Measuring Progress — Every Body Is Unique

I want to state this here because it’s very important.

Every person’s body is different. This is due to genetics, your microbiome (the bacteria living in your lower intestine), your diet or lifestyle and how long you’ve had them, the toxic load you’ve taken in from food, water, and air, and more.

These play out as varying hormone levels person to person, differing abilities to gain or lose muscle and fat, better or poorer digestive ability, immune system function (vital for building muscle), blood flow, where fat cells are physically located on your body, how the body responds to different nutrients, etc, etc, etc.

All of these are different from person to person and need to be thought with on an individual basis.

The one-size-fits-all view of fitness (or beauty) doesn’t work because of this.

YOUR 30-DAY LEAN BULK CHALLENGE EXERCISE ROUTINE:

You’ve most likely lifted weights before. But as there are a few points that are specific for the success of this program, please read this.

On this protocol you will be lifting 5-6 days per week.

As this protocol is very specific, there will only be weight lifting — no running or other forms of cardio.

If you would like to take a walk, that’s fine. But adding in other forms of cardio will hamper your progress and may cause you trouble.

And it’s only 30 days.

Let’s run through the key points.

If you’ve done a lot of Bulking & Cutting in the past then these calories may seem too low.

But realize one thing here. You’ve most likely been consuming processed foods for your bulking & cutting. And whey or other low-utilization protein powders.

These give less nutrition and usable protein than whole food protein sources do. And more hidden sugars.

In fact, while you may get “less” calories on this protocol, you may actually have more trouble consuming all of it.

This is so much so that your biggest problem will likely be getting it all in.

Ask anyone about bulking and cutting and they’ll bring up calories and macronutrients.

Calories are basically a measurement of how much potential energy is in a food.

Potential because some of it will actually be used as energy and some will not.

This can be energy which is “burned” right now for physical activity (sugars or fats) or energy stored for later use (body fat and glycogen (stored sugars)).

Bulking & Cutting has been around for decades now.

We workout hard, count our macros, and eat and eat and eat, and build lots of muscle.

And… at the same time we’re building muscle, we also build body fat. And we build them at about the same rate, a pound of muscle for a pound of fat.

You’ve probably heard of the Cholesterol Hypothesis.

This is a hypothesis that higher levels of cholesterol, particularly LDL Cholesterol, are associated with higher rates of Heart Disease.

This hypothesis is so deeply ingrained in our understanding of how the body works that challenging it is almost laughable. (Even though it’s still just a hypothesis after all these decades.)

However, over the last decade, more and more scientists and doctors have been doing that for one very glaring reason: there is no evidence to support the hypothesis.

Welcome to the final week of the 30-Day Fat Loss Challenge!

During this challenge we’ve had our ups and downs as cravings came and went and hormones began to balance.

But by Week Four things have evened out or soon will.

Energy levels rise, mood may become more even, sleep becomes more restful, digestion improves, and overall health rises.

And, of course, we’ve lost a significant amount of body fat.

If you’ve ever had trouble with diets, losing weight, or simply keeping the weight off, let’s start by saying… It’s not you.

Let me say that one more time in case you didn't get it. It’s. Not. You. Period.

Every year, over a hundred million Americans make New Year’s Resolutions. And, there’s one resolution made more often than any of the others: the goal to lose weight. It’s also the one that’s given up on the fastest.

Why is that the case?

Let me start by saying: No, fat doesn’t make you fat. Sugars, mainly processed sugars, do. 

Fat from food is not converted to fat in the body without the presence of sugar. But due to their effects on our hormones, some fats can help us lose weight, and some make us gain it.

Now, there are many types of fat, both that you eat and your body creates, and different fats are used for various actions in your body. 

There are several things that control cravings or make it hard to get off sugar, as covered in this article here: What Causes Cravings For Sugar & Junk Food?

Causes mentioned in that article include hormones, messenger chemicals in the body that tell the cells what to do or not do, how to use energy or not, whether to build muscle or break it down, or add fat or burn it. 

“How do I get off sugar and junk food? It's so hard!” In case you feel alone in this struggle — please know that you're not. In fact, the majority of people don't succeed from mainstream diets, even when they go all out on them. Why is that? Is it because the diet or lifestyle habits to succeed are not practical? Or you might be thinking you are not determined enough or simply lazy. Though some of the factors we’ll cover will make you feel low in energy to the point you may feel it’s laziness, but no it’s not. 

There is something called “Leaky Gut”, and this is not just a funny name. It’s probably one of the most accurate labels there are, actually.

When food comes into your small intestine from your stomach it’s already mostly broken down. Here, more enzymes (bodily chemicals) are released to break it down further into truly microscopic pieces.