Is this poss? And will it show results like toning the body for when the fat has gone?

IMO stay away from steroids... The whole point of the band is to get healthier and that route is counterproductive. At any rate, to be anabolic while losing fat is no easy task. It can be done in tiny steps through calorie cycling but I would reserve that for a bit down the road and just focus on fat loss at the outset....

Brad

Thanks brad. I will take your advice. What is calorie cycling that I have heard so many times?

Gav

I apologize but this is gonna be long...

Every pound gained - and every pound lost - is a combination of fat, lean tissue, and fluids. We want to tip the ratio toward maintaining Fluid, maintaining - or even gaining lean muscle tissue, all the while losing fat.

To lose requires a deficit and that deficit is best managed with a combination of intake and export. Trying to create the deficit solely on intake will not achieve the desired result. You can lose lots of "weight" but most people want to be healthier, not just lighter. Managing strictly from an intake perspective frequently leads to what many refer to as a "skinny fat person." We want the fat gone - but keep or increase the lean muscle tissue.

Here is why I despise low calorie diets and low/no exercise lifestyles. In order to keep as much lean muscle tissue as possible we have to protect it. Our bodies store carbohydrate in the form of fat. We can't store Protein. If we lack required amino acids then our body breaks down lean muscle tissue (protein) to get what it is lacking. To avoid this we have to readily provide Proteins by our food choices. And not just any proteins - complete proteins. There are 10 essential amino acids that need to be supplied by our diet (although some will argue there are only 8). Fail to provide them and essentially your body eats itself to get what it needs. Lean muscle tissue is many fold more metabolically active than fat - so it burns more calories just by its' existence. Any loss in muscle tissue means your body requires less calories to survive - making fat LOSS even harder. Examples of COMPLETE proteins are dairy, eggs, meat, fish, poultry. Grains, nuts and Beans are not bad food choices, however, they are not complete proteins.

Now lets put all of this together....

Because we have been fasting while sleeping, our bodies start the day catabolic. We need nutrition ASAP to protect our lean muscle tissue and get the calorie burning machine off to a good start. A Protein shake is a great way to accomplish this for bandsters because it can be difficult for us to eat sufficient solid foods early in our day.

Throughout the day we need to do our best to keep well fueled because that is what keeps our metabolism burning and convinces our body it doesn't need to store fuel (fat). A complete protein source every 3-5 hours is important. Never skip meals or go long periods without eating. That triggers the need for fuel storage because your body doesn't know when its' next opportunity for fuel is coming.

If you are able to follow those rough guidelines then cycling calories opens up a new world. Cycling calories refers alternating periods of calorie surplus and deficit. This affords you the opportunity to lose some fat during deficit and gain some muscle during surplus. This is a slow but compounding process because the more muscle you add, the more calories you can eat - yet still lose fat. But don't expect to gain 10 pounds of muscle in a year - it's not going to happen. Building muscle tissue is a very slow and arduous process. It is MANY times easier for our bodies to be catabolic rather than anabolic. And for women it is yet even more difficult because of hormonal reasons. Women need not worry developing huge unwanted muscles - most couldn't even if that were their only goal.

So just as an example....

Monday thru Wednesday you do moderate cardio and create a 1000 calorie deficit, derived from both diet and exercise each day.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday you do sufficient strength and resistance training and create a 300 calorie surplus each day. Never work the same muscles on consecutive days but push them to the point of failure. Muscle soreness 24 hours later is a good thing...

Sunday you rest and have an even calorie balance. Repeat.....

You can mix things up for longer periods or shorter, however, I prefer to have no less than 2 consecutive surplus days. If properly applied, this will yield fat loss and slight muscle gain... Over the long term you will end up with a much more toned and lower fat body.

Brad

Wow. Cheers brad. So how do I make a 1000 cal deficit? How many calories should I be having? And burning etc. I normally can only squeeze in 30 mins interval training that gives me a 450 cal burn. I normally eat between 1200-1400 cal on these days so my net tends to be between 800-1000.

Pls help lol

Gav

Use one of the online calculators to determine your base metabolic rate (just what it takes to fuel you for a day without activities) then factor in calories burned during exercise. An individual heart rate monitor is a good way to do this. The ones on exercise equipment are generalizations and not that accurate. Then eat accordingly to create the surplus or deficit desired for that day.

Brad