Thread
Most people DON'T suck at losing weight.

They suck at keeping it off.

95% of diets fail in the long term.

But if you follow the right steps, you can lose fat and keep it off forever.

Here are 5 tips to help you get in the 5% that loses fat FOREVER.
➤ Slow is better than fast

"Lose 40 pounds in 3 months. "

Sounds tempting, right?

But here's the thing:

Diet too fast, and your body will literally unleash a starvation response on you.

You can avoid this hormonal response by dieting slowly.

Here's what you should do:
Avoid a brutal hormonal response by:

- Not losing more than 1% of your body weight per week
- Taking a break when you've lost 10% of your body weight
- Having a refeed day every 2 weeks or so (where you increase carbs)
➤ Diet Breaks work

One of the most well-known diet studies is the MATADOR study.

MATADOR = Minimising Adaptive Thermogenesis And Deactivating Obesity Rebound

The goal was to determine which dieting approach has the best long-term results.

Here's what they did:
The MATADOR study involved 2 groups.

1 group dieted continuously for 16 weeks.

1 group dieted for 2 weeks and then took a 2-week break (this took 30 weeks)

The group that took breaks:

- Lost more weight
- More of the weight came from Fat
The lesson from the MATADOR study is that taking diet breaks makes fat loss easier on the body, and seems to be more effective.

You don't have to alternate every 2 weeks, but it's a good idea to give your body regular breaks from dieting.
➤ Don't go too low on Fat

Fun fact about dietary fat:

It's used to create sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen)

If you're a man and you want to neuter yourself, here's how you do it:

Eat a low-calorie diet with extremely low fat.

Trust me.

This doesn't end well...
It's easy to get carried away with "diet foods" that are low in fat.

But remember, fat is important.

Get fat from healthy sources:

- Eggs
- Salmon
- Olive Oil
- Avocado

I don't let my fat go below 40 g per day if I'm losing weight.
➤ Don't Overdo Cardio

If you do more cardio than you can stick to, you'll regain weight once you realize you don't want to live on a treadmill.

Keep your cardio to what you can stick to FOR LIFE.

Cardio is good for your heart, brain, and yes - it does help fat loss.

But...
Don't rely on cardio as a fat-loss tool.

Here's a good habit:

Shoot for 100 - 150 minutes per week of Zone 2 Cardio.

That could be a brisk walk or the elliptical or exercise bike.

Don't exceed what you can maintain as a habit!
➤ Reverse Diet at the end

What the heck is a reverse diet?

It's basically the process of *gradually* adding calories back in so you don't store extra fat after the diet.

Here's why it's important:
Your body is not stoked if you've lost 20+ pounds over the last 90 days.

Fat is its rainy day fund.

It is primed to store fat if you increase calories.

If you lose weight with a diet only to return to pizza, beer, and chicken wings when you're done...

You get the picture.
What you can do instead is SLOWLY increase calories after a diet.

- Increase by 10% for two weeks after
- Increase by another 5-10% two weeks after that

Continue to increase slowly until you're eating an amount you an live on forever.
TL;DR

The name of the game for permanent fat loss is PATIENCE.

Lose fat the right way by:

- Take diet breaks
- Reverse diet at the end
- < 1% rate of loss per week
- Don't cut dietary fat out completely
- Don't do more cardio than you can stick to
Thanks for reading!

If you got value from this thread, 2 quick favors:

1. Follow me @thecolinmatson for insights on health, mindset, and self-improvement
2. RT the tweet below to share it with your audience!

Mentions
See All