Q1: what is the total daily energy expenditure?

It’s your optimal caloric intake to maintain your body weight  depending on your basal metabolic rate and your lifestyle (active or not) which is different from one person to another, so you have to calculate it: here.

Q2: do I have to starve myself to lose weight?

Most people believe that to get a six pack abdominal, they need to starve, this is an absolute myth! Starvation can cause death or low energy level; you just should eat nutritious foods (healthy foods) that gives lesser calories than your total daily expenditure

Q3: how can I start losing weight?

In order to lose weight you need to force your body to use energy from already existing fat storage. To do so, you need to create a caloric deficit, Your caloric intake level should be below your optimal maintenance level (your total daily expenditure) by 250-500 calories.

Q4: how can I get my abs to show?

Nutrition is the most important piece of the abs getting puzzle. Although you can train your abdominal muscles so they’re thicker and stronger, they won’t be visible unless your body fat is low enough. If you want a tighter tummy, you need to pay extra-special attention to the food you put into your body.

Q5: what are the best protein sources?

Whey protein, Eggs, fish, lean beef, chicken, turkey, milk, cheese… etc.

Q6: what are the best carb sources?

Whole-grain rice, whole-grain pasta, oats, whole-grain bread, fruits, sweet potatoes, white potatoes… etc.

Q7: what are the best fat sources?

Fish oil; flex seed, flax seed oil, olive oil, avocado, coconut oil… etc.

Q8: should I take a cheat day while dieting?

Most people who dieted before must have heard of “Cheat day”, for those of you who don’t know what is it, it is basically a day of the week in which you can eat whatever you want, it’s one of the worst mistakes I have done, because you may in this day gain all the weight you have lost, for example: if your total daily expenditure to lose weight is 1500 calories, and you followed a 1500 calorie diet for 6 days straight and on your 7th day (cheat day) you ate 5000 calories, this means you ate enough calories to compensate what you burned on the other days.

Q9: what is the best time to eat my carbs?

If you are following a low carb diet try to limit your carb intake for the day around your workout (before/after) and avoid any carbs before bed to make sure that your carbs don’t convert into fat.

Q10: When should I do cardio?

The truth is it doesn’t really matter, losing weight is simple; eat fewer calories than you burn (calories in VS calories out), so if did cardio at the morning or night you still burn the same number of calories.

Q11: how can I lose my belly fat or love handles?

Simply by losing weight in general, I know that you may read in a magazine or seen a weight loss program that tells you “destroy your belly fat in 30 days” but it’s not true, according to scientific studies; spot fat reduction is a myth, this means you will have to lose fat from all your body parts not just your belly.

Q12: should I take a weight loss supplement?

Everyone thinks about that magic pill or a drink that will make them lose fat instantly, but I want to be honest with you.

the supplement can help you get faster results, but you will not lose weight without being on a low-calorie diet so if you keep your diet and exercise in check and you want some extra help for faster results supplements can be very beneficial at this point.

Q13: can I train my abs every day?

No, abs are like any other muscle they need time to recover from high intensity training, and overtraining them will get you no results, actually, you might even make them worse or get injured.

Q14: Will I get fat if I eat right before bedtime?

This is another myth that we need to clear up once and for all, meal timing, eating at night, or skipping breakfast all are many forms of the same myth, and the answer is it doesn’t really matter as long as you get the same calories and macros at the end of the day.

In fact, eating a meal before bed may be beneficial to help you get the macronutrients that your body needs during your long hours of sleep.

Q15: how to control my hunger?

When you start a diet (eating less food) you might be hungry most of the time because your body is used to a number of foods at each meal, but this feeling of hunger will fade soon because your body will get used to the new amount of food as long as its healthy nutritious foods.

There are some other ways that may help you control that hunger until you start to adapt such as eating food high in protein, drinking green tea or coffee, and drinking a lot of water can help you feel full too.

Q16: Can I Gain 1KG of fat just in one day if I overate?

In order to gain 1kg of fat you need to eat extra 7000 calories, so if your total daily expenditure is 3000 calories, you will have to eat 10000 calories in one day and I think it’s a hard thing to do.

Q17: Can I build muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Yes, but only if you are a beginner and your body composition is changing due to the new workouts (noobie gains) that’s why you see some people maintain the same weight but they look different in the mirror.

Q18: How can I lose weight and gain muscle at the same time?

If you are a beginner, follow these tips and you will be able to do it:-

1-to lose weight you have to eat in a caloric deficit (500 calories less than your maintenance level).

2-eat enough protein (1g per pound of body weight).

3- train with heavy weight and good form rep range from 8-12 reps 3-4 sessions a week.

4- train with a fitness program that targets every muscle group twice a week.

5- focus on mass-building exercises like heavy compound movements.

Q19: Why is my waist getting bigger as I’m losing weight?

You might be training your abs too much.

Some people when they train their abs, their obliques grow fast and make their waist look bigger.

So, if you are training your abs regularly and your waist is getting bigger, stop training your abs or limit it to once a week.

Q20: How do I fix my messed up metabolism from a long period of only eating 600-800 calories per day?

It’s easy, increase your food intake gradually and your metabolism will go back to normal soon as your body gets out of starvation mode from the too-low caloric intake.

Q21: Which factors can reduce muscle growth or kill gains?

there are several factors that can affect your muscle gains, including:

1-not eating enough calories

To gain muscle mass you should be eating in a caloric surplus (eating more calories than you burn daily).

If you didn’t eat enough calories, you will be in a caloric deficit and you will lose weight instead of gaining.

2-eating low protein

Protein is the building block of muscle, which means you won’t be building any muscle mass unless you are getting enough protein.

So, you need to aim at least for .8–1g per pound of body weight daily.

3-your workout intensity is low

What makes your muscle grow in the first place is the workout stimulation.

therefore, if your workouts don’t have enough intensity, you won’t give your muscle the required stimulation to grow.

Q22: What is the benefit of stretching every day? 

Stretching is very important to keep your muscles flexible, increase blood pump, and speed up the recovery time after a hard workout session.

Q23: What should I eat before a 2-hour intense cardio workout to keep me energized the whole way through? Also how long before should I eat it?

2 hours before a workout, you should eat a full meal with high protein and carbs to give you the essential nutrient to prevent muscle loss and give you enough strength during the workout session.

30 minutes before a workout, drink a cup of coffee or tea with a whole banana to give you extra strength and help you stay focused during the whole workout.

Q24: When should I stretch? After or before exercising?

There are 2 types of stretches:

1-Dynamic stretches

2-static stretches

They both have great benefits in terms of muscle flexibility and preventing injury.

But studies showed that static stretches right before a workout can decrease your muscle strength by 20%.

So, stay away from static stretches before any weight lifting or strength training workouts.

Static stretches are very good right after a workout session to relax your muscles and increase venous return.

The dynamic stretches on the other hand found to improve muscle flexibility and joint replication without any loss of strength if they are done right before a workout session.

So, dynamic stretches could be done right before working out.

Q25: How can I build muscle if my fat percentage is 32%?

If you want to build muscle with that high percentage of fat, you can by eating in a caloric surplus (eating more calories than your body needs daily).

But I really don’t recommend it. As you will gain more fat on top of the fat you already have, which will make your muscle gains unnoticeable.

In my opinion, you should start by losing some weight (until 15% body fat) then start a muscle-building program.

This way you will be starting with less fat therefore, you will see your muscle gains faster.

Q26: What do you look for in a nutrition/protein bar? What are your likes and dislikes? Are there any favorites?

First of all, you look for the amount of protein in it and what is the main source of protein. Is it whey or soy?

I personally think any type of whey is better than soy or any other protein source.

Then, you look for the calories and the number of carbs and fats in it.

The lower the calories, carbs, and fat. The better this bar becomes.

Q27: What is a classical physique? How do I attain it? How is it better than bodybuilding?

The classic physique deviation depends on having a well-balanced physique overall.

So the symmetry in size and shape is the most important thing in this deviation.

Also, in men’s classic physique everyone has his own unique way of posing to show off his best body parts and hide the bad ones. not like bodybuilding in which you stick to standard poses.

If you want to be a men’s physique you need to be lifting for many years to create that muscle balance and definition.

Q28: What is the best exercise for shoulder impingement?

Shoulder impingement is caused by many reasons including bad posture (rounded shoulder), weak external rotation muscles, structural changes…etc.

the best approach to fix this issue is by correcting your shoulders posture and strengthing the weak muscles.

The muscle you should be strengthening is the rotator cuff muscle which performs mainly external rotation and stabilizes your shoulders in the right position.

So you need to do exercises that involve external rotation like standing dumbbell external rotation or side laying external rotation.

Q29: What are some tips on building your glutes? I want to begin exercising but I don’t want my natural booty to disappear.

With working out, your glutes should grow more not disappear, especially if you are training your legs regularly.

There is some exercise that focuses on the glutes like squats, bridges, and walking lunges.

As long as you do any type of exercise that target your glutes, your booty will be fine and even better than before.

Q30: What will be the best diet plan to grow muscles and gain weight?

In order to build muscle mass, you have to follow a diet that creates a surplus, which means eating more calories than you need daily.

You can use an app called myfitnesspal, it will help you count and track your calories to meet your goals.

After you are in a caloric surplus, you have to watch your protein intake. It’s the most important thing to build muscle.

Aim for .8–1g of protein per pound of your body weight.

Q31: Is it possible to lose as many as 50 pounds simply from dieting and walking daily?

Actually, you can even lose more than that just from dieting alone.

Weight training or cardio only burns more calories to give you faster results.

Let’s say you did a cardio session that burned  300 calories, you can just eat less than what you usually eat by 300 calories and you will get the same result in the same period of time.

What I really think makes a difference in weight training. Not in burning more fat but in keeping you away from losing muscle mass during the weight loss process.

So, if you could just do 2–3 sessions of resistance training per week, you will burn more calories and keep those muscles tight or even build them bigger if you are lucky enough.

Q32: What should I have to do before going to the gym early in the morning? I usually go at 6 AM. What is the best pre-workout food for me?

If you workout without eating anything(especially weight training) you might get dizzy, vomit, or even pass out.

So, a good pre-workout meal in the morning may save your life and get you better strength for your workout.

An example of an ideal pre-workout meal will be a protein shake with a banana And a cup of coffee.

Q33: Can I workout my abs every other day if I only do body weight?

Yes, training your abs every other day is enough to develop a shredded set of six-pack abs.

But, you won’t see your abs until reaching a low-fat percentage (8–6%).

That’s why diet is more important than abs training.

Q34: How do you get your protein when working out?

During your workout session, you get the protein from previous meals especially the meal right before this session.

So, eating a meal 2 hours before a workout session is very important to preserve your muscle mass during the workout stress.

Q35: What are the 5 best lateral (mid) shoulder gym exercises?

The side deltoid muscle is involved in any side-raising movement of the arm, so any exercise that requires a side-arm raising will help you build it.

Here are the 5 examples you asked for:

1-dumbbell side lateral raises.

2-cable lateral raises.

3-seated lateral raises.

4-one arm dumbbell lateral raises.

5-lateral raises machine.

Q36: Do bodybuilders do much cardio during their cutting phase?

Yes, I followed a lot of bodybuilders’ competition preparation and they say that they do 2 workout sessions a day.

A cardio workout session in the morning and a weight training session followed by 30–45 cardio after the weight training at night.

Q37: What gym exercises should I do to get boulder 3D shoulders?

In order to build a 3D shoulder, you have to develop all the 3 heads of your shoulder muscle equally.

An ideal shoulder workout routine will be like this: shoulder barbell press- front raises- side raises-rear delt machine.

Q38: Why do people have a difficult time staying consistent with an exercise and weight loss program?

Most people have bad eating habits, so when they start a diet that restricts and limits the amount of food they used to eat, they feel like they are missing a good part of their life.

Therefore, they give up so soon.

What they don’t know is that if you followed a healthy and well-balanced diet long enough, this feeling will fade after a while.

So, all you have to do is keep fighting this feeling until it’s over.

Q39: Why are stretch marks more visible after losing weight?

Being overweight stretches your skin to give space for the accumulated fat underneath it.

After you lose that fat, your skin can’t go back to its old shape so it forms these white skin folds to fill the gaps between your skin layers.

Stretch marks are hard to avoid and there is no treatment for them except surgery.

All you can do is accept it or if it really bothers you, you can visit a dermatologist and ask for the available surgical options.

Q40: Does drinking milk increase belly fat?

Full milk has 3g of fat and skimmed milk has 0–1g of fat.

It also contains low carbs, so it cannot cause any fat gain on its own without eating too many calories in general.

*Your question will be sent directly to Dr. Nour Elmessery and will be answered as soon as he can.

*The question may or may not be uploaded to our Health & fitness FAQs list.

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