Have you noticed how the “rules of weight loss” always seem to be changing?
Just as you get used to one thing, the goal posts move and the whole industry swings – like a pendulum – from one extreme to the other. If you’re struggling to lose weight and burn off the excess body fat around your middle (the dreaded spare tire) then this is particularly unhelpful and frustrating and leaves you more confused that ever.
Before we move on, I want you to understand that this is deliberate on the part of the health and fitness industry.“Complicate to profit” is the name of the game and is also the main reason you have failed to lose weight and keep it off (after lack of clarity around what you want and motivation).
The reality is that weight loss is incredibly simple and the rules haven’t changed for tens of thousands of years. They are also unlikely to change anytime soon (until we stop being human). There is also no quick fix, shortcut or magic bullet.
The problem with reality and simplicity, from a business point of view, is that it is not good for making money because you can’t sell the laws of nature in a bottle or crash diet.
Damn evolution!
Hence the need to keep you confused and failing, so you get desperate and keep shelling out your hard earned cash on shit that does not work (or works for very short periods of time and always leads to the rebound affect, where you gain the weight back again, with interest).
Back to our story…
If you’re like most of my clients (before they come and work with me) you feel like you’re ready to throw in the towel and resign yourself to a life of being overweight and unhappy with the way your body looks. Like them, you’ve probably tried many different diets, exercise programmes, meal replacement shakes and even worked with a personal trainer but, despite all of this effort, you still didn’t get the results you wanted.
This continual cycle of failure dents your confidence, deflates your self-esteem and drags you down in other areas of life as you start to question why you have such weak willpower and curse your family for your poor genetics.
STOP RIGHT THERE.
There is nothing wrong with you and it is not your fault that you have not got the results you want.
Well, to be brutally honest, it is your fault because you’ve made the wrong choices and decisions and didn’t hire the right coach in the beginning. This is understandable though because the game is rigged against you.
Just like the big casinos, the weight loss house always wins in the end.
But, telling yourself that you are a failure and are destined to be overweight and unhappy for the rest of your life is a false story and you need to delete it from your head, immediately, and create a new one that goes something like this.
“I can lose weight and build a leaner, stronger, fitter body as long as I have the right tools for the job. The reason I haven’t got the results I want yet is because I haven’t had the right knowledge or been focusing on the right things. There is nothing wrong with me.”
Now we’ve got that out of the way, what if I were to tell you that there’s a simple formula you can learn, that can help you burn excess body fat and build a leaner body?
I’m not talking about a diet or faddy exercise programme that gets you short term results and then stops working when you return to normal life because you are miserable and hungry.
I’m talking about REALISTIC and SUSTAINABLE results.
Results that last long term and that you can maintain whilst leading a normal life, enjoying food, eating well and feeling satisfied. Results that mean you can eat out at restaurants and socialise without the fear of falling off the wagon.
Enter the Fat Loss Formula (F+M+F+C = RESULTS)
Before we dive into the Fat Loss Formula and the nitty gritty, tactical training that you can apply, today, to start getting results, I want to spend a moment talking about sophistication bias and how it derails most people before they even get started.
People with a sophistication bias tend to think that complexity and sophistication is always better than simplicity (and that they are too sophisticated and important for simple things).
If you aren’t getting the results you want in a given area, the chances are you are suffering from a sophistication bias.
Instead of focusing on simple steps, mastering the basics and laying a solid foundation, you want to leap into the advanced, super-ninja tactics that must hold the secret to success. You can see how this backfires when it comes to losing weight and getting leaner.
If you are going to succeed and put the Fat Loss Formula to work in your life, so you can get real results, you need to get past this attraction to complexity and embrace simplicity.
The Fat Loss Formula is the ultimate in simplicity.
If you can take the time to learn and remember it, then it holds the key to burning fat and building a leaner, stronger body that feels as good as it looks.
F = FOOD
The first and most important part of the formula is food. If you can make better food choices on a daily basis and clean up your diet, then 80% of your results will come from this change alone. I’ve had many clients lose between half and one stone (7-14 lbs) in 30 days by simply making better food choices and eating Real Food.
Here is the last “diet” you’ll ever need:
- Eat moderate to high levels of healthy, lean protein (meat, game, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, nuts, seeds and some beans and pulses if you tolerate them). As a great guide, men should aim for two palms (chop off the fingers, thumb and wrist and you’re left with a palm) of protein at each and every meal and women should aim for one palm of protein at each and every meal.[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Replace starchy, grain-based carbohydrates with lots of fresh veggies (fresh, leafy, above ground vegetables, salad items, some lower sugar fruits and some below ground veggies such as beetroot and carrots). Men should aim for two large handfuls at each and every meal and women should aim for 1 handful at each and every meal. Don’t be too strict here. No one every got fat eating fresh vegetables.[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Minimise starchy carbohydrates (sweet potato, parsnip, squashes, pumpkin, mashed potato, etc.) and only eat within 1-3 hours of a more intense workout. Men should aim for 1-3 tablespoons and women 1-2 tablespoons (only after said exercise session). At other times that are not directly after a more intense exercise session, you should eat fresh veggies as your main source of carbohydrates (I call these “good carbs”).[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Eat moderate amounts of healthy fats (coconut oil, butter, olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds and also the natural fat in meat, poultry, seafood and whole eggs, etc.). Men should aim for two thumbs of healthy fat at each and every meal and women around one thumb of fat. Although fat is vitally important to your body and brain and can help you get leaner, you need to still use your common sense. We all love “Bulletproof coffee” but that doesn’t mean you should put half a block of butter in each cup. Don’t fear fat but don’t go crazy either.[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Cut out processed, packaged foods (cakes, biscuits, pastries, burgers and fast food, sweets, fizzy drinks, etc.).[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Watch the alcohol as it will promote fat storage, quickly (aim for Monday to Friday booze free and only drink in moderation at weekends). If you want results, stop complaining and just do it. After a week you’ll adjust and it will be your new normal and you’ll feel and sleep a lot better.[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Drink plenty of clean, high quality water (not out of the tap but filtered or from glass bottles).
M = MOVEMENT
Everyone wants to change this to an E but I’ve deliberately used movement here instead of exercise for a good reason. I simply want you to focus on moving more (which includes structured exercise sessions in a gym) but not exclusively. For example, walking is one of the most underrated weight loss tools. Combine a daily walk with the above food principles and you’ll get amazing results. Basically, you want to accumulate as much movement as you can throughout the week.
Here is my “Accumulation of Movement Theory”:
- Aim for a daily walk of 30-60 minutes at moderate intensity (not a power walk as I wouldn’t wish that on anyone). As well as burning calories, this will help you feel better, energised and less stressed, especially if you can walk in green spaces (parks, gardens, woodland or the beach).[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Aim for 2-3 moderate intensity resistance workouts each week (lifting weights, using your own bodyweight, kettlebells, gymnastic strength, harder forms of yoga, etc.). If you are a beginner or not confident with weights and resistance exercise, or if you have any injuries to shoulders or lower back, HIRE A COACH. Do not view this as a cost but as one of the best investments you’ll ever make.[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Aim for 1-2 higher intensity interval style cardio sessions each week (metabolic training, interval training with running, cycling, rowing, etc.). If you are a beginner, then you need to build up slowly and start with lighter, aerobic work. Gradually progress to more intense interval style workouts.[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Do at least 3 mobility sessions each week focusing on balancing out your body and restoring the optimal range of motion to your major joints (ankles, knees, hips, lower back, thoracic spine, shoulders and neck). DO NOT SKIP MOBILITY WORK because a tight, restricted body is more likely to get injured and perform poorly.[su_spacer size=”10″]
- Listen to YOUR body and do not listen to the people who tell you that you have to “smash it” or “crush it” and feel like you want to puke each and every workout. You grow and get stronger when you are resting and not training. If you push too hard all of the time, you can suppress your immune system, make yourself more susceptible to upper respiratory tract infections (colds and coughs) and pick up nagging injuries in knees and shoulders or your lower back.
F = FOCUS
This is one of the most simple but overlooked parts of the Fat Loss Formula (and any weight loss programme). You have to keep your “eyes on the prize” and focus on doing the right things. Don’t get sidetracked or distracted by what your friend tells you about exercise down the pub, or what you read in the newspaper. Get clear on what you want and then focus on it like a sniper does a target.
C = CONSISTENCY
Lack of consistency is the single biggest problem I see in clients who fail to get the results they want.
They suffer from something called False Hope Syndrome which means that they think the grass is always greener on the other side and that the next diet, exercise programme or miracle supplement is the one that is finally going to get them overnight results and solve all of their problems. Because they are chasing the magic bullet, which doesn’t exist and never will, they chop and change without giving any one programme or approach a chance to work.
The truth of the matter is that you need to be very consistent and stick to one approach for a concentrated block of time.
Results do NOT come overnight and they DO require hard work.
This is very difficult for people to accept nowadays because we live in such a quick fix, disposable society that is continually reducing our attention span and bombarding us with shortcuts and hacks. The problem with this is that your hardware (body and brain) is basically the same as it was 200,000 years ago. You are a caveman / woman (cave-person?) with fancy clothes and an iPhone and your physiology has not yet caught up with the all of the exciting, health-destroying stimulants of the industrial revolution.
I call this the “results time lag effect” (actually, I just made that up and so I’m claiming copyright). Simply put, despite the fact that you are being consistent, working hard and doing all of the right things, you will not see results in real time, day to day (or even week to week). There will be a delay on the results but they will come eventually, so don’t lose heart. To give you an example, if you are trying to add lean muscle mass, it can take 8-12 weeks for the hypertrophy response. This means that you can be working your arse off in the gym and eating like an Instagram-six-pack-selfie-addict but you may not see the fruit of your labour for 8 weeks.
8 weeks!
This, my friends, is the reason most people quit; because they do not have the patience to see the job through to the end. Just as Napoleon Hill describes in Think & Grow Rich, they stop three feet short of the gold.
Make consistency your new best friend and you won’t go far wrong.
So, there you have it.
F+M+F+C = RESULTS.
If you take the time to read, absorb and then apply this simple, highly effective Fat Loss Formula, you’ll realise that you have all of the principles you need to transform your body, burn fat and get leaner and stronger.
Even better, you now own the specific tools you need to get realistic, sustainable results, so that you don’t have to waste any more money on crash diets, faddy exercise programmes or pills and potions sold by the weight-loss-snake-oil-salesmen.
Take control of your body and waistline and level the playing field so that the game is rigged in your favour for once.