TLDR; Calories in vs calories out. It's that simple.
04/2019 @ 157 lbs. Unflexed. 07/2019 @ 141 lbs. Unflexed.
Here are the links to the many times I've covered this topic:
Hello friends! Today we'll be discussing one of the most sought after skills a person can develop and that is weight manipulation aka gaining/losing weight. Since most of my audience would rather want to lose weight than gain it I'd figure I'll teach you what I know based on both personal and coaching experience. Literally all my secrets will be laid out in this blog to which I'll say that there actually are no secrets (lol). In fact, there is no secret potion to drink that magically sheds fat off your body, no secret superfood or skinny bitch detox teas that I'll be endorsing because all that shit is as fake as your Instagram account. All jokes aside though let's begin!
When it comes to losing/gaining weight, you must understand this principle:
Calories in versus calories out.
If you want to gain weight, eat more calories than you use. If you want to lose weight, eat less than calories than you expend. That's really it.
The concept is sure easy. The application is much harder which I'm sure many of you all already know. Let me list out the reasons why people tend to fail at losing weight:
They do too much at once.
Just because you've decided to become a skinny queen doesn't mean you have to start your vegan keto-friendly diet while doing crossfit 7x/week right from the start. Relax, slowly progress your way into it. If you're still young in the diet and training game then treat yourself as such.
They don't know where to start.
If you and/or your friends don't know where to start, be blessed that you can start here with everything on my Instagram and this blog. For the others who aren't as fortunate, it is tough to get free information that doesn't suck. The fitness industry is a huge wild card. Unfortunately there aren't that many great influencers who practice and preach calories in vs calories out. Instead they peddle you their subpar "programs" and "diet plans" where they tell you what to eat instead of teaching you how to track and manipulate your macros. I really feel for beginners or people who want to get into fitness because I wish there wasn't so much dishonesty out there.
They can't sustain their new diet and habits.
Just because your favorite fitness influencer is doing the latest fad diet doesn't mean you should as well. Just because they train a certain way doesn't mean you should either. It's called marketing and you're being marketed to buy their products. Huge respects to their hustle unless they're trying to sell you snake oil like test boosters or slim-thicc detox teas in which I say that you need to find better people. Keto isn't for everyone. Going vegan doesn't mean you're healthier than people who eat meat. I still think Crossfit is a one-way ticket to Snapcity. Slow and steady wins the race. One step at a time guys.
They try to do it alone with shoddy information.
I bet you've been told so many times to cut and/or avoid carbs and fats so you can loose weight right? I also bet someone told you to do 1000 reps and hella cardio while cutting as well so you can look more shredded. Well I'm here to tell you to not avoid carbs or fats. I'm also here to tell you to strike a balance with reps/sets and cardio.
They give up too easily and aren't patient enough to see it through.
Rome wasn't built overnight and so won't looking sexier naked. It's going to take months if not years to both build the physique you want and to be diced. In fact, you probably aren't going to see any visible changes to your body during the first 1-2 months of weight loss while being consistent. Don't even get me started with muscle gain as that takes a couple of months unless you're juicing of course.
Since this blog is mainly about cutting, the rest of it will be educating you guys on how to create a caloric deficit. And if you didn't know, it's all about Calories in vs Calories out.
If the food is pretty damn tasty, chances are it's pretty high in calories. The secret is the extra sticks of butter am I right?
The first and most important way to create a calorie deficit is to eat less than you burn/use.
Reason being is that subtracting the amount you eat creates the biggest deficit of them all.
You can do this two ways:
1. Prioritizing eating micronutrientally dense food
2. Tracking calories
Prioritizing eating micronutrientally dense food
If you don't want to track everything with a food scale and a fitness app like MyFitnessPal then start substituting your white rice with brown/wild/colorful rice. Start eating whole wheat bread instead of white bread. Prioritize eating more fruits and veggies. Maintain your protein intake whether it be from meat, poultry and/or seafood. Your weight will typically start to drop since you're now eating more micronutrientally dense food which are much more satiating than white bread or rice. That extra fiber from all the healthier choices you chose will also keep you fuller and eating less than what you normally would. Do this for a couple of months and watch your weight drop over time. Will you get abs by doing this? Maybe. Some people are blessed with great genetics but most of us aren't. To get your abs showing requires a bit more control of your overall diet which brings me to my next point.
Tracking calories
I personally use MyFitnessPal and have been using it for almost 7 years although now there are many other apps out there that do the same thing. It's based on user preference. I don't have a knack for intuitive eating and I found that after a while replacing my foods with more wholesome nutrient dense food that I've stalled in weight loss. I'm partial towards tracking food because you have the power to control what goes in and out of your body. As you get lower in body fat, it becomes harder to lose weight due to metabolic adaptation and how your body thinks you're starving it to death (but lowkey you kind of are). Since I've already gone over on how to get started tracking calories I'll leave a link on another blog I've written about it here. Tracking calories seems to be only way for my clients and I were able to reach out weight loss/gain goals. As I'm writing this blog, I'm on a caloric surplus which means I have a bit more leeway to be over my carbs/fats although I still track my protein to make sure I'm hitting it. However when I start cutting again, I know that I have to be pretty spot on in order to have my abs show again.
I'd say start off with a 200-300 caloric deficit and then see your weekly progress. Once you notice your weekly trends starting to stall less than 1-2 lbs/week then you can consider subtracting another 100 calories to keep the weight loss strong. Then once it dips under the 1- 2 lbs/week then subtract another 100 calories. I hope by now you understand how important it is to track your calories and macros because if you don't then trying to do this step is incredibly difficult.
Typically I don't recommend more than 6 months at a time with a 1 month of refeed where you just simply add around 500 calories back into your carbs/fat to restore some hormonal and psychological homeostasis.
The second step is to continue training as you normally would, with the goal of preserving muscle mass and increasing strength as much as possible.
No need to get all fancy with the volume, intensity, frequency here guys. However if you do want to figure all that out I've written a great blog about it if I say so myself. You could prioritize higher volume for the next 3-6 months or however long you want your cut to last. Lifting weights while trying to progressively overload will be the main factor in preserving muscle mass. Your body is all about the adapatationz. If you don't give your body a reason to keep the muscle on your frame then it'll be used up as fuel to keep you alive. Making actual muscle is very expensive for your body to do, time and cost wise. So even when you start feeling like trash deep in your cut remember to still try to push yourself as much as you can to keep the gainz.
The third step is to increase your NEAT or Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis
TDEE stands for Total Daily Energy Expenditure or how many calories you spend on a daily basis. As you can see in this chart, your NEAT comprises of 20% of your TDEE. Increasing this entails becoming more intentional about being more physically active outside the gym. For example, parking a bit further away when running errands such as groceries or taking the stairs instead of the elevator or even standing up more often than sitting while working all counts. As an ER nurse, my NEAT is already really high since I bust my ass constantly and walk a minimum of 10,000 steps in a 12 hour shift. Some easy ways to increase NEAT include:
Cleaning your living space(s) once a week.
If you haven't taken your pets on daily walks. Make it happen.
Hand wash your car and vacuum.
Walk with somebody somewhere. Make it a goal to get x amount of steps in.
Yardwork and gardening are great.
Go on hikes.
Resistance training including cardio comprises of 10% of your TDEE under EAT or Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. This is why I'm saving cardio for last because it'll give you least of returns when creating a caloric deficit.
The last step is adding cardio to the mix for some added caloric deficit magic.
One way or another you're going to have to do some kind of cardio but not as much as you think you do. I think this is where people get really messed up because they believe they have to do cardio just as long as they spend resistance training. Unless you're maybe chasing IFBB pro or Mr. Olympia then yes maybe you'll have to spend more than an hour at the gym just doing cardio. If you're just trying to look sexy(ier) naked or just want your abs to show without flexing so hard under half-natty lighting then I sincerely believe that you do not have to spend so much time doing cardio. They say of all the cardio machines in the gym, the bicycle seems to be most accurate in gauging calories burned. Have you ever done 100 calories on the bicycle? It took me almost 20ish minutes just to burn 100 calories! It'd be much easier to eat 100 calories less of rice which is a bit less than 4 oz. And for you trolls out there if you were to replace 4 oz of rice with 4 oz of veggies then you'll feel much more satiated while still creating a deficit.
Be smart with cardio guys. Look at cardio as another means to create a small yet meaningful negative balance and prioritize reducing your caloric intake.
Sick.
Now let me give you my secret sauce. This is how I systematically help others lose weight.
This is taken directly from my Body Recomposition Curriculum where I lay out step by step how to cut, reverse diet and lean bulk. I created it based on my own personal anecdotes and client experiences. It's been working for my clients and I so I'm sure you'll find it useful as well.
Cutting Algorithm
Goal Range: 1-2lbs lost a week
Starting your cut:
- Subtract 200-500 calories from your maintenance calories
o A good starting point would be subtracting 100 g of carbs and 10-11 g of fats.
o Maintain eating protein in the 0.8 – 1.0g/body weight in lbs
§ Tip: Protein can be up to 1.25g/body weight in lbs for extra satiety.
- Add 500 calories to your weekly cardio.
o Often times, you will see an automatic downward trend of weight after adding cardio and subtracting calories.
- If your weight isn’t trending down after these steps, subtract another 500 calories from your maintenance again.
- Note: Do not let your fats go under 0.3g/lb as it will start to mess with your hormones.
- Do not change your calories/cardio until you are no longer in the 1-2lbs loss range for a week.
Once you are no longer in the range (follow the steps in order):
1. Subtract increments of 100 calories at a time. See if that puts you back into range.
a. I recommend subtracting from your carbs first.
i. 100 calories = 25g of carbs
ii. 105 calories = 20g carbs, 5g fats
1. I personally would use this combination as the 4th and/or 5th increment of slashing calories.
iii. Reassess weekly weight average.
b. You can do this up to 5 times for a total of a -500 caloric deficit.
c. Once you’ve achieved a -500 caloric deficit and are no longer in the range move to the next step.
2. Increase your NEAT(non-exercise activity thermogenesis) by intentionally becoming more active.
a. The easiest way to do this is tracking your steps.
i. Start at 5k steps daily or 35k in a week.
1. This does not include the steps you normally do nor added cardio.
ii. Increase step increments to 1k daily or 7k a week to stay within range.
1. Do this up to 5 times, for a total of 10k daily steps or 70k steps a week.
b. Park your car at the end of the parking lot
c. Use the stairs instead of the elevator
d. Take your pets/partners out on walks
e. Once you are now walking 10k steps daily and have plateaued, move on to the next step.
3. Increase weekly cardio
a. Add increments of 200 calories onto the already 500 weekly calories you’re doing.
i. Remember this is only if you are no longer in the range.
ii. This can be up to 5 times.
1. The total amount of weekly cardio you will be doing is 1500.
By now you should be either done or close to your goal weight.
Cuts longer than 4 months:
1. At month 4-6 you will begin to feel crummy and weak. This is where a refeed week(s) will come in.
a. Refeeding
i. Add 500 calories back into your macros (some easy combinations to pick).
1. 100 g carbs, 11 g fats
2. 80 g carbs, 20 g fats
ii. Put your weekly cardio back down to 500 calories/week.
iii. Cut the amount of additional steps you do by either 50% or not do it for a week.
iv. Most likely, you’ll feel mentally recharged to continue cutting again after a week.
1. If not, feel free to stay on a refeed period for up to 4 weeks.
v. A refeed week depends on the person.
vi. Refeeds are done when you’re feeling very beat, so sprinkle it around sparingly.
2. Your weight may increase slightly but this is part of the process.
A cut should not last over 12 months.
1. If it does, revert back to eating at your new maintenance for at least 1 full month.
a. TDEEcalculator.net
2. Weekly cardio sessions will now be 500/week
3. No need to achieve supplemental steps.
4. Don’t worry about the weight gain during the 1 month of maintenance. This is expected.
5. After 1 month of being back on your new maintenance calories, repeat the cutting algorithm.
Yes I understand that it can be a lot to understand and do by your own. This is exactly the reason why there are coaches like myself out there; to help others by keeping them accountable and helping others reach their goals faster. Anybody can write or do something similar to what I'm doing. It's the style of coaching that honestly makes me unique.
Thank you all for reading this blog! I hope you've all become a bit wiser on how to finally look sexy(ier) naked. It took me a couple of years to finally get a handle and feel confident enough to share with you an algorithm that works well with both myself and my clients. As I write this blog, I'll be starting on my 8th cutting cycle which I'll be posting regularly on Instagram about my progress with quite a bit of detail. If you haven't already, please follow me on IG!
Sincerely,
Joseph L.
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