Achieving great results with the 28 Days to Redemption training program (and beyond) isn’t just about what you do in the gym. Equally (if not more) important are proper nutrition and a sustainable fat loss eating plan. Notice I didn’t say weight loss, because the type of weight you lose is critical and worth specifying. I’m talking about losing body fat and eating for a lean, muscular physique.
An effective fat loss diet is one that considers what you’re currently eating and how your body is responding to the diet, and then adjusts accordingly. Since I can’t be there to monitor your progress, it will require a bit more work from you than just following the plan meal by meal. But you’ll be better off for it – you’ll learn more about your body this way and figure out what foods your body responds to, both positively and negatively, for the best possible results.
That’s what Dieting 101 will teach you: How to figure out where to start on a fat-loss diet and how to progress based on your body’s response. Thousands upon thousands of people have used this guide to not only lose body fat and get in shape, but also as an educational tool to learn more about their own bodies and nutrition in general.
Dieting 101 breaks it all down into steps. The reason for this is, fat loss is a continual process, and your diet must change gradually over time. The worst thing you can do is immediately drop down to a very low calorie and carbohydrate intake. Drastic dietary changes overnight won’t last.
For example, many people ask me if going on a Keto diet, where almost all carbs are removed from the diet, is a smart plan. The answer is no. Sure, this can result in very rapid fat loss at the beginning, but after a few months, when fat loss stops and hits a plateau, there’s little wiggle room to remove more calories and continue losing body fat.
When you diet, your body responds by going into “starvation mode.” This means your body slows down your metabolic rate, the number of calories you burn just sitting around. The reason for this is to conserve energy stores, namely your body fat. Your body prefers not to be lean, since body fat is stored energy that can be used when food is scarce. The more you reduce your caloric intake, the bigger the drop in your metabolic rate and the quicker this will happen.
To prevent a massive slowing of your metabolic rate, you need to gradually reduce your calorie intake, little by little.
Exercise will help keep your metabolic rate higher, but it can’t prevent the gradual lowering of it as you drop calories. You want to start a diet for fat loss by eating as many calories as you can while still losing weight. This way, you have ample room to keep lowering calories as your metabolic rate drops and fat loss hits a plateau.
And how do you figure out how many calories to start out with? This often-asked question leads directly to Step #1 of Dieting 101…
