Getting results takes time and consistency. There is absolutely no way around that, but if you try any of these 3 strategies, I can almost guarantee that you are going to start seeing results faster than if you didn't try. So if you're looking to start seeing some results quicker, or need a little boost to push past a plateau, check these out.
Limit Your Alcohol Consumption
Alcohol consumption is easily one of, if not the main reason why most people don't see the results they want to see while trying to lose weight.
See, the thing with alcohol is that it is metabolized differently than anything else our bodies metabolize. As soon as alcohol enters our body, it becomes the primary source of fuel until all of it has been metabolized. Pending the individual, and how much alcohol has been consumed in one sitting, it can take up to, or more than 12 hours for the body to metabolize all of it.
Now our bodies utilize carbohydrates, fats, and excess body fat as primary fuel sources when alcohol is not present in the body. But as soon alcohol enters the body these fuel sources get set aside, which becomes extremely problematic for anyone who is trying to lose weight. The alcohol essentially "pauses" the fat burning process until all of the alcohol has been utilized as fuel. So even if you are in a caloric deficit, you will not burn excess body fat if you have alcohol in your system. Read that again. This can become a compounding problem as well, especially for anyone who is consuming multiple drinks, multiple times per week.
Now I'm not saying that you can't lose weight if you drink alcohol. But I am saying that it will slow the process down immensely, and in some cases "pause" the process entirely for extended periods of time. Consider this, if you have 4 beers on a Friday night, it may take up to 36 hours for all of that alcohol to be processed, meaning you may go all of Saturday, and into Sunday without utilizing anything else except alcohol as a fuel source. Over those 36 hours, everything you eat is going to be stored as body fat. Add another drink or two on Saturday night and you're just prolonging the process even further.
Moral of the story here is, if you're serious about losing weight and you decide to continue consuming alcohol, you're going to make very slow progress, if you make progress at all. Even if you have your diet nailed down.
Follow a High Intensity Strength & Hypertrophy Program
Strength & Hypertrophy Training is proven to be the most effective training protocol for building lean muscle mass and losing body fat. So why is it more effective than Running or more popular forms of exercise like HIIT?
The answer is simple. Strength & Hypertrophy Training requires the body to recover harder than any other form of exercise. It's the recovery process that your body must go through that will produce the desired body composition results that your want. This recovery process is known as EPOC, or Excess Post Oxygen Consumption.
EPOC is the process of our cells consuming oxygen to recover from the stress applied from our training. When applied correctly, a high intensity strength & hypertrophy program will produce an environment within the body where our cells will be recovering from training for an extended period of time. During this time domain our cells consume oxygen, the consumption of oxygen requires fuel, and our bodies get that fuel from excess body fat. So even while we are not training our bodies are burning calories, burning body fat, and pushing the needle closer to our body composition goals.
But Running and HIIT can be effective means for losing weight as well right? That's the thing, they can be, but they aren't the most effective, and let me tell you why. When we perform long distance, low intensity cardio we are building our aerobic system, we're only burning calories while performing this activity. The intensity at which you work will not result in high enough levels of stress applied to the body to result in long periods of recovery post exercise. The same goes for HIIT. Even though HIIT routines require higher intensities, they still predominately work the aerobic system. You will burn calories while exercising, but you won't require much time to recover post exercise. Both of these options can be performed multiple times per day if you really were inclined to do so. But think about hitting the gym and strength training twice per day, do you really think you can effectively Back Squat heavy weights twice in 24 hours or less?
Why do you think it's recommended to rest 24-48 hours between muscle groups when effectively strength training? All because of recovery and EPOC.
Not sure where to start with a strength & hypertrophy program? Check out BuildRx today and get 7 days absolutely free.
Simplify Your Diet
Nutrition guidelines have become so overwhelming and saturated with extremes that simple, easy, effective practices are being overlooked entirely. Everyone thinks you need to go carnivore and eat nothing but raw liver or if you aren't Keto you won't lose weight. Spit on that nonsense. I'm going to tell you exactly what you need to prioritize when it comes to eating, and you won't even need to count calories to start seeing progress.
Prioritize eating whole non-processed foods. Every meal you eat should include a protein, fat, and carbohydrate source. This is basically eating ingredients. You don't need to make fancy meal prepped meals, or be a 5 star Michelin Chef to do this.
Here are 5 food items for each Macro Nutrient that you should have available at all times:
Protein:
Chicken Breast
Beef/Steak
Ground Turkey
Ground Beef
Eggs
Fats:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Butter
Avocado
Peanut Butter
Light Cream
Carbohydrates:
Vegetables - Broccoli, Green Beans, Cauliflower, Peppers, Carrots
Fruits - Strawberries, Apples, Banana, Oranges, Pineapple
Sweet Potato
Black Beans
Zucchini
Now all you have to do is choose one item from each category for every single meal you eat during the day. I'll show you how simple it really is if I were to eat Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
Breakfast:
Fried Eggs
Avocado
Sweet Potato
Lunch:
Ground Beef
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Strawberries
Dinner:
Steak
Carrots
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
So you're probably wondering how much of each of these items you should consume in each meal. This is entirely based on your current body type and gender. If you want to see exactly how I do it and how I teach members on the TrainRx Performance Programming Platform check out my Nutrition & Meal Planning Guide for serving sizes, over 75 sample meals & snacks, and grocery lists for easy food shopping.
A Note from Rick
One single thing won't work for every single person out there. But if you're looking for results, and just can't seem to make the progress you want with the work you're currently doing, then I highly recommend trying at least one of the strategies listed above. And when you try it, be as consistent as you possibly can, be honest with yourself about your performance, and if you need to do better, don't give up because "it's not working". Take responsibility for it and you're going to be very happy with the results you get.
Coach Rick
