My body fat has been as high as 25% when I was a pork chop. But it’s also been low, around 5%, when I was bodybuilding. I like to be around 10%, which is when I feel like I look my best without being on a super crazy, strict diet. Here’s how to reduce your body fat as fast as possible.
Week One Prep
- First, you must track everything you eat for the next seven days. This includes what you’re drinking. After you’ve journaled, you’ll be able to assess how many calories, on average, you’re taking in weekly. This is important for calculating the reduction of caloric intake to lose body fat.
- Second, I want you to go online and get a body fat caliper. This tool will help you to see how your body fat changes within millimeters by measuring your pecs, thighs, and abdomen. You can also pinch and record different other areas.
- Third, I want you to hop on the scale. The problem with weighing yourself is that you could think you’re not making progress if you lose fat while gaining muscle. That’s why it’s critical to have other forms of analysis.
- Last, you must also calculate your basal metabolic rate, which is how many calories you burn when resting based on age, height, weight, and activity level. This number is the number of calories needed to maintain your current weight. Don’t cut calories until you know what you’re consuming. That’s why figuring out what is currently happening is so important.
Key to a caloric deficit
To lose 1 lb of fat, you need a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories. You can do that by reducing your calories or increasing your exercise. Or you can do a combination of both. I recommend a combination to help speed up the fat loss process. To reduce the calories in your diet, you need to find something that works for you and your lifestyle. Meal prep works the best for me, as meals are pre-portioned and pre-planned. I love Factor. Use code ALPHAM50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box + 20% OFF your next box. Also, realize that you don’t know how the food is prepared when you go to a restaurant, so be careful eating out.
Integral pieces of the fat loss puzzle
- Cardiovascular exercise is your friend if you really want to speed things up. I engage in cardio daily on an empty stomach by jogging for about 45 minutes to an hour. You might like the treadmill, stair master, jump rope, or other cardio equipment. Fasted cardio is recommended because your body will use fat stores before calories because you haven’t eaten. The body burns what’s most readily available, so if you’ve recently eaten, your body will burn those calories instead of fat stores.
- Also, incorporate strength training into your workouts. You don’t necessarily need to do it every single day, and you need to find something that works for you. Compound movements like bench presses, squats, deadlifts, and other movements that use multiple muscles will increase your heart rate and burn more calories. Find something that works that you can do consistently because that’s the whole goal. You need to build a lifestyle you can maintain for the rest of your life.
- Hydration is also incredibly important. You need to drink 120 oz of water a day. This will help to keep you leaner and fuller and prevent you from retaining as much subcutaneous water.
- Eating cleaner while reducing carbohydrates (starches & sugars) and reducing/avoiding alcohol are pro-tips for cranking your metabolism.
When you plateau
Weight loss starts fast and then slows down and tapers off. When you feel like you’re hitting a plateau, it’s time to change your diet or workouts. You could bump up your cardio, which will get fat loss moving again. But if you’re keeping track weekly, you will see what’s happening even if the scale is not moving.
