Rapid Fat Loss The Smart Way: 5 Steps To Success In 30 Days Or Less

I had a dream last night.

The dream to lose fat and build muscle in the shortest period of time possible.

But, as you’ve heard, most weight-loss programs recommend you lose about one to two pounds per week.

You’ve seen the weight relapses of The Biggest Loser participants, and don’t want it to happen to you.

Fair enough.

But, let’s face it, sometimes you have no choice but to put the pedal to the metal and lose fat fast, right?

Let’s say you’ve got a high school reunion coming up and you just found out your old high school crush is bringing her beast of a husband to the party.

You don’t want to be the washed up chubby dude, right?

Have no fear, fast weight loss can be done in a sensible way – but it won’t be easy.

Researchers at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, found it’s possible to gain muscle while cutting fat—in just 4 weeks.

In their month-long study published earlier this year, 40 overweight men in their 20s followed an exercise program and ate a calorie-restricted diet of 40% fewer calories below maintenance.

The wrinkle? Half the men followed a lower-protein diet (1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight) and the other half followed a higher-protein diet (2.4 grams per kilogram of body weight).

The results: After 28 days, the higher-protein group saw 2.3 pounds of muscle gain and 10.5 pounds of weight loss. The lower-protein group retained their muscle mass (broke even) and lost about 8 pounds.

To be fair, these were basically untrained individuals, so if you’re an advanced gym goer you can expect less dramatic results.

But here’s how you can put a plan like this into practice and be ready for the beach on July 4.

Fair warning: You must be able to deal with hunger. This program will be a test of your willpower and resolve. After all, you’re not being closely monitored in a lab like the study participants above. You’ll need to stick to it on your own.

And you may deal with some “side effects” like low libido, short temper and daytime fatigue. Your body likes to maintain homeostasis, and a plan like this is anything but normal.

But, if you’re still ready…

Here’s your five item checklist to get this done in a month:

Item #1:  Calories

There are lots of science-based ways to determine your calorie maintenance, but for the purposes of this article let’s use the simplest possible solution. Just take your current body weight in pounds and multiply it by 15. For example, a 180lb person would do 180 x 15 and get an estimated daily calorie maintenance level of 2,700 calories.

Now comes the fun part (NOT!).

To coincide with the study, you’ll reduce your calorie maintenance by 40%, meaning you’ll consume a diet of 1,620 calories per day at 180 lbs.

#2 Maintain MUSCLE!

The better your body composition—that is, more muscle and less fat—the better. Muscle increases your resting metabolic rate, burning a higher amount of calories around the clock. It’s not a massive difference, but muscle looks bad ass and is connected with lower risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Don’t be the dude on Weight Watchers who becomes a slave to the scale. Here’s how to avoid that: As shown, the study participants who saw the best results ate a high protein diet of 2.4 grams per kg of body weight (about 1 gram per lb of body weight for you non-metric system folks).

So the 180 lb man from our example would set his daily protein intake at about 180 grams to maintain muscle, which equates to 720 calories.

You’d then have 900 calories to consume from a combination of carbohydrates and fat.

To ensure your workouts are energized, I’d allocate 140 grams from carbs (560 total calories) and 40 grams of healthy fats (360 calories) spread over your meals for the day.

Sorry, bro, no more Bulletproof coffee or Baconators.

#3 Get A Major Sweat On Daily

The study participants worked out 6 days a week, doing resistance training, sprint work, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and plyometric circuits. They also hit 10,000 steps every day.

So you’re going to have to get some form of intense exercise in nearly every day.

This could be broken down like so:

  • 4 high volume resistance training workouts per week (hit each major muscle group twice)
  • 2 sprint sessions of 15 minutes each (on off days from the gym) *I’d rotate between hill sprints and car pushes

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  • Walk or bike ride daily (moderate to low intensity)
  • Yoga, shared candlelight baths with your cat, meditation (honestly, whatever aids with mental and physical recovery)

#4 Live Like A Monk

You’ll have to give up drinking temporarily. It’s summertime, so that sucks, but you have a big goal in mind and there will be plenty of summer left by the end of this.

You just can’t afford the extra calories that come with alcohol (and the 2 a.m. smokie and 3 hour sleep that surely follows).

You’ll also have to cut back on dining out, too – hey, it’s a money saver – as you can’t really guarantee the calorie content of a restaurant meal unless you go back in the kitchen and prepare it yourself.

#5 Third Party Accountability

If this type of program is really out of character for you, I suggest enlisting a workout partner or coach to keep you on track and push you through the tough times.

All the info you need to get started is above, but if you need a helping hand to walk you through get yourself a seat in my free fat loss course and let me guide you to your goal.

Mitch Calvert is a certified trainer and fat-loss coach. He discovered his love for fitness 14 years ago at 240 lbs – and now works specifically with men like his former self who have weight to lose and confidence to gain. He hosts Mansformation Challenges for guys looking to get over the fat-loss hump. Visit www.mitchcalvert.com