The Worst Kept Secrets In the Fitness Industry (Part 5): Weight Maintenance & Management

Don’t you just hate how we’re in a constant state of yo-yo-ing? Haven’t you always wondered how your weight can shift by two to three kilograms every other week? Don’t you just hate how you can’t figure out why your body is being a little bitch about weight gain?

It’s science time, bitch!

Let’s take a little trip down memory lane. Specifically some 200,000 years ago right around the time Homo sapiens really made their breakthrough on this floating rock in space. You ought to know what our over-glorified species has evolved since then with hardwired mechanisms for survival just like every other creature on Earth. Much like other animals, we were opportunistic feeders, gatherers and hunters, eating whenever possible because you never knew when the next meal would come by. Fast forward to today, we’ve allocated millions of square kilometers to farmland, grocery stores fill every corner of our streets with foods stacked up further than you can reach, your fridge is within arm’s reach and filled with goodies.

Do you know what the problem with that is? Our bodies simply didn’t have enough time to co-evolve alongside our progression as a species. Your bodies have historically been hardwired for fat storage - for the purpose of survival - and to store a % of consumed food (which was historically consumed over prolonged intervals, sometimes days) into fat. Your bodies simply haven't caught up with the concept that you can eat every hour on the hour. That's why you look around and see obesity rates skyrocketing across the globe. Humans need to understand that their bodies are unaware that we've evolved into growing and hoarding food so close to our hearts. The same concept applies to gaining muscles!

Believe it or not, it's somewhat contradictory to your body's mantra to even put on muscle mass. Your body views it as an unnecessary expenditure of energy and resources towards something that is otherwise used sparingly. Your body is much more geared towards fat storage because fats are an excellent source of energy whereas muscles promote increased functional movement but aren't an optimal energy storage mechanism. And that's not taking into account the actual energy which goes into maintaining muscle mass let alone create it.

Muscle is created when an external force exerts itself on existing muscles, rendering the need for more muscle fiber in order to perform the same movement (lift the same weight) more easily the next time. Weight lifting operates by the mode of creating micro-tears in your muscle fibers, which your body then fixes by filling up those tears and then adding on new fibers and motor units to increase functional strength. But maintaining such muscle mass in the modern era is like fighting an uphill battle. Our ancestors were arguably much fitter and much more capable of holding onto their muscle mass due to their more active lifestyle, whether as hunters, warriors or farmers prior to the automation of the process and reliance on machinery. A constantly active and engaging lifestyle guarantees an easier maintenance of weight due to the interexchange of calories between muscle gain and fat storage/loss. Nowadays though, it's a different story...

The trick here is about ensuring you have a good plan with two attack angles. Step 1: An active routine. You can't expect to labor away at a desk for eight to ten hours then go back home to crash in front of the TV for three more hours and then magically keep your weight and waistline stable. You need to get moving.

A weight lifting routine (girls, don't freak out and go running for the hills just yet you WON'T get bulky and manly looking) ensures that your bones, muscles, tendons and joints are challenged towards putting on muscle mass and burning through fat storages while boosting overall metabolism. Weight lifting also ensures increased bone density which is arguably far more important for women who are at a constant risk of bone density loss on account of pregnancy. Weight lifting routines which are consistently maintained and tweaked every four to six weeks also create a hormonal balance which puts the body in the right state for anabolism (muscle building) rather than catabolism (muscle breakdown).

And remember, when it comes to muscles, use it or lose it. Your body will not waste energy on something that's taking up space and offering no functionality. The process is known as muscle atrophy and it simply means that muscles that aren't constantly engaged and have their limits pushed are broken down into basic elements and their nutrients recycled back throughout your body. If you use the muscle, it will grow and stay there.

Step 2: Nutrition Plans. No, I'm not talking about counting calories. I leave that shit to Victoria's Secret models and celebrities. Normal people who have school, university or desk jobs don't have the luxury of having teams of people whose sole occupation is to ensure they look good. Which bring me to a good point. Stop comparing yourself to celebrities and their physiques. They operate on entirely different levels. They are paid to look like that. Their lifestyle revolves around that. You can't expect to achieve the same levels while leading your normal life with all its shit and giggles. But I digress...

Your nutrition plan needs to account for both your active routine as well as your largely sedentary lifestyle (which you need to change!). That means that meal timing is everything. Don't munch on apple for breakfast and reach out for the chicken and pasta before you sleep. Eat heartily when you wake up. Your body needs the energy and your body is likely to burn through whatever you eat for breakfast (unless it's ice cream, which it shouldn't be, unless your name is Willy Wonka). You should eat a good combo of proteins and complex carbohydrates before your workout and a similar meal after your workout when your body needs nutrients the most. Your dinners should be consumed at least three hours before bedtime and should focus on giving your body something to do while you snooze (think Cottage cheese) with snacks throughout the day including fruits, nuts or yogurt.

What you need to do is be honest to yourself about this. It's not easy. Acknowledge it. It's not a short trip. It's not a one off trip till you reach some fantasy goal. This is a lifestyle. Your weight will still - to a degree - bounce around until you find that balance and learn enough about yourself, what affects you, what works for you, and what doesn't. You might discover that dairy makes you bloated and you should cut it out, you might discover adding oats to your diet helps you lose belly fat, you might figure out that drop sets workout for your muscle building capacity than normal sets, etc.

Take this as an opportunity to learn about yourself, your body and what you think you can do. The results may surprise you.

Remember that your body doesn't know what you're doing, it doesn't know you want to hit 10% body fat and look like a model at the beach. It doesn't care for your muscle building. It's a cold calculating machine which allocates resources (and strips them off!) as necessary. All your body wants to do is to store some fat and ensure that your dumb ass survives long enough to propagate and spread your genetic material down into the genetic pool. 

You need to control it, don't let it drive you around.