Fat Loss 101

The beginners guide to removing the guesswork from fat loss.

The health & fitness space is flooded with information on the best ways to lose fat.

And the thing is, they all work. But not because they’re doing something special that the others are not, but because they follow the same underlying principles that make fat loss occur.

Approximately 75% of the United States is either overweight or obese and nearly everyone should start their health & fitness journey with a fat loss phase to get their body in a primed position to gain muscle, so this felt like the best place to get started with Full Stack.

Like most people, I struggled with fat loss for a long time. I’m coming up on 8 years of lifting consistently, but the first 4-5 years was a period of time where I’d train 5-6 days a week and have no results to show for it.

This phase is common for beginners. Losing 10-20 pounds through some diet trend/fad they found online only to get burnt out, go back to their old eating habits, and put all the weight back on (and usually more).

This struggle boils down to 2 reasons:

1. Lack of information: You don’t know what actions you need to take to get the results you’re looking for.

2. Lack of priority: You don’t care enough about the end goal to consistently (very important theme) take the required actions to get there.

You need to have both if you want results that last.

I’m assuming that if you’re reading this it’s a priority to you. Today’s post will be a step by step guide on how to remove the guesswork from fat loss (in the most simple & sustainable way possible).

I promise that everything you’ll read in the next couple of minutes works, but it requires effort, and a lot of it initially.

It requires consistency daily and a permanent change to how you live your life. I’m not saying your whole life has to revolve around health & fitness, but if you’re struggling with your weight there are obvious changes you’ll have to make, and accepting that will save you A LOT of struggle in the long haul.

So the only guarantee I’ll make is that if you follow the fundamentals listed below (all of them) you will make progress towards your goals.

Before we dive into the fat loss process there is one important note to be aware of:

Fat loss is a system where multiple components must be in place to get the best results possible.

This can be boiled down into general categories:

1. Nutrition

2. Training

3. Lifestyle

Because of that, this process isn’t necessarily linear. Read each section as its own component, complete any actions asked of you, and at the very end, I’ll walk you through the exact day to day process I follow to remove the guesswork from fat loss.

Let’s dive in.

How Does Fat Loss Work?

In order for fat loss to occur you have to be in a caloric deficit.

Your body requires a certain amount of energy to perform its basic functions that keep you alive.

This is called your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the amount of calories your body burns on a daily basis to keep you alive. Think if all you did was lay in bed all day, your BMR is how many calories you’d burn.

Then there’s your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) which is your BMR + your physical activity completed for the day.

In order for fat loss to occur, your caloric input needs to be less than your TDEE.

That’s all there is to it.

The next sections will cover how to make that happen.

How Much To Eat

Step 1 is calculating your TDEE, you can use the website below to get a rough idea of your numbers.

Legion Athletics TDEE Calculator

Entering your information is straightforward on this site. The only exception is when choosing your activity levels I encourage you to underestimate where you think you are at because:

1. You probably don’t move as much as you think you do.

2. You probably want to see progress as quickly as possible.

So underestimating here is ok as it’ll guarantee you see progress right out of the gates.

Below is a picture of my calculations, we’re looking for your TDEE.

Using your TDEE, subtract 500 calories and this will be your daily calorie goal.

By subtracting 500 calories this is putting you in a weekly deficit of 3500 calories (500 calories x 7 days a week). A pound of fat has 3500 calories, meaning you’d expect to lose approximately 1 pound per week.

You might be thinking, why not just create a larger deficit to lose fat more quickly?

Here’s why that’s a bad idea:

1. Sustainability and consistency are the most important factors when it comes to improving your health. If you can’t stick with it for more than a week you’re going to end up putting all the weight back on. This is why most diets fail in the first place.

2. Your body’s metabolism will adjust to your current intake levels. So you might lose a lot of weight in the first 2 weeks but eventually, it’ll stop, making continued progress harder.

3. When you’re in a large deficit, it’s common to lose more muscle mass which ultimately decreases your metabolism in the long haul. This makes gaining weight in the future easier AND with the loss of muscle mass, you’re not going to get the physique you’re looking for.

That’s why a smaller deficit is best.

Setting Up Your Diet

Now that you have your daily calorie goal, you need to set up your diet to ensure you get the best results possible.

These are the baseline (minimum) requirements I aim for:

• 0.8 - 1.0 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to build/maintain muscle throughout the process.

• 0.3 grams of fat per pound of bodyweight to ensure proper hormone function.

• The remaining calories can be used as desired for carbs, more fats, or more protein.

Using my example above:

• Daily Calorie Goal: 3000 - 500 = 2500 daily calories

• Daily Protein Goal: 180 x 0.8 = 150 grams of protein

• Daily Fat Goal: 180 x 0.3 = 54 grams of fat

• Remaining Calories To Use: 2500 - 1200 (calories from fat & protein requirements) = 1300 calories for whatever

Do the same calculations for yourself and keep in mind:

• 1 gram of protein = 4 calories

• 1 gram of fat = 9 calories

• 1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories

As long as you hit these goals you’ll be golden, but in terms of everything you should eat…

You want to be eating real, whole foods.

There is a huge connection between what you eat and how you feel and perform. Yet most people never experience this because they can’t go more than a week without eating junk food.

Below is a list of foods I eat 90% of the time because I love the way it makes me feel & perform.

This list isn’t complete or consists of the only foods you should eat, it’s what I stick to because I enjoy convenience and eat primarily for performance.

The other 10% of the time I’m eating whatever I want. Whether it’s going out to eat, enjoying a treat, or whatever it may be, I’m someone who wants balance in my life.

So now you know how much to eat and what to eat, you need to keep track of this somehow.

I recommend buying a food scale and downloading an app to track your intake.

There is often huge resistance to tracking intake but it’s one of the best ways to learn. Track your intake for 6 months and you’ll be able to eyeball anything and have a good idea of how much protein and total calories are sitting in front of you.

It’s worth your time and only takes a couple of minutes per day.

Your food scale doesn’t matter, buy whatever you’d like.

For an app to track your daily intake, I recommend the following:

1. Carbon Diet Coach

2. MyMacros+

3. Cronometer

4. MyFitnessPal

Any of these will work.

Embrace that it might be hard initially but I’ve worked with 150+ clients in the past 2 years and those who track their calories learn the most and see the best progress.

Daily Activity Requirements

The key to successful and permanent fat loss is to develop a daily standard to uphold with your diet, training, and activity levels.

When you have this, it gives you a predictable baseline to follow daily to know exactly what’s going on with your weight and what you need to change to see continued progress.

The baseline to aim for:

1. Set a daily step goal. If you’re currently averaging 4000 steps per day, doubling this could burn a couple hundred extra calories per day. Aim to consistently increase steps until you’re at a healthy baseline between 8-10k a day.

2. Find a training program to follow for the next 12 weeks. I find that 3-5 sessions per week is the sweet spot for me. Focus on dialing in training quality and not just going through the motions when you get to the gym (I’ll create a guide on this in the future and link it here).

That’s all you need for daily activity to get started. I recommend getting a wearable to track your steps:

• FitBit

• Garmin

• Apple Watch

Anything that tracks steps works.

Tying It All Together

At this point, you know how much to eat, what you should be eating, and how much to move on a daily basis.

Once you have these goals set, it’s all about taking daily action.

In this section, I’ll cover how I go about it and make adjustments to see continued progress.

On a daily basis I’ll do the following:

• Weigh in first thing in the morning after I go to the bathroom and before I drink any water.

• Hit my daily step goal

• Hit my daily calorie & protein goal

• Complete my training session (if not a rest day)

Additionally, I’ll take progress pictures 1-2 times per month.

I’ll follow this exact routine until I hit a plateau. This is a period of 7+ days where I’m seeing consistent weigh-ins on the scale (while still completing all the actions listed above).

When this occurs, I’ll take a progress picture and see if I notice any visual changes. If I do, I’ll change nothing.

If I don’t notice changes, here’s my standard protocol:

I’ll start with a refeed day where I eat at my maintenance calories (TDEE) or slightly above. The increase in calories and carbs can help flush your body of any water retention and get things moving again.

If 3-4 days after that I don’t notice progress, I’ll take further action by:

1. Increase Cardio: I normally keep my minimum steps per day at 10k and opt to add in zone 2 cardio. I’ll do 2-3 sessions per week of either incline treadmill walking for 30 minutes, rucking, or a zone 2 run as I’ve been getting into running the past 4 months.

2. Decrease Calories: It’s easier to move more than it is to eat less. I’ll decrease calories by 200-300 after I plateau following the addition of increased cardio.

3. Some combo of 1 & 2: The last option is to move a little more and eat a little less, I don’t usually opt for this but it’s an option.

Any of these combinations will work.

I’ll repeat this process until I reach my goal weight OR until I reach the point where it no longer makes sense for me to decrease calories or increase cardio (in terms of sustainability).

If I reach this point, I’ll eat at my maintenance calories for 4-6 weeks and then jump back into a weight loss phase until I reach my goals.

A big part of fat loss and staying healthy long term is experimenting with what works best for you.

You should view the above guide as the foundations of health, but how you choose to fulfill them is completely up to you.

Experiment for a few months, make adjustments, and with enough time you’ll create a system of your own that makes getting and staying in shape almost effortless for you.

The most important part is you’re consistent.

It’s truly a lifestyle and there is no one right way to do it.

Looking Ahead

I’m going to be posting at least 1x per week, the first few posts will be free and then I’ll start implementing the paid posts where I’ll offer programs, in-depth guides, and content that will help you take your health to the next level.

The idea for the next post is a Training 101 guide for beginners, but you never know what might come next.

If you have ideas on what you’d like to see next, feel free to comment below.