5 Proven Ways to Lose Fat When Nothing Seems To Work

When it comes to fat loss, it's easy to get confused. Google "fat loss" and you’ll net over seven million results. 

“Is intermittent fasting the way to go?”

“How about low-carb or carnivore?”

“Should I lift weights or do cardio?”

And while trends and hot topics come and go in the world of fitness, the real drivers of success lie in the execution of basic principles.

There is a common thread in all these articles and schools of thought, and I’m going to show you what it is.

These basic principles are the driving forces of fat loss (or gain) — no matter how the information is presented to you or marketed. I call them the five pillars of fat loss.

In the book The Power of Less, author Leo Babauta recommends defining your “Most Important Task,” (MIT). This means picking the one task that brings you closer to your goal each day. Using that same mindset, we’ll simplify fat loss. Cutting through the noise and focusing on what’s important day in, day out. 

I'm about to show you the MITs — or pillars - of fat loss. When in doubt, make sure your pillars are set and you’ll be well on your way to a summer six-pack.

1. Stay In A Caloric Deficit 

At the most simple level, the only thing that matters for fat loss is staying in a caloric deficit. You must eat fewer calories than you burn through the day or you won’t lose fat. Obviously, we take in calories through food, so the number one way to improve fat loss is to put the fork down and focus on minimally processed, high-quality food.

In addition, we burn calories through our basal metabolic rate — that’s the amount of calories used for maintaining the basic human functions needed to survive, move, digest, etc. 

Caloric deficit = Calories consumed < Calories burned

The easiest way to stay in a caloric deficit is to determine your caloric needs and stay in a small deficit. There dozens of equations to find your maintenance, but I like to keep it simple by multiplying the body weight in pounds by 11. For example, a 150-pound man would need to eat 1,650 calories to maintain.  

As far as macros, an easy place to start is getting one gram of protein and one gram of carbohydrates per pound of body weight. A 150-pound man would need 150 grams of carbs and 150 grams of protein. Fats can make up the rest of the calories.

If you’re interested in having our of our world-class coaches find out exactly how much you need to eat and create a custom plan to simplify fat loss for you, head here.

2. Eat High-Quality Food 

There is a tendency in the nutrition world for fitness pros to post pictures of themselves eating doughnuts and say, “look at me, I can eat doughnuts and stay lean!” While it’s okay to indulge occasionally, you need to spend 90 percent of your time eating whole, minimally processed foods. As author Michael Pollan puts it, “Don't eat anything incapable of rotting.” Or, "Eat real food, mostly plants, and not too much. The message is the same: Focus on eating a variety of fruits and vegetables (eat the rainbow) and lean protein. Spend most of your time shopping the perimeter alleys of the grocery store.

3. Exercise

It's much easier to lose fat by putting the fork down than crushing another 45 minutes of cardio. During fat loss, the primary goals of exercising are to preserve your strength, lean muscle, and hormone levels. That’s it. All the fancy “body fat incinerator circuits” won’t cut body fat if your diet isn’t on point. It’s a little more complicated than that, but for the most part, keep exercising to maintain your muscle mass while you lose fat. You can get a sample fat loss workout here.

4. Hydrate 

Hydration is important for every aspect of your health, performance — and it also helps you lose fat.

In case you need a reminder, hydration is involved in most body functions:  

• Transportation of chemicals to and from cells
• Cell hydration
• Maintenance of body temperature
• Elimination of toxins
• Aids in metabolic and digestive processes
• Moisturizes and protects joints

The main reasons dehydration has an adverse effect on exercise can be summarized as follows:

• A decrease in blood volume and blood flow
• Decreased heat dissipation and removal of wastes from exercise
• Decreased metabolism and increased organ stress — ouch
• Decrease body temperature
• Decreased sweat rate

To summarize it: ouch. Dehydration sucks, and you probably don’t drink enough water. It’s preventing optimal cognitive function, health, and slowing down your metabolism.

Make this your rule going forward: Drink half of your body weight (in pounds) in ounces of water. That means a 210-pound man should aim to drink at least 105 ounces of water.

5. Be Consistent  

Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno once said, “One thing you have to remember is consistency. You can't make up for three years of eating poorly in just one workout.”

It’s true — consistency separates the winners from the losers.

That’s why sudden crash diets like the ones you see on TV don’t work over the long-term.

To stay consistent on your fat loss diet means you’ll have to stay prepared, eating healthy and working out on a regular basis to get lean. And it takes time. 

The best practice to stay consistent with your eating is tracking your nutrition through an app like MyFitnessPal. Besides the knowledge and awareness you’ll gain through dietary tracking, you’ll also develop a renewed sense of accountability: Most of us know what healthy food choices and unhealthy choices are. But by consciously taking note, you’ll reinforce your habits. 

You don’t need to choke down rice cakes, chicken, and broccoli and stick to a miserably strict diet all the time. But you do need to be honest with yourself and stay accountable to reach your goals. 

Are you looking for a simple, sustainable, and time-tested method to get lean, have more energy, and perform your best?

Grab our popular “One Hour Body” guide to for a sustainable approach to getting lean, having more energy, and performing your best physically and mentally:  One Hour Body