5 easy steps TO FAT LOSS

There are so many ways to start a fat loss diet, but it is often made mysterious or complicated. This is the reason why “diet books” sell so well. People get lost in desperation and look for a plan. It seems the more exotic, the more the book sells.

it does not have to be mysterious or exotic. When you’re starting a fat loss plan, you need to understand how many calories and macros (protein, carbs, and fats). If you’re a powerlifter, a swimmer, or have a heavy labor construction job, you’re not going to assign yourself the number of calories you would if you have a 9-5 desk job. You’ll feel weak, you won’t lose fat. Chances are your body will think it’s starving. Your body is smart. It’ll hold on to the present body weight, leaving you frustrated because there’s no fat loss. In fact, I’ll bet you’re not seeing the scale move. I’m guilty of this myself in the past.

Are there bad foods or foods that I should avoid?

Enter flexible dieting.

I am not a believer in “bad foods”. You can have your glass of wine, your burger, pizza, or even cookies if you plan. Life is full of enjoyable moments with food. Why not indulge and be social? The answer is flexible dieting. Foods are not bad. Not planning ahead in a diet can be bad.

Example: last weekend my granddaughter was baptized. I took my family to a great Italian place (Cucina Calandra in Fairfield NJ). I had my antipasti, stuffed mushrooms, bread, pasta, and cheesecake. Guess what? I enjoyed my family, we had memorable moments, and I ate what I wanted. I planned by eating a small meal before we got together. I trained that day to create a little calorie deficit. I tracked my macros at the end of the day-it was a ballpark figure, but I’m sure it was close. Did I mention that I am cutting for a bodybuilding contest?

The next day of course, I was heavier by 8 lbs. Today, not only did my weight go back to where I started before the big day, I lost 2 lbs this week! Tracking macros allows you to be flexible with food that you enjoy. Now, if you’re 4 weeks out from a physique contest, I would say to eat a piece of chicken and vegetables. You wouldn’t indulge like I did that close to a show. If your weight starts to creep up and you find you haven’t tracked in a while, start again. I can guarantee you will drop some of the excess baggage.

Do the math

1) Download a calorie counting app. There are some great apps out there. My personal favorite is Fat Secret. You can use the popular My Fitness Pal. They do the same thing. I don’t like My Fitness Pal because it offers too many ad-laden features. I just want easy to understand information.

2) Track everything you eat for one full week. Track everything. Weigh what you eat and add it to the log. There’s a barcode reader in most apps so it makes it even easier. Be sure you’re using the serving size. It can be surprising at how few or how many calories you take in.

3) Check your average calories for the week. After tracking for the week, multiply your current body weight x 11. This gives you a starter number. let’s say you’re a 150 lb female and you want to lose 20 lbs.

150 lbs. x 11 = 1650 calories. That’s to support your present body weight. Your final answer may be more or less, but close to that.

4) now let’s deduct 10%. That’s1485 calories. This is a good starting point. now we’re going to take .9 x of your bodyweight of 150, and that leaves you with 135 grams of protein (540 calories). By the way, protein is 4 calories per gram, which in this case leads to that number of 135 grams of protein. You’ll need a good amount of protein and this is usually obtainable. Protein is important in fat loss. It increases your satiety, causing you to feel fuller, longer. It helps keep muscle mass and build lean muscle.

5) Carbs are not evil. Bread is not evil. Grapes won’t make you fat. They are not necessary for survival. You can play with the percentage of carbs. I have suggested a 35% intake of carbs, as well as 50%. It's up to you and how feel with the amount of carbs you would like. I only tell you not to go below 50g. Brain fog kicks in, and you will feel like crap, at least for a few weeks.

This is what makes ketogenic dieting a good method, but it is not sustainable. I want you to feel comfortable with your diet.

Here’s how you’re Going to calculate your carb intake. Take 50% of your leftover calories and use that number to calculate your carb intake. 1485-540 = 940 -50% = 472.5 calories for carbohydrates. That’s 118 grams of carbs. Carbs are also 4 calories per gram, which leads us to 118 grams of carbs. Again, very easily obtainable.

In summary

• Total calorie intake for a 150 lb. female: 1485 calories.

• Protein: 135 grams (540 calories)

• Carbohydrates: 118 grams (472.5 calories)

Now we need our fat intake. Another false statement that I hear quite a bit is if you eat fat, you get fat. No. If you eat too many calories, you’ll get fat. Pretty simple right? Makes sense, right? Take the rest of your calories and that’s your fat intake. That’s 472.5 calories. Fat per gram is 9 calories. 472.5 / 9 = 52.5 grams.

• Total calorie intake for a 150 lb female: 1485 calories.

• Protein: 135 grams (540 calories)

• Carbohydrates: 118 grams (472.5 calories)

• Fats: 52.5 grams (472.5 calories)

You now have your diet numbers. As for the decimal points, if you’re like me, you won’t care. I did it for the sake of accuracy.

When to eat

• First, you’ll split up your protein intake equally. Again, using our 150 lb. female, if you eat three meals that’s 45 grams per meal. I recommend having six meals, which equates to 25 grams per meal. FYI, a scoop of protein powder is almost the same. So we can’t whine and say, “that’s too much protein for me to eat”.

• Move your carbs around to benefit fat loss. If you train early in the morning:

• Have a carb rich meal the night before, as well as a serving or two of fruit and a protein shake in the morning. Go train. Have a carb/protein meal about an hour or so later.

After a period of a week or two, you may hit a plateau. If it happens, drop a small percentage from the carb intake. I deduct 3-5% less. I may also decrease fats by 5g. You can also increase your cardio by 5 minutes more.

Cardio

Make it simple. 2 sessions of low impact walking, biking, rowing, whatever exercise you like, do it. 2 other days, do a form of HIIT interval training. Sprints, ball slams, tire flipping, sled push or drags, or farmer walks are all great.

2-minute warmup

15-20 seconds high intensity

45-40 seconds low impact or rest, depending on what exercise you choose. Repeat this for 10-15 cycles.

5-minute cool down.

Pretty easy right? If you want to lose the weight commit to the process and be diligent about tracking macros. Don't get lazy and you will lose fat.