 Hey guys, my name is Boris. I'm a board certified position assistant working in medically supervised weight loss and today I'm answering a question from Lennox Asking how do I get leaner is riding my bike and running good. So basically the question is do I need cardio to get lean? The easy answer to that is No Absolutely not so last summer when I was trying to get into the best shape of my life when I was trying to get as Lean as possible Wouldn't say it was the healthiest shape of my life because I felt like crap But I did get very lean the photos, you know prove that and so basically this person is asking Can I achieve these results or even better? You know by doing a bunch of cardio My answer to that is no to be perfectly honest when I was doing this when I was getting lean I used almost no cardio I lifted heavy weights as heavy as I could which was getting more and more difficult as my Gloric deficit progressed and I was getting leaner and more tired and lower on energy But either way I got my glut to the gym sometimes very late at night Sometimes very early in the morning whenever I had time that was the key consistency and also diet So basically my formula was diet diet diet lifting lifting lifting very little cardio The trainer that I talked to I worked with a trainer maybe two or three times during this whole process She did tell me, you know, if you want to get really lean You should probably do cardio at just 20 minutes couple times a day Every single day while you're getting lean that should help you It's not really a scientific reason It's basically just to calories in calories out just give you more calories to play with so that way if you make diet mistakes You know that cardio kind of eats that up a little bit if you eat more than you should the cardio helps you with that Also, you're able to make it a have an easier time getting your protein in because you need a lot of protein You have an easier time getting your protein in without, you know cutting too too many calories otherwise So the cardio just gives you that cushion But honestly, you don't really need it if your diet is dialed in if your lifting is dialed in I mean personally I didn't use cardio at all So just to break this down a little bit more and it gives you actually hard numbers So unless you get metabolic testing like I did and like we do at the weight loss clinic that I work at You're really kind of shooting in the dark. You really don't know how many calories you need You don't really know what to shoot for your protein goals your carbohydrate goals your fat goals your macro You know macronutrient goals like that your calorie goals the most important thing is your calorie goals total calories in for the day You don't know that without actually having hard numbers and knowing how many calories you burn Some people believe it or not even big muscular people have very slow metabolisms And some people who you would never believe have very fast metabolisms why that is, you know Nobody knows but I've seen a huge huge variety in Resting metabolic rate. So for instance mine when I was getting as lean as I was that you see in the pictures My resting metabolic rate was like 1400 calories. That's very very low. I had a very slow metabolism I haven't measured it since I'd actually be very curious to measure it now to see if it's gotten faster But at that time it was incredibly low Which means I had to eat almost nothing that being said I still had to get my protein in You know the rule is 0.8 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight or some people say power pound of ideal body weight So my ideal body weight was like 150. I think I got down to like 168 was the lowest I could go and then I just Felt like crap long enough that I was like screw this. I'm done 168 is as lean as I go But my goal was 160. So I was getting about 150 160 grams of protein per day With that and so few calories burned It's actually very hard to get anything else in there and like I've said in other videos because I was basically eating only protein Essentially no carbs and very little fat. My hormones got shut right down. I felt horrible. There were sexual side effects There was mood side effects energy level was down like everything was just crappy and I would never recommend that to anybody So that's why I always say make sure you get your protein But also make sure you get your healthy fats in so avocados olive oil, you know some cheese is not too much dairy But some cheese is you know, make sure not the leanest meats You're not just eating super lean meats, but you're getting some chicken fat in there some beef fat, whatever it may be Salmon is fantastic. You know, that's very healthy fat some nuts things like that Make sure you're getting healthy fats in as well as your protein But the answer is just to bring this all home. Do you need cardio while you're getting lean? Absolutely not Is it helpful? Yeah, if you have time if you enjoy it, it's definitely very helpful But most importantly protein and lifting weights That is the most important thing to getting lean and most importantly when you get lean actually looking decent Because if you get to a low body fat percentage and you don't have any muscle You're gonna look horrible. You're gonna look skinny fat even though you're you know not fat skinny But you're just you're not gonna look good. There's not gonna be any definition there Even if you're very lean if you don't have any muscle mass So the most important things for getting lean or diet being at a caloric deficit But also getting your protein and also getting your lifting and your strength training doesn't have to be super heavy But make sure you get consistent strength training which keep your muscles nice and tone So when you get lean you actually look decent, you know, so is cardio good? Yeah, it's okay Just don't overdo it. Is it necessary? Absolutely not All right guys. I'll see you in the next video. Let me know if you have any questions