The 7 Laws of Fat Loss: The Commandments You Need to Get Shredded

We live in an age of Google gurus and social media smarty pants (yeah, I did that for the alliteration). Anyone and everyone can put their opinions out into the ether and call themselves experts. From Instagram “coaches” to online “nutritionists,” there truly is a conglomeration of misinformation being shared with many young hopeful physique athletes and people just trying to get into shape.

In the years that I’ve been in this industry, my ideas have changed as my knowledge expands, and one thing that I will say as 100 percent fact is that the more I know, the more I realize I don’t know.

Since earning my masters degree in exercise and nutrition science from the University of Tampa, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many individuals, from professional athletes to soccer moms and many others in between. What I’ve found is that there are a few key guidelines (we’ll call them laws) that if you stick to, you’ll lose fat and improve your body composition.

Law #1. Be in a Calorie Deficit

My graduate research was on the ketogenic diet. I spent a full year researching, studying, and exploring every facet of the diet. I was blessed to work with some of the brightest minds in that field. Unfortunately, many in that camp (none that I worked with, however) say you can eat more than you burn and lose weight. Unfortunately, that’s scientifically inaccurate, and anyone who tells you that you can lose weight without being in a calorie deficit is selling you snake oil, plain and simple. The number one law of fat loss is to consistently be in a calorie deficit; oxidize more substrate than you take in. When you plateau, the idea is to either decrease input (food) or increase output (exercise). If you do this, you’ll lose weight.

Law #2. Stay Consistent

Consistency is my number two law. No, it’s not scientific, and it’s not going to blow your mind, but I’d venture a guess that half of the industry doesn’t practice this law. Stay consistent with your training and your intake. You can’t confuse a muscle, and you can’t confuse your fat. If you want to lose weight, don’t cut calories too quickly; start with a 250- to 500-calorie deficit from where you’re eating when you aren’t losing weight, play that chord until you plateau, and then make another slight food decrease or increase your cardio until you start to lose weight again at that number. The key here is to understand that you won’t be ripped in a month. The cover models you see on magazines have been consistent for years. If you want this to be a lifestyle, stay consistent and stay smart. Losing weight is a mix of consistency, dedication, discipline, and desire. Think about why your friends on the fad diets have lost 20 pounds and gained 30 back; there’s no lasting shortcut to fat-loss success. It all comes down to being consistent with your training and your diet.

Law #3. Prioritize Protein Intake

Ah, protein—everyone’s favorite macronutrient; and for good reason. When you’re looking to lose body fat, my guess is you don’t want to lose muscle mass, eh? You’re in luck—protein preserves lean mass during phases of decreased calorie intake.[1] When you’re looking to lose fat, prioritize protein! Protein has some obvious benefits but some not-so-obvious ones as well; it has the highest rate of thermogenesis in the body (burns the most calories to digest), and it’s the most satiating macronutrient. The hierarchy for macronutrient-induced satiation efficiency is similar to that observed for diet-induced thermogenesis: Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, followed by carbohydrates, and fat is the least satiating.[2] So basically, protein helps you preserve lean mass, burns the most calories being digested, and keeps you fuller longer, which are all pretty solid factors when wanting to lose body fat. But how much protein? This is a pretty controversial topic, but I do still err on the side of higher protein. Research showed in 2014 that consuming 5.5 times the RDA of protein in a hypercaloric diet didn’t result in an increase in body fat.[3] And in a 2015 followup study, high protein intake actually correlated with a higher decrease in fat mass and body fat percentage.[4] Now I’m not saying to eat five times as much protein as recommended, but it seems that more protein won’t hinder your progress and may even push it along. For natural athletes, my recommendation is based on research that calls for a more moderate approach at 2.3 to 3.1 grams per kilogram of fat-free mass.[5] Or we could make it really easy, and you can just eat one gram per pound of body weight. Either way is a safe approach.

Law #4. Don’t Fear Fat

Unfortunately, dietary fat consumption has been demonized in our society for years, whereas in reality, if you’re a bodybuilder, physique athlete, or average Joe looking to shed a few pounds, fat can 100 percent be used to your advantage. With fat having twice the amount of calories per gram than protein and fat, I understand the reasoning behind dropping fat to lose fat; it’s a lot easier to drop 250 to 500 calories from fat than it is from carbs, at least from a food intake point of view. But from an energy point of view, it would be ridiculous not to utilize fat. Our bodies hold just around 2,000 to 2,500 calories of carbohydrate in our muscle and liver and hold around 40,000 calories of fat. During a weight-loss phase, you probably won’t deplete your glycogen stores too often, but that being said, if I’m looking to lose weight and not feel like absolute garbage, I’m eating fat to utilize as energy on low days. I could get very scientific here, because I hear some of you right now saying “Wrong!”but I’ll spare you the details and move on. Basically, while short-term dietary intervention studies show that low-fat diets lead to weight loss in both healthy and overweight individuals, it’s less clear if a reduction in fat intake is more efficacious than other dietary restrictions in the long term.[6] Many studies have shown a high-fat diet is more advantageous, and many have shown the opposite. I’m right smack dab in the middle. I suggest eating somewhere between 30 and 35 percent of your calories as fat, and I do sit on the side of the fence of not mixing a high-fat and high-carb meal if you have the option not to. So don’t fear fat. It helps you burn fat and can keep you going longer in the gym.

Law #5. Let Carbs Be Your Friend

Unless you’re on a full-out ketogenic diet in full ketosis, glucose is going to be your body’s main source of energy during the day. Carbs are your friends, and no, eating carbs after 6 p.m. doesn’t make you fat. There’s a reason I didn’t demonize carbohydrates in the last law, and the reason is that carbs andfatsandproteins all help you lose body fat (See law #1). It’s key when you’re dropping body fat that you have the energy to get through workouts without hitting a wall, and when you’re utilizing carbohydrates as fuel, it’s important to be taking them in around your workout. During a dieting phase, as I said above, I’m an advocate of not mixing your carbs and fats. Let me explain here further. The general consensus in the scientific literature is that the body can oxidize 1 to 1.1 gram of carbohydrate per minute or about 60 grams per hour.[7] That being said, the type of carbohydrate and ingestion with fat affects the oxidation of the carbohydrate. In lay terms, a Pop-Tart and Gatorade digest faster than oats and peanut butter. Quite simply, I recommend eating anywhere between 30 and 70 grams of carbohydrate before your workout with a similar consumption afterward. This will all depend on your total calories and macronutrient distribution, but pre-workout carbohydrate ingestion will give your body the push it needs. In my opinion, the goal of carbohydrate ingestion should be to fuel your workout in a dieting phase, so eat your carbs around your workout if you can. If you can’t, don’t stress, I’ll explain in the next law.

Law #6. Track Your Macronutrients

All diets work.[8] Realistically when it comes down to it, reduced-calorie diets result in significant weight loss regardless of the distribution of macronutrients. That being said, if your goal is to lose body fat, the amount of energy (calories) you consume has to be less than the energy (calories) out. The energy we consume comes from the three macronutrients I talked about above. Protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram, and fat has 9 calories per gram. To know exactly what you’re eating, you need to track your food. A fistful of rice and a palm-sized piece of meat isn’t really enough to efficiently lose body fat. Can you do it that way? Sure. But I’m a data guy; I want to know what works and what doesn’t, so I definitely believe tracking your food leads to a more efficient dieting phase—maybe not more effective, but certainly more efficient. So no matter the composition of your diet, track it. If you’re not losing weight at the calories and macronutrient targets you’re currently taking in, drop fat, carbs, or a mix of both a few hundred calories or so until you do lose weight again, it’s pretty simple, so just do it.

Law #7. Use Cardio as a Tool

Cardio isn’t a necessity for everyone who wants to lose body fat, but it definitely should be used as a tool. For the most part, as I’ve said in the last six laws, a calorie deficit is really the way you’ll lose weight. Balance out your macros, don’t demonize one food, and be consistent, and you’ll lose weight. In all reality, weight training will give you the cardiovascular stimulus you need to push the calories, and it also has the added benefit of protecting your hard-earned lean mass. That being said, losing body fat can get tough as you lean out, and cardio can and should be used when a fat-loss plateau occurs. I usually start with zero cardio with my clients and focus on the food and resistance training, knowing that we have the cardio card to play at a later date. Once you’ve hit that plateau, adding a session of cardio can work wonders. Now should you do HIIT or LISS? My answer is “yes.” HIIT and LISS can both be very beneficial. Sure HIIT training can increase testosterone and induce greater 24-hour mitochondrial biogenesis (greater energy expenditure), but some people can’t handle it, especially those who are deep into their fat-loss phase. Your joints can’t handle it, and in most cases, our focus should be on the resistance training to maintain as much mass as possible, and HIIT can definitely hinder your resistance bouts. I also run into many people who don’t know what going all-out is. They don’t understand doing 100 percent for 10 to 30 seconds, and they don’t get the full benefits of the cardio but with the added risk of injury and a possible negative effect on their resistance training. In that case, adding in a few hundred calories of LISS cardio could be massively beneficial. Especially for someone is food-motivated. If said person continues to drop food to hit a calorie deficit, she or she is at a higher risk of binge eating, or just absolutely hating life, which, in my opinion, is far worse. So, use cardio as a tool in your tool belt, but don’t hammer it home until you absolutely need it.

So there you have it: the seven laws of fat loss. Are there more? Sure. Could I be 100 percent wrong? That’s your opinion and for you to decide. But what I will say is that if you’re in a calorie deficit, stay consistent, prioritize protein, balance your carbs and fat, track your macronutrients, and make slight adjustments based on your weight, and utilize cardio as a tool, and you’ll lose fat. That’s a promise.

            Can you really argue that?

If you enjoyed this article, don't miss the inspirational story of John Cardillo the premier fitness expert at this link.

Scientific References 

[1]Pesta DH, Samuel VT. A high-protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats.Nutr Metab (Lond). 2014 Nov 19;11(1):53.

[2]Soenen S, Westerterp-Plantenga MS. Proteins and satiety: implications for weight management. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2008;11:747–751. 

[3]Antonio J, Peacock CA, Ellerbroek A, Fromhoff B, Silver T. The effects of consuming a high protein diet (4.4 g/kg/d) on body composition in resistance-trained individuals. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2014 May 12;11:19.

[4]Antonio J, Ellerbroek A, Silver T, Orris S, Scheiner M, Gonzalez A, Peacock CA. A high protein diet (3.4 g/kg/d) combined with a heavy resistance training program improves body composition in healthy trained men and women--a follow-up investigation. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2015 Oct 20;12:39.

[5]Helms ER, Zinn C, Rowlands DS, Brown SR. A systematic review of dietary protein during caloric restriction in resistance trained lean athletes: a case for higher intakes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2014 Apr;24(2):127-38.

[6]Pirozzo S1, Summerbell C, Cameron C, Glasziou P. Should we recommend low-fat diets for obesity? Obes Rev. 2003 May;4(2):83-90.

[7]Kerksick CM, Arent S, Schoenfeld BJ, et al. International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017 Aug 29;14:33.

[8]Kinsell LW, Gunning B, Michaels GD, et al. Calories do count. Metabolism. 1964 Mar;13:195-204.