Transcription
If I woke up 30 lbs overweight and wanted to lose it all by the end of this year, this is exactly what I'd do. In fact, this is the exact same protocol we used to help Brian lose 33 lb, drop 60% of his visceral fat, and gain 1 and 12 lbs of lean mass in 12 weeks.
Now, I must warn you, like Brian, if you follow this plan exactly as outlined, you will have people accusing you of being on Ompic. So, if you're ready to drastically change your health by the end of 2025, follow this and take some notes.
Number one is to eliminate alcohol. When you drink, your body prioritizes burning at first while creating what I call the vicious cycle. It's where you drink alcohol, you make worse food decisions at night, you get shittier sleep, you wake up lethargic, which kills your willpower and decision-m, especially when it comes to food, and then you repeat the cycle. Trying to burn fat while drinking alcohol is playing the game in hard mode, unnecessary, and you'll have to quit it for life. But for the time that you're in this fat loss phase, you want to set up the right environment for your body to burn fat, and that actually means eliminating alcohol.
Next, multiply your body weight by 12. This is going to be your daily caloric intake. And if you do want things to go a little bit faster, you can multiply by 11 and get away with that, especially if you have more weight to lose.
Step number three is to multiply your body weight by 8. This is going to give you the minimum daily grams of protein you need to build and maintain muscle while burning fat. One of the worst things I see when people try to lose weight is not putting enough emphasis on keeping muscle. And protein is crucial for that. And the other thing about protein is is the fact that it's satiating. It will help you keep fuller longer. And what I like to do for my clients is to set a floor and a ceiling for protein intake. The floor would be 8 g per pound of body weight every single day. And if you can get that up to about one gram per pound of body weight, then you're giving yourself the best chance at keeping, if not building muscle while you're in a caloric deficit.
Now, some people may be wondering, Dan, this is a lot of protein I'm putting into my body. And they're right. For a lot of people, this is going to be a big adaption from what they were doing before. So, I like to find a routine for this. For my client Brian, he actually found that this was a little bit too much. He wasn't used to taking in this amount of protein. And because protein's so filling, he actually felt super full when he was trying to abide by this. So, here's the routine that we used for him. He started off his days by breaking his fast with a protein shake. He actually did two scoops of a protein shake, which gave him 50 g right off the bat. And we actually had him do a teaspoon of psyllium husk flakes. This increases the fiber, which again is going to help him stay fuller. At lunch, we did another 30 to 40 g of protein. And at night, we wanted to opt for a bigger piece of meat. Something like a 300 g piece of salmon or steak or chicken. And the main thing about protein intake, especially if you're not used to this, is just to find a routine. It's going to feel a little bit difficult at first, but once you get used to it, it becomes like brushing your teeth.
So, for number four, I'm going to recommend something that not a lot of fitness pros would recommend, but I find that this makes it so much easier for my clients to hit. It is to keep your focus on just hitting your calories and your protein. When it comes to carbs and fats, you can interchange those, but the most important ones that you want to hit are going to be how many calories you're taking in and how much protein you're taking in. I find that when people are trying to hit their calories, their protein, their fats, and their carbs, and trying to make this all as exact as possible, it actually leads to overwhelm and confusion. So, when in doubt, focus on the two main numbers, which are going to be the ones that I just mentioned. And that's going to make things so much easier from a tracking perspective.
Now, number five is going to be setting the right meal schedule. And I always start at the end and then work my way back. So here's what I mean. We want our final meal to be at least 3 to 5 hours before we go to bed. One of the main reasons for this is because when you're going to bed, your body is entering into a rest and digest mode. And when you give yourself a longer time frame before you go to sleep, you end up improving sleep quality, which will actually make you improve your energy and your mood the next day. And if you have better mood and better energy, that's going to help you make better decisions with your food the next day. Once you set that hard stop, you're going to go all the way to the beginning and you're going to set your first meal to be at least one to two hours upon waking. I mentioned this in my last video where I talked about the fact that I stopped skipping breakfast because for high stress individuals, I think it's a net negative. It actually leads to worse food decisions and greater appetite at the end of the day. And what happens with the first meal is that we are doing a couple of things. We're regulating our hunger at the end of the day. We're also putting our bodies into an anabolic state when we take in enough protein, especially in the beginning. And from a circadian perspective, you're telling your body that it's time to wake up. And all these things put together, especially when you take someone from skipping breakfast like Brian was, to not skipping breakfast and having a meal, you find that it has better downstream effects than skipping it in the first place. And lastly, we have a second meal that is right in between the first and last. And then this is going to be the creation of your unique meal schedule. And something you have to understand about eating is that we train our bodies when it's time to be hungry and when it's time to stop eating. So, if you want to automate your hunger and control it and tell it when it's supposed to come and when it's not supposed to come, you want to be using a meal schedule. And the funniest thing about this is when we applied a lot of the stuff that we're talking about right here, especially the meal schedule, especially when Brian was losing so much weight, he found it to be the easiest thing ever, he wasn't feeling the hunger pangs. He wasn't feeling appetite strains. And the main reason was he was training his hunger to work for him instead of against him.
Now, for the next step, to build upon the meal schedule that we talked about, you want to be eating a breakfast containing of 40 g of protein at least, and this is going to help you regulate hunger and appetite later on in the day. And one of the most efficient ways to help you build muscle is to take your body out of catabolism. So, when you sleep for 8 hours, you're essentially in a fasting period. And when you break that fast with a high protein meal, you're essentially saying to your body, "Hey, what's up? It's time to start building muscle." Now, a lot of what I'm talking about is to keep hunger and appetite at bay, especially when you're in a caloric deficit. I think this is one of the reasons why people overeat.
Step seven is going to be your best tool at doing that, and it's to use this specific water system, which is to drink 500 milliliters in the morning, drink your water in between your meals. And also, if you want to increase your fullness with your meals, drink your water before and also drink your water after your meals. Now, a lot of people are going to be coming in and saying, "Dan, this is going to mess your your digestion and your body's not going to properly, you know, put all these nutrients in your body." Uh, like there's been plenty of research around this specific myth and it has been debunked a number of times. There is no net negative benefit to drinking water before and drinking water after a meal. And don't listen to the old wives tales. It is a good thing. And if you don't believe me, just go on AI, use Perplexity, and just check it for yourself.
Now, step eight is to do three strength training workouts a week with one day of rest between them. And we are going to be using this workout right here. You can pause this video and you can make sure that you copy this. Now, I won't get into explaining these exercises. They're quite simple, but I will say that you want to give yourself at least 3 minutes of rest between your compound exercises and around 2 minutes of rest for your isolation exercises. And also make sure that you're doing the next step, which is every session that you're at the gym, you're aiming to add 5 lbs or more reps to the exercises that you're doing. This is a simple way of progressively overloading your muscles so you can actually build a little bit of muscle while you are burning fat.
Now, step 10 is to make sure you're not keeping your exercises only to the gym. You want to be getting at least 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day. And if you work a desk job, I highly recommend getting an under the desk treadmill. and combine this with an app called Whisper Flow. It's one of the best ways that you can get steps in while talking into your computer and telling it to type out exactly the things that you're talking about. Now, one of the best things I like to do is walking meetings. So, whenever I'm in a meeting and talking to another person, I'm walking on my desk. And if you're wondering, oh, what do I use to like take notes? There are so many AI app noteakers that are out there. Just sync it in and then those notes are going to be taken care of for you. Also, you don't just need to use this for work. You can actually use this for a lot of things like watching videos, watching Netflix series. There's so many ways that you can get walking in without even thinking about the fact that you're walking and technology just makes it so simple these days. So there's no excuses.
Now number 11 is to make sure that you are setting up the right sleep environment. In my video where I was giving advice to people in their 40s, I told them, and I'm telling you right now, to create a sleep sanctuary for yourself. Environment is this invisible hand that dictates our behaviors. So, one of the things that you want to do is create an environment that just makes it so easy to put your head on the pillow and go to sleep right away. Couple things that I would have is a cool room, mouth tape, especially if you're a mouth breather, blackout shades, getting a sleep mask, preferably. I like the Alaska Bear brand, and also if you're sleeping with a partner, getting separate covers. Now, something I like to do is sleep with a weighted blanket that's about 10% of my body weight. I find that this helps me induce sleep a lot better, but if it's too heavy, it will create anxiety. So, be careful with this. And another thing I like to do, which I think is a complete sleep hack, is sleeping naked. I don't know why, but I just feel more comfortable sleeping naked than with underwear on or t-shirt, whatever it is. But again, we all have our sleep preferences. You choose yours. Just make sure you're creating the right sleep sanctuary for yourself that makes sleep evergreen.
Now, step 12 is to create a windown routine. I actually say the windown routine is more important than the morning routine because if you have a great windown routine, it's going to set you up for an incredible day afterwards. And the funny thing about it is the windown routine starts in the morning. So when you're waking up, you want to get that sun in your face. This is going to turn on your circadian rhythm. And for a lot of people, they're saying get at least like 15 minutes. I say just get at least like 5 minutes. Get whatever you can. Especially if you have kids, you might find this a little bit more difficult, especially for me. So, after I've gotten my kids ready and I'm going to work, I'm making sure that I'm at least getting like five minutes of direct sunlight on my face, on my body. Next, you want to make sure that you're creating the same sleep and wake times. And also, some other low-key things is taking a hot bath or a shower to cool down the body. Making sure that you are not looking at screens at least 1 hour before bed. And if you are, make sure you're using blue light blockers. Now, low-key, especially if you have kids, you want to create an environment inside of your house that starts to help wind down your entire house by using your lights. Now, you can do this by making sure that you're dimming your lights or using red incandescent light bulbs. You absolutely do not want to be under bright light, especially when you're trying to go to sleep because this is just going to make it harder for you to go to sleep because you're taking in all this blue light. And the last one is going to be just avoiding stresses and arguments before bed. You don't want to be arguing with your wife before bed. You just don't want to be arguing in general, but especially before bed, because that's just going to increase your stress levels and also make it just super hard for you to go to bed. And if you have a wife or a partner, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Essentially, what we want to do with this windown routine is tell the brain, "Hey, what's up? It's time to go to sleep. I'm going to make you think a little bit less. I'm going to maybe entertain you a little bit more, and I'm just going to make this environment seem like it is conducive to turning our nervous systems down."
Now, step 13 is to take at least 5 g of creatine a day. Now, creatine does not directly burn fat, but it's important if you want to lose that 30 pounds because it's going to help you keep your muscles while dieting. Like something not a lot of people think about is like the fact that when they lose weight, they have a higher propensity to lose muscle. And then this is the worst thing because it actually slows down the metabolism. And creatine is one of the most safest, most researched, effective supplements on the planet. It actually helps you work out better. It helps preserve muscle mass. And all of this stuff will help you maintain your metabolism, especially while you're dropping weight. And if you're new to the creatine game, I created a free guide on the best protocol on how to take creatine, what creatine to take, and also who should be taking it, who should not be taking it. If you want the guide, just comment below. Creatine, I'll send it to you for free.
Now, step 14 is something that I find deficient in around 75% of the people that I work with, which is vitamin D. Vitamin D is the most anabolic fat burning supplement that you can take. It is crucial for fat loss because it can reduce the creation and storage of new fat cells. It may actually boost your metabolism by increasing serotonin and testosterone levels, both of which support fat loss. And when I say anabolic for muscle building, vitamin D promotes muscle repair and regeneration by affecting hormones like leptin and myostatin. Now, one of the best ways to get vitamin D is by exposing yourself to the sun at the right times, which is first thing in the morning and when the sun is setting at night. Now, if you can't do that, then supplementing with vitamin D and K2 is going to be important, especially if it's during the winter months or you simply just can't get outside. And the reason why you want to combine both of these together is because D3 helps your body absorb calcium. But K2 makes sure that calcium goes directly to your bones instead of building up in your blood vessels, which keeps your bones and heart healthier.
Now, step 14 is to get serious about tracking. You want to make a routine of tracking your weight. Personally for me, I track it every single day and I get the 7-day average to show me the true representation of my weight loss. For you, especially if you have emotional issues around the scale, then you want to be doing this more sporadically, but you still want to be on a routine. The best way to build muscle, get stronger in the gym, is by tracking your workouts. You don't want to be going to the gym and guessing what you did the last time. That is a recipe for mediocrity. You also want to be tracking your nutrition. Now, even tracking your nutrition, some people are like, "Oh, I can't do this. it's too it's too hard and whatever. I wouldn't even say do it for trying to burn fat. I would actually do it to see where your weake is at. So, if you find that most of your calories come after 8:00 p.m. at night, you have just found one of your biggest weaknesses, which you can actually fix. But you won't know that unless you're actually tracking and keeping yourself honest. Now, next, I would track your waistline on a weekly basis. If you have 30 plus pounds to lose, most likely a lot of that is visceral fat. Now, where visceral fat accumulates is right here around your most important organs. Now, one of the things you have to realize is that yes, your belly may be bigger than you want it to be, but also you will see the belly decrease faster than any other body part because you have the most to lose. And also, I recommend taking pictures every 4 weeks. You want a visual representation of your body transformation. And also, this is a great way to keep yourself honest. And I've talked to so many clients and for the ones who just absolutely refused to take pictures, they regretted it later on because they wish they had those pictures so they can actually get the truest representation of where their body was and where the body is at the present day. And lastly, you want to get your blood work checked. Even if you dropped the 30 lbs, you want to make sure that everything underneath the hood is working as it should. And blood work is going to be the best representation of how healthy you are. Now, I say to get this every six months, but in our case of trying to lose this in three months, I get it at the beginning and I get it at the end.
Step 15 is where I'm going to lose a lot of people, but if you're still watching afterwards, I know that you're serious. So, while you are going through this journey, you want to keep a journal of what is happening as you're going through it. When you are taking notes on what is happening, how you're feeling, and where your biggest weaknesses are. This brings what most people lack, which is selfawareness. And something I understand about getting yourself in shape is that it is a slow burn. I remember talking to a client and he had just dropped 40 lbs off his body. And I asked him, okay, so you know what what was different? I mean, aside from the weight loss, what was different about the way that you're approaching life? And he came up with a complete blank. So I had to clarify things for him. I had to actually tease these things out. And after asking him enough questions, I actually found out that his sex life improved. He's playing with his kids every single day where before he didn't even have the energy to run around with them. On day 80, he set a record for the revenue he made per month. He was sleeping better. He wasn't feeling as stressed. Oh, and also he was going to the pool and feeling proud of taking off his shirt. And the funny thing is is that most people don't notice these things as they're getting in shape, which is wild to me. Now, something you have to realize about this journaling piece is the fact that it turns into an effective form of therapy. If you've been watching my channel, you'll see the videos I made about dropping alcohol and quitting porn. And aside from the motivation of doing these things, the thing that held me together was the fact that I was journaling every single day. And when I was journaling, I was seeing these small and also these big benefits that I was getting as a result of this journey I was putting myself through. So, keep a daily journal, especially as you're going through this process. And I [ __ ] you not, you will learn more about yourself by doing that than going through a 100 sessions of therapy.
And the final part of this protocol is during these three months, you need to watch how you speak to yourself. If you find yourself being self-deprecating or identifying as this fat version of yourself or saying to yourself, "Oh, I can I just do everything I can and I can't lose weight." What you are doing is you are putting yourself under a horrible trance. The first step to changing any part of your identity is by changing how you speak. Also note the massive difference between these two statements, "Oh yeah, I I I can't have a drink." as opposed to, "Nah, no, I I don't drink." The first one seems like a struggle. The second one is a form of your identity. And it may seem uncomfortable first, but once you change your words, you're giving yourself a fighting chance of changing your reality. Also, practice mental rehearsal. This means visualizing the reps that you're doing, whether it's cooking yourself healthy foods, going to the gym, walking on your under the desk treadmill, and also create the ultimate vision and the outcome of what you're trying to create. Essentially, you want to be there first before it happens so it feels normal for yourself. What you're doing is creating a new operating system. And if you don't do this, you will be right back to where you were before.
Now, losing weight is one thing, and I'm going to tell you right now, everyone's done it. But the most important thing is keeping the weight off. So, I did a video on the six crucial steps that you must take to keep the weight off forever.