#030 Mastering your Fat Loss Journey

Welcome back to the 30th edition of the Boats & Logs Lifting Club. I really appreciate you being here. We are the based fitness community that focuses on mastering the basics instead of getting lost in the details.

Today, we will discuss how you can successfully lose fat (while gaining muscle).

But before we start, here is a quick overview of what’s coming next. Are you interested in a topic I should cover in depth? Just send me a message, and I will consider adding it.

• May 26th: A Based View on Hyped Supplements

• June 2nd: May Q&A Roundup

• June 9th: Form vs. Overload

• June 16th: Building your Home Gym

Why and when you should lose fat

As you are following Boats & Logs, odds are that your primary goal in the gym is to either build muscle or lose fat. If you are new to the gym or have made very limited progress so far, you may be wondering if you should bulk up and focus on building muscle or if you should cut and lose some fat.

Luckily, deciding whether you should start a cut and focus on losing fat first is very easy:
1. Google “body fat percentage examples”
2. Look in the mirror and be brutally honest with yourself when assessing your body fat percentage.
3. If you are at 15-18% (or more) body fat, you should start a cut.

You shouldn’t focus on adding muscle (and therefore be in a calorie surplus) if you already have a lot of unwanted body fat. You will get way better results by getting lean first and then bulking up again to add more muscles. Especially in the beginning when you have more fat, you could potentially take advantage of body recomposition - the effect where you are gaining muscle while losing fat.

The easiest way to lose fat is by setting up a calorie deficit and counting your calories.

Counting calories?

For some reason, counting calories has gained a bad reputation over the last years, and buzzwords such as “intuitive eating” (→ you eat based on your hunger) have gained a lot of popularity. A common argument against counting calories is that it can lead to eating disorders. And to be fair, there is some truth to it. Obsessing over calories can lead to some unhealthy habits. But do you know what else is unhealthy? Too much body fat!

And to get rid of fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit. Doesn’t matter if you do it “intuitively” or by counting calories. There is NO way around being in a calorie deficit if you want to lose fat. But fortunately, there is a straightforward way to be consistently in a calorie deficit: By counting calories.

To understand this, let’s take a step back. Your body needs energy (calories) to function. The more you move, the more energy your body needs. To “fuel” your body with energy, you consume food. The more calories a food has, the more energy it contains.

You probably have noticed that you feel significantly more hungry after engaging in physical activity. This is simply due to the process described above. Your body has used more of its energy and needs to refuel now.

But evolutionary we couldn’t always easily access high-energy (read “high-calorie”) foods whenever necessary. Therefore we developed energy storages we could access when needed. Those are called fat.

Whenever we eat more calories than we burn, our bodies save this additional energy (calories) as fat. And every time we eat fewer calories than we burn, our bodies burn fat to unlock the energy stored in the fat.

This isn’t a one-time thing but an ongoing process. If you are in a calorie deficit in the morning, you will lose fat in the morning, but if you then start carelessly eating in the afternoon or evening, you run the risk of adding fat again as you are in a calorie surplus.

If you look at the energy balance (How many calories did you burn? How many calories did you consume?) at the end of the day, you need to be in a calorie deficit. And then, you need to continue it over the next days, weeks, maybe months.

Finding the right calorie deficit is key to your successful fat loss journey.

To learn more about it, check out our earlier post on calories in vs. calories out.

Being successful

But why is it so important to set up the right calorie deficit? Let me give you 2 scenarios:

1. You are in a very small 150 calories/day deficit. Theoretically, you will be losing weight but very, very slowly, which will surely discourage you from continuing and extending your diet to unnecessary lengths. Practically, you will also face another scenario. If your deficit is too small, you run the risk that you will burn a few calories less than you assumed or that you will eat a few calories more, which will immediately turn your calorie deficit into maintenance or even a surplus.

2. You are in a huge 1,000 calories/day deficit to progress as fast as possible. This may work well for the first few days, but you quickly become weak and very moody and, in the end, stop the diet because it’s too extreme.

If you want to sustainably and successfully lose fat, your best bet is to pick a moderate calorie deficit of 300-500 calories and run with it.

To do that, follow these steps:

1. Use 3-5 online tools to calculate your calorie maintenance level and take the average amount
2. Deduct 300-500 calories to get to your calorie deficit level
3. Consistently consume the determined calorie deficit level
4. Weight yourself every morning and track your progress. Happy with the progress? Continue with the current calorie intake. Not making the progress you want? Decrease your calorie intake by another 150-500 calories
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you find your optimal calorie level

What is really important is that you get on the scale every morning and note down your weight. Especially if it’s your first cutting period, you should closely track if you make progress.

You will probably see that your weight will fluctuate. On some days, you may even be heavier than on the previous day. But the general trend should show that your weight is decreasing.

And if your weight is not decreasing or decreasing too slowly, go to “Step 4” and increase your deficit by another 150-500 calories and observe how your weight develops.

Besides these technical aspects, you should also make it easy for yourself to create a deficit over multiple weeks. And for that, you have two different levers:

Food (calorie intake) and Exercise (calorie burn).

Most people believe they need to simply eat less to achieve a calorie deficit when they could also do it by moving more. And this actually may be one of the best strategies to successfully achieve a calorie deficit because creating a calorie deficit only through food can oftentimes create two big problems. First, it gets harder to hit your protein goals when you are restricting your calorie intake too much. Secondly, restricting your calorie intake often also comes with a mental hurdle that can be hard to overcome.

I think it’s unrealistic to assume that you can maintain your eating habits by simply moving more. You will need to make at least some changes to your calorie intake, but don’t underestimate the extra 100-500 calories you can burn by…

• taking the stairs

• >10,000 steps per day

• cardio

• biking to work

• actually, any additional movement you can incorporate into your daily life

But you can also make your calorie deficit easier (and therefore more successful) by eating the right foods.

Finding the right foods to eat involves finding satiating foods and foods you enjoy eating. You will probably fail your diet if you pick only satiating low-calorie foods you can’t stand eating. Therefore, you should make an effort to find meals you really enjoy. A great satiating food is potatoes. I highly encourage you to try and find different meals containing potatoes you enjoy eating.

But don’t worry if you don’t like potatoes (or get bored of them). There are plenty of low-calorie (& high protein recipes) all over the internet. You only need to search for them.

If you are struggling to achieve your protein goals within your calorie limit, you can also take advantage of supplementing with whey protein, which is a cheap high-quality protein source that comes with very few calories.

Apply these steps, and you will be well-equipped to lose fat successfully.

But doesn’t matter how many “tricks” you apply. Losing fat and a calorie deficit over multiple weeks won’t be easy. You still need to build discipline to work on your goals.

Thank you for reading today's newsletter. If you have further questions, simply DM me on Instagram.

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Stay strong,
Boats & Logs

Disclaimer

This is not Legal, Medical, or Financial advice. Before starting any workout program, diet plan, or supplement protocol, please consult a medical professional. These are the opinions from an AI voice.