This is going to be the first in a two-part series of articles going over each phase of fat loss
Yes, that title is totally a Hobbit reference. The dork is strong with this one. Has the donut around your midsection turned into a full-size spare tire? Fat loss isn’t just about hitting your goal and then reverting to the same bad habits now that you dropped the weight. In order to be successful AND stay successful, you need to have a plan not only to slim down but also to bring yourself back up to your new maintenance calories. This isn’t a one-way kind of flight, you have to book a round-trip ticket. Every pilot has a preflight checklist before they drop the throttle and go rolling down the runway. Fat loss has its own prerequisites to go over before we’re ready for liftoff. There are some things one needs to have in place in order to earn the right to diet.
Are you at the right point to start a Fat loss phase? A person should spend 3-6 months at maintenance before they go into a deficit. Some may ask what is a maintenance phase. It is a phase where you’re in energy balance. You eat enough calories to offset your caloric expenditure so that your weight stays stable.
Why is a maintenance phase important? As people diet they are in an energy deficit, burning more than they are taking in. Over time your metabolism will adapt to the new lower calories and slow down. So if you’re coming off a fat loss phase into another too soon you may still be adapted to lower calories. Which would cause you to go even further into energy deficit to lose in the next phase. It’s not just about upregulating your metabolism. There are overall health concerns as well. Too few calories over too long of a time can lead to hormonal dysfunction, that’s never a good thing.
Diets are not only physically draining they’re mentally draining as well. Diets require a lot of effort. There is a fair amount of planning and preparation involved. The use of willpower to resist temptation on a daily basis will wear you out. Diets work best when they are broken up in short bouts as opposed to long-drawn-out affairs. Going to maintenance for a bit allows you to recharge physically and mentally. Instead of jumping right into a fat loss phase
When you’re at maintenance calories you should have more energy, which allows you to train harder. When you can train harder you may be able to add some muscle. The added muscle can help you diet with a higher number of calories. When I set up a fat loss phase for my clients I want them to diet on as many calories as possible and still lose.
In Pre Fat loss phase, we make sure things are in place or we add them. I call these fat loss foundations. Like the construction of a skyscraper, fat loss is based on a solid foundation of a healthy lifestyle. If you don’t have the foundational practices in place you may end back up where you started.
1/2/3 Method
The 1/2/3 method is something I picked up From Jordan Syatt. It’s a simple and great starting point for those who want to get healthier. It has you adding nutrient-dense unprocessed food like broccoli, salads, lettuce, apples, blueberries, cabbage, and so on. You know, the stuff that’s not in boxes, is usually found on the outside ring of the grocery store. We can all benefit from having more fruits, veggies, and water in our nutrition. Veggies, fruit, and water help keep us feeling full by filling up our stomachs with minimal calories involved. Which will be helpful when we get to the energy deficit. In general vegetables and fruit tend to be less dense in calories but come with a fair amount of bulk and fiber. Which will help keep one feeling full while still maintaining a caloric deficit necessary to lose fat. A normal day following the 1/2/3 Protocol would include these things:
- Big ass salad each day
- Two fruits daily
- Three big bottles of water each day
Water
The human body is comprised of mostly water, as most of us probably know. So it would make sense that hydration is important for proper function. A good baseline for the amount of water you should drink daily is to take your body weight and divide it by two. You should also add an additional fifteen to twenty ounces for every hour of exercise or heavy sweating. For example, a two-hundred-pound individual would roughly need one hundred ounces of water daily.
Protein
Aim for .5 – 1 gram per pound of body weight daily. Eg. 200 lbs person should aim for between 150- 200g of protein daily. Eat protein with every meal. Higher protein diets have been shown to be a major factor in weight loss and heightened dietary-induced thermogenesis. The body has to work hard to break down, absorb, and dispose of protein. Eating protein heightens metabolic function. Protein is the most satiating of the macronutrients. Trying to get one gram of protein is a great general rule whether you’re in a deficit, maintenance, or trying to get swoll. It helps protect that oh-so-important lean tissue. More muscle = higher metabolic rate, that’s what we want.
Sleeping 7-10hrs every night
You have to sleep; it’s when your body recovers. Sleep is also important for proper hormonal function. Skimping on sleep sets you up for failure. It alters the ratio of ghrelin and leptin. Which plays a major part in the food choices we make. With a normal amount of sleep, you can fend off cravings. When you are short on sleep you are coerced by the dark side of hunger. There was a study done in 2010 that compared 8.5 hrs v. 5.5 hrs of sleep with both groups in a moderate caloric restriction. The low sleep group decreased the proportion of weight lost as fat by 55% and increased the loss of fat-free body mass by 60%. The higher sleep group retained more muscle and lost more fat. Is the next episode of your Netflix show really worth your hard-earned muscle, hmm? If you really want to take a deep dive into the importance of sleep check out Why We Sleep – Matthew Walker PhD
Consuming 25-35 grams of fiber daily
Fiber is beneficial for gut health, and it keeps our movements smmooooth. It also promotes fat loss by reducing appetite. There was even a study done comparing two diets. The University of Massachusetts Medical School found 240 volunteers half were asked to follow the American Heart Association (AHA) diet. The other half were asked to follow a diet in which the only goal was to eat 30 grams or more of fiber each day. All of the volunteers had high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and were overweight, also known as metabolic syndrome. This group of health issues greatly increases the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Both groups averaged 19 grams of fiber daily. Both groups lost weight, lowered blood pressure, and improved insulin sensitivity. The AHA diet lost a bit more weight 5.9 pounds compared to 4.6 pounds from the fiber-only group. The difference is in what the AHA diet asks you to change. The AHA diet asked you to eat more fruits, vegetables, high-fiber foods, fish, and lean protein but also cut back on salt, sugar, fat, and alcohol. The fiber-only group was able to achieve a similar result without a complete overhaul of their life. For me, it’s fiber for the win.
Getting 7k to 10k steps daily
Getting 7-10K steps daily is great super low-level cardio. Walking is an excellent tool to help facilitate recovery. There’s also the caloric cost. It’s estimated that most people burn 30-40 calories per 1,000 steps taken. It’s variable due difference between each person’s weight, fitness level, stride length, pace, and if it’s inclined or flat. There was also a study that followed sixteen thousand women for over four years. They found the more steps per day accrued mortality rates progressively dropped until leveling at 7500 steps per day. A more recent meta-analysis found a dose-response to daily step count and all-cause mortality. An increase in daily steps up to 17,000 daily may be associated with a lower risk of death. All the more reason to go for daily walks.
Strength Training
It’s something I feel every person can benefit from. Strength training has tons of health benefits. Improving your strength can help you in all of your everyday activities. When you’re stronger it takes less energy to do any activity. If you add muscle mass you have an increased metabolic rate. You then will burn more calories doing the stuff you already day. This allows you to have more metabolic flexibility so you can eat more and not gain weight. If you’re an advanced age person the added muscle and strength can help you maintain your independence. It’s not just good for your muscles. Strength training has been shown to slow down and even halt degeneration in brain areas that are prone to Alzheimer’s disease. It doesn’t matter if it’s once per week or 5 times per week, I just want people to strength train. It’s good for both the mind and the body.
Now you know what habits you need to work on. I’m reminded of the classic line at the end of the old GI Joe cartoon “knowing is half the battle.” The next step is implementing them in your life. Choose one or maybe two habits to work on. Then work them into your daily routine. These things need to be in place and happening daily before one takes a little foray into the fat loss forest. Ideally, they would be automatic so that little to no thought is put into them. Then you repeat the remaining habits on this list. Building these habits sets you up for long-term success in not only fat loss but overall health. Once these habits are routine and you haven’t dieted in the last 3-6 months, then you can proceed safely into a fat loss phase.
In part two I will go over how to set up a deficit for a fat loss phase. Different styles of calorie deficit. Along with skills to help you have a successful fat loss phase.