By Pete Cataldo
Looking for a way to speed up fat loss and see quicker progress? I’ve got you covered with three simple things you can start doing today.
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Most of the content that you know and love from this fantastic internet resource of fat loss knowledge is based on the big rocks of the journey:
- Figure out that calorie deficit, keep it modest and leave room for moderation of the foods you enjoy
- Engage in a regular exercise program that is rooted in strength and has you picking up heavy things a few times per week
- Trust the process, flex the patience muscle and aim to be as consistent as possible along the way and the results will come.
The formula for this stuff really does boil down to that simple formula. If you manage to be as consistent as possible in those three big areas, you’ll see incredible progress.
But then we get the crowd that wants to speed up fat loss and see results faster than you can order dinner on GrubHub. In our on-demand society, you want that body transformation now. You cannot wait.
Usually this leads to some less-than-optimal solutions that do nothing to help your long-term adherence to a meaningful program:
- Drastically cutting calories or carbs
- Adding in a bunch of supplements
- Increasing your cardio activity in hopes of burning more calories
There is a time and a place to aim for a fast-paced “get in, get out, no one gets hurt” fat loss protocol. But, tossing in a bunch of random stuff you read on some fitness influencer’s Instagram page isn’t going to get it done.
You’re missing the most important and easy to implement strategies that can help boost your weight loss journey.
Today, I’m going to share those overlooked tips to help speed up fat loss. For free; no subscription service here. No need to pay for some ebook or eCourse.
I’ve got you covered with three incredibly easy things that you are probably not doing. If you add them to your day with consistent commitment, it will help you speed this fat loss thing up.
Let’s get into it.
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Simple hacks to speed up fat loss progress
Here’s the big disclaimer before we dive into these simple rapid fat loss tips: Don’t expect me to reinvent the wheel.
Most of this stuff is readily available on the Internetz and it is stuff that you should already know. But, I guarantee that you are not doing them on the regular.
These are things that you can fix for free today. Stop chasing the superfoods and supplements and start looking inwards to that 20-percent of stuff that can help lead to the 80-percent of your results.
If you implement these three simple tips to speed up fat loss, you’ll see better adherence, decreases in body fat and improved overall health.
So with the warning out of the way, let’s start talking about the stuff that you already know, but aren’t doing consistently.
It begins with DiHydrogen Oxide.
Drink more water
You aren’t drinking enough water. You know this. I know this. So let’s put together a plan to rectify the issue.
It starts with understanding the importance of hydration; both in its role for fat loss and then for overall health.
Utilizing the analogy of your body being like a car and needing proper fueling is fantastic. Fuel is food in this scenario. Water is more like the fluids that keep the well-fueled car functioning efficiently.
It’s the oil and the brake fluid.
Sure, you can run pretty well with just fuel alone. But, your car is gonna need tons of service down the road if you go extended periods of time without proper hydration.
Bringing this back to the actual human being, you can start to see why water is your friend:
- It improves digestion
- Assists with nutrient absorption and delivery throughout the body
- Aids in a healthy metabolism
- Helps muscles contract more efficiently
The big thing about proper hydration is the role it plays in hunger, too. For many of us going hours without taking a sip of water, it’s easy to confuse thirst with hunger.
Think about it from this aspect: People are so used to skipping hydration altogether that it’s thrown off all of your hormonal signals and your body responds by asking for hydration in the only way it knows … through food (yes, some foods can provide some water but it is not nearly enough to keep you hydrated).
“Great Pete, so I get it and you’ve shamed me into drinking more H2O. But, how much do I need?”
Fantastic question and there are a few approaches to make this work for you:
- It can start with simply drinking enough so your urine looks more like a watered down lemon sports drink.
- Equally, you could just set some arbitrary goal like drinking a gallon of water per day. But, this could be complete overkill.
- Or you could take a more measured approach. A quick guideline is to aim to drink between half an ounce and an ounce of water for each pound you weigh.
For example: a 140-pound person would aim for about 70-140 ounces every day. That’s somewhere between 8 and 17 cups of water.
That’s a pretty big variable. My tip for hydrating properly is to simply aim for about one liter per 50 pounds of bodyweight. If you are 150 pounds, you’d drink three liters of water (or about 12 cups per day).
That’s really not much at all. Unless you’re coming from a place where drinking coffee and sugary beverages are the norm and the thought of sipping on some H2O is just daunting. In that case, you’ll need to start slow and build momentum.
These tips can help:
- Replace one cup of coffee or one sugary beverage with water
- Drink one cup of water before every single meal
- Keep a container of water by your desk or workspace and set a reminder to sip on it throughout the day
In fact, just hit the pause button on reading this article right now and take a few sips of water.
Now keep that up throughout your day.
Stop sitting so damn much
What if I told you that you can burn 300 extra calories per day by performing the easiest, most affordable and accessible exercise available? Do this every day for an entire week and we’re talking more than half of a pound worth of calorie burn.
It could be enough to increase your rate of fat loss by about 1-1.5 pounds per month over time. Sure, that’s not a massive increase in reduced body fat over a four week time, but we’re talking about a method that is 100-percent free.
So what is it? Here we go …
Walk.
Boom. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.
Kidding aside, walking is free. It’s easy on the body and burns a ton of calories. One of the first things I do with my online coaching clients is to take the time to explain how important it is to walk more throughout the day.
Your metabolism is powered by numerous factors, which I explain in more detail in this article about how to boost your metabolism. Without going too deep down that rabbit hole, let’s just highlight the benefit of Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or NEAT calories.
NEAT makes up as much as 20-percent of your metabolism. And walking is the biggest influencer for determining how many NEAT calories you can burn in a day.
Simply put, if you are looking to increase your metabolism and speed up fat loss, walking will be one of the most important pieces to that puzzle.
Of all the simple rapid fat loss tips that I’m dropping here in this piece, this one is probably the easiest to implement for most people.
Aim to hit 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day. If you don’t have one of those activity trackers, no worries. Just aim to walk as much as possible every single day.
- Get up each hour and pace your office, home or simply march in place at your desk.
- Park farther away at the parking lot to get those steps up.
- Go for a 20-30 minute walk once or twice per day.
Do all of the above and you’ll be well on your way.
In fact, just get up right now. Seriously. Even if you’re just reading this on the phone in the middle of the evening whilst configured in some pretzel-like position on your couch or bed.
Just stand up and read this right now. Toss some extra steps in there by pacing or marching in place while you read, too.
Sleep like the dead
You have time for more sleep. Even if you’ve got kids and a crowded inbox and a gazillion other things pushing and pulling at your daily schedule, I guarantee that sleep can still be a bigger priority.
So let’s make it one.
You see, little sleep or poor quality sleep is directly associated with the following less than awesome symptoms:
- Higher levels of body fat
- Increased hunger throughout the day
- Lower levels of lean body mass
- Mood swings and irritability
- Higher stress and anxiety
- Lower life expectancy (aka, the BIG sleep … aka, you die earlier than you should)
I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing in the above list that sounds like something I’d like to sign up for.
It’s all about ensuring quality sleep, too.
Lack of sleep ruins your ability to function. You have trouble concentrating, remembering information, driving, taking care of your finances, and performing your job at a high level.
One of the most important things you can do today is conduct a time audit to determine where you have room for improvement in your schedule.
You’re likely missing some gaps in your daily routines that will allow for more time for a restful sleep at the end of the night.
Be vigilant about areas where you can take back some time. At the end of the evening, be brutally honest with yourself about how much TV you’re watching or the amount of social media you’re consuming.
Then cut those times in half.
Your goal is to aim for a consistent 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
If you’ve got young kids in the house, you’ll likely need to aim for the lower end of that spectrum for a while. I totally understand and feel ya … that struggle is real.
The key word in this sleep situation is consistent. Just like it is imperative to be consistent with that calorie deficit in order for meaningful weight loss to happen, you can’t just be all over the place with your sleep patterns.
Your body and brain and hormonal functions get all kinds of happy when you provide regular routine and habits. It falls into a circadian rhythm that the body really wants to keep in check once it settles in.
Simply put, your body does not really enjoy change.
So, any little audibles or slight variances that you toss its way regarding your sleep patterns can be enough to screw up your sleep quality.
Long story short, you can’t just commit to getting 5 or 6 hours of sleep on the weekdays and then think you’ll make up for it by sleeping in on the weekends. There are no shortcuts here.
You’ve got to be solid throughout your week. Weekends included.
Keep that in mind if all-night ragers are still in your lifestyle on the regular.
This means a consistent bedtime and wake up time every day of the week. Outside of maybe 30 minutes here or there if you’re really extra tired, there should be no exceptions to this one.
Here are some actionable steps you can take right now to get more peaceful shuteye:
- Create a consistent bedtime routine (yes, just like the routine you give your kids)
- Shut off the electronics and leave them away from your bed
- Make sure the room is dark, get some blackout curtains if you need to do so
- Keep the room cool (aim for about 65-70 degrees)
- Take small steps to slowly walk back your bedtime if you are a night owl (start by going to bed 15-20 minutes earlier for one week and then adjust from there)
Ideally, you’ll be trying to head to bed by 11:00pm. Perhaps even earlier. I’m typically in bed and snuggled up to my pillow by 10:00pm so I can be well-rested and energized to kick off my daily morning routine and start my day with a purpose by 5:30am.
Finish reading this article, then take a few minutes to take an audit of your time and figure out how you’ll get that 7-9 hours of sleep tonight.
Putting it all together
Here’s the deal about fat loss: the formula for losing weight, looking good and feeling great is incredibly simple. It’s all about managing your calorie deficit, adding in some strength training, consuming enough protein and then flexing the patience muscle. That’s really it.
The problem is in that final part of the equation: patience.
Where most people fail is their inability to trust the process and just be consistent over time to wait for those results to come. They get antsy when the scale doesn’t move downward after just two days, think things aren’t working and then abandon ship or do some drastic shit to “speed things up.”
By now, you should realize that there really isn’t a fat loss easy button.
However there are some simple rapid fat loss tips that can help bolster that simple fat loss equation. Handle the biggest rocks of that process (calories, lifting, protein, patience) and then make sure you sprinkle in these incredibly simple tips from this article.
I can guarantee that if you are struggling to lose weight successfully, it means you are missing a piece from the major equation, or you are skipping one of the big three from this article.
Commit the next 30 days to following this article and the big rocks of fat loss consistently. Trust that process. Don’t rush. Don’t try to speed things up. Just do what I’ve laid out for you.
If you do, I promise you’ll realize that this stuff is so much simpler than you’ve ever imagined. You’ve got this. And I’ve got your back.
Let me help you learn how to speed up fat loss …
I’m here to help you out.
If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Speed up fat loss” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.
Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
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