The 9 Best Fat Loss Tips To Ditch The Dad Bod

By Transformed Physiques Apr 2, 2019

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"I'll be 40 this year and I'm in the best shape of my life."

Josh Frye was 60 lbs overweight not long ago when he decided he needed to make a change. He had low energy levels, low back pain and extremely low confidence. He eventually became sick and tired of being sick and tired and had to do something.

He tried several fad diets including low carb, Whole 30 and Keto and was also doing countless hours of cardio each week and getting nothing but mixed results.

After years of finding out what doesn't work, Frye shares 9 of his best tips he uses with his clients to get them into the fittest shape of their lives well into their 40s and 50s.

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1. No More FAD Diets

Keto, Paleo, low carb, Atkins...the list goes on. What do these all have in common? They are FAD diets. You know the catchy names celebrities like Dr Oz and your neighbor's brother's cousin talk about losing 50 pounds on.

Sure they may work for a little bit (for some they don't work at all). But where do you end up again? Back to where you started (or even worse than before you started).

Why? Because they aren't sustainable. They all focus on limiting certain foods to limit calorie intake. This can work in the short term but we always end up wanting what we can't have leaving us in a never ending cycle of what we call "yo'yo dieting".

Instead of limiting certain foods focus on incorporating more what we call "power foods". Power foods are nutrient dense foods that knock out hunger quick making you feel fuller faster. This allows you to limit your calorie intake without having to limit certain foods that other diets would call the "enemy".

The added benefit of incorporating power foods into your diet is it allows you to indulge in your favorite foods like burgers, tacos, or even beers by using what we call the "macro budget". Think of this like your daily bank account for food.

Let's say you get $3,000 to spend on your diet each day. By switching to more power foods you only spend $2,000 of your $3,000 by dinnertime. This leaves you $1,000 to spend on your dinner which is enough for a burger, fries, and beer.

Pretty cool right? Eating healthy and fit doesn't have to be boring nor do you have to follow some strict diet. If you'd like to learn more about how to get off of the FAD diets get sustainable results you can follow for good click here.

2. Say No To Lots Of Cardio

The favorite part of my day is an hour of cardio...said no one ever. Cardio sucks. Chances are if you're reading this article you probably agree. There's also a good chance you think that you need to do a lot of cardio to get in good shape.

Although doing a boatload of cardio can get you in good shape, it's generally not the answer. In fact 99% of the time cardio is just being used as a band-aid to your poor diet.

You ever hear the saying "You can't outwork a bad diet?" Instead of killing yourself with cardio so you can eat that burger you've been craving, you can use effective nutrition strategies like intermittent fasting so you don't overeat AND you don't have to do unnecessary cardio.

Don't get me wrong cardio is great for overall health as long as you use it to your advantage. You don't have to spend an hour on the treadmill to improve cardiovascular health or burn some extra calories. In fact you can burn up to double the calories in half the time with strategies we will talk more about below.

If you want to learn why you don't need to do hours of cardio to lose weight, and how doing so can actually hurt your results, click here.

3. Intermittent Fasting

"You should never skip breakfast." There's a pretty good chance you've heard that saying before. They always said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it kick-starts your metabolism.

This is one of the biggest myths in the entire fitness industry. Without getting too in depth on the science, all you need to know is the metabolism doesn't work this way. It doesn't slow down within hours of not eating. It doesn't even slow down in days of not eating. The whole eat every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism is something people started thinking after professional bodybuilders made it mainstream and everybody wanted to be like them.

In fat loss it always comes down to calorie management. You consume more calories than your body burns and you gain weight. You consume less than your body burns and you lose weight. If you force yourself to eat breakfast you are forcing more calories into your body. This mean less calories you can consume throughout the rest of the day making it harder to stay within your calorie limit to lose fat.

Enter intermittent fasting. The way it works is you pick start and end time for each day. Typically Noon is the start and 8pm is the end for most people but you can make it work for your schedule however you like. This is your "feeding window". Each day you aren't going to eat unless it's within you feeding window. This gives you 8 hours of eating and 16 hours of fasting.

Restricting your feeding window to this time-frame makes it very difficult to overeat making it very easy to stay within your calorie limits needed in order to lose fat. Plus a really cool added benefit is since you are having such a large amount of calories in a short amount of time you can have funner meals like burgers without going over your calorie limits each day.

That's the real magic of intermittent fasting. It makes it super easy to lose fat and super sustainable. This has been a real game changer for our clients. If you want to learn more about intermittent fasting, how to do it the right way, and why it works for anyone, click here.

4. Stop Avoiding The Weight Room

Going to the gym is great but if you're only hitting the elliptical chances are you're not going to ever get to where you want to be. I've been going to the gym for years and I see the same guys hammering down on the elliptical for an hour and they always look the same.

That's because they're not building any muscle. One of the greatest fat burners out there is building muscle. In fact for every pound of muscle you add you can burn 4-6x more calories each day. The extra muscle mass creates a greater demand for calories turning your body into a fat burning powerhouse.

Think about the benefits of adding even 5-10 pounds of muscle will have. Not only will it help you burn more fat every single day, but it will also boost your confidence and improve your performance in and outside the gym.

The awesome thing about building muscle is it doesn't take long to do. As a beginner or even intermediate in the gym you can get in and out in 45 minutes or less only a few times a week and still build more muscle than most of you will ever need or want. All it takes a proper program and consistency.

If you aren't experienced with lifting weights it's time to get outside your comfort zone. Stop being a cardio bunny and get in the weight room. Your wife will thank me later.

Want to learn more about how to build muscle in as little as 15 minutes a day? Click here.

5. Weights First Then Cardio

If you're already doing weight training you need to be sure to lift first, then do cardio. Most men do cardio first then lift. Most men also still have their Dad Bod in full force. Don't be like most men.

When you perform your weight training session first you get into fat burning mode much quicker. Then when you do switch to cardio you will help your body burn more fat. This is due to something called glycogen. In order to get into fat burning mode we must first burn through our glycogen stores. Science shows that heavy weight training is a much more efficient way of burning through glycogen stores so it makes sense we would want to lift first then do cardio.

Another advantage of doing your weight training before cardio is your energy levels. In order to build muscle and burn fat you need to lift heavier weight, more reps, or more sets each time you go in the gym. If you tire yourself out from a cardio bunny session first there is no way you will be able to progress in your weight session from week to week.

It may not seem like a big deal but the order you do things can make a huge impact on your results without hardly changing anything else. If you want to learn more about proper workout structure for real results click here.

6. Mix It Up With Some HIIT!

Stop doing long steady-state cardio sessions all the time and start incorporating the king of fat loss strategies: HIIT.

HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. Basically all it means is you do an exercise at maximal intensity for a short burst followed by a lower intensity rest. Usually this is 15 seconds followed by 45 seconds of rest. Each of these intervals is one round. Do anywhere from 5-15 rounds in a workout and you're done!

The best part about HIIT is you can burn as much as 20 calories per minute. That means you can burn 200 calories in as little as 10 minutes whereas a steady-state workout would take 20-30 minutes to burn the same amount of calories.

You can also make the workouts fun and never get bored by doing something different each time. You can do HIIT on the treadmill, elliptical, jump rope, burpees, kettlebells, the list goes on. If you're someone who gets bored with your workouts easily HIIT is going to be your go to. If you want to check out the best HIIT workouts to turn your body into fat burning machine, click here.

7. Water For The Win

You need to drink more water and less of everything else. You should aim for half of your bodyweight in ounces each day. Just doing this along will give you energy levels a big boost.

The more water you drink the less likely you'll be to drink sugar packed drinks that will pack more on to that Dad bod belly.

Most men don't drink enough water because they don't realize how important it really is for them. Staying hydrated helps to rid your body of toxins faster than other beverages, boosts energy, and helps lower hunger levels.

All of this is going to help you stay heathier and is a very simple change that requires virtually no effort. If you have troubles drinking enough water you can try setting an alarm, bringing a large drink container full of water with you at all times, and make sure you swap sodas for water until you've hit your water minimum each day.

Want to know more benefits about how water can help make you fitter than ever, click here.

8. Reduce Stress For Success

Stress kills (literally) and it's also a major contributor to heart disease which happens to be the number one leading cause of death in men. 1 out of every 4 deaths is due to heart disease and stress is a huge factor when it comes to heart disease.

If you have high levels of stress you probably have high cortisol which is a fat storing hormone. I've had clients in the past who worked out 6 days a per week and ate like rabbits but could not lose any weight due to all the stress in their lives. The sooner you can get a grasp on it the better.

There are lots of options when it comes to stress and I highly encourage you to start implementing them now before it's too late! Most people ignore their stress instead of doing something about it because either they don't know what they can do or they think it's just life. This couldn't be farther from the truth.

We have a system of highly effective strategies we use with our clients to help lower their stress. Consistent exercise is one thing that can go a long ways toward reducing stress, but not this alone is not enough in most cases. Some other things that can help are deep breathing exercises (don't knock it until you try it), meditation, more frequent sex, yoga, spending time in nature, etc.

There are a lot of options for stress management but it must be consistent to get it under control. If you want to learn how to develop the perfect system for stress management before it's too late, click here.

9. Sleep

Last but not least is sleep. Sleep is the foundation of good health and if you aren't getting enough (both quality and quantity), it can literally take years off your life. Not only that but trying to get any traction towards losing the Dad Bod and improving other areas of your life will be virtually impossible.

Most men don't sleep enough because they don't make it a priority. They think they will just drink more coffee or make it up later and it just doesn't happen that way. It's important that you start making it a priority right away because everything else you work on is going to suffer. Your energy levels will be shot, your sex drive will be non-existent, and it will ultimately lead to more stress which we already know is another huge problem.

Sleep is always a huge priority for all of our clients because if it you fail at sleep you fail at everything else. It all starts with making a schedule and sticking to it. Decide when you will go to bed and wake up each day and stick to it. If something comes up find something else in your schedule you can move around instead of just getting less sleep. You can also prioritize sleep by priming your body to get better quality sleep. Shut your brain down from everything stressful at least two hours prior to bedtime. Use some blue light blocking glasses if you need to use a computer or phone in the last two hours of the night (we recommend shutting down electronically as much as possible prior to sleep). Stay hydrated before and make sure you don't go to sleep hungry.

We all know sleep is important but they key is to prioritize sleep to set yourself up for success. If you want to learn more tips on how to use sleep to unlock your true potential, click here.