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FIVE
FUNDAMENTALS
OF
FAT
LOSS
BY JAMES KEW
Foreword
I put this guide together because it wasn’t so long ago that I felt utterly lost and confused about
how fat loss actually worked.
The constant conflicting information I was reading was driving me insane. One minute I’d hear
one fitness guru saying one thing, and the next minute I’d read someone say the complete oppo-
site seconds later. Both were in great shape so who the hell was I supposed to believe?
After years of frustration, and punishing myself through all sorts of wacky fad diets and training
gimmicks, I decided to stop listening to the so called ‘gurus’ and start looking into the actual sci-
ence of fat loss for myself.
What I discovered was that fat loss is actually incredibly simple, once you’ve wrapped your head
around a few key concepts (which will be explained in this guide).
“But James, if its so simple, why does there continue to be so much confusion about the
best way to lose fat?”
The bottom line is that the fitness and dieting industry PROFITS off of the confusion surrounding
fat loss.
It allows them to sell you useless supplements, which burn nothing but a hole in your wallet.
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#2 - Training
- The difference between losing weight and losing fat
- The benefits of having more muscle mass
- Why you don’t need cardio to lose fat
#3 - Macros
- What are Macros?
- Protein to Calorie Ratio
#4 - Satiety
- How to stay full while dieting
- Why there are ‘Healthy’ foods which are keeping you fat
#5 - Flexible Dieting
- Fad diets vs sustainable diets
- How to eat your favourite foods and maintain a lean ripped body
1. Energy Balance
Energy balance is the Calorie Maintenance
fundamental concept which
explains how we gain and
lose weight.
We measure energy in
calories. Calorie Surplus
If you eat fewer calories than you burn then you will lose weight. This is
called a calorie deficit.
EVERY weight loss diet that ‘works’ does so by creating a calorie deficit.
All of the above diets are simply strategies for reducing your calorie intake.
“So how many calories should I be eating to lose weight?”
Well its impossible to give you an exact number without actually collecting
data on your intake and seeing how your weight responds.
But for a VERY BROAD estimate, we would start off by calculating your
calorie maintenance (the amount you maintain your weight on).
First take your weight in pounds. If you only know your weight in kilos, you
then multiply that by 2.2 to calculate your weight in pounds.
So for example, if you weigh 200 pounds, and are moderately active, you
would multiply
This is the number of calories you will MAINTAIN your weight at.
Getting there! So if your maintenance is 3000 calories a day, then eating 2000
calories a day would create a deficit of 1000 calories a day.
Over the course of the week we have created a deficit of 7000 calories (1000
each day x 7 days of the week) and 3500 x 2 = 7000.
So we can see that it’s the size of the deficit that dictates how fast you lose
weight.
Key points to remember
1. Unless you are eating fewer calories than you are burning you will
NEVER lose weight.
2. ALL diets work by reducing your calorie intake. Whether its cutting out
certain food types, or restricting the time when you’re allowed to eat, the
only way they ‘work’ is through calorie deficit.
3. The size of your calorie deficit dictates how fast you lose weight.
So let me explain.
The idea of your training should not be to burn as many calories as possible,
but to build muscle.
‘Woah there James - I just want to get a lean athletic looking body, I’m
not trying to become Arnold Schwarzenegger here!’
I hear ya.
First is that muscle is HARD to build. Nobody ever turned into a huge veiny
freak by accident. Even if you did want to do so, it would require years of ded-
ication, (not to mention a load of steroids too). So you really do NOT have to
worry about become too muscular!
Second is that when most people diet the weight they lose is not all fat. A
good chunk of it is muscle mass too. The result is they end up looking ‘skin-
ny-fat’. Men end up with thin weedy arms, a flat chest but still with unsightly
belly fat. Women end up with a flat bum, flabby stomach.
By contrast someone who builds muscle whilst losing fat will start to develop
the lean athletic looking physique.
Third, is that muscle doesn’t just look good - it also helps keep your
metabolism firing. People who lose muscle mass when dieting end up with
a slower metabolism, which makes it much harder for them to maintain their
weight loss at the end of the diet.
“Ok I get it - building muscle is a good idea. But surely I need to do some
cardio to burn body fat?”
You do not NEED to do any cardio to burn body fat. A calorie deficit created
through your diet will take care of that.
If you WANT to do some cardio, and burn a few extra calories then you can
of course do so, but you need to make sure it doesn’t take priority over your
weight training.
Focus mainly on your compound lifts. These are exercises which use multiple
muscle groups, and give you the biggest ‘bang for you buck’ for your time
spent in the gym.
Focus on exercises such as Squats, Bench Press, Lat Pull Down/Chin Ups,
Deadlift, Overhead Press, Seated Row.
- Weight training should be prioritised over cardio so that you can gain/
retain muscle whilst dieting. You should have no fear of getting too
‘bulky’ as muscle gain is a slow process (that you can back out of at any
time!)
- Focus on using perfect technique. This may well mean that you have to
start off lighter, but this will actually provide a better stimulus for muscle
growth, as is allows you to place the tension on your muscle fibers more
directly.
3. Macros
What are Macros?
Well the calories only describe the energy value in the macros.
So for example 10 grams of olive oil (which is pure fat) multiplied by 9 calories
per gram = 90 calories.
Therefore if you know what macros you’re eating, then by default you also
know how many calories you’re eating.
So why should I care about macros? Isn’t losing weight all about just eat-
ing less calories?
Our goal is to lose fat and keep your muscle, and achieving this means
you need to pay closer attention to your macronutrient intake.
Eating enough protein will allow you to recover faster from your workouts and
build new muscle tissue. Protein is also very satiating (makes you feel full), so
eating enough of it will make it easier to stay below your calorie goal.
The key is to get it from LEAN sources, such as chicken breast, fish, lean
steak, low fat dairy, or whey. This way you won’t blow your calorie budget try-
ing to eat enough protein.
As you can see below, getting 40g of protein from streaky bacon would use
up a huge 619 calories of your daily allowance, with all the additional calories
coming from fat.
Equally getting 40g of protein from lentils would use up almost 500 calories of
your daily allowance. Getting 40g from chicken breast only uses up 191 calo-
ries, making it much easier to hit your protein goal and stay within your calorie
budget.
“So that’s protein - what about carbs and fats?”
The rest of your calories that you have left over once you’ve got your protein
are then divided amongst carbs and fats.
The ratio of carbs to fats you eat does not matter enormously, as it’s energy
balance (calories in vs calories out) which dictates fat loss. Therefore the ratio
of carbs to fats you eat should largely be determined by personal preference
as this will make the diet easier to stick to. (So if you prefer carbier foods,
then eat more carbs and less fats, and if you prefer fattier foods eat more fat
and less carbs).
To begin with you may just want to track calories and protein for sake of sim-
plicity.
If you’re the sort of person who really wants to optimise their progress that
extra 2-3%, then the evidence suggests that you will perform better in the
gym with a higher carb (and therefore lower fat) intake.
- If you are tracking macros, you are also tracking calories by default.
- Protein is the most important macro to get right as it allows you to build
new muscle tissue.
- Focus on eating LEAN protein sources, so that you can hit your protein
target without overshooting your calorie goal.
4. Satiety
What is satiety?
One of the biggest reasons people struggle to stick to their diet is that they
always find themselves getting really hungry and can’t resist delicious treats
and snacks.
Now the question to answer here is not ‘how can I make myself full?’, but
rather ‘how can I make myself full without eating too many calories?’.
The key is to choose foods which are high in volume but low in calories. Or
in other words, pick foods and meals that will take up a lot of room on your
plate and in your stomach, but that still allow you to stay within your calorie
budget.
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Low-fat dairy
• Whole grains
• Beans
• Lean meat
When the
As you can see 400 calories worth of oil is not going to fill you up at all,
whilst 400 calories from vegetables will make you feel very full.
Example 1: You can have a huge pile of strawberries for the same calories as
you’d find in 8 Doritos.
Example 2: Just because a meal looks ‘healthy’ doesn’t necessarily mean it will
fill you up. Egg and avocado on toast is relatively dense in calories compared to
a serving of porridge and melon which has a much food higher volume and will
be more filling.
- Whilst its possible to create a calorie deficit with any food, some foods
are much more filling than others.
- To avoid hunger when dieting be sure to include more foods which are
high in volume and low in calories.
5. Flexible Dieting
If you are going to maintain a lean body in the LONG TERM, then you need to
be able to find a diet that you enjoy and can actually stick to.
This is why eating nothing but chicken and brocolli 6x a day or any other fad
diet is not the solution.
The truth is that including foods you love into your diet will actually give you
BETTER results!
‘‘But I love eating pizza and ice cream - how is that going to give me
better results?”
That means it’s perfectly possible to get lean whilst eating pizza and ice
cream, (or whatever your favourite food is) - as long as you control your calo-
rie and macro intake!
If you try and deny yourself of your favourite foods forever, you’re going to get
to a point where your will power gives in.
And most likely you will go ‘I hate of this diet! I’m getting a takeaway’
resulting in you binge eating for a month, leaving you in a worse position than
when you started!
A much better solution is to regularly include food that you love into your diet
in moderate amounts and making sure it fits into your macro targets.
- Enjoy social events without being the odd one out who is ‘on a diet’
- Make this a sustainable lifestyle rather than fad diet that leaves you in a mis-
erable cycle of restriction, binge eating and guilt.
“Ok this sounds good, but the foods I love are high calories, I’m never
going to be able to stick to my target whilst eating my favourite foods”
This is a fair point - if you’re dieting on 2000 calories a day, then a large pizza
and a couple of beers will probably account for at least 1400 cals, which is a
huge chunk of your daily intake.
However there is a great strategy you can use to get round this.
Essentially you will ‘save’ calories in the days leading up to your big event or
meal out, to give you a bigger calorie budget when you need it.
One way you could do this would be to reduce your calorie intake by 200
to 1800 for Monday through to Friday. Thats 5 x 200 totalling 1000 calories
saved.
Then you get to enjoy the fun part as you now have an extra 1000 calories to
spend! Come saturday you now have 3000 calories total, allowing you to en-
joy your meal or night out, safe in the knowledge that over the course of the
week you are still in a calorie deficit!
Here are a few illustration of whats you could set up your calorie intake over
the week.
Next Steps
I want to thank you for taking the time to read this guide.
If you put this information into practice, then you WILL start seeing results.
I wanted to keep the guide short and to the point, so as not to overload you with
information, as that is one of the biggest reasons many people never get
started!
However as a result there was a lot of detail I had to leave out, and you may well
have some questions about how to implement any of the advice in the guide.
So if you have any questions at all please reach out to me - whilst my online
coaching clients take priority, I promise I will get back you.
Email me - james@thephysiquecoach.com
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