Fast Five Friday Newsletter (Why You Should Eat More Carbs to Lose Weight, The Truth About Supplements)

Happy Friday!

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Here are 2 fitness tools, 2 dieting tips, and a quote for your mindset this week.

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2 Fitness Tools

1. The Truth About Supplements

Do you need supplements to build muscle and shred body fat?

Are they necessary to make the best progress?

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The answer is simple.

No.

If you want to build muscle or drop body fat, you need to be on point with three factors.

Your nutrition, your training, and your recovery.

That's it.

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That means eating in a calorie surplus=muscle building, or calorie deficit=fat loss, and an adequate protein intake between .7-1g/lb of target body weight (depending on your goals).

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Training hard in the gym (applying progressive overload, adding reps, weight, volume, etc.) while following a CONSISTENT workout program.

This program should be built around compound movements with accessory and isolation exercises added in as necessary.

I recommend training with a full body workout 3x week or an upper/lower split 4-5 days a week depending on your goals.

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You also need to be recovering from your training to allow you muscles to recover between workouts and grow back bigger and stronger than before.

That means hitting your nutrition targets, having rest days, and getting between 7-9 hours of sleep each night. ?

NOW if you are doing the three of these factors CONSISTENTLY you can add in supplementation to help reach your goals.

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Supplements can help you train harder (pre workout), reach your daily protein intake (protein shakes), and potentially build more muscle (creatine) but they can't do the work for you.

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About 2% of your gains and progress in the gym will come from supplements. The other 98% will be from your consistency of nutrition, training, and recovery.

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These percentages aren't exact, its a way conveying how much importance you should place on each.

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Get these three down, and then you can add in supplements.

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2. Get More Sleep to Lose More Body Fat

When it comes to losing fat and building muscle, sleep is extremely important because of the impact on your recovery and hormone regulation.

A study by the University of Chicago looked at men and women, whose average age was 41.

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Their calories were controlled by putting them in a calorie deficit, where they were compared over the course of two weeks: 8.5 hours of sleep, as opposed to 5.5 hours of sleep.

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They measured a fat-free body mass, so they're measuring fat levels and muscle.

They found that having a sleep deficit decreased the proportion of weight loss of fat by 55% (which was 1.4 versus 0.6 kilograms).

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The group that got 8.5 hours of sleep lost 1.4 kilograms of fat in two weeks, but the group that got 5.5 hours of sleep only lost .6 kilograms of fat.

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That's almost double the amount. It decreased the fat loss by 50%, but increased the loss of fat-free mass by 60%. So sleep has a huge impact on fat loss and muscle retention.

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Now no one study proves anything.

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However other studies have also shown that not getting enough sleep decreases testosterone and increases cortisol.

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You don’t want elevated consistently elevated cortisol, because it hinders your performance and your ability to recover properly.

Lack of sleep also decreases growth hormone levels, which see their highest spike while we're sleeping.

Sleep impacts your hormones a lot, meaning it can impact your ability to build muscle, drop body fat, and recover from your workouts.

But how many hours of sleep should I get?

A good amount of sleep is seven to eight hours.

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But since you’re doing intense training, you may need more sleep than the average person. ?

You may need more like eight or nine hours. ?

This will vary from individual to individual, so you'll have to see what you feel is best. Track your sleep. ?

See how much you're getting.?

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Compare it to how you're feeling, and how you're recovering between workouts. ?

Then you should find a good recommendation for yourself.

2 Dieting Tips?

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1. You Should Eat Carbs to Lose Weight

We need to let go of the idea that carbs are bad for you.?

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Sugar is the devil.?

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If I eat one slice of bread my insulin is going to go through the roof and my body is going to start storing fat like squirrels do nuts before winter...?

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What's bad for you is consistently OVEREATING food.?

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Which means...?

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You can consistently be overeating almost ANY type of food and it would be bad for you.?

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Being in a positive energy balance means weight gain...?

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Being in a negative energy balance means weight loss...?

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Regardless...?

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Carbs are okay to have in your diet!?

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Not only that but you will actually be able to stick to your plan because you can enjoy your life!?

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Cutting out carbs isn't the solution to weight gain and obesity.?

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It's building a healthy relationship with food where you can enjoy pizza, ice cream cookies, or ANY food in moderation and without guilt.?

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When you can do that and consistently eat the right amount for your body's needs and to maintain a healthy weight...?

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That's the solution!?

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You can have your cake and eat it too after all ;)

2. 5 Ways to Detox Your Body

1. Let

2. Your

3. Liver & Kidneys

4. Do?

5. Their Job

A detox typically entails drinking lemon juice and taking worthless supplements that aren't backed by actual research for a couple weeks.

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All while eliminating several food groups and restricting calorie intake.

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Through this process you will certainly lose a lot of weight on the scale.

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NOW losing weight on the scale doesn't always translate to actual fat loss.

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By cutting out carbs and restricting foods you will be dropping a lot of water weight, since your body no longer is holding onto as much water.

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This means yes you will weigh less, but its just water, not fat!

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Even if you do lose fat during the detox, it will be using methods that are restrictive and unsustainable long term, meaning that you will return to your pre-detox weight shortly after when you start all of your old habits again.

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If you want to lose fat you need to find a diet/eating plan that you enjoy and can sustain long term.

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This will give you the best success and long term results!

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The great thing about being human is that our body comes equipped with all the tools we need to "detoxify" our bodies.

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Its called a functioning set of kidneys and a liver! (your lungs also help too)

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The kidneys keep your blood clean of toxins and allow for others to pass through and out of the body in your urine.

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The liver processes alcohol and produces bile which help to remove toxins and properly digest the foods you eat.

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To keep these organs and the rest of your body running healthy make sure to drink plenty of water and eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables.

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No detox needed! ?

A Quote to Think About Today

"It is only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are, without any self-deception or illusion, that a light will develop out of events, by which the path to success may be recognized.”? -Debbie Ford author of the Dark Side of the Light Chasers

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Have a great weekend!

Best,

Nate Brown

Fast and Swole Training

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