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50 Facts and Strategies of Fat Loss
Principles, Strategies, and Tactics
INTRODUCTION
If you’re reading this right now, and fat loss this is something you’ve struggled with in the past, this guide is about to make
life MUCH easier for you.
Fat loss is a subject of CONSTANT interest, and for good reason, approximately ¾ of Americans are overweight or obese,
and across the Western World and Developing world, diseases related to excess fat are on the rise.
On the level of the individual, most people want and need to lose fat.
Fat loss is a situation of improving your physiological health, hormonally and metabolically, and then in doing so your
physique improves.
That is on the level of the body.
On the level of the mind, fat loss is mental reformation of completely changing your beliefs about who you are to the world,
and how you treat yourself, and changing the dynamic of what you consume.
-If you train and change your mentality and physicality properly, you will not' have to worry about keeping "fat off". Fat
will never even appear on you.
And I mean that sincerely. The whole conceptualization of "keeping fat at bay" is ridiculous. If your mental and physical
health are optimized, the prospect of getting fat is very very low. It would be you willfully and conscientiously TRYING to
destroy your health and unmaking your life.
Lets get started….
How to Lose Fat, in 600 Words or Less
I want to talk about this first, as this is where most of the questions come from. There are TWO
major strategies to lose fat
Strategy #1 Start improving food choice, and do not focus on calories
Diets like paleo, carnivore and keto are fundamentally based on changing WHAT you eat, and not focusing much on how
much you eat.
This strategy is appealing for people who don’t want to quantify their eating, and it works for many people. To get started I’d
suggest reading the book ​Deep Nutrition​. This will educate you with everything you need to know about "what to eat"
How to Keep Progress Going On This Strategy
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-Eat more protein
-Decrease sugars and carb consumption
-Avoid processed food
-Control portion sizes
-Try to go to bed somewhat hungry each day. This is an indicator you're losing bodyfat
Pros-​Cleaning up your eating by itself, can yield fat loss and bodycomp changes
Cons-​if you're not tracking anything, you can still have fat loss stall out, as calories and overall energy intake still matter.
These diets are not always the magic bullet people expect them to be.
Strategy #2 Start counting macros and calories, and worry about food choice later.
Reality is that most people have NO understanding of how food, nutrition, thermodynamics work at all. If that is you, read
the book,​ The Poor Misunderstood calorie​.
Start by calculating your maintenance calories, and eating that every day for 2 weeks to establish a baseline. Then reduce
that by about 500 calories. You WILL lose weight.
As weight loss stalls, reduce daily intake by 100-300 calories.
How to Keep Progress Going
-Eat more protein. 1-1.25 grams per lb bodyweight. This will increase satiety immensely
-Start with eating at maintenance, then reduce calories through cutting either carbs or fats
-Learn how to space out your calories to minimize hunger
Pros-You start losing weight very consistently
Cons-This still doesn't teach you what "healthy" nutrition is necessarily, and food choice and nutrient timing DO
matter in regards to sustainability
Once you've selected your approach
-->Track Bodyweight Daily in the Morning
Real talk, you need an objective measurement to know your changes are having an effect. Weigh yourself daily.
Once a week, take a front, side, and back photo. Photos don't lie.
These are your Lead Indicators that you are doing something right.
Having Selected Your Approach, Let’s Talk Lagging Outcomes
You want to achieve 1lb of weight loss, that means each week, your weight goes down a lb. Some weeks it might be less or
more, but 1lb is sustainable and reasonable
Caveat-The more obese you are, the more you lose each week. At least in the beginning. The closer you get to normal BMI,
the slower your weight loss will become
How to Adjust
Whatever approach you use, you will eventually need to
A) start counting calories, even if you have cleaned up your eating
B) start changing your food choices, otherwise its not sustainable to continue cutting calories
C) Be consistent with WHEN you eat. Meal timing matters because your body habituates its hunger.
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How Long to Diet For?
Depends entirely on how much fat you have to lose. If you are 100lbs overweight, that can take a year. 20lbs, that could be
accomplished in 2-3 months
FYI-1lb weekly loss is BETTER than 2lbs or more. Faster is not better,
What happens when Fat Loss Plateaus?
1) Take a week off from dieting and eat normally
2) Take a weekend off from dieting and eat normally
3) Cut calories/food intake MORE. You probably need a bigger deficit
4) Once you’ve reached a healthier weight, you resume a maintenance level of calories.
-My Accelerated fat loss program is designed to deliver 1-2lbs of Fat loss weekly. It is NOT a long term plan, but an
example of how to diet "hard but smart
Context Established-On to the 50 Facts and Strategies
1. Fatloss sells. It sells pills, wraps, tea, detoxes, magic workouts, and a bunch of other silly shit. it sells emails as well. My
highest opening rate is always fat loss emails. Anything to do with fat loss, people are immediately into. Everyone is
trying to lose fat, everyone is failing at it. You failing over and over is a supplement manufacturers gain
-For a program that guarantees fat loss IF YOU FOLLOW IT, invest in the 60 Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program. It works.
2. You are fat because you eat too much- Do not buy into the bullshit. There are no secrets. Fat loss is not only your
hormones and it is not only your genetics. Does it affect those thing? Yes, it does. Is is affected by them? Absolutely it
is.
But the crux of the issue is that you overeat food beyond what your body needs. For as long as you are overweight,
this is a self evident truth
3. If you are more than 20 pounds overweight, you likely have high estrogen, skewed leptin levels, lowered testosterone
levels, and are insulin resistant. What’s that all mean? Your hormones are contributing to you being overweight and/or
obese, and you need to fix them by way of dietary changes. This is why fat loss is NOT only calories. Your biochemistry
is what is responsible for how your body metabolizes food, stores fat, and burns fat. I am going to make this point
more than once. You NEED TO EDUCATE yourself on your own biology, and subsequently make appropriate food
choices. A high protein, moderate to high fat, low carb, zero to very low sugar diet is probably going to be the best
strategy for you. “Everything in moderation” is not going to be a good strategy. You need to fix your hormonal health
for the long term.
4. Being overweight/obese changes your genetics for the worse. A large part of your genetic code is malleable
(epigenetics), and being obese leads to maladaptive adaptations in your body that then are passed on to the your
offspring. So not only are you changing your genetics in real time to eventually get multiple diseases (which will be
your fault), your are negatively changing the genetics of your eggs or sperm, and will have less health children as a
result.
5. Fat loss will require an energy deficit-You will need to eat less food that you currently consume. Period. This is
incontrovertible. You cannot diet forever, but you WILL need to diet for some period of time. There are many ways of
doing this, some require counting calories, some don’t. Regardless, an energy deficit is happening on some level
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6. Fat Loss versus Weight Loss-Understand the difference. Fat loss refers to specifically losing fat cells. This is what you
want to diet for. Weight loss refers to any combination of losing fat, bodywater, and muscle. You do NOT want to lose
muscle. To avoid muscle loss, you must eat an adequate amount of protein, and having protein at every meal is a
sound strategy
7. If you have no sense of how much you eat, you MUST start with accounting for food intake. Begin with keeping a daily
food journal. Develop awareness of when you eat, what you eat, and what behaviors surround your eating.
8. Calorie counting is not the be-all-end-all solution, but it is a very very reasonable place to start. If are completely
ignorant of all things nutrition and cannot understand how you are overeating, assessing the energy/calorie content is
highly illuminating and will help you make to better dietary choices.
9. Learn and memorize the following terms, and dietary information will be much easier to understand.
Isocaloric=maintenance calories
Hypercaloric=Eating more calories than you burn (fat gain)
Hypocaloric=eating less than calories than you (weight loss)
Protein=4 calories per gram
Fat=9 calories per gram
Carbohydrates=4 calories per gram
10.
There is no such thing as “perfect” diet. Diets based upon alarmism or food demonization are bad science. The
“best” diet is the one that covers your protein, fat, and carb needs, and supplies you with sufficient micronutrients.
Different kinds of diets work for different people and different situations. Some are proven to work better and more
reliably than others
11.
It is not expensive to change your eating. It is expensive to diet if you think dieting involves special diet foods. Most
people focus on superfoods, health foods, and what they can and can’t eat. That is all bullshit, and it obscures that
deeper, practical truth that losing bodyfat requires improving metabolic/hormonal health. Eating healthy is not
expensive once you understand what foods are healthy.
12.
A good diet is one that is based upon whole food, nutrient rich foods. You can tailor this list to suit your
preferences, but a good diet should begin with
-meat/fish/poultry/eggs
-Dairy products (IF you digest them well. I don't recommend dairy, as most people do not digest it, it has medley of
negative health effects and modern dairy is of low quality. Experiment for yourself and see)
-Vegetables and tubers
-Fruit
-whole grains
-Legumes (IF you digest them well)
-Nuts
-Healthy fat sources, olive oil, walnut oil, macadamia nut oil, coconut oil, avocado oil
13.
Your individual food choices are based upon YOUR metabolism and what digests well and what your body reacts
too. The absolute best book to educate yourself on what "eating healthy" means is D
​ eep Nutrition, by Catherine
Shanahan.
14.
You must consume enough protein-Protein is the most critical nutrient for a healthy metabolism, and it is what the
body is made of. Aim for one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. If your diet is insufficient in protein,
sustainability will be impossible
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15.
Use your biofeedback-Do not eat and multitask. Eat slowly, learn the difference between being full and being
stuffed. Pay attention to how food digests and your energy levels afterwards. Do not eat foods that do not digest well,
or that crash your energy. Do not eat foods that make you feel sluggish and bloated. Do eat foods that make you feel
energetic.
16.
Understand that weight loss has a hormonal component-And the hormonal component is the most important for
being lean long term. Your insulin, your leptin levels, your testosterone, your estrogen, your cortisol, ALL of these
hormones influence how your body partitions nutrients, burns and stores fat, and functions on a day to day basis. Fat
loss takes time because you are adjusting your body's entire hormonal cascade. This is not an immediate process
(nothing in biology is)
17.
Lower your sugar intake- Overconsuming sugar is a common issue, and it causes a hoard of metabolic problems,
leading to overeating, screwed up hunger hormones, decreased testosterone, increased inflammation, and
contributes to obesity, diabetes 2, and metabolic syndrome. Cutting out all added sugar by itself can dramatically
change your eating and lead to fat loss
18.
Eat Protein at Every Meal-Seriously. Protein is highly satiating, highly nutritious, and it prevents overeating and
quick energy grabs that constantly sabotage people.
19.
If you are utterly confused about food and nutrients, then learn about macros, micros, and calorie counting-This is
not mandatory for everyone, but there is no denying that education is immensely helpful.
20.
Use apps to help you be accountable and record-Fitgenie, Myfitnesspal, Sparkpeople, FatSecret, and many other
apps exist that allow you to measure food intake. You have the technology, and don’t make excuses for not taking
advantage of it.
21.
If you count calories, then you need to establish your caloric baseline-This means determining your metabolic rate,
and figuring out how many calories you need to eat on a daily basis to MAINTAIN bodyweight. Once you have
determined that baseline, then you can begin eating in a calorie deficit.
22.
If you are going to count calories, then about a 500 calorie deficit is a useful place to start. That said, understand
that it is impossible to know exactly how many calories you are eating, and measurements are always approximate.
23.
You cannot be in a deficit FOREVER-you will need to take periodic breaks from dieting, where you eat isocalorically
and give your metabolism a break from energy deprivation. This may be one day a week, this might be a few days
every few weeks. There is no exact science to this, as it heavily depends on how overly fat you are when you begin, but
a general rule to follow is to diet/maintain at a 2:1 ratio. If you diet hard for 6 months, take at least 3 months off from
dieting to maintain.
24.
Expect to lose weight quickly in the first 3 months, 4-8 lbs (1-2lbs weekly), but after that it will usually slow to about
1lb a week, and then even 1lb every two weeks as you get steadily leaner. The more obese you are, the more dramatic
initial weight loss can be, but this does not last.
25.
The Most reasonable formula for fat loss is as follows (credit to Mike Israetel)
-Establish an eating/calorie baseline
-Establish a calorie deficit. 500 is a good place to start
-Aim for 1-2lbs of fat loss a week
-When fat loss stalls completely, take two days to eat whatever you want as much as you want (this is a refeed)
-Start dieting again, but at a lower deficit than before
-Do not diet for more than 4 months. After 4 months, follow a maintenance diet for 2 months, then resume dieting
again. Repeat this process as many times as necessary
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-Always be strength training/resistance training this ENTIRE TIME.
26.
Track your bodyweight daily. So long as your scale gradually trends DOWN overtime, you are losing fat. Tracking
daily can be intimidating, but over 100, 200, 300 days, you have objective data that demonstrates how weight loss is a
TREND over time, not a day to day battle.
27.
Do NOT try to lose weight as fast as possible for forever-Metabolism does NOT like abrupt changes. Losing weight
too fast for too long results in muscle loss and causes hormonal changes that put your body into MORE of a fat
storing, hungry state. Yo-yo dieting never ends for this reason
28.
Intermittent Fasting can be a very effective strategy, and it can readily simplify dieting. With IF, your eating is
chronologically restricted. Longer fasting protocols like a 5:2 schedule also make it easy; you eat normally 5 days out
of the week, and don't eat anything the other two.
IF Intermittent Fasting is of interest you, I suggest checking out Forever Alpha Blog
29.
The Most powerful nutrition approach I know of for LONG TERM fat loss and for radically improving your hormonal
health is the M
​ etabolic Blowtorch Diet​. It does what it says. Its an "ultimate" combination of insulin controlled eat,
fasting, specifically time resistance training and cardio, plus supplementation.
30.
Fat loss begins happening INTERNALLY, not externally. The reality to fat loss is the place you store the most of it is
the last place you fully lose it. So don’t set yourself up for failure with false expectations. Losing fat is like raising kids, it
goes by fast, but day to day it doesn’t seem so. Most people do not notice dramatic changes until the 3 month mark.
Take your time
31.
There is such a thing as stubborn fat. Fat cells have different kinds of receptor sites on them, and some of them get
"turned off" from being burnt when you are in a calorie deficit. This does not mean that you cannot burn stubborn fat,
but it does mean that you should not unrealistic expectations of dropping all your "belly fat" or inner thigh fat, or love
handles, etc. The longer you've stored fat in that area, the more likely it is to be stubborn fat in the first place. You can
help to burn your stubborn fat stores through very low carb diets, fasted cardio (fasted cardio does NOT burn more
fat, but it can help to burn certain kinds of fat), and of course lifting weights.
32.
Metabolism can take months and years to change. Change the way you eat and live, do not only “diet”. 80% of
people that lose weight put it back on; they lose it too fast, and they never fix their broken mindset and life. Change
has to be internal and external
33.
Exercise for muscle and strength gain, do not exercise for fat loss-Unless you are high level, highly active athlete,
exercise alone is NOT a strategy for fat loss. Increased activity makes you hungrier, and increases your metabolic rate.
Use exercise to improve bodycomp by way of adding muscle, increasing strength and improving overall metabolic
health.
34.
Train with compound movements​-make your resistance training effective by prioritizing strength along the
fundamental patterns of movement; push, pull, squat, deadlift, lunge, walk, sprint.
35.
Your relative bodyweight strength SHOULD increase as you lose fat. That means pushups, pullups, dips, plans,
squats, lunges, situps, crawling, sprinting, you should get better/stronger at ALL of those things. If you are not, your
training is ineffective, period.
36.
Improve your cardio-Cardio is how your body handles oxygen, which you need to not die, and heavily influences
your ability to burn bodyfat. Work on both your long endurance cardio, and short endurance cardio. Long endurance
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is low intensity, and walking is the most effective way to improve this. Short endurance is intensity. Sprint based
workouts that use intervals are how you improve this.
37.
If time is of the essence, then use use intervals and HIIT training to improve your cardio. These types of workouts
can build muscle, strength, endurance, and improve your metabolic health to metabolize more bodyfat
38.
For simplicity sake, going for a 15-30 minute walk daily can be the most reasonable way to start being active. This is
most common cardio recommendation I make for people
39.
The body of evidence is clear; once you become fat for an extended period of time, your thyroid and brain reset
themselves to that higher weight. It takes YEARS to reset that back down to a lower weight. You MUST lift weights and
fix your hormonal health to get your body to reset. This is not arguable.
40.
Set GOALS-Goals are not the end all be all, but they will be milestone markers to aim for. Set strength goals, set fat
loss goals. Do not set hard time frame goals. This is going to take as long as it takes
41.
Be prepared to fail-Not every day is going to be victory. You can lose daily battles, but still win the overall war. Do
not major in the minor. This will be hard no doubt. Welcome to being a responsible adult. Everything that happens to
you is your fault. And you don’t get a second chance when death comes for you.
42.
Invest in the Process-You may be a long time away from optimized health and body, but you will only achieve that
through effort and knowledge learned through practice. The process is your practice, and you must practice daily.
Health has to become your lifestyle or it will not work.
43.
Depending on how unhealthy you are, it will probably cost you more over your life to be fat and sick than it would
be to change your life. Being healthy and lean is comparatively far cheaper
44.
You can do things radical, you can do things in small steps. What is better? Ive no idea, I dont know you and cannot
say. I would just advise you to be realistic in your actions, and do not sell yourself short
45.
Radical change can work. It can work because of how much it can improve things. Radical change can also be
impractical, its very difficult to make a lot of changes at once. But if you can do it, do it. Most people won’t tell you that,
but sometimes abrupt shifts can be powerful in changing your whole life for the better
46.
Lifestyle is not temporal. The way of living that made you unhealthy will not be the way of living that leads to better
health. Change your life permanently, not temporarily
47.
Being overweight when you are young causes problems, MANY problems; an enlarged heart, endocrine
dysfunction, and faster degenerative aging. If you are young reading this, unfat yourself now. If you are a parent with
an overweight child, you are directly harming your child’s now and future health. Take responsibility.
48.
It’s not the food industries fault. Food does not magically jump into your mouth, you voluntarily select it, chew it, eat
it. It is not fast foods responsibility to fix your health, and your supermarket is not your personal trainer and
nutritionist. Your life, your lifestyle, your choices are all under your domain of control.
49.
You may encounter the most opposition by the ones closest to you. Either they get on board, or they get thrown
overboard. You are the sum of the 5 people you invest the most energy in. If those people are making you unhealthy,
time to make a change and direct it elsewhere
50.
None of this stuff is easy, but it still is going to come down to Yes/No choices. If you’ve read this whole list, you have
a much better chance of succeeding
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