Maximize Muscle Growth While Minimizing Fat Storage

Prioritize Protein

Protein is a powerhouse when it comes to building muscle and burning fat simultaneously. Here’s how it works:

Muscle Building: Protein provides the essential amino acids your body needs to repair and grow muscle tissue after exercise. When you lift weights or engage in resistance training, you create tiny tears in your muscle fibers. Consuming protein helps repair these tears, leading to muscle growth and increased strength. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate, because muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissue.

Fat Burning: Protein helps with fat loss in several ways. 

Firstly, it has a high thermic effect, meaning your body burns more calories digesting protein compared to fats and carbohydrates. 

Secondly, protein helps you feel fuller for longer, reducing overall calorie intake and helping you stick to your diet. 

Additionally, when you’re in a calorie deficit (eating fewer calories than you burn), consuming enough protein ensures your body uses fat stores for energy rather than breaking down muscle tissue.

In short, protein supports muscle growth by providing the necessary building blocks for repair and growth, while also aiding fat loss by boosting metabolism, increasing satiety, and preserving muscle mass during a calorie deficit. This dual action makes protein an essential component of any fitness regimen aimed at simultaneously building muscle and burning fat. The goal is to consume 1 gram of protein for every pound of lean body mass.

Not all protein is the same. Vegan proteins tend to not assimilate as well as animal protein, and dairy protein may cause inflammation or gut issues in some people.  Furthermore, animal proteins including chicken, turkey, pork, and conventionally raised beef contain inflammatory linoleic acid and omega 6 fatty acids that could cause inflammatory water retention and fat gain.  Furthermore, these proteins contain amyloids which are misfolded proteins that cannot be broken down into usable amino acids to build or repair muscle. That isn’t the only issue; these amyloids can trigger gut dysbiosis, cognitive decline and other organ degradation.  If the gut is compromised, this will further inhibit protein synthesis and encourage fat gain.

Wild animal protein is not only the easiest to digest and assimilate for muscle repair and growth, but also it provides the most nutrient dense profile out of any other food on the planet.

Fat-Burning Proteins to Focus On

Wild Animal Proteins

Wild animal proteins provide essential nutrients and trigger a thermic effect, burning 25% of the calories consumed. They also help curb sugar cravings and suppress appetite. Examples include bison, elk, deer, lamb, Cornish game hen, and wild cold-water fish. This should be the focus of the diet to maximize muscle growth and minimize fat storage simultaneously. Not only does this protein provide easily digestible protein, but it also provides vitamins and minerals to support energy, muscle growth, and overall optimal health. 

Aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, consume 150 grams of protein.

Essential Amino Acids

Supplementing with essential amino acids, like MAP, allows you to support increased muscle gains without the usual fat gain that comes with it.  One serving of MAP only has 2 calories and the equivalent amino acids found in 30 grams of whey protein. 

Fat-Storing Proteins to Stay Away From

Vegan Protein

Vegan sources of protein don’t provide the full spectrum of essential amino acids. For amino acids to be assimilated into the body and utilized for muscle repair, they have to be in a specific ratio at the time of consumption for that to happen; vegan proteins fail to do this. As a result, not only do the amino acids fail to effectively build muscle, but the “leftover” amino acids get converted into fat. Soy is loaded with glyphosate and GMOs and can increase the “wrong” estrogen in the body. Peas are prone to mold, which can trigger inflammation, leaky gut, and other issues. 

Protein Powders, Vegan Proteins, and Bars

Most protein powders turn about 80% of their content into sugars, leading to both fat and muscle gain. Unlike animal protein, which has a thermic effect that uses up 25% of protein calories for digestion, protein powders are easily digestible and lack this benefit. They often contain artificial ingredients that can cause inflammation, strain the liver, and hinder nutrient absorption. Many protein shakes and bars use whey, pea, and soy proteins.

These proteins only use about 18% of their amino acids to create new proteins, with the rest converted to sugar. They can cause inflammation, increase estrogen levels, lead to leaky gut, and trigger allergies. Whey and Casein are derived from dairy, which is a common allergen. 

BCAAs (Branched-Chain Amino Acids)

While BCAAs include only 3 of the essential amino acids, the body needs all 20 amino acids to produce protein effectively. Consequently, BCAAs are mostly converted into sugar, which not only fails to build muscle efficiently but can also lead to fat storage.

Conventional Meats

Chicken, beef, turkey, and pork contain high levels of omega-6 fats and amyloid proteins, which can lead to inflammation, fat storage, and various health issues. Amyloids are misfolded proteins that not only don’t get broken down into usable amino acids for muscle growth, but they also get deposited in the brain and other tissues which accelerate cognitive decline, proliferation of gut pathogens, and more.  In other words, these proteins don’t build the muscle you are looking for and can trigger fat gain and chronic disease.

Farm-Raised Fish

Just like the conventionally raised meats above, these fish are often fed genetically modified corn and soy, leading to increased fat storage and poor mitochondrial health. As a result, they have high amounts of linoleic acid and toxicity which will encourage fat gain and not muscle growth.

Cut out Processed Foods

Even “organic healthy” packaged foods have been processed which alters how they assimilate in the body.  They may have some artificial ingredients or even “healthy” ingredients containing oxalates, mold, or sulfur that trigger your body to store fat and lower ATP production. Be wary of “all natural” ingredients in anything that comes in a package.

Strategically Eat Whole Food Carbs

By saving most of your carbs till dinner, you may benefit from heightened fat burning during the day, better sleep and stored energy for your workout the next morning. The carbs should come from the fruits and vegetables on the Accelerated Food Guide.

Lift Heavy Weights

Although caloric burn may be lower during the weight lifting workout versus a cardio session, it will increase muscle growth, which in turn, increases ATP and mitochondria production in the muscle tissue, which leads to a great amount of energy burned after the workout.  Furthermore, lifting weights won’t strain the adrenals like cardio can, especially for perimenopausal and menopausal women.

Use Cardio Strategically, Not Always

Cardio sessions can help bump up the caloric burn temporarily; however, if it is being used daily, the body will eventually slow down the metabolism to match the increased cardio burn. Then, when you don’t do cardio, your body will be prone to store fat more easily.

Use Caffeine

A study (PMID: 2333832) showed that caffeine can increase blood glycerol levels 5-10 times and blood free fatty acids 40-60 times, depending on the caffeine amount. This indicates that caffeine helps break down fat. But does it mean caffeine makes us lose fat? Not exactly. Fat loss involves two steps: removing fat from the fat cell (which caffeine helps with) and burning that fat for energy. To actually burn the fat, you need to be in a caloric deficit or exercise. To achieve this, use caffeine as a pre-workout combined with Accelerated Ancient Salt for increased cellular energy, fat burn and hydration. 

Your body stores fat as triglycerides in fat cells, or adipocytes. A triglyceride consists of three fatty acid chains attached to a glycerol backbone. Imagine three long sticks (the fatty acids) attached to an oval top (the glycerol backbone) to visualize it. Lipolysis is the process of breaking down body fat by removing each fatty acid from the glycerol backbone.