Transcription
I lost 75 lbs, and I stay under 12% body fat all year round. I managed to do it all while working 80 hours a week. I'm Dr. John Go. I'm an ophthalmologist here in LA, and I help people design healthy routines around their busy lives.
Most people think that the key to success is chicken breast, broccoli, and endless cardio. But in my experience, these are the reasons why people usually quit. What worked for me and my clients is to have a system that still allows you to live your life. And I'm going to share the 12 most important evidence-based pieces of my system. Let's get started.
Number one, choose walking over cardio. Don't get me wrong, cardio is good for you, but for the purposes of fat loss, nothing beats walking. High-intensity cardio sessions often lead to increased hunger, and part of this is due to the spike in the hunger hormones like ghrelin. This can result in overeating. It's a classic case of one step forward, two steps back. Walking, however, boosts calorie burning without spiking hunger.
Picture this: After a run or a HIT session, you look down at your fitness tracker, and it says you burned a thousand calories. First of all, false. That's grossly overestimated. But second of all, you just white-knuckled yourself through a 60-minute super session paired with hunger from the increased ghrelin and your tracker telling you that you burned 1,000 calories. Why wouldn't you reward yourself with a pint of ice cream or a few slices of apple pie, or whatever it is that you indulge in?
What's the better alternative? Get more steps in. When was the last time you went on a walk and were like, "Yeah, I got to reward myself by stuffing my face for that walk?" Never. A game changer for me was setting up a treadmill desk. I can get 20,000 steps in all while working on editing videos, writing scripts, charting on patients, or just playing video games.
If you can't get a treadmill desk, it's helpful to incorporate a step count targeting 8 to 10,000 steps a day. You can park further away, take the stairs, or go on post-lunch walks that will also help with your post-meal insulin levels. All these little things add up to provide consistent calorie burning without the hunger spikes or cravings. This makes hitting a calorie deficit easier to accomplish.
Now, while walking ignites fat loss without ramping up hunger, let's talk about lifting heavy weights, which builds muscle and ultimately boosts metabolism.
Two, build as much muscle as possible. One key to efficient fat loss is focusing on increasing your muscle mass. This elevates your basal metabolic rate, which is the number of calories you burn at rest. But it doesn't end there. Increased muscle mass, of course, helps with aesthetics, but it's also been shown to play an integral role in optimizing general health and longevity.
Compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, and rows engage multiple muscle groups, making them the most efficient exercises in building muscle. They should form the core of your workouts. Instead of endless cardio sessions or bicep curls or ab crunches, commit to prioritizing compound lifts. Focusing on these heavy compound exercises will build muscle most efficiently, which ultimately leads to increasing your calories burned at rest. This will accelerate your fitness and weight loss journey. It's like that old saying, have your money work for you. The more muscle you pack on, the more calories you're burning at rest by just living and breathing.
Lifting weights will signal your body to build muscle, but it's equally important to track what you're eating. Let's dive into why treating your food like your finances makes all the difference.
Number three, track food like you budget your money. Calorie tracking works like budgeting your money. Overspending regularly leads to debt. Overeating consistently leads to packing on fat. All fat is is essentially stored excess energy. Your body is smart. If you eat an energy surplus, you'll store that energy away as fat, especially if you aren't lifting weights.
The most common cause of failure to lose weight is underestimating your caloric intake. Most people new to calorie counting are eating way more than they're logging. Cutting little corners and rounding those numbers off seems harmless, but can very quickly add up to offset any calorie deficit you might have had. That's why I tell everyone to meticulously track their calories, at least initially. And when in question, always air on the side of overestimation to ensure you're in a caloric deficit.
When you actually start tracking, you start to realize how calorie-dense certain things are, like sauces and dressings, and how easy it is to underestimate the volume of food that you're actually taking in. Like, do you know what an actual 200-calorie serving of peanut butter actually looks like? It looks like this. These are the little details that derail your weight loss.
One of my favorite things to do is ingredient hack and healthify my favorite foods. We'll dive into this more at a later point, but you can download my free Asian meal prep cookbook in the description below to cut calories and maximize protein, all without sacrificing taste and enjoyment.
Tracking your calories gives you control, but remember, perfection isn't the goal. Let's discuss why consistency and flexibility are absolute necessities for sustainable long-term weight loss.
Number four, any effort counts, and be on the ball 80% of the time. Consistency beats perfection all day, every day. Even minimal effort done consistently produces long-term results. Focus on being on point with your diet and training 80% of the time, but allow yourself the grace to cheat 20% of the time. That 20% will keep your head in the game so that you can sustain this for life.
Remember, when health and fitness become sustained habits, they become your identity. And that is so important in actually keeping your weight off for the long term. Me, for example, I usually don't drink, and my diet is on point all the work week. But do I go to all-you-can-eat KBBQ, all-you-can-eat sushi, dim sum, and have some drinks on the weekends with friends? Of course, I do. These things keep me sane, and they keep me in the game. You have to live your life.
Also, when work or life gets overwhelming, instead of skipping workouts entirely, I still make sure to get many 15-minute workouts in. This is where the efficiency of compound lifts comes in. This keeps momentum, reinforces positive habits, and prevents the all-too-common cycle of guilt and inactivity.
Now that we understand that consistency beats perfection, let's focus on the simple powerful habit, making protein a priority.
Number five, protein first. An integral habit for me is anchoring each meal with 30 to 50 g of protein. Not only is protein the most satiating macronutrient—that means it keeps you fuller for longer—but adequate protein intake paired with lifting weights ensures that I maximally preserve muscle during weight loss and I maximally pack on muscle when I eat in calorie excess.
Personally, prioritizing protein makes me feel satisfied longer and significantly decreases my cravings. Cutting back on calories doesn't mean that you have to starve yourself, especially if you start building your meals with protein in mind. The goal isn't to restrict endlessly. It's to sustain a lifestyle that keeps you feeling good and moving forward towards your goals. When you focus on protein, not only do you feel fuller, but you also support your body's metabolism. Think of protein as nourishment for your body and your goals. It's about fueling your future.
Anchoring your diet with protein is key, but even the best diet can get derailed if you're unknowingly drinking your calories. Here's how to avoid that trap.
Number six, don't drink your calories. Liquid calories destroy fat loss. It's just so easy to consume a large amount of calories in the form of soda, juice, boba, frappuccinos, and alcohol because your brain doesn't register liquid calories the same way it does solid food. So, you can drink hundreds of calories without ever feeling full.
I found that eating whole foods instead of drinking fruit juices, defaulting to zero-calorie drinks, and opting for black coffee instead of lattes has made all the difference. Plus, caffeine is an appetite suppressant. Consider this for a moment: A Starbucks Venti iced peppermint white chocolate mocha with whipped cream is 660 calories and only 14 g of protein. My meal prep meals are consistently under 500 calories a meal and pack in 50 g of protein on average. Now, ask yourself, what's going to be more satiating? What's going to help you towards your goals? The answer, to me at least, is clear.
By being mindful of liquid calories, you can stay on track without deprivation. Would you rather have a whole another meal or skip a meal for a Starbucks Frappuccino? The key mindset here is awareness. Recognizing what you're consuming is just as critical as how much. It's not just about cutting calories. It's about making well-thought-out choices that align with your goals.
Limiting liquid calories helps keep you on track. But what about managing hunger and cravings? Let's look at how mastering your hunger cues helps sustain weight loss effortlessly.
Number seven, master your hunger cues. When hunger is not the issue, eating won't help. This can be said about any negative coping mechanism: alcohol, nicotine, gambling, etc. But specifically, you need to address the problems themselves rather than turning to a binge in the pantry, the bottle, or a cigarette.
Next time you're hungry, take a pause. Ask yourself, am I hungry, or am I angry, lonely, tired, or bored? If it's one of the last four, fix the feeling, not the fridge. Also, keep in mind that a light rumble in your belly means that you're dipping into stored energy in the form of fat, which is what you want. It doesn't mean that you're starving. Remember that if you're trying to lose fat and you're hitting your calorie and protein targets, mild hunger is a sign that you're making progress.
Accepting mild hunger and separating real hunger from emotions takes care of the majority of mindless snacking and encourages you to actually address the underlying issues. Recognizing real hunger from emotional triggers is crucial, but one factor can dramatically amplify cravings and derail your progress: alcohol. Here's why reducing your intake matters.
Number eight, skip the nightcap. Alcohol is a toxin. Your body knows this. So, your liver prioritizes clearing alcohol first. That means that the carbs and the fats that you eat while alcohol is still in your system get automatically converted to body fat. Number two, booze blunts the "I'm full" signals and drops willpower. All of a sudden, a midnight slice of pizza or several can sound good to you. Number three, poor sleep. Even one or two drinks can destroy REM sleep, a very important phase of sleep where your body actually rests and recharges. This can leave you groggy and extra prone to eating snacks the next day. Number four, lowers testosterone. Regular drinking drags down testosterone, slowing muscle growth, thus affecting your baseline calories burned at rest, not to mention your gains.
Cutting back or cutting out alcohol entirely gives you faster fat loss. Your body can burn food instead of storing it. Fewer munchies and binges, deeper sleep, and subsequently better recovery and sharper focus. And lastly, higher testosterone, which equates to more muscle and higher metabolism.
After cutting back on alcohol, let's refine your eating habits even further. Ingredient hacking makes your everyday meals healthier without losing flavor or satisfaction.
Number nine, hack your ingredients. First, start with whole foods. Base 80% of your meals on single-ingredient staples like meat, eggs, veggies, and fruit. These tend to be better for you and more filling. Number two, strategically swap out carb sources. Swap white rice for cauliflower rice or mix them half and half. Swap traditional bread for keto bread. This decreases calories from 100 calories a slice to just 50 and increases protein from three to five grams per slice. You can swap regular tortillas for low-carb tortillas. This decreases calories from 130 calories of tortilla to just 70 and increases protein from 3 to 5 g of tortilla. Another thing you can do is opt for leaner proteins. For example, if you swap 80/20 ground beef for 99% lean ground turkey, you would more than halve the calories from 300 to 120 calories and increase the protein from 19 to 26 g a serving.
Ingredient hacking slashes calories and boosts protein and fiber without shrinking portion sizes. You feel full, eat tasty food, and still hit your macros.
With ingredient hacking, optimizing your meals, let's zoom out. Monitoring your weekly progress keeps you on track and keeps your mindset and motivation strong.
Number 10, weekly trend check and course correct. Ignore the daily scale changes and focus on the weekly trend. Daily fluctuations are just noise and can often lead to frustration. What you want to pay attention to are the weekly averages. Once you have those weekly weight averages, you can compare actual real-world weight loss to expected weight loss and course correct accordingly. My favorite way to do this is with ChatGPT. Tell ChatGPT, "I lost an average of X lbs during this time period. My intake was about X calories a day and X protein a day. What adjustments do I need to make to get on track?"
Keeping an eye on weekly trends and course correcting helps you stay accountable. But to ensure daily consistency, planning your tomorrow tonight is a simple yet powerful step you shouldn't skip.
Number 11, plan and anticipate. Make choices before you're tired. Automation wins over willpower when you plan your meals and workouts in advance. Picture this: You get back home from a long day of work, and you're presented with two options. First option is heading back out to the grocery store, buying ingredients, cooking a meal, and finally eating said meal maybe two hours later if you're lucky. The second option is to order some greasy but delicious Chinese takeout that can be delivered within 30 minutes. What are you more likely to do when you're hungry and tired? But what if you already had meal-prepped meals ready to go? Meals that will not only make you feel better and support your goals but are ready to eat right when you get home. That changes things, right? A well-prepared fridge and meal prep can significantly simplify your day. The preparation reduces decision fatigue and sets you up for success, not leaving it to chance.
Planning sets you up for success each day, but remember, improvement is gradual. Let's wrap up by focusing on getting just 1% better every day.
Number 12, one up yesterday. Focus on getting 1% better each day rather than striving for perfection. Progress stacks up over time, and small incremental changes lead to substantial results. Celebrate your small wins. Each step compounds. This keeps the motivation high and makes the journey enjoyable. Remember, it's not about perfection. It's about progress. You're in this game of health and fitness for life. So, as long as you're making progress, however small, you're going to get to your destination.
With these habits in place, not only will it supercharge your fat loss and muscle gain, but you'll maintain it easily, even through demanding schedules, and you'll be able to live your life, which is ultimately what we're all here to do. These 12 habits are both why I was successful in losing the weight, as well as why I don't gain the weight back. Meal prepping is really an instrumental tool. If you want to learn how I use ChatGPT to automate my meal prep, check out this video.