Losing fat efficiently is something that confuses a lot of people.
Some are confused with program design because they are worried about losing their hard earned strength and muscle.
Some are confused about how to eat, what to eat and when to eat.
Others just have no clue where to begin.
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Today, I want to eliminate any and all confusion when it comes to losing fat. I am going to give you guys set guidelines to follow on your quest to getting lean.
These guidelines could be used by anyone, man or woman, big or small. If you follow what I am about to tell you today, you will be on your way to melting off body fat faster than you ever thought possible.
We will call these guidelines: The 10 Fat Loss Commandments.
1. Keep the Weight Heavy
Even though you are set out on a goal to lose fat, your training should still revolve around getting bigger and stronger. If you start to do piss light weights for high reps and do all circuit style training you will lose muscle and strength. That doesn’t mean to only go for new PR’s on a 1RM, it means to keep the focus on building strength and muscle in rep ranges of say, 3-5, 6-8 and even 10-12 for most of your strength work. Continue to follow the progressive overload principle of either adding weight or increasing reps each week.
High reps and miles on the treadmill will not burn fat any more efficiently than real strength work, so don’t get lost in all of that. Keep your focus on building muscle.
2. Eat More Food
That’s right, you heard me. I want you to eat more food throughout the day. If you are starving yourself to death in hopes to lose fat then I regret to inform you that you are setting yourself up for disaster for the long haul.
You have to understand that the amount of lean muscle mass that you have on your frame will dictate the rate of your metabolism. So, if you have more muscle, your metabolism will be sped up which will lead to you burning more body fat. If you are starving yourself with some type of crash diet you are guaranteed to lose muscle. So even if you seem to be losing body fat out of the gate, you will be losing muscle along with it, which will make your fat loss results unsustainable when it comes to the bigger picture.
However, if you are eating Pop-tarts and pizza all day, that certainly will not benefit your metabolism or muscle gain. Which brings us to the third commandment.
3. Eat Only Earth-Grown Nutrients
Your fat loss results should come secondary to your goal of being healthy and living longer. When you focus on long-term health you’ll find yourself losing fat and putting on muscle much quicker.
In my opinion, the healthiest diets are ones with plenty of variety and based on eating REAL FOOD. No processed shit, no fake, gimmicky “health food”. Instead, eat food that you could hunt, catch or gather. Food like chicken breasts, fish, lean grass-fed beef, beans, nuts, vegetables, fruits, rice, and potatoes.
Also, focus on what not to eat. To keep it simple, cut out anything with sugar, flour, and artificial sweeteners.
You should be eating plenty of real food every day to give your body the nutrients it needs to perform at a high level. Once you do, I guarantee that your energy will improve, you will sleep better, your strength and conditioning will improve, you will have better cognitive ability, and be in a better mood.
You literally are what you eat, so make sure you don’t eat shit.
4. Cardio Sucks, Condition Instead
Cardo is walking on a treadmill, or going for a jog. Conditioning involves sprinting, jumping rope, pushing sleds, crawling and running hills.
Conditioning can help build muscle. Cardio can do the opposite.
Conditioning will improve your athleticism and speed, cardio will not.
Conditioning will burn more fat in less time, cardio will make you feel like a hamster.
I’m not sure if I really need to justify this one much more.
However, I will say that if you are brand new to training and extremely deconditioned and overweight, or you’re slowed down by an injury then there is nothing wrong with hopping on an elliptical or going for a light walk or jog to gain some momentum and build up your work capacity. We all need to start somewhere and if today is your day 1, then the treadmill might be a great start. Just keep in mind that you need to make progressions as you begin to adapt.
A good guideline to follow is 3 weight training days and 3 conditioning days per week. The other day you can dedicate to recovery.
5. Recover
If you don’t focus enough time on proper recovery then you won’t experience the muscle growth you could. Which means your fat loss goals will be slowed down.
Let’s go over the recovery checklist!
- Sleep 7-9 hours per night
- Eat within 30 minutes post workout
- Take a quick 15-20 minute nap each day (or as often as you can)
- Stretch and foam roll
- Cryotherapy
- Massage
- Sauna
- Meditate
Hands down, the most important one on this list is sleep. Without adequate sleep, your results and life will suffer. If there is only one change you can make right now on this entire list then it has to be more sleep. Then you can begin to add in the other stuff.
The soft tissue work like foam rolling and stretching should be done every day, or at least before or after your strength training sessions.
Massages and cryotherapy are extremely beneficial but can get pricey. Do them as often as your budget allows but definitely shoot for each at least once per month to start.
Meditation is something I began practicing about 3 years ago and has changed my life. It’s a great way to try and shut your mind off to all the craziness and give your brain a chance to relax. I highly recommend doing AT LEAST 15 minutes every day.
6. Hydration
For your body to perform optimally it needs to be hydrated. If your urine is any hint of yellow then you are dehydrated to some degree.
Enough water is beneficial for cardiovascular health, skin elasticity, flushing toxins from the body, organ function and flushing fat cells that are being burned. Not to mention, muscle tissue is made up of about 70% water! When you are lean enough, water will make your muscles look and feel tighter, which is an added benefit!
A good rule of thumb is to drink AT LEAST half of your body weight in ounces of water every day, but you should be getting even more than that.
7. Create a Plan
If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Old saying, and kind of annoying, I know. But it’s true. If you want to be successful at anything in life you need to have a game plan.
Fitness is no different. When you write out a well-thought plan you will know the answers to a lot of questions.
- When am I going to train?
- Where am I going to train?
- What am I going to train today?
- When will I do conditioning?
- When will I cook and prepare my meals?
- When will I food shop?
- What time is breakfast?
- How many calories will I eat each day?
- When do I start my fat loss plan?
- When do I plan my first cheat meal? 8 weeks? 12 weeks? 16 weeks?
You need to have this stuff figured out before you just “start Monday”.
That’s why most people fail when it comes to fitness. They don’t think about this stuff.
You have to create an action plan and then take MASSIVE ACTION. Without one, you never had a chance.
8. Prepare
Along with a well thought out plan, you need preparation. You need to prepare mentally and physically.
If you are training early in the morning make sure you get to bed early the night before.
If your weekdays are hectic make it an absolute priority to get your food shopping and cooking done on the weekend.
If training on the weekend works better for you then do that!
Preparation is key, so be sure that you are prepared for everything that you have listed in your action plan.
9. Execute
Your action plan and preparation mean shit if you do not take action. This is where a lot of people’s progress comes to a screeching halt.
They have this pretty excel spreadsheet with everything they need. Training times, cooking times, shopping days, conditioning days… All the good stuff!
But after a few weeks, they begin to forget why they started in the first place. They lose sight of the significance of their goals because the goin' got tough.
This is where you have to be disciplined enough to execute your action plan, even when you don’t feel like it.
If you consistently execute your plan you will lose plenty of fat and look and feel great. If, of course, your plan is a good one.
You have to hold yourself accountable and not make excuses or feel sorry for yourself. There will be times when you don’t feel like cooking, training, etc. You’re human so it is normal to get that feeling from time to time.
However, if you execute long enough, your discipline turns into a habit. Once that happens you will be un-fucking-stoppable.
Most people stop before there is a chance for that to happen. Break away from the crowd, this is your time…
10. Work Your F*cking Ass Off
This one goes hand in hand with execution.
You will get out what you put in. There is no way around it.
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Anything worth having in this life requires brutally hard f*cking work. You cannot just pussy-foot through life and expect things to happen. Take your fitness and life to the next level by relentlessly working to achieve your goal.
Life is too short for what if’s.
If you aren’t sure how you could be working harder then hire a coach. Ask a friend or family member. Put yourself out there so you have people that will hold you accountable.
And I am not just referring to your training. I am talking about everything I just discussed in this article. Commit yourself to your plan and work like a damn savage.
Don’t keep putting things off. “I’ll do better next week”, “I’ll start Monday”, “I don’t need to train that hard for what I want”.
Those are all f*cking excuses.
Surround yourself with people who want to succeed. People who want to work. People that you admire. People that will push you to do better and want you to succeed.
Those are the types of people that will propel you to success. They will inspire you to work harder and give it all you got!
So enough half-assing.
It’s time to find out what you are truly made of. Push yourself and find out what is inside of you. Figure out where your breaking point is and then smash through it!
Leave no doubt in your mind that you gave it everything you had.
If you do that I guarantee you will be successful.
I really hope that this article gave you a little more clarity on what it takes to lose fat effectively. Use it to help you on your mission.
Once you get the wheels in motion there is no turning back.
Be relentless in your pursuit.
Best of luck, guys.
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