Brutally Honest Answers to 8 Fat-Loss Questions I Frequently Get
On losing belly fat, cardio, fat burners, and more
In the fitness industry, misinformation is all the rage — be it gimmicky exercises, ultra-fancy diets, or snake oil supplements.
It took me costly mistakes and years of sifting through this pseudo-science cesspool to nail the art of fat loss.
Since then, I’ve maintained a visible six-pack year-round — without dieting or tracking calories.
Naturally, I’m asked a ton of questions regarding fat loss — but they usually burn down to the same few doubts.
Aggregating the 8 most common ones, I wanted to answer them in this concise article.
1. What’s the Best Exercise to Lose Belly Fat?
None — because you can’t target fat loss.
Through a calorie deficit, you can only reduce overall body fat — your genetics will determine where you lose it from first and fast.
At my current 12% body fat, I still have love handles — but even at 18% body fat, my biceps and back look ripped.
Ab exercises will only build your core muscles — not budge the fat covering them.
Even worse, “thickening” your ab muscles, while you have blubber, will make your belly appear fatter.
So, ditch the atrocious dumbbell side bends and spine-straining crunches.
Instead, focus on lowering overall body fat.
2. What’s the Best “Fat Burner” You’ve Used?
Fat burners are a sham — some such as DNP and Clen Buterol are outright lethal chemicals.
Even the little effect they have comes solely from one ingredient — caffeine.
Caffeine’s proven to aid fat loss by elevating your metabolism, boosting workout performance, and increasing muscle endurance.
So, stop burning your wallet for (mostly) worthless fat-loss supplements and fancy detox teas.
Good old black coffee will do the trick.
3. How Much Cardio Do I Need to Do?
None.
Cardio is only a tool to help you increase your energy expenditure to create a larger calorie deficit.
Solely by controlling your food intake, you can lose fat — but it wouldn’t be optimal since you’d have to eat very less.
By lifting weights and throwing in a few cardio sessions, you can expand your eating repertoire — making the fat loss journey easier and more enjoyable.
Also, thanks to G-flux, you’ll end up with a way better body composition.
Whether or not you do cardio, hit the weights — otherwise, you’ll end up as a loose skin bag of bones, not like Greg Plitt’s clone.
4. To “Cut”, I Should Do High Reps with Light Weights, Right?
The exact opposite.
When cutting, your body is in a calorie deficit — and more prone to burning your muscle mass for fuel.
To prevent muscle wastage, you need to at least maintain if not increase your strength — redirecting your body to fuel itself with your fat stores instead.
But since your recovery will be slower, cut down the volume — and stick to low reps with heavy weights.
3 excruciating sets of barbell squats will do way more for your fat loss than 15 sets of 5 different cable exercises.
5. Do I Have to Reduce Eating Rice (and Carbs)?
To rehash yet again, fat loss only burns down to a calorie deficit.
If cutting rice and carbs out will increase your calorie deficit, go ahead. But if you’re likely to hog yourself with “healthy” salad instead?
You might actually decrease the deficit.
Carbs are neither good nor bad. They’re a macronutrient — just like proteins and fats.
Thanks to its higher thermic effect and satiety, protein is superior to carbs and fats for fat loss — so center your meals around protein.
But ensure an ideal mix of carbs and fats as well — while carbs are your primary energy source, fats are essential for hormone functioning. Protein tops it off with tissue and muscle repair.
To eke the most bang for your buck, situate your carb-heavy meals right before or after your workouts.
6. How Do You Stay This Lean? Is It Strict Dieting?
While getting lean is an uphill battle of counting calories and killing your cravings, staying lean is way easier.
Past the first 6 to 12 months of staying ripped, homeostasis kicks in — and your body refuses to gain fat.
Even when you do, you’ll be able to cut back to your ripped state in a few weeks.
This was with the gym alone.
But since I started training Muay Thai, I’ve been able to eat truckloads and stay shredded — thanks to the insane number of calories it burns.
But to unlock this unfair advantage, you need to get lean and maintain it meticulously until homeostasis kicks in.
7. Is Keto the Best Diet to Lose Fat?
Fat loss is driven by a calorie deficit. Period.
Every fancy diet on the planet tries to achieve just this — be it zero-carb Paleo, meat-only carnivore diet, or some mad food scientist’s latest “super-diet”.
Can you use Keto to lose fat? Yes. Is it necessary? No.
For every person that reports higher energy levels and better clarity, there are 2 or more that suffer from indigestion and a messy stomach.
Instead of chasing the latest fad diet, analyze what your eating style and preferences are — and tweak it to create an energy deficit.
2 big fat-laden meals in an intermittent fasting style or 6 small carb-packed meals spread throughout the day
The choice is yours.
8. How Many Weeks Will It Take to Get a Ripped Six-Pack Physique?
6 years — of blood, tears, and sweat for the below transformation.
Sure, you can shed weight and fat within a few weeks or months, but that alone will leave you looking anorexic.
A ripped look is an amalgam of low body fat and quality muscle mass — the latter takes years.
Unless you enjoy the process of lifting weights, eating nutritious food, and sleeping optimally, you won’t build an impressive physique.
Eat clean, focus on compound lifts, progressively overload, and lean bulk for a year or two. Cut for 4 to 6 weeks.
Rinse and repeat.
The Bottom Line
Optimal fat loss burns down to 3 factors — eating (clean) in a calorie deficit, lifting weights with intensity, and sleeping 8 hours.
All the subtle nuances and tweaks come into the picture only after these 3 pillars are in place.
You can track the various levers of fat loss with ease using my ultimate fat-loss checklist — since it’s Notion-based, you can print and keep it handy.
Did those 8 questions quench any fat-loss doubts you might have had?
If not, let me know your query, and I’ll be happy to answer.
