Fat Loss Plan: Drop Your Body Fat
Originally published February 6, 2015.
Weight loss is a huge topic in today’s society. According to a Gallup poll, just over half of all Americans wanted to lose weight in 2013. I think it might be an even bigger number than that, but I don’t think people really want to lose weight. What they really want is to lose fat. There are a ton of diet pills and weight loss supplements that claim to help lose fat. It is a billion dollar industry. I’m not here to say there aren’t some supplements that can help you in your life but it is not the only way to lose weight.
A little over a year ago I decided I wanted to drop my body fat percentage. Not that I was very high I just wanted to do it. So I did a little research and came up with my own ideas on how I could do this. I have always been active so exercise was not something I really thought about for my program, it was just there. I had always heard about low carb diets and how it was an effective weight loss strategy, but carbs are a very important fuel source for the body so I was not going to give them up altogether. I chose to only stop eating sugar. More specifically anything with processed sugar or added sugar like candy and cookies. I have a big sweet tooth so there was a lot I could cut out. The only thing I ate with added sugar was peanut butter and small amounts of bread. Besides sweets, sugar is actually added to a lot of products you just have to read the nutrition facts to see. So if you are reading this and thinking, “well I don’t eat candy or cookies, so this won’t work for me” check the labels of everything in your cupboards, you will be surprised.
So basically, Monday-Saturday, I ate a pretty high protein diet plus a lot of veggies. Not much bread so the only carbs I was getting was from vegetables. I needed to replenish my glycogen at the end of the week, or at least I made this my excuse. So, Sunday’s I had a cheat day. It was a big cheat day. I just ate a bunch of junk. I don’t suggest that though I am fortunate to have some good genetics and I am active so I could get away with that. Now that I know a little more about nutrition and food in general I know there are other foods that I can get to load up my carbs, like rice and sweet potatoes.
I followed this plan for about a month very strictly. During this month I was working outside a lot and working out probably four times a week and I never felt tired or out of energy. I started out the month weighing about 170 lbs and 11 or 12 percent body fat. By the end, I was weighing about 168 and down to 6% body fat. So I didn’t really lose weight just fat and I didn’t need to starve myself or anything, my calorie intake stayed right around normal and I dropped 5-6% body fat which is a big amount for only losing 2 pounds and already being fairly low.
Quick recap if you want to try something like this. Monday-Saturday will be a strict no sugar diet. You can still eat fruit or anything where sugar is naturally occurring. Sunday is a carb load try to eat as little junk as possible just load up on rice, pasta or sweet potatoes. Exercise however you normally would, hopefully that includes resistance training, it will help. Get your body fat measured before you start and don’t worry about it again until a month later. Also there is no need to weigh yourself as it is ok if you are not shedding pounds you are probably still losing fat.
I am not claiming this will work for everyone and I don’t really think it is a sustainable diet but if you want to lose some quick fat or get ready for spring break this could help. That’s it. Good Luck!