People like lists apparently.
Because of the amazing feedback and success of 50 Ways To Get Better at CrossFit I have decided to do an entire series of ‘50 ways’ list posts. If you find this content useful please share with others that you think will benefit from it! Let’s keep fighting the good fight! Here is a snazzy click-to-tweet link.
The subject of this post is losing weight and burning fat but it also doubles as a guide onhow to live a healthy lifestyle.
Overall, you will lead a better life if you make your lifestyle look something like 1 through 20. Get as close as possible to doing all of these.Following 21-50 will help you lose weight AND improve at whatever you are training/living for.
1. EAT A GRAIN-FREE PALEO/PRIMAL DIET
Not your thing? Sure but the reality is that healthy weight loss is going to be difficult if you aren’t eating something resembling the Paleo diet (meat, leaves, berries). At the very least you should be eating unprocessed whole foods from nature. And always consume the highest quality ingredients you can find.
You wouldn’t put regular gas in a Ferrari would you? Treat your body the same and only ingest the highest quality fuel possible. Weight loss becomes effortless when you are eating whole natural foods.
2. GET LOTS OF SLEEP
I have clients look at me sideways when I tell them they need to sleep 8+ hours a night. If you are one of these sleep-deprived zombies I challenge you to try it for a week. You will be amazed by how you feel and where your body composition goes with this little experiment.
You might think you feel fine now but then realize that you really have been in a chronic state of sleep deprivation from years of missing your ZzZz’s.
3. PRACTICE INTERMITTENT FASTING (IF) – EAT LESS OFTEN
I follow the leangains approach – a daily 8 hour feeding window followed by a 16 hour fast. Check it out here: Leangains.com. Whether you follow a strict fasting protocol or not, you can definitely benefit from skipping meals on a regular basis. Contrary to popular belief, skipping meals can help you you build muscle (and it does a million other awesome things for your body).
Further Read: MarksDailyApple, EatSTOPEat
4. EAT SLOW AND CHEW YOUR FOOD THOROUGHLY
This has done WONDERS for me. I used to inhale food like a whale gobbling up plankton. I would just swim right through the food until it was gone in minutes. Eating slow enables some important triggers for weight loss:
1. You reduce the insulin spike by slowing the release of glucose into your blood stream. This prevents insulin, a storage hormone, from storing calories in your fat cells. The more insulin = the more fat storage.2. You eat less! You feel ‘full’ faster and avoid taking in extra calories. We all hate an overfilled bloating stomach right? You can blame that on eating too fast and not allowing the full trigger to tell your brain to PUT DOWN THE DAMN FORK.
5. COOK YOUR FOOD AT HOME
Restaurant food is just bad. Restaurants use cheap salt, sugar, sauces, thickeners, stabilizers and all kinds of other unnatural crap to reduce costs, stay profitable, and keep the food addictive.
The average restaurant margin is well under under 10%. You better freaking believe that they are always trying to cut corners and save on food costs. While the customer is the one that gets stuck with the health bill…that’s Bollox (apparently my writing persona is British).
6. DON’T DRINK CALORIES
When my clients cut out soda/juices/beer they typically see immediate 5+ pound weight-loss results. Drinking calories elicits a similar negative response on insulin levels that eating your food too fast does. The calories enter your blood stream too fast and cause an overload of insulin. We are made to chew our food.
7. GO COMPLETELY GLUTEN-FREE
This can be life changing. Clean out your pantry and start being picky at restaurants. This could be the missing link to that lean body you’ve been trying to achieve.
8. SNACKING IS THE BANE OF WEIGHT LOSS
One of the main reasons IF is so beneficial is because it regulates your hormone levels and itbalances your body between the fasted and fed states. Your body is made to burn fat when in the ‘fasted’ state and made to store calories when in the ‘fed’ state. Every time you put calories in your mouth you are entering the ‘fed’ state and thus shutting off your bodies ability to burn fat by introducing glucose and insulin into your blood stream.
So, next time you grab that bag of almonds thinking it’s a healthy snack, you are actually doing your body a disservice. Keep eating to meal times only.
9. TAKE HIGH QUALITY FISH OIL WITH EVERY MEAL
Fish oil contains omega-3′s that help to balance out the omega-6′s that are prevalent throughout our modern diets (especially processed foods). Correcting this balance provides a ton of benefit to the body, especially weight loss. My favorite brand is Carlson
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Further Reading: Read Robb Wolf’s post if you are interested in the science.
10. TAKE VITAMIN D AND/OR GET DAILY SUNLIGHT
If you aren’t currently doing this it could be the missing link in your weight loss efforts.
Further Reading: MarksDailyApple post
11. REDUCE STRESS AT ALL COSTS
Do everything you absolutely can to reduce stress. I often explain to my people that every time you get angry, stressed, or freak-out about something that it is like taking a bite out of a candy bar. Stress releases cortisol and insulin into your blood stream just like taking a bite of your favorite candy bar. As we discussed earlier, this halts fat-loss and promotes fat-gain. That’s a bad combination don’t you think?
Take a chill pill and BREATHE.
12. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness is the act of focusing on a single object or task and turning off the rest of the noise (thoughts, worry, doubt) going through your head. This helps with number 11 to prevent the chronically raised cortisol and insulin levels we get as a result of our mind tormenting us with worry, stress, anger, resentment, jealously, and all kinds of other shit we shouldn’t be worrying about.
Some techniques for being mindful: Counting your breath, listening to nature or water flow and focusing on the sound and nothing else for a few minutes every day. I’m not a pro here, just a student, so I suggest you do some more research on your own. A little practice can go a long way.
13. ELIMINATE SUGAR
It is the absolute worst. Remember that fat doesn’t make you fat. Sugar, seed oils, and processed grains are what make you fat (and stress).
14. EAT LOTS OF HIGH-QUALITY FAT
Fatty fish, grass-fed beef, lamb, bison, coconut oil, olive oil (I prefer it unheated), Kerrygold butter, avocado oil, macadamia oil, ghee, lard (make your own), tallow (make your own).
15. EAT LOTS OF HIGH-QUALITY ANIMAL PRODUCTS
Keywords include: grass-fed, free range, pastured, organic, all-natural, hormone-free, humanely raised, family farms, local
Your diet will look something like this:
Protein ~35% of calories or moreFat ~35% of calories or moreCarbs in the form of starches/veggies = ~25% or less
These are average ranges. Everyone is different and some prefer lower carbs while others do well on higher carbs. Tweak and experiment to find what works for you.
16. PERFORM RESISTANCE TRAINING ~3 TIMES A WEEK
If you are reading this you probably already know why this is beneficial. Just do it.
17. PERFORM HIGH INTENSITY CONDITIONING ~3 TIMES A WEEK
Think intervals; short, fast, and hard. Avoid long distance and moderate paced training as the bulk of your training (it’s useful only sometimes).
18. WALK EVERYWHERE
Take the stairs, park at the end of the parking lot, walk the long way. We are made to move at a slow pace often. Get up and get moving.
19. PLAY SPORTS
Great for overall health, mental relief, muscle building, mobility, social development, etc. We have been playing games since the dawn of man.
20. GET OUTDOORS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE
The first 20 in this list are my main recommendations to living an overall healthy life. As you adopt more and more of this list you will notice that you become a fat-burning machine, and you’ll realize how easy it is to tweak your weight based on what you do (or don’t do).
I recommend you incorporate these habits a little at a time until they become routine. Don’t try to adopt them all at once.
QUICK FIRE TIPS FOR WEIGHT LOSS:
21. DRINK A FULL GLASS OF WATER BEFORE EACH MEAL
You will feel full faster and eat less as a result.
22. EAT YOUR PROTEIN BEFORE YOUR CARBS AND FAT
Protein is very satiating and will fill you up fast.
23. EAT A BIT OF HEALTHY FAT 15 MINUTES BEFORE EACH MEAL
Fat curbs appetite and triggers the release of hormones that let you know that you are full. You can kickstart these hormones by nibbling on some nuts or dark chocolate before the your meals.
24. EAT HOT AND HEARTY SOUPS AND STEWS
Soups and stews are filling. Hot food will force you to eat slow and thus eat less, curb insulin spikes, and get full faster. Notice a trend?
25. SPRINT
Fast, intense, full-body exercise like sprinting has insane thermogenic and EPOC effects on the body. Basically, it turns your body into a calorie-burning furnace. Sprinting also builds massive muscle (compare a pic of a sprinter to a marathon runner…scary).
26. MAKE THINGS DIFFICULT FOR YOURSELF (ON PURPOSE)
Why would you ever do this? So you can MOVE more..DUH!
The more movement you perform the more calories you burn. Instead of searching for the easiest route try this: grit your damn pussy willow lip and move more, on purpose.
27. BUY SOME CHUCK TAYLORS OR OLY SHOES
You will lift more. The more weight you move, the more calories you burn.
28. DRINK GREEN TEA
Full of antioxidants and a bit of caffeine, both good for fat burning.
29. CHEW A FEW EXTRA CHEWS EACH MOUTHFUL
Chewing has been linked to improvement in digestion and breakdown of food (duh) through extra release of the salvia enzymes amylase (starch breakdown) and lipase (fat breakdown). All from the physical act of chewing (weird huh).
30. DRINK BLACK COFFEE (IN MODERATION)
Coffee offers many benefits to the body, one of which is fat burning, but there are some caveats. You should drink black (yummy) and organic if possible. Coffee beans are one of the most heavily sprayed (pesticides) crops in the world. No bueno.
31. TAKE A DIGESTIVE ENZYME, PROBIOTIC, AND/OR EAT FERMENTED FOOD REGULARLY
These products improve gut health and digestion. The better you digest your food the better it is utilized in the body and the less likely it is to be converted into adipose tissue. Adipose tissue is FAT ladies and gentlemen; the jiggley, cellulitely, unpleasant kind of fat.
32. PERFORM HEAVY, COMPLEX, FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENTS
Anything that trains the body as a whole is going to eat up calories for fuel. If you are in ‘isolation-land’ I implore you to start picking up, carrying, and moving heavy shit on a regular basis.
33. AVOID LIQUID FOOD
Yes boys and girls, that means protein shakes. If you want to lose weight you should avoid liquid calories in any form. We already discussed how drinking calories produces a large insulin spike because of the fast digesting form of the calories.
There is a BUT here though: If you drink a shake in lieu of eating a meal, then I say it’s not that bad as long as you keep it simple and low-calorie. Avoid the 500-calorie oat, peanut butter, or fruit smoothie concoctions (those are for weight gain). If it keeps you from eating shit then stick with water and whey (gross I know) and avoid chugging them (sip).
34. SKIP THE CONDIMENTS
How did I lose 5 pounds and finally carve out my abs after 2 years of frustration? Dropping ketchup (I also nixed milk so that helped a bit). I used to drown my chicken breasts in ketchup. Eliminating it was huge for my results.
Store bought condiments are filled with sugar and other processed crap. Stick with organic mustard or homemade ketchup.
35. DRINK LOTS OF WATER
I don’t think we need to drink as much water as the pundits would have us believe, but for reducing cravings and making us feel full more often, water can be useful.
36. THINK HARD – USE YOUR BRAIN
Your brain’s primary fuel source is glucose, so obviously it is beneficial to use up as much of it as possible so there isn’t any leftover to be stored as fat.
37. PERFORM TABATA INTERVALS
A Tabata interval is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Pick a movement (Air squat for example) and start a timer. Perform as many air squats in 20 seconds as possible then rest. After 10 seconds of rest go again. Repeat until 4 minutes is up or 8 rounds have been completed. Brutal, effective and simple fat-burning exercise.
38. REPLACE SODA, JUICE, SWEET TEA WITH A SODA WATER AND LIME (SPARKLING AND SELTZER ALSO WORK)
This is how my sister and I weaned off soda (long time ago mind you) and we are still able to satisfy that craving for carbonation from time to time. You can even fake it at the club with a soda water and lime (totally looks like you are a hip alcohol-drinking-baller-shot-caller).
39. DO NOTHING
Relieve stress by turning off your brain and laying around like a fat-lazy Jabba the Hutt. This is something some of us do well (or too much) and others do terribly (never relax).
Examples of doing nothing include: watching mindless TV, movies, people watching, laying on the beach, napping.
40. TAKE NAPS
Sleep is one of the top 5 techniques to living a healthy life. Naps consist of sleep. Thus naps do a body good (milk does not btw).
41. GET SOCIAL
We are social creatures and have thrived as a species by staying together. The benefits of enjoying time with friends and family are enormous. Anything that improves your happiness can help you lose weight by reducing stress.
42. FAST BEFORE YOU TRAIN AND/OR AFTER YOU TRAIN
The longer you go without food in your body the more your metabolism will burn stored fat. Training increases your body’s need for fuel and as a result will burn more fat.
There are a ton of benefits to not eating food after training. You should mix it up. I’ll let Mark Sisson explain
43. WATCH YOUR CARB INTAKE
This includes sugar, rice, potatoes, fruit, grains (hopefully not). Even ‘good’ carbs can become ‘bad’ by eating too much.
44. TAKE ZMA BEFORE BED (ZINC, MAGNESIUM & VITAMIN B-6)
Hands down my favorite supplement. Not only does magnesium aid in weight loss and a list of other body functions, but it improves your sleep as well. You will sleep deeper, fuller, and longer. It also improves recovery a TON.
This should be a standard supplement in everyone’s program.
45. DO CROSSFIT
Seriously…everyone can and should do some form of Crossfit.
You can do more WODs, Less WODs, strength-bias, endurance-bias, gymnastics-bias,powerlifting-bias, outlaw, etc.
46. UTILIZE ACTIVE-REST DAYS
Days where you can barely walk and your back feels like a giant bruise (I love that feeling) are days that you should avoid training. This is the perfect time for an active rest day.
An active rest day looks like this:work mobility, do some light rowing and jogging, work on Oly technique with an empty barbell, foam roll, stretch, etc.Do it all at a slow and easy, yet deliberate, pace.This will improve recovery, reduce stress on your body, help recover your CNS, and get your body moving. This will simultaneously improve fat burning and muscle building.
47. GO FOR GLUTEN-FREE HARD CIDER OVER GLUTEN-FILLED BEER AND OPT FOR LIQUOR+SODA WATER OVER SUGAR-FILLED MIX DRINKS
Gluten, beer, and mixed drinks are the Antichrist to your abs. A long island ice tea has 780 calories and about 40 grams of sugar. I used to drink those [Smacks forehead]
Try this drink recipe by Robb Wolf.
48. AVOID ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS
This includes splenda, aspartame, and other ‘naturally flavored’ sweeteners. Sweeteners spike your insulin levels because your brain can’t tell the difference between them and sugar. Thus the body response ends up being the same. They also might cause cancer. It just makes sense to avoid them. *Stevia is ok but I would still go light with it.
49. DON’T OVERTRAIN
Avoid overtraining at all costs. It saps weight loss and promotes fat gain through the huge amounts of cortisol release that wreck havoc on your body. Read “8 Signs You Are Overtraining”
50. PLAN AHEAD/PACK A LUNCH
The best way to avoid falling off the wagon and eating junk is to be prepared. Always have something healthy with you. One pot, crockpot, and large roasts are great for making a bunch of meals for the week.
IN SUMMARY: BE PATIENT
Any new habit you implement will take time to show results. The people who get shit done in life are the one’s that stay the course. Work, life, business, relationships, diet, fitness, it’s all the same. Stay the damn course.
TEST, TEST, TEST, TWEAK
You must test and tweak on a regular basis and find the right combination that works for you. All of these techniques will work for anyone (to varying degrees) if implemented in their purest form. However, the dose and result can be so different from person to person.
We are always learning, growing, and improving – if we put in the effort.
Make it your goal to find the answer for you. Think of yourself as a complex unsolved formula and you are the scientist charged with solving that formula. It is up to you and you alone.
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