Secret Fat Loss Formula Revealed - Part I

One of the core tenets of becoming Harder To Kill is to move towards 15% body fat. In last week’s issue, we talked about how excess body fat makes you easier to kill by increasing the odds of all cause mortality.

This week we are going to cover the core components of getting on a path to 15% body fat and focus on one of them.

Fat Burning Formula

So you have your InBody results and you came in at 25% body fat. You want to chart a course for 15%. Where do you start?

Here’s the formula:

(Body Weight x 70%) in Grams of Protein+Caloric Deficit + Resistance Training + Rest

To keep things simple, today we will focus on one variable: (Body Weight x 70%) in Grams of Protein

Protein plays a huge role in maintaining and increasing muscle. Muscle plays a key role in fat loss. The more muscle you have, the more calories (and fat) you burn in a day.

Body fat levels impact longevity (see last week’s newsletter). Lower is better.

Muscle mass also impacts longevity. In a previous issue, we dove deeper into the role of muscle as medicine.

All of these variables are connected.

Back to how much protein you need if you want to reduce your body fat. Here is the simplest approach to take: Body weight x 70% = grams of protein per day.

Think of this formula as a minimum. You read that right...feel free to eat more protein than this formula suggests. You can't overeat protein. In fact, the higher your protein consumption, the less likely you'll eat more carbs and fat.

Research indicates overeating protein will not make you fatter. Overeating carbs and fat will but protein is an exception to this rule.

Benefits of a High Protein Diet

Some benefits of a high-protein diet include:

• Reduced cravings for sugar and starch. Protein triggers your satiety signals for much longer than carbs and fats. This means you stay "full" or "satisfied" for much longer so you are less likely to engage in "mindless" snacking.

• Improved blood sugar control. Protein offsets the impact of sugar and carbohydrates and acts as a balance for blood sugar.

• Stronger Immune Function. Most people eat less than 100 grams of protein a day and this negatively impacts the performance of their immune system.

• Better Cognitive Function. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and insufficient levels can impair cognitive health.

• Muscle growth and/or maintenance. This is a key part of improving body composition and offsetting sarcopenia (the natural loss of muscle mass due to again).

Example

Let’s use a 230 lb man as our example:

230 lbs x 70% = 161 grams of protein every day.

Divide this number by the number of meals you eat per day.

3 meals per day = 54 grams of protein per meal

4 meals per day = 40 grams of protein per meal

It is important to have protein at every meal but don’t sweat it if your grams vary per meal; focus on your daily target (in this case, 161 grams per day).

One caveat: if you have pre-existing kidney disease you already know you need to limit your protein intake. Protein consumption does not cause kidney disease, but for those who already have it, protein may exacerbate the issue.

Next week, we will talk about the next variable in the formula for burning fat: Caloric Deficit.

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