camera or your muscularity will be washed out. (We have a
specific spot in the IRON MANTraining & Research Center
where we take our photos. Some of those photos are included
below so you can get an idea how we do it.)
Help, I’m Shrinking
We sh ould w ar n yo u th at it ca n be fru stratin g at t he
beginning of your X-treme Lean program, especially for men,
because the first fat that starts to go is visceral fat—that is, the
fat that’s stored in the muscles. So, as much as we don’t like it,
when you start losing bodyfat, you’ll feel as though you’re
shrinking somewhat and not getting leaner. That can re a l l y
mess with your head if you have a muscle-building mind-set.
Stick it out! Eventually, the subcutaneous fat, which is under
the skin, will start to melt away, and that’s when you’ll feel like
you’re hitting your stride—you’ll actually create the illusion that
y o u ’ re getting bigger as you get leaner. To keep that eff e c t
moving forward, you have to do one of two things:
- slightly reduce your daily calories every few weeks
- slightly increase your activity
Of course, you can do both, but you have to be very careful
not to get carried away or you’ll get the opposite effect—your
body will horde fat and burn muscle because it will think it’s
starving. Big calorie cuts or excessive cardio all at once is the
wrong way to go—if you don’t want to lose muscle, that is. To
keep the starvation mechanism in check, and keep shrinkage