Want to lose weight fast?
Since publicly sharing my progress towards my fitness goals in my Monthly Goals Reports, people have been asking me how I've been getting so shredded. I've lost over 30 lbs in less than a year, hit 6% body fat and just recently achieved my goal of competing in a fitness competition (WBFF).
In this video blog, I'm going to reveal to you my weight loss plan – exactly how you can burn belly fat and lose weight fast. While I've already openly shared my weight loss diet in a previous video blog, this one is going to be dedicated to everything that I do to lose weight and get ripped. While you might not have the goal to be as low body fat as I am, the information here will help you lose weight nonetheless.
Watch the video below:
(Click here to watch on YouTube)
My Workout Routine
Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Shoulders
Thursday: Arms
Friday: Legs
Saturday: Chest
Sunday: Rest
Since I'm working out a body part everyday, by Saturday I'm able to repeat the same cycle and don't really require a rest day. I often have a rest day that happens every week or two, but sometimes I just workout everyday without breaks because I enjoy it.
My workouts are generally an hour long. 40-45 minutes of my workout is weight lifting, while the remaining 15-20 minutes consists of an abdominal workout and cardio.
During my weight lifting session, when losing body fat, my goal is to keep my heart rate elevated throughout my workout. By keeping my heart rate up, I'm able to get my body into a fat burning state, while building muscle mass. To accomplish this, I perform my exercises in high rep ranges and take short rest periods between my sets. The rep ranges I perform range from 15-20 reps, with a 30-45 second rest between sets. I often do supersets and drop sets also, which gives me more of a burn and again is keeping my heart rate elevated.
Here's an example of what a chest workout would look like for me:
Barbell bench press (4 sets, 15-20 reps)
Superset with dumbbell press (4 sets, 15-20 reps)
Incline barbell press (4 sets, 15-20 reps)
Superset with incline cable flys (15-20 reps)
Decline barbell perss (4 sets, 15-20 reps)
Superset with decline cable flys (15-20 reps)
Close grip bench press (4 sets, 15-20 reps)
Dips (4 sets, 15-20 reps)
Dumbbell pullovers (15-20 reps)
At the end of my workout, I always do abs for at least 10 minutes. I set a timer and go non-stop for a full 10 minutes, performing 3-4 exercises as a circuit. For example, I will do crunches, leg raises and side twists and repeat that as much as I can for 10 minutes. This ensures I'm hitting my upper abs, lower abs, and obliques. The only day I don't do abs is on back day, as my core is already getting a heavy workout during that time.
Finally, I perform cardio at least 3-4 times per week at the end of my workouts as well. I prefer to do HIIT cardio (High Intensity Interval Training). I've found this to be the most efficient way to burn a large number of calories in a short period of time, while stimulating my metabolism throughout the day. By performing HIIT cardio for 10-15 minutes, your body will also burn calories all throughout the day to recover from it.
A HIIT cardio session is anything high intensity; short bursts of energy, with short breaks. An example could be on the treadmill, where you sprint for 1-minute, then walk for 1-minute, spring for 1-minute, walk for 1-minute, and repeat for 10-15 minutes. I often mix it up with sprinting, using the elliptical, stair master, punching bag, and even jump rope.
I will say that this workout definitely isn't for beginners. You want to make sure you start small and work your way up, so your body can adapt and handle the workload that you're putting on it. Because of this, recovery is extremely important as well (sleep and nutrition).
The Most Important Thing To Know To Burn Fat
The truth is, you can workout everyday like a madman, but still not lose weight.
If you want to lose weight, there's only one thing that causes fat loss: being at a caloric deficit.
In order to lose fat, you need to be at a caloric deficit.
You can achieve that caloric deficit either through exercising more (to burn more calories and increase metabolism, which will burn more calories throughout the day) or through eating less calories each day.
We all have a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the baseline number of calories that our bodies require to maintain our current body fat.
In my case, my BMR is roughly 2500 calories per day. By consuming less calories, say 300-500 less, then my body will start to burn fat, which is stored energy. By consuming 2000 calories per day (500 calories less per day), then equals 3500 calories, which is 1 pound of fat.
If you just consume the same amount of calories each day that your body requires, you won't see any difference. And if you consume more calories than what your body requires, then your body will store that as fat (stored energy).
So the combination of both DIET and EXERCISE are critical in losing body fat. From my experience, diet is 80% of the journey.
There's a good saying, which is “abs are made in the kitchen.”
What this means is that the ONLY way you'll see your abs is when you are low body fat (single digit body fat). Doing more crunches and abdominal exercises won't make your abs magically appear; it's only through proper dieting that you'll be able to lose the belly fat and have those six pack abs.
If you want to see what my weight loss plan diet is, along with the supplements that I take, click here.
To calculate your BMR and learn more about the number of calories you require each day, click here.
Click here to learn how many calories you need to consume each day to lose weight.
Enjoy The Process And Make It A Lifestyle
Ultimately, to get the body you deserve, you must enjoy the process.
If you see working out and eating well as a “chore”, then it will never be sustainable. It has to become a lifestyle for you.
It requires no discipline or willpower for me to work out consistently. The truth is, I love it and I can't go a day without it.
The same goes with consuming healthy foods. I crave healthy foods and for the most part, make fantastic choices that support my body and health.
It's automatic. It's a habit. It's part of who I am.
It didn't happen overnight. I just continuously focused on my vision, pushed myself to do it, and then over a period of time I learned to enjoy it. Especially once I started seeing results – you get more encouraged and motivated from there.
I view working out as being therapeutic. It's a way for me to get out of my head and into my body. It helps me deal with situations in my life and I feel like I'm developing powerful qualities in the process. It boosts my self-esteem, my confidence, and attractiveness. There's so many benefits that I associate to it, which is what makes it something that I love.
Where focus goes energy flows.
If you focus on what you love about exercise or health, or you focus on your goals for your body, you will move towards it.
If you focus on what you dislike about exercise or health, how hard it'll be, or what you don't want, then you'll resist it.
Simple as that.
Your goal isn't just to lose weight, it's always to make it a lifestyle. It's to make it SUSTAINABLE.
Most people lose weight, then gain it back. If you don't want that to happen, then you have to accept and understand that living this way is a new way of life. It's going to require you to change your habits, beliefs and behaviours for the long-term.
By making these shifts mentally, as well as by applying these principles here, then I promise you that you will be able to lose any amount of weight that you choose.
While what I do is fairly extreme for most, it is not required for you to see progress. My advice to anyone is just to GET STARTED.
Commit to exercising more each week – perhaps start with 3 days per week. Start making better choices with your eating, track your meals and cut back on the calories. As you develop the habits and discipline of that, then slowly start to increase things. Make sure you're tracking your progress along the way to see if what you're doing is working or not.
Additional Resources
There's a few additional resources that I thought would be worthwhile mentioning here. In order to achieve my fitness goals, I've consumed tons of information and resources that have helped me tremendously. Below you'll find some of them that I recommend:
- The Fat Loss Factor: One of my favourite courses that I've been through multiple times that has helped me lose fat.
- The Truth About Abs: Another great course I've been through that has helped me burn belly fat and have my abs showing.
- The Total Wellness Cleanse: My favourite cleansing and detox programs – also has helped me lose weight and cleanse my body.
- The Body Fat Solution: Fantastic book that I read recently on losing body fat.
- FitBit – A wireless pedometer that I use daily and has helped me increase my daily movement.
There you have it! This is exactly what I personally do and what has worked for me. I hope that the information here can benefit you in some way in helping you achieve your weight loss goals.
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Please leave any comments or questions below, I'll do my best to respond!