5 Rules for Fat Loss Nutrition: Part 1 of 4
VIDEO: Fat Loss For Idiots Part 1: Nutrition
In our never-ending quest to make the road to health and hotness as simple as possible but not any simpler, today I’d like to share with you some of the most fundamental and important principles for fat loss.
In the first of four parts of our Fat Loss for Idiots series, we’ll address some nutrition basics. While both training and nutrition serve a purpose, nutrition is of the utmost importance in getting your ass glitter-thong-ready for the summer months. Unfortunately, fat loss is often made more complicated than it needs to be, so today I’d like to gently steer you to the shit that really matters.
So before we begin, let me be clear: I do NOT think you’re an idiot. I think you’re fucking awesome. I merely love you so much I want to make this “as simple as possible but not any simpler.”
That’s a quote from this guy. He was not an idiot.
Stick to these 5 rules and you’ll be nailing it!
RULE 1: Don’t try to out-train your diet. Seriously though.
The first rule of Fat Loss for Idiots is that you can’t out-train your diet. Period. It’s just not gonna happen.
We’ve all tried it right? We’ve all accidentally eaten pizza after we inadvertently drank seven beers and then punished ourselves with an hour of cardio a day while holding our fat rolls on the treadmill or elliptical in a bizarre mea culpa. (Sadly, traditional cardio isn’t even the most effective choice for fat loss.) While our hearts are in the right place (… sorta), it just doesn’t work.
You can only burn so many calories while training. While there’s a lot of debate as to exactly how much you can burn, we can all agree it’s approximately “not as much as we want.” If we reward ourselves for our workout with some french fries, we’ve generally undone all the work we did.
I will concede that folks brand new to the health and hotness lifestyle will often lose a few pounds if they’ve chosen a decent fat loss training modality. And for behavorial change reasons, I don’t mind folks just starting off by adding training, then looping nutrition into the mix later.
But sooner or later, optimal health and hotness will be profoundly affected by nutrition. The very first thing we need to own in our hearts is that we cannot out-train our diet!
Fat Loss for Idiots Takeaway: Don’t try to do with your training what you’re failing to do with your diet. Abs are made in the kitchen!!
RULE 2: Consume less energy than you use.
Ah, the joys of science. Due to the pesky law of thermodynamics, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Consequently, the second rule of Fat Loss for Idiots is: you’ve got to burn more energy than you’re consuming.
Science rules.
You basically have two choices on the path to fat loss: you can count calories OR you can make food choices based on principles. In a future article and video, I’ll go into more detail about the specifics, but both paths have some pros and cons that must be weighed against your personal preferences.
Now this is where folks will sometimes say things like “counting calories doesn’t work.” L to the O to the LZ. Is counting calories a pain in the ass? Yup! Does everyone NEED to count calories to get leaner? Nope! But can it be useful in a lot of situations? Hundreds of Ninjas’ success stories suggest it can.
If you’re successful in your fat loss efforts, you’ve found a way to consume less calories than you’re burning to maintain your current body weight. The reason the body will burn its own fat stores is because it needs to get that energy somewhere. If it’s not getting it from your diet, it’ll get it from your love handles. Hooray!
Now we’re keeping it simple here. The Fat Loss for Idiots approach means getting into a caloric deficit (less calories consumed than burned), but there are some other factors.
The quality of your food will very likely affect the speed of your fat loss (not to mention your health; it’s not as fun to be hot if you’re diseased). Furthermore, the human body is not a closed system. Undiagnosed allergies or hormonal issues will also have an impact on that once your body’s consumed some energy from food. But in keeping it simple, creating a deficit is indeed our biggest rock for fat loss.
Fat Loss For Idiots Takeaway: Consuming less calories than your body needs to maintain it’s current body weight is non-negotiable for fat loss success.
More to love!
Alright Ninjas, there you have the first part of our Fat Loss for Idiots nutrition principles. Don’t forget to check out Part 2!