How to Lose Fat AND Gain Muscle At The Same Time (Low Carb - High Protein Recipe)
How to Lose Fat and Gain Muscle at the Same Time
Achieving the dual goal of losing fat while gaining muscle might seem challenging, but it's entirely possible with the right approach. The key lies in striking a balance between your diet and workout routine. A low-carb, high-protein diet, coupled with strength training, can help you shed fat while building lean muscle.
The Science Behind Fat Loss and Muscle Gain
To lose fat, you need to be in a caloric deficit, meaning you consume fewer calories than you burn. However, to gain muscle, your body needs adequate protein and strength training stimulus. The trick is to consume enough protein to support muscle growth while keeping your overall calorie intake low enough to promote fat loss.
Why Low Carb, High Protein?
A low-carb, high-protein diet is particularly effective for this purpose:
Low Carb: Reducing carbs helps lower insulin levels, which can promote fat burning. It also reduces water retention, leading to quicker weight loss.
High Protein: Protein is essential for muscle repair and growth. It also has a high thermic effect, meaning your body burns more calories digesting protein compared to fats and carbs. Additionally, protein helps you feel full, making it easier to maintain a calorie deficit.
The Workout Component
To maximize results, combine your diet with a strength training program. Focus on compound movements like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses, which work multiple muscle groups and help build muscle efficiently. Incorporate resistance training at least three to four times a week and include some form of cardiovascular exercise to boost fat loss.
Low Carb, High Protein Recipe: Chicken and Veggie Stir-Fry
Here’s a simple, delicious recipe that aligns with the low-carb, high-protein approach:
Ingredients:
1 lb (450g) chicken breast, diced
1 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 cup broccoli florets
2 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari for gluten-free)
1 tbsp sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Red pepper flakes for a spicy kick
Instructions:
Prepare the Chicken: Season the diced chicken breast with salt and pepper.
Cook the Chicken: Heat olive oil in a large pan or wok over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Sauté the Veggies: In the same pan, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Then, add the bell pepper, zucchini, and broccoli. Stir-fry for 4-5 minutes until the vegetables are tender-crisp.
Combine and Season: Return the cooked chicken to the pan with the vegetables. Add soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir well to combine, allowing the flavors to meld together. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Serve: Garnish with red pepper flakes if you like it spicy, and enjoy your low-carb, high-protein meal!
Achieving the dual goal of losing fat while gaining muscle might seem challenging, but it's entirely possible with the right approach. The key lies in striking a balance between your diet and workout routine. A low-carb, high-protein diet, coupled with strength training, can help you shed fat while building lean muscle.
The Science Behind Fat Loss and Muscle Gain
To lose fat, you need to be in a caloric deficit, meaning you consume fewer calories than you burn. However, to gain muscle, your body needs adequate protein and strength training stimulus. The trick is to consume enough protein to support muscle growth while keeping your overall calorie intake low enough to promote fat loss.
Why Low Carb, High Protein?
A low-carb, high-protein diet is particularly effective for this purpose:
Low Carb: Reducing carbs helps lower insulin levels, which can promote fat burning. It also reduces water retention, leading to quicker weight loss.
High Protein: Protein is essential for muscle repair and growth. It also has a high thermic effect, meaning your body burns more calories digesting protein compared to fats and carbs. Additionally, protein helps you feel full, making it easier to maintain a calorie deficit.
The Workout Component
To maximize results, combine your diet with a strength training program. Focus on compound movements like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses, which work multiple muscle groups and help build muscle efficiently. Incorporate resistance training at least three to four times a week and include some form of cardiovascular exercise to boost fat loss.
Low Carb, High Protein Recipe: Chicken and Veggie Stir-Fry
Here’s a simple, delicious recipe that aligns with the low-carb, high-protein approach:
Ingredients:
1 lb (450g) chicken breast, diced
1 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 cup broccoli florets
2 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari for gluten-free)
1 tbsp sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Red pepper flakes for a spicy kick
Instructions:
Prepare the Chicken: Season the diced chicken breast with salt and pepper.
Cook the Chicken: Heat olive oil in a large pan or wok over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Sauté the Veggies: In the same pan, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Then, add the bell pepper, zucchini, and broccoli. Stir-fry for 4-5 minutes until the vegetables are tender-crisp.
Combine and Season: Return the cooked chicken to the pan with the vegetables. Add soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir well to combine, allowing the flavors to meld together. Cook for another 2 minutes.
Serve: Garnish with red pepper flakes if you like it spicy, and enjoy your low-carb, high-protein meal!
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Are you hungry right now but you're worried that everything you're about to eat is turning you into
00:05an adorable roly-poly? In this video, I'm going to teach you how to make a low-carb, high-protein
00:13meal. In Romania, we call it Sarmale, but a rough translation in English would be stuffed cabbage
00:20rolls. All you need for this is just a few ingredients. It's very easy to make and it's
00:25going to be so, so, so delicious. Let's get started. Let's start with the ingredients.
00:33What we need here is a bunch of meat. I recommend a mix of beef and pork. What I chose here is 85%
00:43lean and 50% fat. You like to have it a little bit fatty there because it gives a lot of taste.
00:49I'm personally not a very big fan of pork, but in this dish, it's going to be absolutely delicious.
00:57I usually like a ratio of 70% beef and 30% pork, but you can mix and match depending on your taste.
01:04If you like pork more, you can add that or vice versa. The next ingredient here is going to be
01:10an onion. Then we're going to need two-thirds a cup of rice. This is going to be super important.
01:18It's not a lot of carb for the amount of meat that we have. This is why I said this is a very,
01:24very, very good dish for maintaining your muscle mass, losing weight, and also having
01:30fun while eating because I know a lot of these recipes here are not very fun to eat, especially
01:37if you're a carb fan. I'm not saying I am, but let me tell you a little secret. I am.
01:42The next ingredient is going to be pickled cabbage leaves. Ever since I moved to America,
01:52I've had an issue finding this. Let me just pick it up for you here. This is what it looks like.
01:58It is pickled cabbage leaf. This is going to be a key ingredient to our dish. What I discovered
02:04after moving to America is that it's very tough to find pickled cabbage leaves, but there are a
02:10lot of Eastern European stores out there that will have them already made. Of course, you can
02:16pickle your own cabbage, but I like my cabbage already pickled. Now, the amount of leaves you're
02:22going to need depends on how much meat you have and the composition. And of course, if you have
02:27some meat left afterwards, you can just freeze that up and make stuffed peppers with it. It's
02:33the same type of stuffing. The next ingredient on our list is tomato paste. You're going to need an
02:39entire can. It's going to be amazing with our dish. And I know you're seeing my little diet
02:47cherry Pepsi. This video is not sponsored by Pepsi, but if you guys are watching my video,
02:54please reply to my email. And the last things on our list are spices. What you're going to need is
03:02salt, pepper, thyme, a little bit of chili, if you like it spicy. And my secret ingredient here
03:11is bouillon. This is basically beef extract. I like it to give it a little bit more taste.
03:17It's not necessary to have, but it's a really nice add-on. I'll have all of these ingredients
03:23listed in the description below, except for Pepsi, unless they email me back.
03:28First things first, we're going to start cutting the onion.
03:34I'm peeling the onion here because onions are like ogres. They have layers. And I need to make
03:41sure we get the best ones in our dish. I'm not planning on crying today even more than I already
03:48did earlier. So I got myself a little assistant to help me cut it. His name is Rogelio. He's not
03:56very sharp, but it's going to do the job. First, I need to cut it into smaller pieces.
04:05It doesn't matter how you cut it right now because it's going to come in very, very small.
04:10Now it's Rogelio's time. Oh my God, this is like the most potent onion I've ever cut in my entire
04:16life. I don't want to cry, but so let's do this fast. So what I'm going to do is put this here
04:24and then cut it. Help me out here, Rogelio. There, that's what I'm talking about.
04:33Rogelio is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he doesn't make me cry.
04:40I totally recommend Rogelio. You should buy him in case you don't want to spend a lot of time
04:45crying in the kitchen. He makes me really happy. It's a really good relationship we have.
04:54You just need one onion, thankfully, for this dish. Not too much,
05:00but it's just going to give it so much taste.
05:05Nice. Good job, Bianca. Good job. I should go to that show. What is that show called?
05:11The one with cooking where they yell at you. That's every cooking show that yells at you, so
05:16I'm fine. Last part. Not even one tear was shed. We're ready. We have the onion. We're ready to
05:26take it to the stove, but since I'm next to the sink here, I'm going to wash and prep the rice.
05:34You only need two-thirds a cup of rice for this dish, so it's not that high in carbs,
05:41but it does add a lot, so let's wash it one more time to make sure that we got all the bad stuff
05:51out of it, and we're ready to go to the stove. Okay, so here we are. I have my chopped onion here
06:04and my rice that's already been washed, so let's just get started. What I need right now
06:12is a little bit of olive oil just so we can cook the onions. We put the stove to a medium
06:25and add the onions in here. I don't wait for this to get hot first. We don't need to do that.
06:32Just dump those onions in the pot and cook them. So right now, what we're gonna do is
06:41cook this onion until it becomes a little soft. Then we're gonna add the rice on top of it,
06:48okay? It's as easy as it gets. You don't have to cook the rice first. It's gonna cook
06:55while we make this onion, so don't boil the rice first, okay?
07:02Now you start to hear that really nice sizzle as it starts heating up, and we wait. The onion
07:09should be light brown and look very, very soft, and then afterwards we add the rice. Onions need
07:17to cook for about five to seven minutes depending on how hot you have your stove,
07:23but as a rule of thumb, what it needs to look like is soft and a little bit of brown and yellow.
07:33I'm just gonna add a tiny bit more of olive oil. I don't want to burn it.
07:40Just a tiny bit more to make sure that it doesn't stick to your pan
07:47in case you haven't added enough oil in the beginning.
07:54There, just a tiny bit longer. I'm really loving my outfit today. Just like, we got a little apron
08:06and our little top. I got this apron especially for today because I didn't want to get
08:11myself dirty, but I like the background. I'm wearing pants, FYI. Okay, I think our onion is ready.
08:22This is what it's supposed to look like. You can see it's a little more translucent.
08:27So now what we need to do is add in our rice on top of this onion. I'm gonna scoop it all up.
08:37And again, please do not boil your rice before. What you need to do right now so you can cook
08:43the rice is add a cup of water on top of everything else. All right, I got my cup of water. I'm gonna
08:51add it on top. All right, this is gonna help cook your rice
09:03and give it as a nice base for adding our meat. Now this is what it's gonna look like.
09:11Now put your stove to a higher heat so we can get this done faster. Mine is currently at
09:18three-fourths. Don't worry if it looks a little watery right now. All this water is gonna reduce
09:24as your rice starts cooking. What you have to do is bring it to a slight boil, but in the meantime,
09:29I'm gonna add in my spices. I forgot them on the other counter, so here I have all of it. Salt,
09:38pepper, thyme, chili if you like it a little bit hotter in taste. I like it a little bit spicy.
09:46And your tomato paste. Okay, don't forget that. It's very important. You can already tell that
09:52your rice is starting to cook. You can see here it's gotten a little, a little fatter.
10:04If your water is reduced here in the pan, make sure you turn down your heat on the stove to a
10:11low medium. I added the pepper. You add a little bit of salt, maybe a tablespoon.
10:20We add a little bit of thyme.
10:28Half of your tomato paste can. Okay, half of this. Don't forget to mix it up.
10:37All right, that's what I'm talking about. And while this is cooking, we add in the other spices.
10:44I'm gonna give you the exact recipe in the description down below, but I think
10:52I'm gonna add a little bit more thyme. I like it more flavorful.
10:59Again, this is not necessary. If you like it spicy, add a little bit of chili in there.
11:07And our bouillon. I usually add two little cubes of this into the entire
11:19concoction here. So this is what it looks like. You usually dissolve this in water,
11:24but we already have water in here. So in my opinion, it's not really necessary. One, two.
11:33Yay, we did it.
11:38All right. This is what it's supposed to look like after adding all of the ingredients.
11:46We got it right here. Now I'm gonna keep it a couple more minutes on the stove to get all that
11:52water reduced. Then, and this is very, very important, you follow my instructions. Then
11:58you let it cool off. I live in Arizona, so that never really actually happens. So what I'm gonna
12:04do, I'm gonna pop it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes just to get that heat out of it. And then
12:10we add the meat to this. If you could only smell this, it's already smelling delicious. All right,
12:22we're ready to pop it in the freezer. That vodka bottle is not mine.
12:34Now we wait.
12:38Okay, so we have our mix of spices, rice and onion right here. I took it out of the fridge.
12:48And what we're gonna do right now is add the meat on top of it. Ah, there we go.
12:56All right, this is what we're working with here. It's quite heavy. So what we're gonna do right
13:02now is just mix it up. How you're gonna do that most efficiently? With your hands. So let's go
13:07into it. I know it's a little bit not ideal, but you gotta mix all of that together. If you own a
13:15tiger or crocodile, they can eat it just like this if they want, of course. It's very highly
13:22nutritious. This has to be really good and really well mixed. So we get all the rice with the onion
13:33and everything. All right, so we have this. I'm gonna wash my hands again. I'm gonna add
13:40a few more spices, mix it all up again, and then we're ready to roll. Literally.
13:48I'm gonna add the other half of our tomato paste. Yum yum. A little bit more salt.
13:58Thyme and chili. All right, not too much. We don't want it to hurt.
14:06Okay, now this is what it looks like right now. Oh my god, this is like really heavy.
14:12I'm gonna mix it again. I'm gonna try to do that first with a spoon
14:16because I don't have all tomato sauce on my hands. But we're gonna go in with the
14:21hands again in just one minute. Okay, are we ready for this?
14:36Okay, now you gotta spank it a little bit.
14:46Okay, this is it. We have our mix of spices and meat. Now is the fun part. We gotta roll them
14:56into our cabbage leaves. And this process can take from five minutes to about one hour,
15:05depending on how many you want to make. So let's see how long it's gonna take us.
15:11So we have our mix right now. What you need to get out is a big pot like this one. And now we
15:19take our cabbage leaves. Let's get it. Let's see if I can open this first. Wow, that gym really
15:27paid off. Okay, it already smells really good. So it usually comes like in these little,
15:35in these little leaves rolled up. You're just gonna take all that, plop it right here.
15:42And we're just gonna unroll it like this. Yes, we have some really good leaves that we can put
15:49the meat in. Perfect. What I like to do in order to make this easy to roll, I cut off these little
15:56membrane here. And I don't throw it out. I either eat it or I put it in the pot on the bottom so
16:08the rolls do not stick to the bottom of the pot. Are you ready to make your first arma? What you
16:14have to do right now is grab a little bit of your meat concoction from here, put it in there,
16:23just so, and then start rolling.
16:30And then you take it like this,
16:34hold it firmly, and add it just like that. Plop it in. You have your first little stuffed
16:46cabbage roll. What are you gonna do? Put it in the pot.
16:52Bam! Oh, that looks pretty nice actually. Now, I think from this entire leaf I can make two arma.
16:58So I'm gonna cut this in half.
17:08There we go. And you repeat the process
17:10and add it to the pot. That was a little fat one and as you can tell I enjoy it. This one is a
17:20little lonely. I don't know. This is usually the problem I have when I buy already pickled cabbage.
17:26The leaves are not very good so I have to work around it. So my sarmale could look a little bit
17:35questionable at times but they still taste good. So this is still pretty good.
17:40And I'm gonna add it right here. You just add them to the bottom and repeat that process.
17:49What am I working with here? Oh, pretty good. Oh, nice. Every sarma is like a box of chocolates.
17:57You never know what you're gonna get. You just work with what you have, you know.
18:01Don't forget our little trick.
18:16It's ready. Now we put it in. There we go. Look how pretty they are. I have a little
18:21one. I have a little one. Let's see how we can work around this. This is a tiny one.
18:26Oh my god, look how small it is.
18:34All right, so we are done rolling. This process took me approximately half an hour.
18:41As you can see here, I still have a lot of meat left. What I'm gonna do with this,
18:48I'm gonna freeze it up and use it for stuffed peppers. So this is for another time. But in
18:55the meantime, look at this beauty. We got them ready. And as you can see, I have a lot of cabbage
19:03left. And what I'm gonna do with this, I'm gonna put it on top of our stuffed cabbage rolls so they
19:10don't raise up when we boil them. So I'm just gonna go ahead and add all of this on top.
19:19Nothing goes to waste. We're gonna use everything, even the pickle juice.
19:25All right, so let's take this up to the stove.
19:32Okay, we got them right here. I'm gonna put them on the stove. What we need to do right now is
19:41fill this up with water. I'm gonna use right this from above. I even forget sometimes that I have
19:48it splashing all over. This is gonna get heavy in just a minute.
19:59All right, we have it. Another little trick I like to use is the pickled juice.
20:07This is gonna add a little bit more taste to it. So I'm just gonna add it in here.
20:10Perfect. I'm gonna use all of it. Now, sometimes you can boil this with bacon or the way it is
20:25right now. I don't like to boil with bacon, although it gives it a lot of great taste.
20:30But this is gonna taste amazing anyway. As you can see right here, right now,
20:37the sarmale has already lifted up a little bit. So what I'm gonna do right now is take a little plate,
20:46normal plate from your kitchen, and add it on top just so they don't raise when it boils.
20:52Perfect. Put your lid on top. You're gonna need to keep this stove on medium low for about an hour
21:04and then you taste to see if everything is done. And if it is, bon appetit.
21:12All right, so it's been about 40 minutes. We're gonna check up on them and see how they're doing.
21:20Oh, it smells so good. The plate is working. Otherwise, they would have
21:25raised all to the top and we don't want that. We want them to boil.
21:29This is what they're looking at right now. I think we can
21:34take one out in approximately 10 minutes and taste it.
21:42All right, so it's been about 50 to 55 minutes. I think our stuffed cabbage rolls are ready.
21:49So let's get some out and give it a taste.
21:53Oh, steam. It smells so good. The smell of onion here is unbelievable.
22:04Here they are. I cannot wait to taste them. You can usually have them as is,
22:11or I like to add a little bit of sour cream on the side. So let's just do that.
22:19Let's see.
22:38They're amazing.
22:41This reminds me so much of home. I remember that in Romania, we make these especially
22:56on the holidays. Everyone is gathering up and this is what we make.
23:02You definitely need to make this. It's amazing. This is really satiating. So after I only have
23:09three of these, I don't feel like eating anything for a very long time after. And the good part is,
23:15look how many leftovers we have. A full pot of them. And talking about leftovers, when you're
23:23gonna want to have some more, you can just add a little bit of this. I'm going to add a little bit
23:30of this. You're gonna want to have some more. You can eat them either cold or hot. And the way you
23:36heat them up is not with oil. You put them in a pan with a little bit of water on the bottom
23:42and cover them with a lid. So you're just steaming it for just a few minutes until it gets hot.
23:47Well, bon appetit.