Nitrogen balance measures nitrogen consumption minus excretion, with positive balance achieved by increasing protein intake. Negative nitrogen balance can result from poor diet, overtraining, and inadequate sleep, while positive balance is supported by good diet, effective training, and proper sleep. Gaining muscle while losing fat is challenging, especially for seasoned athletes, who may benefit more from a cutting cycle focused solely on fat loss.

1. FitnessFlash.org
Positive Nitrogen
Balance

2. Positive Nitrogen Balance
1 What is nitrogen balance?
2 What causes negative nitrogen balance
3 What causes positive nitrogen balance
4 Gaining muscle and losing fat: it is hard

3. What is nitrogen
balance?
PART ONE

4. Nitrogen balance is a measure of nitrogen consumption
minus nitrogen excretion. Lifting weights puts your body
into a catabolic state–that is, it breaks down muscle
tissue for later rebuild, thus excreting nitrogen.
Protein is the only macronutrient that has nitrogen as a
constituent inside its chemical make-up. As such, the
fundamental way to achieve a state of positive nitrogen
balance is to have nitrogen consumption exceed nitrogen
excretion, i.e. increase protein intake.

5. Negative nitrogen
balance
PART TWO

6. What causes negative nitrogen
balance:
• Poor Diet
• Overtraining
• Poor Sleep

7. Positive nitrogen
balance
PART THREE

8. What causes positive nitrogen
balance:
• Good Diet
• Train in a manner that stimulates the
muscle, not annihilate them
• Maintain a regular sleeping pattern

9. Gaining muscle AND
losing fat: it is hard
PART FOUR

10. As being in a caloric deficit is the only way to lose body fat,
we have to live with its consequences as well. A caloric
deficit hinders the process of building muscle in two specific
ways:
• Reduced rate of anabolic hormone production.
• Reduced rate of protein synthesis.
The key will be in understanding how to overcome these
two particular hindrances.

11. CONCLUSION
If you have been working out for a number of years and have already
gained heaps of muscle prior, it will be difficult for you to gain more
muscle and lose fat simultaneously. You will be better off going
through a traditional cutting cycle where the sole goal is to cut body
fat.
If you are relatively new to working out OR used to have more
muscle mass at an earlier point in life then you CAN effectively gain
muscle and lose fat at the same time.

12. THANK YOU!