How long to focus on fat loss and how to maintain your results
March’s Theme: Sustainable Fat Loss
Today’s topic: How long to focus on fat loss and how to maintain your results
Some people have claimed to be in a calorie deficit for literal years and haven’t lost weight.
I have a lot of empathy for them, and I understand the frustration. But you can’t be in a deficit for years without losing weight.
However, due to people’s unique metabolic rates and physiological and psychological variables that affect calories in and calories out, some people have a harder time getting into and maintaining a calorie deficit for the time needed to see a difference.
The reason why people believe they’ve been in a deficit forever is because they’ve been mental dieting. Which just means they’ve been thinking nonstop about food and their body.
Constantly thinking about dieting is fucking exhausting and makes people miss the big picture of what’s happening with their nutrition, which is why we need to keep our fat loss phases short 👏 and 👏 sweet 👏
By short I mean 3 months.
By sweet I mean a reasonable deficit of 250-500 calories less per day, always with a minimum protein target to hit. (for most women this would be 120-150 grams per day)
I like to track macros because it doesn’t cut out any foods. I still eat chocolate every day. I thrive on carbs. I don’t want to feel like I “can’t” have something, and macros allows that, at the cost of tracking what I eat.
(But remember, tracking is only there to give you data about what’s happening so you can build new habits that align with your goal. You’re not supposed to track forever!)
Other diets achieve a calorie deficit by just removing foods (usually processed, high-calorie foods and alcohol) or forcing you to eat in a restricted time window. This often only works for a short period of time while people white-knuckle their way to the result then eventually revert back to their normal lives. If you never want to eat a bagel again that’s fine, but I would rather slide down a bannister of razor blades and land in a pool of alcohol than abandon carbs forever.
A calorie deficit should not feel outrageous. It can feel a little uncomfortable, sure. After all, changing your habits and not being in homeostasis is always a little uncomfortable.
But you shouldn’t have to overhaul your diet or your life. You should still be able to enjoy your food. It just means being more aware and making some tweaks, which requires some energy.
“But Coach, there’s no way I can lose what I want to lose in only 3 months with a reasonable deficit!”
I hear ya, Sally. (if you’re not Sally, sorry, I don’t have my glasses on)
That’s why we take the long-game approach and have bouts of fat loss focus, with maintenance phases sprinkled in between to give you a mental and physical break.
Maintenance just means you let your body adjust and live in it’s new calorie range for a while. How long can be up to you, but I suggest at least a month of living at maintenance.
You use this time to practice all the skills you learned about building your meals and using moderation with treatos. You just live, baby. I recommend tracking your food still for a little bit in maintenance to get a feel for it, then you could take a tracking break and focus on habits if you want.
Don’t start another fat loss phase until you can live comfortably at this new maintenance level.
My clients are able to live at maintenance without tracking because we’ve been practicing the habits of eating enough lean protein, fruits, and vegetables at each meal.
The skills have been learned, and that’s how you live every day without spending an exorbitant amount of energy thinking about food. This is great when life is punching you in the face and you don’t have the energy to track everything you eat.
Important note:
A fat loss phase should not feel anxious, grippy, or stressful.
The goal is not to force your body to change.
The goal is to provide the environment that allows your body to change at the pace that it needs.
This means relaxing into the process and staying curious so you can adapt—and you will need to adapt at some point!
Changes will never be as fast or easy as you want, but can feel completely reasonable and doable if you focus on the process instead of the outcome.
*Shameless plug* This is where a coach really comes in handy, because it’s so easy to fall into old patterns, unhelpful thoughts, and generally make things harder for yourself.
A coach will give you perspective, let you know when you’re on track and to not change a thing, or help you change the right thing if you need to pivot.
There are a ton of variables when it comes to fat loss, spanning both the psychological and the physiological, which muddies the waters and can make you doubt yourself or the process. A coach will guide you through it 💛
Holy timewarp, Batman—next week we dip into April!
March Theme Schedule:
Week 1: When to focus on fat loss
Week 2: Fat loss nutrition that doesn’t suck
Week 3: How to train during fat loss
Week 4: (You are here 📍) How long to focus on fat loss and how to maintain it
April’s forecast: Sport-Specific Training!
Training in every plane of motion so you’re ready to confidently tackle any adventure that comes your way. We call this being anti-fragile, and it’ll rock your world 😎
Here’s a link to my past emails as blog posts in case you missed them!
Love & muscles,
Coach Mac
Muscle Sherpa
