Follow a diet, train hard, watch your intake... all necessary steps to dry off, and yet the results aren't always there. Why is this? Because successful weight loss requires a balance between calorie deficit, protein intake, training and recovery. The slightest mistake can undermine the efforts you've already made.
Many athletes embark on a dry period and make these mistakes: drying too quickly, cutting out carbohydrates or fats, forgetting to hydrate, etc. The results are disappointing: muscle loss, reduced performance, fatigue and slowed metabolism. The results are disappointing: muscle loss, reduced performance, fatigue and a slower metabolism.
The good news is that it's possible to avoid these common pitfalls andoptimize your weight loss without losing muscle. Let's take a look at the 9 mistakes you shouldn't make when leaning out, to optimize your results and achieve your physical goals in the best possible conditions: the key to effective, controlled leaning out and losing fat while maintaining muscle mass.
Nutritional errors during muscle toning
1. Going too fast: an aggressive caloric deficit
The most common mistake is to try to dry out too quickly by drastically reducing calorie intake in order to lose weight. Too low a calorie intake has negative consequences for the body, which slows down its progress.
Calories are a source of energy, and depriving the body of them can have three consequences:
- lose muscle mass;
- slow your metabolism;
- chronic fatigue.
When we talk about an excessive deficit, we're talking about a drop of more than 500 kcal per day in relation to balance requirements. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn't accelerate fat loss. On the contrary, in response, the body slows down its metabolic functions and draws on its muscles to preserve itself. And the opposite effect occurs: it will store more fat as soon as the intake is higher. Weight regain is guaranteed, with a yo-yo effect.
This is why we always recommend a gradual deficit during the dry period, of 300 to 500 kcal max per day, to lose fat and maintain muscle mass.
2. Eliminate fat from your diet
You might think that if you want to dry out and control your body weight, you have to eliminate fat from your meals: but no, you need a minimum of fat. Lipids help the body's cells to function properly, transport vitamins and regulate hormones. In fact, sportswomen with lipid levels that are too low run the risk of amenorrhea, one of the negative effects of lean training if poorly managed.
Their under-consumption is therefore a brake on sporting performance. Eliminating them altogether also reduces testosterone production, which is essential for muscle growth.
Dietary guidelines recommend amaximum lipid intake ofone-third of dailycalories, or around 65g per 2,000 kcal. This level will inevitably decrease during a weight loss program, as calorie intake is reduced.
At the end of the page, you'll find a calculator to help you target your macronutrient intake.
Avocados are rich in healthy fats, such as those found in omega-3 fatty fish, flaxseed, walnuts, olive oil and rapeseed oil.
3. Reducing carbohydrate intake too much
We are too quick to equate carbohydrates with sugar, when in fact they should be seen as the body's fuel for training. Without sufficient intake, energy and intensity are lost, and the result is poor performance. So it's important to conserve carbohydrates and give priority to those with a moderate glycemic index, such as whole-grain rice, quinoa or sweet potatoes cooked al dente.
Recovery from intense, prolonged exercise involves building up new energy reserves and repairing damaged muscle fibres. It's an opportunity for the body to adapt to training. To optimize this phase, the type, quantity and timing of nutrient intake are essential.
The synthesis of muscle glycogen, our fuel for intense exercise, requires carbohydrate supplementation immediately after exercise¹. It's also a good idea to add protein to the post-exercise snack to promote protein synthesis and reduce protein breakdown. This carbohydrate-protein supplement, taken within an hour of exercise, also has a greater influence on performance in the following exercise than carbohydrate intake alone.
In the post-exercise phase, a moderate intake of simple carbohydrates (glucose/fructose) is very useful as a complement to protein, to help replenish glycogen stores, even in the dry phase. This intake will not be metabolized as fat as long as it is taken in the post-exercise phase.
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Training mistakes to avoid
4. Changing your fitness routine during the dry season
Drying is often followed by a bodybuilding program aimed at building mass. As a result, many exercisers think that drying involves lightening loads in favour of long sets to build muscle.
This is a mistake to be avoided: to sculpt muscle, you need to keep on having workouts during which you vary the types of exercise (duration, intensity, number of sets...), and not confine yourself to lighter weights.
Of course, weight training helps you build muscle. That's true, but during a dry period, you don't necessarily build muscle, even when you're working out at maximum strength and resistance. As energy intake is reduced, the body seeks to save itself, hence the risk of dipping into the muscle if the stimulus in front is insufficient.
Without a well-balanced muscle-building program designed to help you progress, you run the risk of muscle wasting. Intense workouts must therefore be maintained, but adapted to the way you feel, in order to maintain fibre density and avoid losing muscle.
So, if necessary, it's best to reduce training volume, reduce the number of sets and maintain work intensity, without forgetting to adjust rest periods.
5. Increasing cardio at the expense of strength training
Another mistake not to be made in a weight-loss program is to increase cardio at the expense of strength training.
Cardio sports are compatible with muscle toning. The problem is that it encourages the body to burn muscle as well as fat, especially when the effort is prolonged.
It's all a question ofbalance between cardio and weight training. For effective weight loss, the best solution is to combine strength training with High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)-style cardio. The activity's energy expenditure is optimized because it works both endurance and the strengthening of major muscle groups.
The combo is enough to increase caloric expenditure without sacrificing muscle mass. Incorporating 2 to 3 HIIT sessions a week into your workout routine is a good training strategy to complement an appropriate diet plan.
6. Drying your body without proper hydration
Recovery is an important phase during which the body's metabolic activity exceeds that of pure rest, in order to restructure the systems mobilized during exercise. This period begins either immediately after exercise or later in cycles, and requires greater water intake.
Sportsmen and women should adapt their water intake to their sporting activity, but never wait until they feel thirsty before drinking. Thirst is a sign of dehydration.
The optimal amount of water is defined by experts as 2 to 2.5 liters per day², under normal conditions, with half coming from water or drinks.
Sweating can range from 1 to 2 liters of water per hour of effort, so an athlete can easily drink an extra liter of water per day, depending on the type of sport and the climate.
Common lifestyle mistakes
7. Put stress and sleep aside
Sometimes, athletes in a lean period concentrate on their diet, training and calorie deficit, but forget two essential needs: stress and sleep management. Leaving these two factors aside makes it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve the goal.
Repeated exposure to stress tends to increase the body's cortisol levels. This hormone, nicknamed the stress hormone, promotes fat retention and tends to slow down muscle growth, something we definitely don't want. When you're drying out, poorly managed stress is compounded by stress linked to caloric restriction or the training program, and the two don't mix.
As for sleep, if insufficient at night, it hinders muscle rebuilding and reduces insulin sensitivity. Hunger and satiety hormones are no longer balanced, which in the long term leads to frequent and uncontrolled cravings . To avoid these, we recommend quality sleep, 7 to 9 hours a night. And to give yourself the best chance of success, avoid screens in the evening.
8. Forgetting the importance of nutritional quality
This means focusing on the quality of macronutrients, from which the consumption of micronutrients (vitamins, zinc, magnesium, etc.) normally follows.
The latter promote recovery and also play their part in sports performance, although they are often neglected in the diet. For example, magnesium improves glucose availability during exercise, helps eliminate lactate in muscles and reduces fatigue markers. Other important micronutrients for athletes include B vitamins and elements such as zinc.
At Protéalpes, we insist on the importance of micronutrients for the overall well-being of the athlete, but we consider that in the absence of deficiency, it is not necessarily useful to supplement, as long as the athlete has a varied and balanced general diet, with quality raw foods.
When it comes to macronutrients, it's a good idea to monitor the carbohydrate, lipid and protein content of your plate, but it's also a mistake to neglect their quality.
We know, for example, that plant proteins have less of an anabolic effect than animal proteins. They are less easily digested, and their essential amino acid content is either lower (as in the case of leucine) or deficient (sulfur amino acids or lysine)3. Plant proteins should be part of an overall diet, but to compensate for their lower anabolic potential, it's really worth having a source of protein naturally rich in BCAAs, such as whey, as a back-up.
9. Drying without adapting to your metabolism
Everyone reacts differently to a weight loss program. So sticking to a fixed schedule of dishes, foods or exercise sessions can be a costly mistake.
At the start of a weight loss program, gradual calorie reduction is enough to kick-start fat loss, but over time, thebody adapts and progress stagnates. That's why you need to re-evaluate your energy requirements regularly, every 2 weeks, and stop comparing yourself to your lean neighbor.
It's by adjusting your caloric deficit, redistributing your nutrient intake and modifying your training intensity that you'll have a chance of succeeding. If weight loss slows down after three weeks, we recommend reducing intake by 100 to 200 kcal or increasing energy expenditure through training.
Bonus: macronutrient needs calculator adapted to your goals
Calculation of macronutrient and calorie requirements adapted to your practice and your goals
Macronutrient requirements for the day :
Important: these values are for guidance only, not to be taken literally, and should be adapted to individual physiology and specific needs.
To be consumed as part of a varied, balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. These data are adapted to athletes athletes with no underlying illnesses.
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Conclusion
A successful dry period is more like a long-distance run than a sprint. It's not just about a calorie deficit coupled with intense training. It relies on a balance between nutrition, physical activity, hydration, rest and stress management. Common mistakes, such as wanting to dry too quickly or a lack of adaptation, make drying more difficult or even ineffective.
The focus on these 9 mistakes, together with advice, is designed to helpoptimize drying and improve sporting performance while losing kilos of body fat. Far from extreme deprivation, leaning requires a progressive approach tailored to the individual. Successful weight loss is a long-term process, and it's mastery of the process that delivers lasting results.
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