Mornin friends!

Tons of things going on this past week…

Super excited about all of this, but especially the second point here. I spent a lot of time building this plan out!

Back when I was starting out in the gym 12 years ago, you could go on bodybuilding.com and find tons of free training plans.

Whether you wanted to build muscle, get super strong, or lose a bunch of body fat, they had it all.

Following a structured plan helped me learn so much about training in my early years. How to progress intentionally, different exercises to work in and what they do, different training styles, etc.

Unfortunately, that resource isn't available anymore (at least not for free) - so I decided to build my own. I’ll link it here if you want to check it out.

Today we’re covering 1 of the most popular topics in health…

How to Lose Body Fat.

Years of bulking and cutting when I was a bodybuilder have gotten me very familiar with this subject, and let me be the first to say - losing fat is hard!

And it’s so easy to get overwhelmed when trying to learn how to do it, because there’s tons and tons of info out there about this.

So, I’m gonna try to keep this very easy to understand and even easier to put into practice with 7 tips at the end.

Hope it helps 🙂

Losing body fat boils down to creating a caloric deficit – consuming fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight.

A few things to cover here:

1) What is a calorie?

A calorie is a unit of measurement for energy, typically used to quantify the energy content of our food and the energy we expend through physical activity.

2) What’s a caloric deficit?

If you consume less calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight, you’re in a caloric deficit.

Our bodies use a certain # of calories everyday to begin with, helping us breathe, digest food, etc.

Then on top of this, we each use a certain # of calories each day based on our rate of activity - adding to our total metabolic rate.

In other words, the rate at which you burn calories.

For example - if you run 5 miles a day and work at a job where you’re constantly on your feet, like a construction worker, you probably have a higher metabolic rate (ie. you burn a lot of calories daily).

3) Why is a caloric deficit important?

When your body is in a caloric deficit, it shifts its energy source from immediate food intake and glycogen (energy we take from carbohydrates that’s stored in muscle) to stored fat.

Essentially, your body taps into its fat reserves to compensate for the energy deficit, leading to a gradual reduction in body fat %.

Okay great, so now what are some ways that you can get into a caloric deficit and keep that fat off long term?

Here are 7 tips for that.

Losing fat is a process, but keeping it off longterm is the result of a ton of small decisions that you make daily.

Choose to….

1) Build More Muscle

Muscle is great at keeping fat off your body. Because muscle has a higher metabolic rate than fat, so it burns more calories at rest!

So strength training not only enhances fat-burning during workouts, but it also boosts your metabolism, making it easier to sustain a healthy and strong physique long-term.

2) Eat Close to the Earth (cut out ultra-processed foods)

This small lifestyle change has a tremendous impact over time.

Cutting out ultra-processed foods can have a MASSIVE impact on your body fat percentage and overall well-being.

Not to mention that ultra-processed foods tend to be calorie dense, but low in nutrients. Whereas foods like fruits + vegetables are nutrient dense, but low in calories.

If you have a sweet tooth like me, you don’t have to give up sweets entirely. Opt for honey or natural maple syrup instead of artificial sweeteners and things like ketchup, eat fruits instead of candy, etc.

ps: we discussed this in depth in volume 18 - if you want to read up on the why behind this further.

3) Sleep well

Notice that this 1 is a key activity for almost every edition of sunday coffee? 😉

Poor sleep disrupts hormonal balance, leading to increased hunger and cravings for unhealthy foods.

Quality sleep on the other hand promotes optimal hormonal function and overall well being. Not to mention the massive improvements good sleep gives us with recovery, cognitive function, etc.

4) Make movement a habit

Building a habit of consistent daily movement will burn more calories, improve your metabolic health, and help your overall well-being.

Whether its through workouts or activities like hiking, pickleball, walking your dog, etc. - get out into the world and move around as much as you can.

Movement is medicine.

5) Cook at home @ least 80% of the time

This 1 is simple - it’s just easier to eat healthy by cooking at home. It gives you full control over your ingredients, portion sizes, meal timing, etc.

Don’t get me wrong I loveeeee to eat out sometimes, but if you’re trying to lose or keep off some body fat, try to keep it to 20% of your meals or less (preferably less).

6) Check your bloodwork 1x a year

Bloodwork helps us see how our bodies internal processes are functioning. It tells us a lot about the vitamins and nutrients we may be lacking, our hormone health, blood sugar levels, and a whole lot more.

As an example, let's say your bloodwork revealed consistently high cortisol levels.

This could indicate chronic stress, which may disrupt your body's hormonal balance. Elevated cortisol levels can lead to increased appetite, particularly for sugary and high-fat foods, contributing to unhealthy eating habits.

It’s hard to get a complete picture of health without looking at your bloodwork from time to time - so try to check it out once per year if you can.

ps: I know this may not be as accessible to everyone, which is why it’s near the bottom of the list. Good insurance and HSA’s often cover this, but if you don’t have access to those, comprehensive bloodwork can be expensive.

7) Ensure that you’re metabolically healthy

Your metabolism controls how your body absorbs and utilizes nutrients to do things.

I see tons of people in huge caloric deficits for long periods of time wondering why they’re gaining weight instead of losing it.

Most of the time, it’s because these people are no longer metabolically healthy.

This is a whole other articles worth of discussion, so we’ll cover the ins and the outs of metabolic health either next week or the following week.

This was meant to be a very high-level intro to the process of losing body fat and keeping it off - and it was still over 1000 words.

Hope it was still a 5-minute read!

Over the next few weeks we’ll dive deeper into metabolic health + the art of building muscle.

Which would you rather read about next week?

Have a great rest of your Sunday 🙂

Dane