“I run 30 minutes every day, so why is it that I never seem to look any leaner?”
Have you ever found yourself asking this kind of question? Lowering your body fat levels can be more difficult than building muscle if you let it be, but I get the feeling that many of us make it a bit tougher than it really needs to be.
Chances are that if you have been weight lifting for a decent period of time, you’ve managed to increase your metabolism by adding more muscle to your body. Each weight lifting session also burns calories and helps you get closer to your goals.
Adding cardio into your routine can only help out when it comes to lowering your body fat levels, but cardio is not the first factor you should be looking at to help you get leaner. A few tweaks to the way you eat might really be what you need the most to start seeing a difference.
When you’re trying to lean down and get rid of some extra fat, start by focusing you’re attention on the F.A.T.
F.A.T. = Frequency. Amount. Type.
This is a simple way for you to remember to get rid of fat by focusing on F.A.T., or the Frequency, Amounts, and Types of food you’re eating.
Don’t be one of those fools who runs their guts out only to come home and mess it all up by the way you eat. I know that you might feel that you’re getting something more out of running hard because it’s so tough to do, but seriously, do the easier things first and then move on to the tough things, especially if the easier things help you more.
Frequency: In general, if you’re one of those people that skips breakfast, eats a little salad with the light dressing and diet soda for lunch, and then loads up with a massive plate of food at night… Well, you’re taking all the right steps to get fat, and switching to 5-6 smaller meals a day is going to make a big difference.
Eating three meals a day is better than one, but eating 5-6 a day keeps a steady flow of nutrients into your body. Remember, if your body knows it’s going to be getting food regularly, it doesn’t need to store away food as fat on your body. Here’s a sample schedule:
- 7:00am- Breakfast
- 10:00am- Morning snack
- 12:30pm- Lunch
- 3:30pm- Lunch part 2
- 6:00pm- Dinner
- 8:30pm- Dinner part 2
Look, getting into this kind of schedule isn’t that bad. Bring a piece of fruit or whatever else with you for your morning snack. Eat your lunch in 2 shifts, same thing with your dinner, and you’re there. That’s it. Keep it simple.
The biggest reason we fail to ever do 6 meals is because our minds think reasons to justify our current habits. You’ll say to yourself that you don’t have time to plan and cook 6 meals a day. Guess what, you don’t have to. Take your regular 3 meals you’re already eating (hopefully), and work on the timing a bit until you have 6 as we’ve outlined above.
Amounts: Like I’ve said before, losing fat isn’t a simple matter of calories in and calories out. If you eat too little or too infrequently, your metabolism will slow down. Now, this isn’t that hard either, but you’ll need to pay a little bit of attention to make sure that you’re getting the right amount of a few types of foods.
Watch your intake of your carbs, proteins, and vegetables. Use the portion sizes method, and if that isn’t good enough for you, go ahead and count out your calories. The portions method is only going to require a moment of your thought, you’ve got this totally under control.
Types: OK, first off, let’s make the point that there are many ways that you can get your protein in. Just getting at least one gram of protein per pound of body weight each day isn’t all you need to think about.
Trying to get your protein from a greasy sausage isn’t the same thing as going for a lean steak, chicken, salmon, or some eggs. Getting your carbs from the white-bread bun of your McChicken sandwich isn’t really going to cut it either.
Sure, they’ve all got protein and carbs, but white bread is not substitute for whole grains, and the fact that something has protein in it doesn’t erase all the junk it’s been cooked in.
Yeah, You might be thinking that you’re giving your muscles everything they need to grow because you’re eating those, what, like nine chicken breasts and a bunch of white rice every day.
Add that to the fact that your energy drink claims to have some taurine (or anything else that sounds healthy but you don’t really know why you need it) and you probably feel like you’re good to go. Well, you’re not. There’s no substitute for good food when it comes to fixing your diet.
If you’re trying to lose fat, you will probably cut your carb intake by 15-20%, keep the protein intake level, and eat plenty of vegetables. Time your carbs in the morning and around your workouts.
You are what you eat
By focusing on these 3 points of your eating habits, you will probably see a big difference in the way you look if you haven’t done it already. This is so important because your body uses the food you eat to create the tissues that you are made of. Every part of your body is created mostly from the materials you put in your mouth.
So when you hear people say “you are what you eat”, that’s actually quite literal. And if you are constantly eating food that is crap… well, you know what that would mean.
How about you? What have you found to work well?
Just starting out with weightlifting? Want to get bigger muscles this winter?
Get my full-body lifting routine here: FullBodyAttack!
Related posts:
- Burn Fat With The Thermic Effect of Food
- Starvation is Not the Answer, Part 1
- Portion Sizes & Calories Needed to Build Muscle, Lose Fat
Tags: diet, meals, metabolism
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May 27th, 2008 at 8:50 am
This approach is really SO simple, but yet, few people do it.
In magazines etc., they always come up with really advanced diets. “Eat 55 g carbohydrates at 11.00 AM bla. bla.” When really all you need is a good and healthy lifestyle, with a little bit of “strategy”.
Eat good, cut the crap. No holes in that diet. And if you on top of that eat at the right times with the right portion sizes, you’re good to go.
(hope I understood it correctly…)
Nice post! :)
May 27th, 2008 at 9:17 am
So this makes sense and I am doing this. I have recently gotten into weight lifting. I find this site and the ebook very helpful on my quest to get stronger, leaner and healthier.
My number 1 goal is definitely not having larger muscles but I have a question about leanness/muscle “tone”…
So my biceps and triceps are getting stronger as I work out and when they are flexed I am noticing some definite difference from 4 weeks ago or so when I started. But when I am not flexing or lifting, they pretty much go back to a “tight flab”.
Is that just relaxed muscle or fat? When I flex, there appears to be no noticeable fat on the arm. Like I said my goal is not having big muscles (healthier, leaner is the goal.. started with a 25+% body fat, wearing size 36 jeans around 210ish.. down to upper 190s, wearing 33/34 sized jeans with 22/23% BF so starting the walk towards the goal already) but I wouldn’t mind having defined muscles in my arms either :)
May 27th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Mike, if you’ve cut that much weight in body fat and you’ve noticed significant muscle growth in 4 weeks, you’re actually following everything you’ve read on here so far. I’d say keep it up and the more fat you lose/muscle you grow, the more those muscles are going to become defined, flexed or not.
From my own personal experience/gains and people-watching at the gym, it seems like it takes only a tiny bit of body fat to cover up muscle when it’s not being flexed. Thus Jason’s constant stressing of “you can work out ten times harder at the gym, but you won’t get the results you’re looking for unless you eat a proper diet too”. :)
May 28th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Hey Witmonger -
Some of the weight loss was prior to starting working out, just from eating “cleaner” (Trying to cut down on empty carbs, saturated fats, refined sugars… More water less Coke Zero, etc).
I will honestly say I could be seeing better gains though, not doing all of the ywwswot “basic” routines yet. I am slowly adding them as I gain strength and get personal trainer appointments. I am afraid of injury and looking like a fool with poor form. Just squats right now (added to a routine with upper and lower weights workouts.. probably 50 minutes total)… No bench presses either. Doing DB chest presses instead.. Feel like a moron asking for a spot with the weight I am doing right now (only doing 35lb DBs in each arm) and with the DBs I can go closer to exhaustion than I could with a Bench Press for fear of getting stuck down…
Definitely hear you on the eating better. Trying every day and noticing a huge difference in energy and feeling on the days/weeks when I eat the cleanest. Maybe get a little frustrated/angry without that sugar my body thinks it wants but otherwise feel better.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Alex- Thanks, and I know what you mean about all those complicated programs out there. Not sure how people really stick to those… wait, they don’t. ;)
Mike- Whitmonger put it pretty well. Keep dropping the fat while keeping/adding muscle and you’ll get there. It’s normal for your muscles to feel pumped after a workout and lose that feeling later. But they are growing over time from session to session. After 4 weeks, it sounds like you’ve made pretty great progress, and it’s a good early success story. Remember that one of the key ingredients is to stay consistent over a long period of time. Best of luck.
October 28th, 2008 at 9:47 am
I like your explanation of F.A.T. and it is so true!
The Frequency you eat food has a huge impact on speeding your metabolism, but the right Amount of food (energy) and the type of food, health…nutritious foods, not junk.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I started jogging a few months ago and have dropped several pounds. I recently added weight lifting to build definition. I am having trouble losing the last few pounds around the belt and believe my diet is the reason. I would be interested in a diet that follows the F.A.T. premise. Do you have a suggested 5-7 day diet plan? I am not a vegetarian and have no issue eating fruits and vegetables. Thank you for your time.
January 12th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
i love this diet i follow it as best i can. but i would like to know. does anyone know of any protein supplements that are low calorie, FDA approved and actually work
January 13th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Casey – excellent decision to add weight training to your jogging. Study after study shows that jogging alone may help you lose some weight, but adding weight training will actually help you lose pounds faster because muscle growth burns energy long after the exercise itself is over. Most muscle-building sites will tell you to keep cardio to a minimum because cardio burns both fat and muscle. Some even say skip cardio altogether! I don’t buy into that. I do cardio 3x a week and weights 3x a week. What do other readers think?
In terms of diet, I’m not a nutrition expert but a “perfect” diet has so many factors. My own bias is that there is no 1 right diet – high carb, low carb, high protein, etc. etc. are all good to the extent that avoiding junk is the main requirement and that they all can work if you stick to them and leverage your diet with your exercise plan. A good diet also depends on whether you are in a building phase, a weight loss phase, or a cutting phase (getting ripped). Sounds like you are more interested in losing, so you’ll want to go light on the carbs and focus on lean proteins and veggies. I am personally not an expert on diet, but perhaps some of our other readers can chime in? If there’s more interest like Casey’s, I can try to get an expert to contribute an article on it.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I am just starting and I like the looks of the menus you provided, but what about breakfast. What would be an ideal breakfast? I have been eating whole grain flax waffles and peanut butter, oatmeal, or eggs and 1 sausage. Are these OK?
Thanks
Donna
January 29th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Hi Donna – it’s hard to make any recommendation without knowing what your goals are. In a general sense, I would stay away from the sausage and probably only eat the waffles or oatmeal if you are also doing a morning workout. Cottage cheese, with a little peanut butter mixed in, plus a whole fruit would be a good breakfast. If you share your goals (losing weight, gaining muscle, etc.) perhaps I (or others) could chime in with more ideas.