Study finds slower fat-loss progress to be more beneficial

If you’ve been a fan of the LBC Facebook page or read the articles on the site, you’ll know that we recommend multiplying your bodyweight by 15 (it’s usually between 14-16x in a metabolically healthy individual) as a guideline to figure out the amount of calories required to maintain your current weight. That being said, if you already know this then you also most likely know that we recommend multiplying your bodyweight by 12 to base the amount calories you’ll need to lose weight. 12x BW tends to be the top end of dieting calories for most people. Of course this only serves as a guideline or a “launching point” if you will as some people can diet on more and some will need less. We use outcome-based decision making to determine caloric adjustments up or down from here. In addition, if body fat is high, you can technically go lower in calories as the higher body fat is protective to the body’s regulatory hormones. These guidelines have been in place since the first day Erik started LBC back in 2005.

So why do I bring this up? Well, a while back I came across a 2011 study that was conducted in Norway and published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism that I found interesting and I think you may too.

In the study, the Norwegians wanted to see the effects on the body from losing 0.7% bodyweight vs. 1.4% a week, which translates into about a pound vs. two pounds a week, respectively, for someone who weighs 154 pounds. Basically, the researchers wanted to find out what impact a slower rate of weight loss vs. a faster rate would have on the body.

In order to achieve this, the researchers split 30 men and women, who were experienced athletes from a wide-range of sports into two groups. Each group had their body weight, fat mass and one-rep max (i.e., bench press, bench pull and squat) measured before and after the intervention. They then trained four times a week. Depending on which group they were in, the athlete’s caloric intake was either reduced by 19% or 30% to achieve a weekly bodyweight loss of 0.7% or 1.4%, respectively. Each athlete had a desired weight-loss goal, which would seem to be based on meeting a certain weight glass. (The study is not to clear on this, but it makes sense.) So getting back to my previous analogy, if someone who weighs 154 pounds wanted to lose 10 pounds then depending on the group they were in then they would require about 10 or 5 weeks to achieve this. That is, they would either lose about a pound a week or two (0.7% vs. 1.4%).

At the end of the study, the researchers found that the athletes who reduced their caloric intake by 19% took longer to reach their weight loss goals, which was expected, but they lost more fat mass (31%) than those in the other group (21%). What’s interesting is that they also gained lean body mass (2.1%), whereas the second group remained unchanged. They also had greater improvements in bench press, bench pull and squat.

So the take-home message for you is that a slower rate of weight loss is better and you should take your time to achieve it. That is, don’t rush it by cutting your calories too low. The results, as this study indicates, won’t be worth it.

That being said, you might be scratching your head thinking, ‘Why did Coach Nate bring up Erik?’ Well, if you’re following a maintenance diet of 15X your bodyweight and reduce your caloric intake to 12X to lose weight like Erik has been saying since 2005 then you have essential reduced your caloric intake by about 19%.