Just about anyone who has ever stepped foot in a gym has, at some point or another, dealt with trying to drop that last little bit of weight that they just can’t seem to get rid of. The muffin top that keeps hanging around. You know, the jiggling overhang that pays your belt a visit all day every day. It’s that last 10 pounds. We look and the mirror and say all I need to do is figure out how to lose 10 pounds and I’ll be there.
And like most people, if you’re reading this, you’ve probably tried to get rid of that shit at some point or another. I don’t know the exact reason why you’ve worked to get rid of it, but I bet I can get pretty close.
I’m sure it’s not a stretch to say that you want to look better for someone that you’re into. Hell, you’ve probably played out fantasies of getting rid of that last little bit of flab, that person taking your clothes off and then spending just a moment to admire you.
But, for now, back to the real world. The world where that kind of thing isn’t happening for you… yet.
However, follow these 3 tips and you’ll find that you lose that last 10lbs of fat and keep it off for good. But beware, some of them are going to seem a wee bit weird just at the start. That’s alright. Because I guarantee if you put the work in and follow along, the flab will fall off.
- Take 20 minutes to eat your meals.
In working with just about 3,000 different people at this point in my career, one of the hardest lessons across the board is getting people to eat slowly. In America we’re so conditioned to vacuum food into our mouths like Joey Chestnut on July 4th that we can’t help but imitate him every chance we get. Which just so happens to be anywhere from 3-5 times a day.
But here’s the thing, shoveling food into your mouth like you haven’t eaten in years isn’t doing you any favors. From a hormonal perspective, you don’t allow the body enough time to regulate ghrelin levels, which is the hormone that drives hunger. So you feel ravenous all throughout your face planting journey into a burrito. At least up until you come up for air and realize you’re beyond stuffed.
So instead, try setting a timer for 20 minutes. No matter what it is you’re eating, take 20 minutes to eat that meal. Work to completely chew your food and be mindful of what it is that you’re eating. Chances are, after a few times of giving this a shot, you’ll find that you can’t quite fit in near as much food as you once could. And that’s the point.
- Don’t be scared of cardio.
Fitness, like fashion, is cyclical. Years ago it was all the rage to bash on cardio every single chance people got. We as an industry shouted from the mountaintops that cardio was destroying your gains. It was responsible for your love handles, divorce, and despair.
Well, like most things, it isn’t that simple. In fact, 20 minutes of cardio 2-3 times a week can do wonders when it comes to both helping your heart stay healthy, which, you know, is actually kind of important. Seeing as it’s an organ we can’t live without, after all. Snarkiness aside, having a healthy heart and cardiovascular system does tend to help mobilize fat more effectively. It also helps you have more effective workouts, so the changes that do take place from lifting weights tend to become more noticeable more quickly.
But it also helps melt away body fat. The reason being that, even though the fat burning zone is largely an overblown myth, the reality is such that still having to constantly move for 20 minutes is still plenty of extra calorie burning when thrown on top of normal weight workouts. And that type of constant movement, repeated a few times a week, week over week, seriously adds up after awhile.
It’s also a great chance to read, listen to podcasts, or start feeding your brain if you haven’t been doing any of that lately.
- Give up on the idea that exercise cures all.
I know this might seem counterintuitive following the point above, but far too many people look at exercise as an equalizer, when in reality that couldn’t be further from the truth. Exercise of any sort isn’t there for you to balance out your sweet sojourn to Cinnabon on a weekly basis. It’s there to make your body stronger and more resilient.
Exercise doesn’t equalize food intake. That’s not how metabolism or fat loss work. They complement one another, sure. But one isn’t the replacement to the other. It’s best to look at them as partners that are hell bent on making you look as awesome as possible. But in order for them to work well, you need to give them both equal love. Which means actually paying attention to what you eat.
Oh, and by the way, calories burned during exercise is a wildly imprecise science that varies by as much as 40% from some of the best estimates we have today. I mean, Elon Musk is colonizing Mars and we still don’t know how many calories a 20 rep set on the squat burns. So seriously, don’t put too much stock into that shit.
- BONUS: Patience is a virtue.
Quite being so damn impatient. Fat loss doesn’t happen overnight, damn it. It’s frustrating, I know. But that’s the nature of the beast. We don’t all get to just melt fat overnight, no matter what some well written supplement ad will tell you.
It takes months upon months of consistent and diligent work. Which means the meals where you made smart choices have to vastly outweigh the meals where you made questionable choices. Which is a reality that I don’t think many people accept in the beginning.
If you’re curious about how your choices stack up, start keeping a food journal. And if after 3 weeks you’re not seeing any progress, go back through it. Do the choices that you’re making line up with your goals? And does the consistency of those choices line up with the given goal? Those are the answers that will tell you everything you need to know if you’re logging honestly.