Weightloss For Blockheads

So as you know I always advise for people to follow an exact amount of calories calculated to a certain deficit from your maintenance, Then from there track your calories daily.

But today I'm going to give those who refuse to do this an easy way to lose weight without doing this.

I'm sure you've heard most of this stuff before, but whatever, maybe one more time of hearing it will help round out your blockhead...BLOCKHEAD!



1) Eat real food

I'm not going to tell you there is good food and bad food. Because there isn't really.

I will tell you why real food is looked at good and why other foods are seen as bad.

Real food has less calories. Processed food has more calories.

Real food is more filling. Processed food is less filling.

Real food has more nutrients. Processed food has less nutrients.



If you log your calories you can make room for fun foods like candy and cereal, but since this is for people who want a no logging life here you go.

2) Eat a lot of protein

Protein is the most filling of all foods.

Protein is highly thermic so 20% of it burns off anyway.

Protein helps you build muscle that burns more calories and makes you look lean and become stronger.


3) Cut down the fat

Protein has fat so the leaner the better.

Fat is highly caloric so a little fat goes a long way.

Don't avoid it as it is good for you, just eat a smaller amounts of it.

Again if you log your calories you can follow an exact amount and know if you're eating too much or too little.



4) Eat less carbs and No snacks

Carbs aren't bad. I eat a lot of them. They're often unnecessarily demonized.

The reason I say to eat less, is they're the easiest food to overeat.

You couldn't snack on ribeye, you can't snack on sticks of butter, but you could easily snack on chips and pretzels all day.



Take away carbs and you won't be snacking and they're the most heavily processed food as well making most of them non-filling.

Usually is somone is stuck at a weight, cutting carbs fixes the problem.

5) Eat more vegetables

Packed with nutrients, almost devoid of calories, and very filling what else can I say other than have as much as you want.



6) Cut out soda

The only thing more amazing than how much weight you'll lose is how fast you'll lose it.



7) Drink lots of water

Fills you up, keeps you healthy, it's a no brainer. Carry around a large bottle and drink it every day to keep you accountable.



8) Lift Weights

Less injuries than running, more calories burned than running, better body than running, more strength built than running, fights osteoporosis rather than give you joint problems, it's obvious to lift weights over cardio.



9) Measure yourself weekly

If you weigh and measure weekly you have an idea of what you're doing is working or not.

Then you know whether to change your program.

Don't just use a scale though, use body fat calipers, the way you fit in clothes, and a mirror to measure your success.



10) Hang out with healthier people

You are who you hang out. You can't quit alcahol and keep your drinking buddies. Surround yourself with people better than you and it will make you better. And don't ever try to change others, inspire them accidentally.



My main problem is finding people better than me.

11) Have a cheat meal once in a while

Make sure you've earned it before you eat it. If you're gaining weight, you're already cheating.



12) Eat slower

It takes time for your stomach to catch up to your brain so the slower you eat the more time you have to realize how full you are before you overeat.




So that's it for this week. Hopefully you learned at least one new thing. If not, then why are you having problems. You obviously know everything. Don't be a blockhead and get it together. Seen you next week.

Beyond Fat Loss

We all know why we really lift weights and eat better. But here's some other stories of how lifting improves your life.

MARK

My friend an online client Mark Durmon got himself in the best shape of his life and found his new passion in life through fitness and nutrition.

He later got in a near fatal car wreck to where it was thought he may have to lose his legs.

Turned out he had built his legs to such a muscular level that he essentially saved his legs.

He's now working out in a wheelchair and slowly regaining strength in his legs.

In fact the doctor has just updated him that he can now put weight on one of his legs.


Luckily he didn't end up like this guy

LINDSEY

When she first started she had very bad knees. She couldn't do lunges, barely do any weight on leg press, Now she does heavy barbell squats with full range of motion, deadlifts, and every leg exercise there is.



LAURA

Most people bring up Laura's tremendous weight loss. What they don't know is, Laura's first day she wore a leg brace to class. Lifting weights fixed her injury so quickly people don't even remember her one time injury.


Not necessary for Laura anymore.


RANDY

Randy lost over 200 lbs and got in the best shape of his life. But it wasn't just aesthetic, People at his job were complaining about how heavy he was breathing and his job was being threatened. He couldn't even sleep unless he laid down in the correct positioning.



Those are just a few examples of what I've witnessed through my time training clients.

Simple Method to Getting Ripped

So those that have been keeping up with me know that I've used some of the more extreme diets to get lean fast.  But these are not necessary at all. You can eat moderately and have fun on the way there. I used them because I'm trying to get to a certain body fat as quickly as possible.

The problem with these diets, besides how brutal they are, is that they don't teach long term nutrition habits.  They actually do the opposite. As they make you never want to diet again, and they give you bad memories associated with your weight loss.

  Many people balloon back up after one of these diets. Same goes for over training. Ever watch Biggest Loser? Those people can't keep that kind of regimen long term. It's not practical. See Proof!

What about most of these outrageous diets give you the illusion of weight loss only to truly be ridding you of water and muscle weight. Just like getting sick and not eating for days. Basically the same thing except you're torturing your body on purpose this time.

Not to mention some people getting addicted to these extreme diets and never getting off of them.

But I digress. Let me instruct you on the basic way to get lean, preserve muscle and your mind, and do it at a steady pace.

K.I.S.S...Not those dudes
K.I.S.S. means:
"Keep It Simple Stupid"

1st: Find your caloric maintenance.
There's tons of formulas and online calculators that do this.  One of my favorites is the:

Katch McArdle Formula.

There's the old school method where you multiply your weight from a number between 12-15  based off of how active you are.  There's no 100% to say for certain. Bodies have different metabolisms. Bodies react to food and exercise differently.

Basically you have to experiment. Some guys like to start with 3000 calories per day and some women start with 1800 per day.  Anyway, just pick a starting point for getting to know yourself.  Now you're going to take 20% of that and it will be your amount of fat.

Fat is healthy and necessary.

The only problem with fat is it's calorie density. Fat is worth 9 calories whereas protein and carbs are only worth 4.

 =  4 calories

Protein, now, you need your protein.  The best way is to take your LBM (Lean Body Mass) and multiply it by 1.25-1.5.  Why so high?  Because you're on a deficit and want to retain as much muscle as possible.  Not to mention all the hardcore workouts you're doing. You're not the average human walking the streets. Though most could do with more walking.  Hiiiyyyooooo!!!!!!!

By the way, you obtain your LBM by subtracting your total fat from your body weight. You get your fat lbs from subtracting your body fat from your overall weight.

Now take your fat and protein calories. Remember that protein is worth 4 calories and fat is wroth 9. Subtract it from your total calories. That's how many carbs you need.

Measure yourself weekly.

Once you finally hit a plateau, you can subtract some calories. Maybe around 300. All from your carbs. Add some more cardio too.  This is that experimenting we were talking about earlier.  You're going to hit plateaus, and this is how you get past them.

Some people like to make it even simpler and just even  40% carbs  and  40% protein.  You can do that too. But I find the former version better calibrated to the individual.

I think it goes without saying you need to be on a weight lifting program.  I'll write some more posts about that as well.

That's all for today children.

https://www.getfarmerfit.com

Leg Exercises

I usually post about nutrition but today I'll tell you about working out.

I won't go into detail on technique.

Other people have detailed videos that are so great it would be a waste of time to try to compete.'

I'm just telling you what, why, and giving you an image.

Anyway...

Great Leg Workouts

Squats or Goblet Squats

Squats are usually regarded as the most important workout there is, and it's because it pretty much is.

If you have knee issues, than that's even more of a reason to do it. Increasing blood flow to your knees helps them heal. I've fixed many a bad knee via squats.

Incomplete form stresses the knees. Make sure you go all the way down with your butt below parallel to engage your stretch reflex and not stress the knees.

For those having issues doing squats, such as stability and tightness, you should start out with goblet squats until you've worked your way to enough stability to do it.

Romanian Deadlifts

Unless you're doing Low Bar Squats, most of your posterior chain will be built using the deadlifts.

Romanians isolate the glutes and hamstrings more than regular deadlifts.

Most people are quad dominant, especially people nowadays that sit all day and develop a weak posterior.

So you definitely need an exercise that strengthens those weak posterior chain muscles and this is it.

Again, if you want to learn form there's plenty of sources I'm just highlighting these workouts briefly.

Lunges

We all know about the lunges and it's a great exercise to add in addition to squats.

Do you know all the variations you can do to keep them fresh?

There's Backwards lunges, Walking Lunges, Barbell Lunges, Side Lunges, and even Stationary Lunges which is the same thing as a ...

Split Squat

Split Squats allow you to focus on one leg at a time and use lighter weight. 

There's the normal version.

And the Bulgarian version.

Calf Raises

Most calves are genetic but you can still build them.

They work all the time, much like forearms. All the walking and stari climbing you do is constant exercise for them. So they need extra stress. Meaning lots or sets, reps, weight, and frequency. Meaning many times a week.

You can do them standing, sitting, and even donkey...

Sitting focuses on the soleus more, standing focuses on the gastrocnemius more.

As you may have noticed I never mentioned leg press, leg extensions, leg curls, smith machine, etc.

I try to stay away from machines as much as possible.

I won't go into all the details but machines work off a fixed position and make you work around it.

Instead of having the weight work around you.

Not to mention missing out on all the stabalizing muscles.

These exercise hit many muscles at once, burn more calories, are actually functional, and don't put as much stress on joints.

How Quick Can I Get my Six Pack!?

Different for different people?

Oh, you wanted a more concrete answer. Sorry, I'm not a bull shit artist.


But I could be. It's very easy based on all the stuff people fall for. People will fall for almost anything.




If you're a guy you need to usually be around the single digits of body fat.'

For girls you need to be around 15-18%



So now you know your goal.

Next, you need to know where you are currently.

So get your body fat measured.

I don't care what you use, electronic calipers or skin fold calipers, or if you're rich or well connected dunk yourself in water every time. I don't care.



Whatever you do, do it the same way every time. Same day of the week, same time of day, same routine before you measure.

And if you you're getting pinched, have the same person pinch you every time. Everyone measures different with skin folds. Trust me. Which makes using skin folds a bit more impractical.

Now, you can lose around .5- 1% a week. But it's hard to say, everybody is different.

Plus, it's hard to really measure your body fat in the first place.


Depending on how well you follow your diet, and how often you exercise your calories in vs calories out amount can expedite all this.

If you're planning for some high school reunion, wedding, beach vacation, etc. you want to give yourself plenty of time ahead.

Once again                                               

1) In case it takes longer than you planned
2) You will make mistakes. Learn from them
3) So you don't have to rush it, and can keep more muscle during the cutting phase.

If you're just doing it with no deadline. Give yourself one. Measure every week.

Let's say your doing well with your program but the numbers have stopped dropping.

Give it 2-3 weeks.

Have they still not dropped?

Assess the mirror and clothes. If you're looking leaner and clothes are fitting loser than don't worry.



Mirror and Clothes Fitting>Weight and Body Fat.

Water weight can mess up the scales. What you look and feel like are always number one.

Make sure you're on an awesome program.

Like training with me. Either in person or online. Either one get's tremendous results. Ask my clients.



Sorry, had to market myself.

Anyway, you should be lifting at least 3 times a week.

If you got time, add cardio also. Especially if you're a woman. Sorry, guys really do have it easier.

I won't go into all the details about lifting on this.

Nutritionally you should be on around a 30% deficit from your maintenance calories.

Can you do less of a deficit. YES!

But for those that want to lose quick and want more guaranteed results I like this way better.

It's all dependent on your metabolism and if you're reading this, yours probably sucks.

You can cut lower and lose quicker but to safely describe how to do it I would need to post a whole other blog. Just try this first before you do anything extreme.

ALWAYS COUNT YOUR CALORIES.

"But my friend doesn't count calories and he's in great shape" -Some loser

Once again, your friend has a great metabolism. You don't.

Myfitnesspal takes around 3 minutes at most. And it only get's easier after time.

Follow this and you'll get there in no time.