How to Leverage Walking to Your Fat Loss Advantage

When it comes to walking and its relationship to fat loss, we’re all looking for a quick and easy answer to one particular million dollar question:

Exactly how much should I be walking to lose fat and get lean?

To be honest with you, I’ve found that one of the biggest problems with trying to put out information regarding body recomposition in general is that individuality almost always gets lost in favor of one conservative (yet heavily nuanced) take-home point for the masses.

Walking is no different, but let me do my best.

What’s the magic amount of walking we need to get summer shredded?

As much as I hate to tell you this, there is no specific amount of walking we could prescribe to any given person if the goal is to leverage walking as a tool for fat loss.

Sorry, folks. I know that would be much easier than wading through another duly nuanced write-up about the inner-workings of body recomposition, but that's just not how it works for one simple reason: Every single person embodies a uniquely different combination of lifestyle factors that affects their body’s immediate “walking requirement” for fat loss.

In my experience, those lifestyle factors include your caloric intake, your daily activity levels, whether or not you resistance train (and how much if you do), and the current state of your metabolism, but what all of this really comes down to is getting yourself into a caloric deficit.

And because of that, there is no “one size fits all” recommendation unless you want to be a moron and recommend we all do two hours on the treadmill everyday (and even that might not “work” if you’re not monitoring your caloric consumption).

Let’s take a few examples.

I’m personally losing fat on 13K steps a day at the moment, but I have a client losing on 10K and another on 8K. So, what gives?

Again, when it comes to walking, the amount you need for fat loss is simply “whatever it takes” given the remaining context of your life.

Therefore, what it takes for me might not be what it takes for you or anyone else for that matter.

So, if you’re not losing body fat living the lifestyle you’re currently living, the answer to how much you need to be walking is just “more.”

But, how much more?

Practically speaking, I would recommend walking sustainably more.

In other words, don’t get overeager and say, “Alright, I’m going to walk 20K steps a day until the fat is gone.” It’s unlikely you’d be able to stick to that for more than a day or two. In fact, you’d probably get to 16K the first day and then fall off the wagon all to have gained nothing but discouragement and frustration when you could have made a more conservation and long-term move in the first place.

Instead, it’s probably a better idea to increase your daily step count average by 1,000 steps per day as a starting point.

How i coach my clients toward walking more

This is how I usually guide my clients in their first weeks with me.

• For the first two weeks, I will tell them to live life normally and track steps accordingly.

  • This is helpful because it gives us a baseline. Just as an example, let’s say they track their steps without altering their behavior for 14 days to reveal that they average around 5,389 steps per day.

• As simple as this sounds, I’ll most often just prescribe a new weekly average of 6,000+ with the caveat that I don’t want them exceeding that on purpose.

  • You might be wondering why, and I would be happy to explain.

    • One huge problem that I see time and time again in the body recomposition space is that people will fail to get more out of less. If I had to give it a name, I might call it the “Go Hard or Go Home Fallacy.”

    • It’s the idea that you must be doing as much as humanly possible in order to get the desired results. And, as the name suggests, it’s a fallacy.

    • In other words, I would rather see my clients sustainably walk more and more in a progressive fashion until it’s no longer suitable for their lifestyle rather than jump straight to something unnecessarily aggressive.

    • This way we’re able to accumulate weeks and weeks of increased walking habits, which inevitably leads to fat loss when paired strategically with the right amount of calorie consumption and other lifestyle factors.

    • An ideal progression might look like this:

      • Week 1: 6,000 steps on average

      • Week 2: 7,000 steps on average

      • Week 3: 8,000 steps on average

      • Week 4, 9,000 steps on average

      • Week 5: 10,000 steps on average

      • Week 6: Just live life normally as a deload.

How to Walk Sustainably More

If you’re up for tracking your steps with a Fitbit or even your iPhone like I do, this is super easy.

Using that ideal progression I mentioned above, consider the following:

Assuming you keep all other lifestyle factors steady from the prior week (most importantly your caloric intake), you’ll know if that each daily step average is sufficient for fat loss if you see a slight dip in your morning weigh-ins.

But the trick here is consistency and control of data collection.

So, let me be clear when I say this: You cannot look to a step goal to be your fat loss saving grace if you are being willy nilly with your caloric intake.

This is why I cannot recommend tracking both your caloric intake and your daily step count consistently if you are serious about achieving predictable fat loss results.

But, if you’re not up for tracking your steps, you’ll probably have to create structure in a different way. For example, you could say, “I’ll walk for 20 extra minutes each day over my lunch break.”

Now, that sounds like a lovely behavior for the broader category of overall physical well-being, but the problem with this way of going about things is that you’re still a bit subject to “seeing what happens” because you still don’t really have any hard data on your current energy balance (calories in versus calories out).

Plus, we’re talking about getting leaner here - not just being a bit more active because your doctor said so.

Those are two very different things.

If you walk for 20 extra minutes a day over lunch but you’re otherwise lazier throughout the day, then you haven’t netted any extra calories out to ignite the fat loss you’re after.

Or, on an ever more realistic level, if you walk for 20 extra minutes but you went to a social gathering and had some pizza, two glasses of wine, and split an ice cream brownie with your friend, you’ve probably way overcompensated for the few extra calories you burned over lunch with the calories you consumed while socializing.

Does that make sense?

At the end of the day, leveraging walking for fat loss outcomes is all about math.

In Summary

So, let me wrap this all up as concisely as I can.

1. Before you even think about implementing walking as a fat loss strategy, make sure to get your calories and protein in check first. You can absolutely start walking more for general health, but there’s no guarantee of fat loss until all of the variables are accounted for.

2. We didn’t touch on this much in the article, but resistance training is what gives most people that hard, lean look a lot of us are longing for deep down. But you don’t have to train with weights to lose body fat, it just tends to improve your body composition outcomes when matched with a proper diet plan.

3. Once your calories, protein, and training are in order, pick a daily step goal and stick to it using a Fitbit or even just an iPhone you can carry in your pocket all day. Remember, consistency is key.

4. Monitor your bodyweight a few times a week if possible and take note of any downward trends. If you’re losing scale weight, chances are you’re losing body fat due to your self-imposed caloric deficit. If not, you’ll either need to lower your calories or increase your steps.

5. If you choose to increase your steps, do so in a sustainable manner. Think 1,000 step increases in daily averages across a week of time.

And that’s the gist of it.

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Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.

If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member!

And, if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, visit The Vegan Gym and apply for coaching. I’ve had nothing but success in guiding people toward their fat loss goals.

Cheers, everyone!

-Andrew

"How Much Protein Should I Be Eating to Maximize My Summer Body?"

Summer is almost here, and you’ve finally made the decision to get serious about your physique goal. Congratulations!

Or maybe it’s some other random time of the year and you’re looking to get peeled like a banana for some other warm-weathered trip.

Either way, that’s awesome and I’m excited for you and your new goal.

Now you just have to wade through all the hype surrounding protein.

And, if you are at all like I was when I first started, you probably have a lot of questions.

“Do I really need to be eating a lot of protein to look lean and toned?” 

”If so, how much? Is there a magical number?”

Trust me, I hear you and I’ve been there, so let’s get into it.

How much protein should you be eating per day?

I’ve found that aiming to consume between 0.7-1.0g of protein per pound of lean body mass (LBM) per day seems to be one of the most commonly accepted recommendations for people who want to achieve that lean, summer-ready physique.

If you’re in a time crunch, feel free to let that last sentence be your practical takeaway from this article and get back to your regularly-scheduled life.

LEAN BODY MASS VERSUS TOTAL BODYWEIGHT

But for those who want more nuance, know that most people aren’t really taking that LBM stipulation to account at all.

In other words, most people simply use their bodyweight instead of that LBM figure for the sake of keeping things as simple as possible (and this is totally understandable).

Why?

Because estimating your LBM isn’t always easy unless you have access to a DEXA or an InBody scan.

So, while some experts recommend a bit more protein per day (1.2g or more per pound of LBM) and other gurus push for a bit less (as low as 0.7g per pound of LBM), this “1g per Pound of Bodyweight Rule” still seems to be the most popular pick. 

Did you catch that detail? What I’m saying is that although using your lean body mass in your calculation is probably a bit more accurate, most people will use their total bodyweight instead.

But, why?

Well, I think the most obvious reason is because that 1:1 ratio of grams of protein to bodyweight is just a really easy way to calculate your daily protein intake.

And, let’s be honest with ourselves.

“Easy” works really well for most people because “easy” is usually adherence-friendly and sustainable for the long-term, which is extremely important.

Think about it this way. People like basic math because basic math is easy.

If you weigh 125 pounds, you’d eat a maximum of 125g of protein per day. Easy.
If you weigh 150 pounds, you’d eat a maximum of 150g of protein per day. Simple, right?
If you weigh 175 pounds, you’d eat a maximum of 175g of protein per day.

You get the point.

So, although I do think it’s slightly better to calculate your daily protein intake using your lean body mass, I think it’s also fine to use your total bodyweight in most (but not all) cases.

For a deeper dive on this, I’d encourage you to reference this article I wrote on a very other ways to calculate your protein needs.

Does everybody need to be eating that much protein?

Of course not. I want to be clear that these recommendations aren’t for everyday Joe’s and Jane’s – they’re for people who really want to start taking their body recomposition effort seriously.

In other words, I’m not suggesting your sweet Grandma Margaret should be shotgunning 60g of whey protein after her mid-morning gardening session to support optimal hamstring and glute development.

That would be, well, quite unnecessary (and also hilarious) since Grandma probably isn’t trying to look jacked and lean at the pool by mid-June.

Protein recommendations for people less interested in getting jacked and lean are, of course, much lower because they aren’t loading up their bodies with heavy loads with the focused intent of developing the size and density of their muscles.

Since proteins are widely considered the buildings blocks of muscle repair and growth, it makes sense to be eating more protein if you want to be more muscular.

Simply put, if you want to get jacked and lean, you need more protein relative to the person that doesn’t.

So, let’s just make sure we’re clear about that. If you’ve decided you want to be more jacked and lean, you’re in a different category of recommended protein intake now.

But, what does it mean to be “taking your body recomposition effort seriously?”

I’ve come up with the following checklist to help you make sense of that question for yourself.

You’re probably taking your body recomposition effort “seriously enough” if you are:

1. Training intelligently with resistance for hypertrophy or something like CrossFit 3-6 (or even more) times per week.

2. Eating purposefully in a caloric deficit, a caloric surplus, or at maintenance based on the specific goal at hand.

3. Prioritizing your protein intake across a minimum of 3 meals per day in most cases.

4. Trying to get the majority of your calories and protein from nutrient-dense foods while saving “junk foods” for treats and special occasions.

5. Optimizing your rest and recovery as much as possible.

6. Minimizing or eliminating alcohol consumption.

But back to protein and how much you should be consuming per day.

As wonderfully as the “1g per Pound Rule” works in most cases, there is one semi-exception worth mentioning.

An Exception for Very Overweight or Obese Folks

As we just discussed, that “1g per Round Rule” is based on your lean body mass (LBM), which isn’t the same as your total body mass (bodyweight).

So the implied exception is this:

The more overweight you are, the more important it is to calculate your daily protein intake based off of your lean body mass rather than your total bodyweight.

For example, if you’re a 180-pound female but you’d probably be a lean, healthy version of yourself at 130 pounds, I would argue that eating 180g of protein a day just isn’t necessary unless you really love eating protein.

But even then I would make the argument that those calories would be better spent on nutrient-dense carbohydrates or fats to aid in both day-to-day energy availability for quality training and optimized recovery.

And just to be clear, in this example, the 130 pounds represent a number that would be a much closer estimation to your lean body mass based on the Goal Weight Method, and thus a better figure to be using in your calculation.

The bottom line is this:

You don’t get bonus gains for eating more protein once you’ve met the evidence-based requirement, so make sure you aren’t consuming unnecessary amounts of protein as person who might be considered overweight or obese.

In fact, it can even be a detriment to your overall dietary pattern if your protein consumption starts to crowd out other important foods that provide macronutrient and micronutrient diversity.

So, what’s the takeaway here?

1. I think it makes the most sense to keep your protein intake as simple as eating between 0.7-1.0g of protein per pound of lean body mass (LBM) per day if you’re hoping to optimize your body recomposition effort. I like this approach because it accounts for people of varied amounts of body fat due to the use of the lean mass figure. I regularly consume toward the 0.7 multiplier of LBM and continue to see great progression in strength, performance, and muscle mass.

2. Remember that there is no magical amount of protein you should be consuming, but there are evidence-based ranges that are likely to optimize your progress toward your physique goal.

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Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.

If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member!

And, if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, visit The Vegan Gym and apply for coaching. I’ve had nothing but success in guiding people toward their fat loss goals.

Cheers, everyone!

-Andrew

Revealing My Exact Numbers for Summer Shredding 2020

I’m putting this blog out for one main reason.

When I was first getting interested in how to train and eat toward a physique goal, all I wanted was to know the exact calorie and macronutrient numbers of people who had walked the walked before.

But everyone I followed would say the same thing. “My numbers shouldn’t matter for you,” and - to be fair - that’s absolutely true. But, that wasn’t the point. I was curious, and I had all these questions running through my mind that only the granular details could truly satisfy.

So here we go. I’m taking you behind the curtain and giving you the exact numbers that I’ve used up until this point in my attempt to get relatively peeled by late summer 2020.

Where I Started

I’m a big fan of weekly averages, so my highest weekly average in February was 198.3 pounds. So we'll say I was 198.3 pounds on February 24, 2020 after working my calories up to about 3,450 per day over the course of months of steady yet intentional gaining for optimized muscle growth. If you want details on that, hit me up in the comments, but my guess is most of us are more interested in the fat loss portion. No one really needs any help gaining weight, do they?

Part I: My Primer Phase Before the “Diet Before the Diet”

My first move after that was to deload for one week and then move into a three-week primer phase (or maintenance phase) to lower training volumes in preparation for higher training volumes that would come once the cut had really begun. I dropped calories from 3,450 to roughly 2,900 in an attempt to identify my new maintenance calorie intake. As it turns out, I was essentially spot-on, and my weight stabilized around 196.5 during those three weeks while averaging 2,900 calories a day.

And that was that.

This happened from March 2-22 - just a quick (but helpful) three-week period to set myself up for better success in the next phase of the diet. As you’ll read in the following paragraphs, it worked like a charm.

Part II: My “Diet Before the Diet”

Now, if you’re wondering what in the world a “diet before the diet” is, it’s a term I’ve stolen from Steve Hall and the Revive Stronger brand, which is a major source of influence for me in terms of how I think about structuring my training and diet.

The “diet before the diet” is essentially that very first phase of your longer fat loss diet when - let’s just call it what it is - things don’t really “suck that much” yet. In other words, the fat comes off well because you’re coming off a high amount of calories. This is the honeymoon phase of the day.

The “diet before the diet” also allows you to approach a lower body fat percentage before really pressing into the more difficult aspects of the fat loss process.

For this phase, I dropped myself to 2,750 as an initial caloric target, and it actually worked better than I ever could have imagined.

On week two I adjusted slightly down to 2,700.

On week three I adjusted slightly down again to what I wrote in my spreadsheet as “sub 2,700.” But, I don’t think there was any magic in any of these adjustments. Truthfully, I was just experimenting with smaller reductions in calories on a week-to-week basis. In hindsight, I probably should have just kept them static around 2,700.

Basically, in five weeks eating between 2,650 and 2,750 calories per day, I went from 196.4 pounds down to 189.4 - a seven pound drop in five weeks, which put me at an average rate of loss of about 1.4 pounds per week. I can make another post about this later, but losing between 1-2 pounds per week at this stage of the diet is very much what I would consider the sweet spot for me personally. And this time period occurred between March 23 and April 26, 2020.

For the week of April 27, I deloaded and bumped calories slightly up to my new perceived maintenance of 2,800 to prepare for the actual diet, which officially started on May 4.

“But, What about your macros?”

If you’re curious about my macronutrient distribution, I generally only hold myself to eating between 180-200g of protein a day while staying within my overall caloric target. I personally bias more of my calories toward carbs due to preference, but I encourage everyone to do their own research and find what works best for their lifestyle and their own convictions about eating habits.

I don’t follow any labeled diet, but I do try to consume the majority of my calories from whole food sources while saving processed items for small treats and special occasions.

In other words, I’m not “paleo” or “vegan” or “keto” or doing Weight Watchers. I just eat within two very simple dietary parameters: calories and protein intake (assuming a minimal amount of healthy fats for hormonal health).

A very normal day of eating during this phase would be 190g of protein, 60-70g of fat, and around 300-350g of carbohydrates.

For an easier-to-read version of everything I’ve said up until this point, check out this screenshot from my nutrition log.

Part III: My “Actual Diet”

This is the phase of diet when the majority of the fat loss will occur.

Even though I’m still technically losing on 2,650 calories per day, 5 lifts per week, an average of 12,000 steps per day, and no formal cardio, I’m no longer losing quite as quickly as I would like. Because of that, I’m going to drop calories to 2,450, increase steps slightly, and ride that wave as far as it takes me.

Once my bodyweight plateaus for one to two weeks, I’ll adjust, but I’ll post about those specific changes when the time comes.

And that’s the plan for now: 2,450 calories as a per-day weekly average, 12,500 steps as a per-day weekly average, 4-5 hypertrophy-based workouts per week, and no formal cardio.

SUMMARY

As one last parting note, remember that blindly replicating these numbers for yourself will not work. This plan has been designed uniquely for me and no one else.

Everyone has a different goal, a different set of genetics, a different metabolism, and a different lifestyle, which means that no two plans should ever be the same.

The point of this blog is simply to reveal all of the non-sexy details to the approach that I am personally using - to expose the driving principles behind those details - and to remind (and encourage) our readers that fat loss can be systematic and intelligent.

If you have any question, don’t be bashful! Hit me up in the comments or send me a message on Instagram. I absolutely love talking shop and would love to hear from you.

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If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to someone you think might benefit from it as well! And, of course, we encourage you to take the time to flip through some of our other recent posts for additional content.

Finally, if this is your first time interacting with evidence-based fat loss and you’re thinking, “Wow, I didn’t know fat loss could be that simple”, we do have coaching slots open for the summer months and it’s not too late to apply. Josh and I really can guide you into a non-fad diet journey toward a leaner, more muscular version of yourself. You just have to be brave enough to send the first email.

Seriously, you’ll thank yourself later. Just do it.

Happy summer shredding, everyone!

-Andrew

My Hot Take on the Trending Sexiness of Intuitive Eating in Context of Body Recomposition

It’s a big question in the fitness space: Intuitive eating or counting macros? Which approach is really better for helping you achieve you body composition goals? Let’s set the scene.

For the purposes of this write-up, I’ll be using the phrase “intuitive eating" exclusively in context of those who are implementing it as a strategy for systematic fat loss or muscle gain, which means I’m not talking about it for anyone who is simply looking for a dietary approach that "works for them.” On the other hand, the second term I’ll be considering in-depth is a dietary approach commonly known as the “If It Fits Your Macros” movement (IIFYM), which favors a less intuitive and more calculated methodology to physique improvement that involves eating a certain amount of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats per day within a given caloric window. Another apparent perk of IIFYM? You can eat “whatever you want” (even the “unhealthy foods”) to hit those macronutrient targets. But, there are pros and cons of both.

Let’s break it down even a bit further.

DEFINING THE TERMS

Intuitive eating, as I see it, is a culture of eating that says, “Eat what you want and when you want according to your hunger cues.” Simply put, eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re satisfied. It seems simple and to the point, and it is.

Counting your macros, however, urges its users to eat within a certain caloric and macronutrient range on a daily or weekly basis with little to no consideration of hunger cues or any natural inclination of when to eat.

Are you starting to see the trend? As their names suggest, one promotes fluidity while the other favors systematic calculation.

As the title suggests, however, intuitive eating (at least for the time being) has certainly stolen the cultural spotlight for many people - and for good reason. If you think about it, the idea really is quite sexy. It’s natural and seemingly casual. It’s loose and fluid - carefree and maybe even a bit rebellious.

Now, since this is a hot take, I’m probably going to reveal some bias in this write-up, but that doesn’t mean I’m saying one is inherently better than the other, nor does it mean I think you should or shouldn’t do one or the other. That choice is 100% up to you. These are just my thoughts and opinions, and I want to make that very clear throughout.

In thinking about this, I’ve developed an analogy called the “Jacked Guy In a Grocery Store” analogy.

MY “JACKED GUY IN A GROCERY STORE” ANALOGY

Imagine walking through the grocery store and noticing a man in his early 30’s with a phenomenally fit and attractive shape. Being a curious kitten, you muster the courage to ask him “what his secret is,” and he responds with something like this: “I just listen to my body actually. If I’m hungry, I eat. And I always stop when I’m satiated. It works great for me and it keeps me looking the way I want to.”

Sexy, right? You’d be instantly drawn to the effortlessness in his voice, and the mystery of its simplicity would be fascinating.

Now, imagine the exact same scenario, but he offers you this response instead: “I’m actually really meticulous about the amount of calories I consume, and I tailor them according to my current goals. I eat between 3-5 meals a day, and I always design my meals around a high-quality protein source supplemented with a vegetable and a carb source like potatoes or rice since I workout quite a bit. If I’m trying to build muscle I eat a bit more and when I’m trying to trim up I reduce my portion sizes. But generally I eat the same whole foods and try to minimize the junk. Oh, and I eat plenty of fruits and veggies.”

And you think in your head something like this, “Well, that actually makes a lot of sense.” Why?

Because his answer was boring. I’d even be willing to bet you’d be a bit disappointed. No secret remedy? Just an honest application of a bunch of stuff that makes pretty good logical sense?

However, I’m not saying that the guy in our first scenario is a complete unicorn. For those with favorable genetics for physique development, it’s quite possible to look really good while putting little thought into your diet. In fact, those people are all over Instagram. As I’ve heard it said many times, plenty of people look amazing in spite of their poor practices. They are the genetically “blessed” - the ones who can “get away with it.

But this is certainly not the norm, and it’s certainly not a plausible reality for too many people who are just embarking on their fitness journeys - especially if you’re setting sail because you’re currently 30 pounds overweight. After all, if you were already genetically blessed, would you really be asking people in the grocery store for their secret remedy? Probably not. You’d have a remedy of your own with little interest in what happened to be working for someone else.

Having said that, let’s get into the practical applications.

I THINK MOST OF US ARE HOLDING OUT FOR A QUICK-FIX SOLUTION.

In the online coaching space, hundreds and thousands of people are finding coaches online, engaging with them, and hiring them to help them achieve their body composition goals. It’s also worth mentioning that there are plenty of people out there who, despite not being able to afford an online coach, are doing their best to implement the “right kind” of diet and exercise to either drop body fat or muscle-up for beach season. So in this case we’re considering two major populations of people placing a value of either money, time, or other resources into their body composition: the people who have already hired coaches and those who are basically trying to coach themselves to save a buck.

And yet one thing I have found to be the case with many of these people when they talk to me about “losing weight” or “getting jacked” is that they just don’t want to track their calories or count their macros. In fact, as soon as I tell people I track my macros, I can almost always sense an immediate and unmistakable disinterest in continuing the conversation. Why? Because I don’t have the secret remedy they’ve been searching for. There’s nothing sexy about tracking your macros to achieve your physique goals just like there’s nothing sexy about a university student studying for weeks on end to pass their chemistry exam. 

If I heard that my friend had passed his final with flying colors and asked him how he did it, what do you imagine he would say? He’d probably tell you that he attended class attentively, took detailed notes, compiled a study guide, and then studied those materials meticulously. And in that case, what sense would it make for me to be - dare I say - disappointed in that answer? None at all! In fact, I doubt anyone would be naive enough to offer any other answer but just some good and honest hard work.

But just for fun, let’s talk about what many of us would rather hear him say. “Oh, I just went to class when I felt like it, took notes when I felt like it, and studied when I felt like it. And it was awesome. It all just kind of happened casually and I got an A. Actually, now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever took notes.” (insert casual chuckle)

In my experience, a lot of people only get interested when they become convinced that getting the physique of their dreams is easily achievable. And let’s be honest, eating intuitively will always be easier than counting your macronutrient intake, which is why I think people are so eager to kick a more meticulous approach to the curb.

Now, here’s where things might get a little spicy.

I have to admit that I get a bit miffed when people seem to want to achieve a physique goal without counting their macros, and here’s why: For a lot of people, intuitive eating is exactly what led them to hire a body composition coach in the first place. And, to be fair, if your intuitive eating had actually been working well for you up until this point, we’d probably be discussing something like sports or the weather instead of your muffin top right now. Yikes! Maybe that stings, but I can’t help but be honest in thinking that’s the truth of it.

At the very same time, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a muffin top. I have personally had a muffin top of my own in certain seasons of life.

Maybe your significant other adores your muffin top and you feel like a king among men accentuating your waistline accomplishment. Good on you! I really say that without sarcasm because I never want to pretend like we all have to have the same idea of what’s attractive or desirable in terms of body shape. If you are healthy and feeling amazing in your own body, press on.

Do you see my bigger point though? How silly is it to approach a coach while 20-30+ pounds overweight and insist on an approach that continues to allow you to eat intuitively?

In some sense I’d even be tempted to tell someone that they’ve "lost their privilege" of eating intuitively, but that really makes you sound like a super villain. You had a good thing (intuitive eating) and it became a bad thing (overeating to the point of unhealthy weight gain), and now we’re going to try a different thing if (and that’s a big if) you’re telling me you have serious goals about changing your body shape. 

It's kind of like an sixteen year-old kid being given a cool sports car from his parents just because they wanted to gift him something special for being their son. But sooner than later he starts breaking curfew because he’s out drinking booze and smooching on Sally Sue on the weekends, and his grades start to suffer. At the end of the semester he’s sitting on a report card of two F’s, a D+, and an A+ for irresponsibility. The car gets yanked and mom starts driving him around again until he’s proven he can correct his behavior.

“If the food habits you’ve been practicing for years have led you into unwanted weight gain, it might be time to consider a more intensive approach - even if it means sacrificing a bit of convenience. ”

so, you’re saying intuitive eating is bad?

Of course not. Intuitive eating can be bad just like counting your macros can be bad, but here’s the real equalizer:

The same physiological principles have to be applied when aiming to lose body fat whether you are counting your macros or not. To be clear, your body doesn’t know whether you’re eating intuitively or counting your macros. It just knows how many calories you are consuming on a regular basis. Maybe the science-y crowd would say, “It only recognizes overall energy balance.”

All I’m really saying here is that you will lose body fat if you are in a caloric deficit. Whether you are counting those calories on your finger or implementing another strategy altogether is meaningless.

The problem is that most people cannot intuitively eat in a caloric deficit.

Therefore, the only way I could possibly recommend an intuitive eating approach as your coach is if you could intuitively eat in a caloric deficit, which - in all fairness - is possible. Sadly, however, I might argue that for 99% of people, that would be individually impossible. Why?

Because, again, you have proven that eating intuitively has not worked for you. It is, in fact, primarily responsible for your current unwanted body shape. By very definition of the word intuitive, it has to be eliminated as a viable strategy moving forward because your intuition is skewed. Your diet can be anything but intuitive. And I don’t say this to “be mean” or anything - I say it to provide the groundwork for a real solution that can lead to a healthier and shapelier body for anyone struggling with this.

IS THERE A MIDDLE GROUND?

I think so. The next best approach (for those adamantly opposed to tracking macros), however, would be to consider what some are calling a “mindful eating approach,” but even this comes with great limitation. 

Mindful eating is probably best defined as a somewhat guided approach to eating, without counting calories or macros, that does its best to serve a desired outcome of physical recomposition. But I didn’t pull that from the Oxford library - I’m just saying this is how I think most people in the fitness space are thinking about it.

When I think of mindful eating, I think of a plate that is made up of half protein, a quarter of vegetables, and a quarter “healthy carbs.” In short, you’re paying a bit more attention to what you’re eating and doing your best to control your portions. It’s not totally Freestyle Friday, but you’re not weighing things on scales and popping data points into MyFitnessPal.

But the problem even with mindful eating for physique-related pursuits is that you still have little to no knowledge of your caloric consumption, and at the end of the day, calories are king when it comes to fat loss. As a result, the ambiguity in both intuitive and mindful approaches becomes limiting for a coach since one of our biggest cards to play in the greater game of fat loss is the card of regulated and strategic calorie consumption.

That would kind of be like buying the Chicago Bulls back in ‘96 and telling the GM you want a championship, but there’s one catch: You want Jordan on the bench because, well, you guys don’t really get along that well. He’s healthy and ready to lace up, but you’re not willing to put him in the game.

Is that the right move?

LET’S WRAP IT UP

As you can see, I’ve personally not been wooed by the trending sexiness of intuitive eating for those looking to make significant implements in their body composition. If I had to sum it up in one sentence, it would be this: I just really believe that the specificity of data you can accrue through the habits within intelligently structuring and counting your macronutrients are far too valuable to leave to the potential inconsistencies of intuitive eating if you’re serious about attaining physique-related goals in a predictable, systematic way.

But again, I can’t stress enough, though, how important it is that you realize this is just my opinion - just one guy in a world of a lot of guys and gals.

If you prefer a lifestyle of intuitive eating while attempting to achieve your physique goal, you should by all means pursue that route! I mean that sincerely. It’s 100% your life and your diet, which means you have all the power to make those decisions for yourself.

If you want to banter more, hit us up on Instagram! I genuinely always welcome a good conversation from a stranger about all things fitness and food.

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Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.

If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member!

And, if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, visit The Vegan Gym and apply for coaching. I’ve had nothing but success in guiding people toward their fat loss goals.

Cheers, everyone!

-Andrew

Why Doing At-Home "Workouts from Hell" Might Not Be the Best Move for Your Physique

As far as entertainment goes, I’m a big YouTube fitness guy, and one of the things I’ve noticed lately on both YouTube and Instagram is that a lot of fitness influencers are pushing these “at-home workouts from hell.” And here’s the thing: they look really good in the thumbnails and the clickbait headlines are yummy. But, I’m not so sure this is the best way of going about things if what you care most about is your physique, and I’m here to tell you why.

First, I want to be clear about what I mean when I (and these influencers) say workouts “from hell.” The general theme of all these workouts can be summed up a in a few bullet points:

• Usually lots of reps (50 or more in most cases)

• Lighter loads

• Minimal focus on technique

• Minimal focus on the mind-muscle connection (MMC)

• Maximal focus on intensity and effort

• Minimal rest times or long circuits of exercises strung together

Let’s get into it then.

Q: Why are these workouts probably not the best idea for people looking to improve their body composition?

1. Being needlessly hardcore isn’t the mechanism that drives improved body composition.

This immediately requires us to zoom out a bit. What does it even mean to improve your body composition? Well, let’s cut to the chase. As far as I’m concerned, most people want to lose body fat (not just weight) and build muscle to the extent that they look good naked and feel confident at the pool. I have yet to hear a client say, “I actually really just like fitness for fitness. I really don’t care that much about losing body fat or gaining a bit of muscle.” If that were true of you, you’d probably already be fairly committed to your fitness hobby of choice: jogging, boxing, swimming, CrossFit, etc. So from now on, let’s assume that your goal is primarily motivated by looking better and feeling more confident.

Unfortunately, well-intentioned people get this wrong all the time, and I can say this confidently because I did it for years. So, hear me when I say this: Neither losing body fat nor gaining muscle are achieved through being aimlessly hardcore. It’s not the “hardcore-ness” of your workout that communicates to your body, “Okay, start looking better.”

If you want to achieve that leaner, more muscular look, you really need to figure out how you can train to maximize muscle gain (or retention) while being in a caloric deficit. Simply put, these "workouts from hell” probably aren’t optimal for physique outcomes because they don’t load your muscles optimally for growth - and growth is what creates that look most of us are after.

Training intelligently is what drives body composition results - not being “hardcore” just for the sake of it.

2. Muscles have been shown to grow best when loaded near failure in the 5-30 rep ranges - not 100 or more like some of these trending at-home workouts prescribe.

Yesterday on Instagram I saw someone challenge their social media audience to do 200 air squats per day for an entire week. Again, there’s nothing wrong with doing air squats if you like them for general exercise or find them therapeutic. My intent is also not to say this person is “stupid" or “wrong" because they aren’t! Getting people off their butts and moving during a time like this is amazing and absolutely beneficial in it’s own way, I just don’t want our audience thinking that doing 200 air squats a day is a good way to develop stronger, muscular, and more aesthetically pleasing legs (for both men and women). It’s not. Getting “up and moving around” versus training to grow some respectable muscle are two very different things.

If you want to grow, the science consistently shows that growth happens when loading your muscles to the extent that you can perform between 5-30 reps as you approach muscle failure. For example, if you’re doing a dumbbell squat at home and you’re able to do 40 reps with 25 pounds, you’d probably be better off increasing the weight until those achievable reps fall below 30.

To zoom in even more, most of that work should probably be done in the 8-15 rep range. This means instead of doing 1400 air squats across the span of a week, you could just pick one or two days and perform 3-5 sets of a weighted squat in that 8-15 rep range. 

It’s up to you, but the latter is much more likely to actually get you growing muscle and looking better naked while that first option is more of a fitness or endurance goal.

Choose what’s best for you, but be educated in that decision.

3. Despite the higher calorie burn, these workouts don’t account for sustainability or future progression, which frequently leads to burnout.

With their high rep counts and short, circuit-based rest times, these "workouts from hell” are really just training your endurance systems and maybe bumping your calorie burn for the day. And although burning extra calories through high intensity activity can absolutely be a piece of the fat loss puzzle, it can also be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Yes, I am actually making the point that burning a few extra calories might not be worth it in the grander scheme of things.

Think of it this way, if you burn an extra 500 calories doing a series of burpees, air squats, pushups, crunches, mountain climbers, and whatever else, do you really want to get in the habit of having your body rely on that sort of induced calorie burn to maintain your current rate of progress? You might - and I certainly don’t want to discount the fact that those people exist, I just personally don’t know too many people who genuinely enjoy that sort of training. Most people workout a certain way as a means to an end because they’ve been convinced it’s the best way to go about things. But, is it? In this case - probably not.

These workouts also probably aren’t sustainable. If you’re not already in phenomenal shape, doing something like 100 burpees followed by 100 pushups followed by 100 pullups followed by 100 crunches is going to absolutely dominate you. You will be sore for days - maybe even more than a week! So if you do that on Monday, what are you going to do on Tuesday? Well, I know exactly what you’ll be doing. You’ll be curled up in the fetal position with enough delayed onset muscle soreness to cripple an army.

And to that same point, these workouts don’t account for the future. Even if you could do that workout and live to see the light of next Monday, what happens then? Do you do it again? For the same amount of sets and reps? And again the following Monday? How do you progress? It’s a dead-end road.

For optimal muscle development, I’ve learned that you really need to be periodizing your approach, which means learning when to take it easy, when to ramp it up, and when to go hard in the paint.

Take this example of a leg day you could do instead of those 200 air squats per day.

• DB Goblet Squats for 3 sets of 8-15

• Bodyweight Bulgarian Split Squats for 2 sets of 10-20

• DB Romanian Deadlifts for 2 sets of 8-15

• Weighted Crunches for 2 sets to semi-failure

Most people could do that on Monday, feel a bit of soreness on Tuesday, and be fully recovered to train their legs again by Thursday. By next Monday, you could repeat that entire workout while adding a small bit of weight, adding a rep here or there, improving your technique, or even adding a set. That’s called progression. Progression provides overload, and overload produces results when your diet matches the goal.

So, here is the point in black and white…

“If your goal is to look better naked, consider training with heavier loads, eating plenty of protein within an overall caloric deficit, setting a step goal, and prioritizing your sleep and recovery.”

Hopefully that makes sense in simple enough terms.

Q: Are there any good reasons to be doing these workouts? Or are they just a bad idea in general?

It doesn’t have to be a non-negotiably bad idea.

Good reasons for doing these sort of workouts could be that you enjoy them or just prefer getting a bigger caloric burn in a short amount of time. Those are great reasons to do them, I just personally don’t relate to them because:

1. I don’t like high intensity training with lighter loads.

2. I prefer to achieve my calorie deficit primarily through diet and walking.

Another reason could be that you just really enjoy a good challenge for the sake of fitness. If that’s you, go for it!

But if that’s not you, take a step back, evaluate your long-term goal, and train/eat/sleep according to what the science says - not fitness mythology.

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Thanks for reading, everyone! I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content and learned something.

If you feel like this blog brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member!

And, if you're interested in working with me one-on-one, visit The Vegan Gym and apply for coaching. I’ve had nothing but success in guiding people toward their fat loss goals.

Cheers, everyone!

-Andrew