Q: mike, I'm in a desperate situation, I'm about to start fasting (ramadan) and I want to lose fat and still continue to gain muscle. I've tried every diet and nothing seems to work. when i did too much cardio, i lost weight, but most of it was muscile, and i think i even put on fat. now, i'm doing weight training, but I want to see results fast. what is the best course of action?

A: With having to fast during the day, you probably want to make it your goal for Ramadan to simply try to hang on to the muscle that you have now and take any fat loss as a bonus. You'll only be able to eat twice a day (if I understand correctly) -- you should make both of those meals quite big. The morning meal should be rich in carbs (oatmeal with fruits is perfect here) and protein (perhaps whey protein powder or cottage cheese) with some fats. The night meal should consist of a lot of vegetables, protein (meat or fish) with olive oil or other source of healthy fats. Make the meals BIG -- 1000 calories or more each.

As far as training, don't do any cardio (as you've discovered already, it's not optimal for fat loss and it'll be even worse during fasting) and continue heavy whole-body weight training. You won't have much energy for long intense sessions, so keep your training to just around 2 hours/week, using heavy weights and emphasizing exercises like squats, lunges, bench presses, pullups/pulldowns, and rows for maximum impact. After Ramadan you can get a better diet going (multiple small meals during the day) and also ramp up your weight training. Good luck!