As part of my weight loss journey of losing nearly 30kg (66lbs), I've been playing with my food and exercise. The two things I kept pretty consistent during the past couple of years was the type of food I ate and my exercise frequency which has been 5 days a week of strength training and 10k steps per day.
Whole foods and exercise are a must
I've always focused on whole foods as well as eating 1g protein per pound of bodyweight which seems to be the gold standard recommendation for building muscle and getting leaner.
I've played with my fats vs carbs ratio and found everything seemed to work for weight loss, muscle and strength. As long as you're focusing on whole foods and exercise, what you eat within that boundary really comes down to what you prefer and what you can sustain long term.
Once a week I'll typically eat out and eat whatever I want and I'll occasionally drink alcohol. Gotta live a little!
I've played with my fats vs carbs ratio and found everything seemed to work for weight loss, muscle and strength. As long as you're focusing on whole foods and exercise, what you eat within that boundary really comes down to what you prefer and what you can sustain long term.
Once a week I'll typically eat out and eat whatever I want and I'll occasionally drink alcohol. Gotta live a little!
Why am I still talking about weight loss?
I'm at a point now where losing weight is less of the issue, but I'd like to reduce my body fat percentage (I've still got a few kgs of fat I'd like to remove). To accomplish this, my body needs to use the fat currently stored on my body and for that to happen, I need to incentivise my body to use the stored fat instead of the food I'm eating.
So this post is more about reducing body fat I suppose.
So this post is more about reducing body fat I suppose.
A calorie deficit is how I reduce body fat
From all my experimentation, the only way I lose body fat is to be in a calorie deficit. I've tried various calorie deficit numbers, fasting, and again, there are many many ways to do it. Some are sustainable, some are not, and most eventually plateau.
I want to share my experience with each method I've tried and what has worked for me. All worked to an extent but at the end of the day it comes down to sustainability, mainly to do with overcoming hunger and creating ways to not over eat.
I want to share my experience with each method I've tried and what has worked for me. All worked to an extent but at the end of the day it comes down to sustainability, mainly to do with overcoming hunger and creating ways to not over eat.
Calorie counting
For about 9 months I counted my calorie intake. Every day I religiously weighed and recorded what I ate to ensure I neither over ate or under ate. And yes, I lost weight when I put myself on a 500 calories deficit. This method suited me well as I'm a very disciplined individual and liked being in control.
The pros
The pros
- It makes it easier to "know" how much you're eating.
The cons
- The obsession with measuring and weighing everything.
- 100 calories of steak is very different to 100 calories of corn chips. You can use macros to help ensure you're eating the right calories if you have macro targets.
- I found I was perpetually hungry when doing the deficit as I never ate enough. Likely due to me eating 6 meals a day.
When I stopped and moved to intermittent fasting and intuitive eating (more on this below), it was only then I realised how much of a burden this type of calorie restriction is. It was however a helpful exercises to better understand how my body processed different foods.
My recommendation: Try it for a short period to better understand food.
Intermittent fasting
I had tried intermittent fasting in the past but never truly understood it. What brought it back to my attention was that I recently learned more about insulin and its role and how intermittent fasting can help your body reset better. So I thought I'd give it another shot and at the same time switch to "intuitive eating" (not counting calories, eating whole foods and stopping when I've had enough).
During my transition back to this, I ensured I became fat adapted as I was used to eating a lot of carbs so I made the switch to low carb (<50g a day) and higher fat to reduce hunger.
Here in order are the methods I tried.
16-8 intermittent fasting
This is what I'd done in the past and was an easy place to start. As part of my switch, I wanted to cut down my meals to 3 per day instead of the 5 meals I was eating when I calorie counted.
The issue right away was that I was still eating the same amount of food, just in a smaller window. Although my body had some time to rest and repair, I didn't lose any weight. I was fuelling myself with enough food that my body had no incentive to drop body fat.
Having such a large window didn't help in reducing total food intake.
2MAD (18-6 or 20-4 intermittent fasting)
After realising that 3 meals was too much food, I switched to 2 meals a day. This was totally doable as I only had to stretch out my eating window another 2-4 hours.
But again I just found I ate bigger meals, leading to the same food intake. I was tricking myself thinking that the more time my body was "eating itself" when I was fasting would counteract the amount I ate when I did. I was wrong.
36 hour fasts
The next thing I tried was doing a 36 hour fast once a week. The first few times I found it quite good and I would drop body fat really easily. I'm not eating anything after all. I was motivated and pushed through the hunger pangs. But as time went on, the harder it got. As a very active person, working a job and a dad with two kids and a wife, being grouchy was not helpful.
The fasting helped me build better mental resilience and understand the relationship with my body burning fat when I'm not eating enough food. But it wasn't sustainable.
OMAD (23-1 intermittent fasting)
Since the 36 hours fasts were getting a little tricky, I tried one meal a day, only eating dinner. But in terms of my mental state, it was worse than the 36 hour fast. The hour leading up to me eating until I'd finished my meal, I was extremely food focused and grouchy. I didn't talk much and just devoured my food. Again, not great with and active lifestyle, a job and a family.
I was also eating gigantic meals which again counteracted the fat burning.
During my transition back to this, I ensured I became fat adapted as I was used to eating a lot of carbs so I made the switch to low carb (<50g a day) and higher fat to reduce hunger.
Here in order are the methods I tried.
16-8 intermittent fasting
This is what I'd done in the past and was an easy place to start. As part of my switch, I wanted to cut down my meals to 3 per day instead of the 5 meals I was eating when I calorie counted.
The issue right away was that I was still eating the same amount of food, just in a smaller window. Although my body had some time to rest and repair, I didn't lose any weight. I was fuelling myself with enough food that my body had no incentive to drop body fat.
Having such a large window didn't help in reducing total food intake.
2MAD (18-6 or 20-4 intermittent fasting)
After realising that 3 meals was too much food, I switched to 2 meals a day. This was totally doable as I only had to stretch out my eating window another 2-4 hours.
But again I just found I ate bigger meals, leading to the same food intake. I was tricking myself thinking that the more time my body was "eating itself" when I was fasting would counteract the amount I ate when I did. I was wrong.
36 hour fasts
The next thing I tried was doing a 36 hour fast once a week. The first few times I found it quite good and I would drop body fat really easily. I'm not eating anything after all. I was motivated and pushed through the hunger pangs. But as time went on, the harder it got. As a very active person, working a job and a dad with two kids and a wife, being grouchy was not helpful.
The fasting helped me build better mental resilience and understand the relationship with my body burning fat when I'm not eating enough food. But it wasn't sustainable.
OMAD (23-1 intermittent fasting)
Since the 36 hours fasts were getting a little tricky, I tried one meal a day, only eating dinner. But in terms of my mental state, it was worse than the 36 hour fast. The hour leading up to me eating until I'd finished my meal, I was extremely food focused and grouchy. I didn't talk much and just devoured my food. Again, not great with and active lifestyle, a job and a family.
I was also eating gigantic meals which again counteracted the fat burning.
What's working for me today?
After my OMAD challenges, I'd switched back to 2MAD as that seemed to be the most sustainable for me. But the problem continued that it was easy to eat too much.
One day it clicked, OMAD was working well other than my grouchiness and the massive food quantity I was eating. I pondered to myself "I always seemed to be fine leading up to lunch time, so what if I just eat earlier in the day?" The benefits of this was I'd have a full belly when it was family time, and if I focused on high protein and high fat foods, it would mean I wouldn't have to eat as much and stay full longer.
And that's what I did. It's been working very well for me, I'm full after eating all the way until I go to bed, I'm content when the kids are home and sit there talking about our days when they eat their meal, and I don't have to eat so much because I focus on high protein and fat.
How do I make it through the mornings. Aside from black coffee, bulletproof coffee has also been something I've been using to keep my mind off hunger until 12-1pm so that's a great hack if you're a more active person who gets hungry in the morning. I do miss eating breakfast!
One day it clicked, OMAD was working well other than my grouchiness and the massive food quantity I was eating. I pondered to myself "I always seemed to be fine leading up to lunch time, so what if I just eat earlier in the day?" The benefits of this was I'd have a full belly when it was family time, and if I focused on high protein and high fat foods, it would mean I wouldn't have to eat as much and stay full longer.
And that's what I did. It's been working very well for me, I'm full after eating all the way until I go to bed, I'm content when the kids are home and sit there talking about our days when they eat their meal, and I don't have to eat so much because I focus on high protein and fat.
How do I make it through the mornings. Aside from black coffee, bulletproof coffee has also been something I've been using to keep my mind off hunger until 12-1pm so that's a great hack if you're a more active person who gets hungry in the morning. I do miss eating breakfast!
In summary
There is no right way to lose body fat, it just takes three things:
- Eat whole foods
- Exercise
- Eat less food than you burn (caloric deficit)
Once I hit my target body fat percentage (which is based more on aesthetics than a number), I'll eat more again so that I simply maintain that.
I'll write more if anything changes but this method is working well and still offers plenty of flexibility if I want to go out for lunch or dinner with friends and family. Key is to not become over religious and create flexibility that both allows you to stay focused on the goal and enjoy life.
-Ben