In this presentation we will explain the best weight loss approach for men – it works regardless of whether you want to lose just a bit of fat to expose your abs or you are looking to lose 30+ pounds. If you are a woman, this will not work well for you – please read the weight loss for women presentation.
Most ‘popular’ ways to lose weight work very well for men, but not for women. Although women have the metabolic potential to lose weight much faster than men, it’s apparent that the majority of people who successfully lose weight by restricting calories are men. As we already explained in the women’s presentation, this has to do with a hormone called leptin and a few other key metabolic differences. Although weight loss for women is much faster, it is also trickier and you have to know a few key things to make it work well. For men, any approach can work well and you don’t need to focus too much on specifics.
What is the best approach for men to get lean and lose weight without losing muscle mass?
It’s intermittent fasting. There are not exceptions to this, except maybe if you have an underlying medical condition, like type 1 diabetes. Combine intermittent fasting with a slight calorie deficit (100-500 kcal depending on how fast you want to lose the fat) and watch the fat melt off. Here is how this works in practice: You have a 4-8 hour eating window each day. During that time eat whatever you want, remaining in a slight calorie deficit. This is the gist of it. You can make this as healthy or as unhealthy as you want. Of course, having your calories come from healthy food will yield much better results.
Questions and answers
Q: How to be in a caloric deficit?
A: If you are not interested in counting calories and doing nerdy calculations, you don’t have to. Just eat a bit less food than you are used to. Intermittent fasting will help you burn fat even if you are not in a caloric deficit. However, reducing your calories a bit makes the results much, much faster. Unlike women, who can lose weight without restricting calories, just by manipulating leptin, men will have little luck with this, although it is still doable. At first you can concentrate just on eating during your 4-8 hour eating window and implement a slight calorie restriction later. Soon, you will be able to ‘sense’ the caloric deficit line and will know when to stop eating.
Q: When should I place my eating/fasting periods?
A: It doesn’t matter, but the easiest way is to stop eating a few hours before bed. When you wake up the next morning you will be much less hungry than if you stopped eating at 3pm for example. 8 hours is the maximum eating window. I recommend 6 and it works best for me.
Q: Will I be hungry?
A: Surprisingly, no, unless you make your diet very high in simple sugars or you don’t get enough protein. If you get your protein and calories, you will find that you are not hungry. However, you might experience the ’empty stomach’ feeling, which is not that bad – I like it in fact.
Q: But I do this already?
A: Many people are already doing some form of intermittent fasting, without really knowing that it is a term. If this is you, look at your calories or reduce your eating window by an hour or two.