Muscle Talk

Fat Loss In The Zone

More turkey for more muscles
L-tryptophan, GABA, and 5-HTP are the trifecta of natural sleep aids. L-tryptophan in particular is the essential amino acid in turkey that also helps improve your mood. It turns out this mood/sleep improvement aid can also be used as an aid in body composition! Researchers in China gave adult rats the human equivalent of two to three grams per day of L-tryptophan. They found that the rats increased their protein synthesis rate, decreased their fat mass, and improved their lipid metabolism. They suggest that these positive changes occurred “because tryptophan supplementation promoted the oxidation of fatty acid,” meaning fat was broken down to use as energy more easily. Consider buying L-tryptophan as a stand-alone supplement to improve your muscle-to-fat ratio. And eat more turkey!

Science catches up to real life again

Men and women store fat differently. Since the age of the cave dweller, we’ve known that men are predisposed to carrying fat in their abdominal area, while women typically hold it in their waist/hip/thigh region. This isn’t news. What is news is why this happens to us on the outside and how these differences are reflected on the inside. When rats were given the human equivalent in fat and carbs of a Big Mac and large soda every day, researchers saw that the males and females metabolized the fat differently. They discovered that “the brains of the males had elevations in markers of inflammation, and the females did not,” which they attributed to the fact that female fat tissues (especially in the hips and thigh) are elastic; they are more adaptable at storing fat, while males’ fat patterns can’t, so it literally goes to their brains.

"When people put on weight, it may affect more than just their size; their outlook and behaviour can also be impacted negatively. This is in addition to increasing the risk for hypertension, diabetes, asthma and heart disease." - John Cardillo, Canada's Premier Fitness Expert & Champion Bodybuilder

To be jacked, become a jack-of-all-trades

Scientists studied 395 individuals who either had lost weight and maintained it successfully over time or were normal-weight people who had long-term success in maintaining their body weight. They were curious to see what method(s) the groups used to aid in their weight maintenance. The trick was simple: Variety is the spice of life. In the two groups, variety of physical activity (a combination of walking, biking, weight training, etc.) was related to greater engagement in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and their likelihood of reaching the prescribed goal for physical activity (more than 250 minutes) for long-term weight maintenance.