My Experience and Results after a 6 Week Fat Loss Program

This past summer I was looking at myself in the mirror, and thought to myself “it’d be really sick if I could see those mysterious things known as abs all the time, and not just when I haven't eaten for a few hours.” I was far from overweight, at about 180 pounds for a 6 foot tall guy I was actually pretty lean. But, nevertheless, I wanted to challenge myself. I decided I would put my coaching knowledge to the test and coach myself through a fat loss program just like I would one of my clients. Anxious to know what happened? Keep on reading…

The most important aspect to any sort of a weight goal, whether that be fat loss or muscle gain, is nutrition. Energy balance holds the key to body composition. My goal being fat loss, I calculated my daily caloric intake at a deficit. I did this using a very simple formula, goal weight multiplied by 12. 

Now for all of the internet trolls out there who I know are going to say how your specific deficit can’t be calculated by using such a simple formula, you’re right. Finding your specific, zero error, caloric intake at a deficit involves calculating basal metabolic rate (aka the amount of calories burned by your body performing life sustaining function i.e breathing). Calculating this number typically involves a 12 hour fast and 8 hours of sleep, with a professional measuring your oxygen intake and carbon dioxide output. This is a long arduous process which has a few other problems including…

• most people don’t have access to a facility that does this

• most people don’t have the time to do this

• most people don't want to fucking do all of that (most important reason)

So, with all of that being said (apologies for the rant above), the goal weight x 12 formula gives a great ballpark estimate of daily caloric intake at a deficit (about a 500 calorie deficit) and is easy to calculate. 

My starting weight was 180 pounds. Knowing that I didn’t want to lose a ton of weight and was already pretty lean, I set my goal weight as 170 pounds. Prepare for an intricate math lesson…

170 pounds x 12 = 2,040 calories (ta-da!)

What this means is, in order to get to my goal weight of 170 pounds I needed to be eating around 2,040 calories per day. This was my primary focus for the duration of this cut or fat loss phase. I knew that as long as my calories were around 2,040 (plus or minus about 100 calories), I was golden. 

The only macronutrient measurement that I cared about and tracked throughout the duration of this cut was protein. And let me explain why. Protein intake is of premier importance when it comes to both muscle growth and muscle maintenance. I needed to be sure my protein intake was sufficient so that, while I was losing fat, I wasn’t also losing muscle. The standard that I like to use for protein intake AT MAINTENANCE LEVEL is 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. But now you might be thinking, “Kevin, your goal weight is 170 pounds but you’re going to eat 180 grams of protein?” To which I would say great point, and the answer is no. Your protein goal should be relative to your goal weight, so my protein goal was 170 grams.

So in terms of nutrition, I focused on getting within 100 calories (plus or minus) of my 2,040 calorie goal on a daily basis, and getting within 10-15 grams (plus or minus) of my 170 gram protein goal. You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned any other micronutrients (specifically carbohydrates and fat), and this may be confusing you currently. To address this concern I’m going to circle back around to energy balance.

The general rule of thumb in terms of fat loss is that 3500 calories translates to 1 pound of fat. What this means is, at a 500 calorie deficit over the course of a 7 day week, you should be at a 3500 calorie deficit and down 1 pound of fat. 

QUICK DISCLAIMER: there are many other factors that contribute to weight fluctuation on a daily basis including water retention and lactic acid build-up.

As I was saying, if your deficit gets you to a 3500 calorie deficit over the course of multiple days (whether that’s one week, 10 days, two weeks) you will lose fat. Calories are simply a measure of energy, and macronutrients (aka carbs, fats, and proteins) make up those calories. But, in terms of the general equation of energy balance, it does not matter what macronutrient makes up those calories. A calorie deficit is a calorie deficit. This is why I didn’t specifically worry about or track carbohydrates or fat. 

Now if you’ve made it this far, you’re probably wondering when I’m going to get to the exercise program that I did. You may be expecting me to tell you that I was doing some crazy intense cardio regimen to supplement my calorie deficit. If this is what you’re thinking then unfortunately you would be wrong. I added/changed only 1 thing to my weekly exercise program and it wasn’t HIIT training, or tabata, and it definitely wasn’t fasted cardio. The only thing I added was walking. I made it a goal of getting between 5,000-10,000 steps per day. 

I stayed on the same resistance training program that I was on before I began this fat loss phase. The important part was calculating my deficit, sticking to my calorie deficit and protein intake, and increasing my steps to 5,000-10,000 per day.

And here is what happened. On August 31 I weighed in at exactly 181 pounds (stepped on the scale as soon as I rolled out of bed). On October 16th, weighing myself at the same time, I weighed in at 168 pounds. You’ll see in the graph showing my weight tracking data, it is not a straight line from 181 down to 168. There were MULTIPLE fluctuations where my weight jumped one day. The important part was that I didn’t give up when I saw these increases. I stuck to the plan, and reaped the benefits at the end.

Now I wrote this article for a couple of reasons. For starters I know a lot of people struggle with fat loss, and wonder where to start. They think it requires an intricate exercise program with some sort of high intensity cardio and an extremely restrictive nutrition plan composed of eating chicken, broccoli, and rice every day. I can tell you with complete confidence that I did none of those things.

Well, you made it to the end, so I thank you for reading this far. If you scroll down juuuuust a little bit more you’ll see both my before and after photos, as well as a graph tracking my weight over the last 6 weeks.