve Zac Efron aesthetics of lean and well proportioned. I have only ever been chunky or thin but never fit.
Which of your programs should I start with first?
Thanks in advance!
Hey Dominic. I’d definitely start with my warrior shredding program. That will allow you to effortlessly lean down while building strength and just enough muscle.
Sweet, I’m on it!!
Thanks again man.
Really great read mate! I see the same thing all too often – over-training most prevalently. And it’s almost like it goes hand-in-hand with under-eating. I think a lot of people also get caught up in what all the gear users are doing, and hence somewhat try to keep up. Over-training literally destroys gains and progress. Decimates them. Three days a week is plenty.
Can’t wait to suss the superhero program :)
Dude, a question also. What do you think of Betaine use? I’m not buying into this whole ‘gives you the ability for more reps as compared to blind study’ BS, however having the increased stomach acidity to break down not only protein/amino acids, but all foods period, makes positive sense to me.
I’m not really into the whole ‘supplement’ thing. Besides a fish oil, I don’t use anything. I have used a pre workout in the past with beta alinine and it made me itchy as fuck.
Interesting! I think a lot of them can produce more negative side effects than they are worth. I’m a total sucker for trying them all out for curiosity sake. Having said that though, I have only really ended up with a staple consisting of no more than 5 that actually work/are worth using!!!
When is the Superhero program going to come out? Will it adhere to a three day per week schedule? Also, really looking forward to your articles on lifestyle as well.
It’s coming out in about one week. Yes, it is also a 3 day per week lifting protocol.
Hey Greg, currently on warrior shredding program, have a couple questions..
1) I’m not too worn out after my workout, I mean I’m hitting all my sets at the appropriate weights and continue to increase weight, I just seem to recover fast from low set workouts… Is there something I’m doing wrong?
2) I eat out a lot, just about every day. When I’m counting macros I usually just check the nutrition information of places like chipotle, outback, etc. on their website. You think I’ll eventually run into a problem counting macros this way and not actually measuring?
1) No. As long as you’re getting stronger then you’re killing it. You don’t want to leave the gym destroyed.
2) No. that’s fine. You don’t have to be 100% exact. I don’t really track my macros anymore and I lean down fine. I just sort of eyeball it.
Or said differently: you have to boost leptin levels thru carb refeeds. And for the rest, what lacks most people in most things thet try to achieve, patience!
Hi Greg, from your article I understand that low calories + cardio = stress = water retention = weight plateau. But not loosing weight does not mean you are not loosing fat. If you are in a caloric deficit you will definitely loose fat (and muscle). That why training with heavy weights is needed. to keep the muscle. Adding a lot of cardio on a caloric deficit makes you feel miserable, testosterone goes down, cortisol goes up, etc… But you still loose fat :)
Yes that is correct. But often, there are psychological binge eating that takes place. When someone is putting in so much work and stalling, eventually they sabotage their efforts and go from one extreme to the other. This is why so many people spin their wheels. But yes, you will still lose fat as long as you are consistent.
Greg-
I’m working on building back thickness and the chest sweep without increasing chest or back size too much and I’m currently doing the S+D workout. I reduced incline bench and weighted chins to just two RPT sets and kept everything else the same. Should I replace Weighted Chins with rows, or just switch to close grip chin ups? Should I add two sets of flat bench to workout A, or just do weighted dips instead of the skull crushers?
Thanks a lot,
Donny
If you want more chest sweep I would do flat bench press instead of incline. Do one set of weighted chin ups followed by 2 sets of rows.
My friend was in the same situation. Convinced that 1800 calories on his 225lb frame was what he needed, despite that he was doing it for months, and it was still not working. Started running miles and miles a day. Exactly like what you are saying. I told him hormones were the issue, but he refused to believe me. I showed him this article. http://fitnessblackbook.com/dieting_for_fat_loss/eating-to-increase-your-metabolism-pt-1/
Told me he started that plan, 2 months later find out he was lying to me, and continued eating super low calories. Finally believed me, started that plan, and now after 2 months, he is eating 2500-3000, or until full and he is losing weight.
Awesome man!
Can creatine still be taken during the warrior shred if its been taken through the greek good building phase?
Yeah you can continue taking it on a cut. I just wouldn’t recommend someone start taking it on a cut if they haven’t been using it already.