Fat Loss Cheat Codes I Know At 43 That I Wish I Knew At 23
Sep 05, 2023
The High Performance Journal​ - September 5th 2023
I've been coaching for 20+ years and have worked with thousands of clients in person and online.
I've learned a few things along the way. In this article, I hope to teach you a few "cheat codes" I've learned from my years of being in the trenches.
The way to approach this list is to pick a few that speak to you and take action on them.
Knowledge turns into wisdom when it's applied.
With that being said here are...
Fat Loss Cheat Codes I Know at 43 I Wish I Knew At 23
- Drink your food. You want to chew your food so often that it turns into liquid in your mouth. This is one of the most important stages of digestion that will help you eat slower and improve your energy levels.
- Your workouts should focus more on lifting weights than cardio. Doing cardio while dieting helps you lose weight. Lifting weights while dieting helps you burn fat. Fat loss helps you build and maintain your metabolism. Weight loss can do the opposite.
- Follow the Golden Trifecta of fat loss: Protein intake + weight lifting + being in a calorie deficit. This is the formula you want to use when getting lean.
- Set a deadline or a target weight. If you don't do either one of these you won't know when to stop. This can lead to a never-ending struggle to lose weight and force you back to where you were before.
- Aim to lose up to 10% of your body weight at a time. This helps you avoid the hormonal changes that happen when you drop weight. If you've got more (ie. 50+ lbs) you can break this rule and aim to lose 15-20%.
- Eat at least .8 to 1g of protein per pound of body weight. This will help you build and retain muscle.
- When lifting use progressive overload​. This is the act of doing more in the gym. The simplest way is to aim for a 2-5% improvement in either the weight you lift or the total volume performed in an exercise.
- Use walking to curb stress eating. This is for people who can't seem to control their food intake when they get home from work. Binge eating after work is usually a stress response. The simplest way to mitigate this is to take a 15-20 minute walk without your phone outside in nature right after you're done with your work day.
- ​Eat to 80% fullness​. You don't need to eat to the point of being stuffed. Eat to a level where your fullness level is at an 8 out of 10. This helps you self-regulate your calories and eat more naturally for your body.
- Use a protein shake as a meal replacement. This is for people on the go. Do a double-scoop protein shake as a simple meal replacement to get the protein you need while filling yourself up.
- Create a supershake by adding a serving of psyllium husk, greens, and creatine to your protein shakes. Psyllium husk increases fiber intake and has been shown to lead to healthy cholesterol levels. Greens increase your nutrient intake. Creatine is a net positive for your muscles and brain.
- Find your circadian schedule of eating​ and stick to it. Doing this self-regulates your hunger and becomes a way of signaling your circadian rhythms throughout the day.
- Front-load your workouts. Backload your calories. Front loading means doing your workouts earlier in the day so they get done. Backloading means saving the bulk of your calorie intake for later in the day.
- Stop eating at least 3 to 5 hours before going to bed. This helps improve digestion, improves sleep quality, and gives you a hard stop to curb nighttime eating.
- Drink a glass of water before and after a meal. This helps improve your feelings of fullness afterward and can prevent extra bites after you've eaten.
- Stop distracting yourself when eating. This makes you ignore your signals for satiety and digestion. It also gives your brain 2 pleasure signals, which means twice the dopamine release from one meal.
- Keep some raw veggies around you just in case you need to snack. If you need to eat raw veggies, it is probably a sign you're hungry.
- Use smaller plates when eating meals. People who eat smaller dishes have reported greater satiety and, as a result, lower caloric intake.
- Wait at least 20 minutes after a meal before eating again. It takes around 20 minutes for your body to signal to your brain that you're full. Set a timer and in the meantime stay busy.
- Aim to get more of these nutrients in your diet to eat less and be more satisfied. An analysis of 111,906 days of food diaries from forty thousand people found these nutrients to be the most important when it comes to eating less and being more satisfied with your meals:
- Protein
- Potassium,
- Fiber
- Sodium
- Vitamin B5
- Folate
- Drink water with electrolytes first thing in the morning before coffee. After a night of sleeping your body is dehydrated. Dehydration can lead to low energy, mood issues, and increased hunger. Drinking water with electrolytes (in powder form or in sea salt) helps you rehydrate your body for the day ahead.
- Think of healthy eating as a ratio, instead of an event. A good ratio is to get 80% of your calories from whole unprocessed sources & 20% from whatever you want. This keeps the diet flexible and more sustainable for long-term results.
- If you've been struggling to get lean get support. ​Coaching​ is the fastest way to get to your lean body goals. Having an expert guide you, keep you accountable, and help you navigate the eventual twists and turns can help you get in shape 2-3x faster than doing it on your own. When in doubt, invest in yourself and coaching.
Fat Loss is a Game. These Are Your Cheat Codes.
I'm sure I have more but I'll stop right there. These are a good number of the little "cheat codes" I've learned from my years of coaching.
Again, the idea is not to take action on the whole list simultaneously. Choose a few at a time and apply it to your life.
The most successful people don't just read. They take immediate action.
Which ones are you going to do?
Onwards and upwards 🚀
- Dan
Whenever you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:
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