Avoid Crash Diets…

People want to get lean yesterday.

They rush the process.

The temptation is to cut calories hard and get the fat loss over with.

I remember doing that.

I pushed the diet hard.

Drastically cut calories and lived in the gym.

Didn’t work out well for me.

The problem with drastically cutting calories is that it isn’t sustainable.

You will gain that weight back eventually.

It’s also possible you will lose muscle.

Or not get enough nutrients.

It can kill your libido as well.

Then, a few binge meals can wipe away a week of dieting.

There’s actually a study that looked at this.

This study looked at 4 groups over a 6-month period.

• Control Group
• CR Group: 25% calorie restriction
• CR+EX Group: 25% calorie restriction + 25% energy expenditure with exercise
• LCD Group: Low calorie diet of 890 calories per day

Here were the findings.

Both the Calorie Restricted group and Low Calorie Diet group, were burning significantly fewer calories at months 3 and months 6 compared to the other two groups.

Their metabolism slowed down, and they moved less.

They burned 454 fewer calories per day than the other two groups.

The CR+EX group did NOT experience this metabolic slowdown.

So a 25% decrease in calories and a 25% increase in energy expenditure created fat loss without getting the body into a negative place.

This is by far the best way to get lean.

You don’t want to drastically reduce your calories.

You also want to make sure you increase your physical activity a bit.

Reduce calories moderately while getting 10,000+ steps in.

This is the winning combo.

I think a good starting point for fat loss is to aim for a 400-calorie deficit per day.

Here’s how to figure that out.

Take body weight in pounds and multiply by 15. Subtract 400.

So if you are 180.

180 lbs male (x15) = 2700. -400 = 2300 calories per day. 

I’ve found the easiest way to reduce calories is by pushing your first meal back 4-5 hours after waking up.

Then eat the same thing for that first meal (lunch) each day.

Here’s what works well.

• Cup of coffee 1-2 hours after waking up
• Serving of Octane 1-2 hours after that
• Greek Yogurt, Kino Collagen or Kino Crispy, and piece of fruit for lunch
• Cup of coffee before workout
• Flexible with dinner, but can’t go wrong with Steak & Potatoes
• 300 calorie dessert of some sort before bed

I like to take The Mojo Stack with either dinner or lunch.

This works with very little willpower.

Coffee gets you alert.

Then, as soon as you feel a bit of hunger, Octane absolutely KILLS hunger while giving you steady energy and focus.

The lunch an hour or two later is light while providing protein.

Won’t make you sleepy like a big lunch, so you will continue being productive.

Coffee before working out will reactivate the L-theanine from the Octane you drank earlier in the day.

Energy, protein, and almost zero hunger.

This allows you to have a big dinner and things like cocktails a few nights a week while still hitting a moderate calorie deficit.

Also…

This approach doesn’t cost more.

Replace your current lunch with what I outlined above.

You will absolutely save money compared to preparing a lunch or buying lunch at a restaurant.

No excuses.

Try it!

Talk Soon,

Greg O’Gallagher