Everyone knows that Body Beast in its design is for gaining mass. The program is designed to pack on some serious weight. If you do the work eating and lifting, it will reward you will larger muscles and tighter shirts. But what about the guy or gal who is really interested in Body Beast but needs to still lose weight? They can still use Body Beast and get great results! Let me show you how.
LEAN Beast
“Hey Coach Wayne, can I just do LEAN Beast?… I have like 20 lbs I want to lose.” The simple answer is no. LEAN Beast, if done by the book, is still set up with 8 weeks of bulking at the start. You will still gain some fat with your bulk and will only really cut for 4 weeks during the BEAST phase. That will result at best with you gaining muscle, but ending with the same 20 lbs to lose. Your hard work will still be covered with fat! That’s not going to cut it.
Nutrition: Common Ground
For all of Beachbody’s programs, the biggest influence on losing weight is consistently running a calorie deficit. The type of exercise that makes up the various programs will influence the results, but nowhere to the degree that proper nutrition will. So if you want to get ripped with the Beast, and you aren’t ripped already, BEAST UP with a deficit!
From the Book of BEAST, let’s take a look at the caloric need calculations. Steps 1 through 5 lay out how to calculate your needed Calorie Intake to Maintain Weight (CIM).
Step 1: [100 – BF%]/100 x weight = Lean Body Mass (LBM)
Step 2: LBM x 10 = Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
Step 3: RMR x 0.3 = Caloric Modification for Recovery (CMR)
Step 4: RMR + CMR = Resting Metabolic Rate Modified for Recovery (RMR2)
Step 5: RMR2 + 600 = Calorie Intake to Maintain Weight (CIM)
The last 600 calories is an average burn from the workouts. At this point you have calculated what you need to maintain weight. But if you goal is to lose fat and get ripped with the Beast, we need to adjust the CIM.
To lose about a pound of fat a week, you need to average a deficit of 500 calories/day. I recommend setting your deficit between 500-1000 calories/day. The other big difference you will want, as compared to the typical Beast, you don’t want to eat 25%P/50%C/25%F. The best fat loss will still happen with high protein and Fat Shredder (50%P/30%C/20%F).
Why Fat Shredder?
Diets high in protein do a lot for you. First off the protein is great at keeping you satisfied and full between meals as you are at a calorie deficit. The protein’s main role and benefit is protein synthesis. You need dietary protein to build protein in your muscles. Your body breaks down the proteins you eat into amino acids and in turn uses those amino acids to build protein in your muscles. You want to lose weight, but not at the cost of your muscles! You want to maintain all the muscle mass you have! Your diet and lifting will allow you to do just that. Finally, protein is very inefficient for your body to use as fuel. It makes your body work very hard to process it. This gives protein a thermogenic effect and people who have higher protein diets have been shown to burn more calories in a day than people with low protein diets (even when at the same caloric intake).
Don’t I Need More Cardio?
I am sure you’ve heard it, that “nutrition is 80% of your results.” Do you believe it? If you get your nutrition dialed in and run your deficit you will lose. Beyond that, the Beast is intense! You will be sweating up a storm and burning tons of calories. Not only that, but you will be building muscle which will burn more calories throughout the day (this is where the type of exercise is important). High-intensity training also raises your RMR for long after the workout. The teamRIPPED Beasts in Year of the Beast have had burns ranging from 400-800 calories, and all of these workouts are under 50 minutes. That’s awesome! Sagi chimed in and said, “The thing about the workouts are that you will be burning calories for the next 36 hours more than any cardio workout. That’s why eating and following the plan with the Supps is huge in the Beast. Beast mode is on. That’s bad ass guys. SK.” He was more worried about people burning too many calories to gain! So what do you think the Body Beast workouts will do for cutting? Get ready to get ripped!
Be a LOSER with Body Beast
So if you still have some weight to lose, you can do Body Beast. You just need to adjust your nutritional goals. As I said in Big Ripped v. Small Ripped, I still recommend having a single goal. Either go for fat loss or muscle building. Trying to do both is a very slow process and can be very discouraging. Instead, get ripped with Body Beast and then BEAST UP with a bulking round! The important thing is that you will have a program to get excited about. If Body Beast really interests you, DO IT! That is just another thing that Beachbody does so well, they make the absolute best programs no matter what your goals or interests!
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
