When you drop body fat you increase your metabolic rate. Lower fat storage will alter the body’s release of insulin and the body will act like an insulator slowing down thermogenesis. Thus, the leaner your body becomes, the less your body produces insulin.
We already know that dieting alone and just adding cardiovascular training to one’s diet will not retain muscle mass. Therefore, the best combination of staying lean is weight training plus diet, plus cardiovascular conditioning. Many people start by exercising and dieting this way, but fall off the wagon. If you do this, your body will immediately begin to notice and deficiencies and give up fat as fuel decreasing your body’s muscle mass. Therefore, it is imperative that you hold onto your muscle mass in order to keep your metabolism elevated which will make fat loss easy.
There is no reason to go overboard in with too much caloric intake or not enough in order to appear leaner after the body plateaus. You may just need to alter your cardiovascular conditioning. When 30 minutes of high intensity cardiovascular training no longer is enough, add more, slowly and gradually until you get to 45 minutes 4-5 times per week. Remember though, it is important to not do too much cardiovascular training. If your body is over trained cardiovascularly, it will cause muscle shrinkage, reduce muscle mass, which will force your muscles to look flat and there will be no potential for muscle growth. This can also decrease testosterone levels causing problems with women and men’s hormones.
