Q&A: Can I Lose X Pounds In Y Time Doing Z?

I am often asked questions that take the form of, “Can I lose X pounds in Y time doing Z?” The person asking usually wants to lose a large amount of weight very quickly without actually having to work very hard for it or change their diet. In fact, changing their diet is almost never part of Z and when it is it usually involves a ridiculous fad or bogus supplement. It is frequently the second or third time the person has asked some variation of the question despite having been told “no” before and doing Z anyway and predictably failing to lose fat. But, they keep asking because they would rather keep looking for a short-cut than having to work to earn the body they want.

There are no short cuts, though. None. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Diddly-squat. There are no pills you can take (that are legal and/or won’t probably kill you), no wraps or suits you can wear, no secret foods you should eat, no fun group activities that “melt fat” off your body. There are no effective fat loss methods that are either easy or fun and anyone who tells you otherwise is either ignorant or lying.

Fortunately there are ways to lose fat that are very effective, but they take time and effort. They only work if you work. Still here? Great! I’m going to tell you a few things you probably don’t want to hear but need to know to lose fat as safely, efficiently, and effectively as possible.

Question: So, can you lose X pounds in Y time doing Z?

Answer: Unless X and Y averages out to around one to two pounds of fat per week and Z involves calorie restriction the answer is almost always going to be no.

Fat Loss Takes Time and Effort

You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.

Trying to lose fat by burning more calories through additional physical activity alone is a very inefficient, very slow way to eventually lose very little fat. There are no activities you can do for thirty to sixty minutes a few times a week that are going to burn enough additional calories to result in a noticeable rate of fat loss. Doing more than that doesn’t help much, either, because increases in calorie expenditure quickly level off above moderate activity levels (1). Even if you perform one to two hours of hard physical activity daily depending on your size you might only burn enough additional calories to lose about one pound of fat per week.

No matter how many additional calories you’re able to burn through activity weekly it is not going to make a difference unless you are also restricting your food intake because the extra activity will increase your appetite likely causing you to consume even more. Also, such high a high volume and frequency of intense, usually repetitive high-force physical activity is impractical and unsustainable for most people and can lead to muscle loss and joint and spine problems over time.

If you want to engage in regular physical activity do so because you enjoy the activity or for other benefits like socializing or stress-relief or learning a useful skill, but don’t waste your valuable time doing things for the sole purpose of burning calories.

Instead you should focus on the other side of the equation and reduce your calorie intake. It is a far more time efficient and effective way to create a calorie deficit. There are formulas you can use to estimate how much you should eat or you can measure and record everything you eat, gradually reducing your average daily calorie intake week by week until you are losing about a pound or two of fat per week. If you are very fat you can lose a little more, and if are very lean you should aim for less if you want to maintain muscle mass, but for most people between one and two pounds per week is a safe and sustainable rate.

You didn’t gain it overnight, and you’re not going to lose it overnight either.

There is a limit to how quickly you can lose fat, which is proportional to how much fat you have (2). You can only get so much energy from every pound of fat on your body per day, and if you try to create a calorie deficit so large that the difference between what you eat and what your body needs exceeds what your body can get from its fat stores, it is going to take the rest from your lean body mass. You do not want to lose lean body mass, because it will reduce your metabolic rate slowing down fat loss further. Also, losing your muscle mass along with fat will not make you leaner or improve your body shape, it will just make you smaller out of shape person.

The most effective kind of exercise for fat loss is not the fun or easy kind.

Speaking of muscle mass, what you should be doing for additional physical activity is strength training. Not because it burns additional calories both while you’re doing it, not because it causes your body to continue to burn more calories for hours afterwards, but because a proper strength training program helps to prevent muscle loss or even increase your muscle mass while you’re losing fat to maintain or increase your metabolic rate.

You don’t have to work out very long, and you don’t have to work out very often. In fact, you should keep your workouts relatively short and limit them to no more than three non-consecutive days per week. If you want your workouts to be effective, however, you do need to work very hard. A good starting point for most people is to perform two or three full-body workouts per week consisting of one set of one or two exercises for each muscle group. Each exercise should be performed using relatively slow, controlled movements, using a weight that allows for the completion of at least a moderate number of repetitions in strict form (for example, lifting the weight in four seconds, holding briefly, lowering the weight in four seconds, and repeating for six to ten repetitions). This allows you to maintain more consistent tension on the target muscles making the exercises more challenging while reducing the stress on your joints and lowering your risk of injury. For examples of strength training workouts and guidelines for performance read High Intensity Workouts.

While there are some supplements that can help with fat loss (mostly stimulants like ephedrine, caffeine, green tea catechins, etc.) the effects are relatively small or only last for a short time and are only noticeable if you are also restricting your calorie intake. No supplements (that are legal and safe) will increase your metabolic rate enough to cause you to lose fat without also changing your diet. Anything that would increase your metabolic rate enough to burn as much as quickly as some fat-loss supplement advertising claims to would likely lead to dangerous increases in body temperature, dehydration, and other harmful or even fatal side-effects, and not be legal for sale without a prescription. Stick with relatively inexpensive and proven supplements like ephedrine and caffeine (in reasonable amounts) but don’t expect them to do all the work.

In summary:

Don’t: 

  1. Try to create a calorie deficit by increasing physical activity alone.
  2. Neglect strength training to maintain your muscle mass and metabolic rate.
  3. Depend on fat-loss supplements to help if you don’t change your diet.

Do:

  1. Monitor and restrict your food intake to create a moderate calorie deficit.
  2. Strength train properly to increase your muscle mass and metabolic rate.
  3. Optionally supplement your diet and strength training with proven fat-burners like ephedrine and caffeine.

References:

  1. Pontzer H, Durazo-arvizu R, Dugas LR, et al. Constrained Total Energy Expenditure and Metabolic Adaptation to Physical Activity in Adult Humans. Curr Biol. 2016;26(3):410-7.
  2. Alpert SS. A limit on the energy transfer rate from the human fat store in hypophagia. J Theor Biol. 2005 Mar 7;233(1):1-13.

Join the discussion or ask questions about this post in the HIT List forum

Like it? Share it!

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Marcin Sep 12, 2016 @ 14:51

    Dear Drew,
    nice write up. This should be base for all people who wants to improve their body composition in the first place by loosing body fat. I’d like to add few points if I may.

    First. However, as deficit is the only way to loose body weight, hormonal health should be the first step to focus on, for all the people looking to loose a fat in the first place. Go see your physician, do the complete blood work and address all the deficiencies found. In 95% this would require changing the eating habits and get rid of all processed foods. This will save a lot of time and frustration, although some times may requires eating more nutritious dense foods. Unfortunately, there is no one perfect diet for all. I am doing great on high fat low carbohydrate diet, my wife opposite. There are many variables for everyone, but finding the right way is very rewarding.

    Second. Sleep more. Give your body time to rest and reset. I don’t understand why some people wakes up at 0500AM to jog for 1h, coming home drink some BS regeneration drink with extra added sugar and complaining about not loosing body fat. You do not burn that amount of calories jogging as you thinks.You barely burning fat. Half the number you have in mind and you get close to the real value. You better sleep more and get your hormones back to the proper level, eat real breakfast or not* and start doing whatever you do during the day. Park your car few kilometers further from your work and take a long walk, control your calories and you’re golden.

    * there is nothing magic about breakfast. I eat breakfast for lunch to help control my body weight.

    Third. Exercise. What I have to thank you (and Mike Menzer, Arthur Jones, Ellington Darden, Doug McGuff) is how I see them now. I do strength / body weight training and yoga to improve mobility, performance or build muscles. Never to reduce body fat. Strength training, which I have to emphasize, helps a lot to maintain lean mass, while someone is on calorie restriction diet. HIT training and enough of rest between sessions can also improve body composition on deficit if done correctly. I learnt this after quite some time, and currently I am very pleased with how I look, although I started my fitness journey when I was almost 35 yo and I have no previous history of sport activities at all.

    Purely anecdotal. I am doing 30 minutes HIT sessions (done twice a week with a a two or three days of rest in between), and keeping my *average* bpm stays between 170 and 175 bpm, I am able to run 10km under 50 minutes. I was not previously running at all. I was sore as hell few days after but I proved the point you don’t have to train running to run long distances. There is still a lot of place to improve my diet, sleep patterns (I am frequent traveler) or training, but I am not perfect. Never will be. I love the process though, feeling I’m in the control where my body is going, although my wife has different expectations than my long term goals are.We’ll meet t in the middle as always. Life. 🙂 .

    Cheers
    Marcin

    • Drew Baye Oct 8, 2016 @ 11:07

      Hey Marcin,

      These are all good points, which I have addressed in other articles on the web site. Both calorie intake and the overall nutritional content and hormonal effects of food play important roles in fat loss and gain and while it is possible to lose fat on a diet of pizza and soda as long as the calories are low, it is far from optimal.

  • Roger Sep 12, 2016 @ 22:34

    Is ephedrine still legally available in the U.S.?

    I used the ephedrine (25 mg), caffeine (200 mg), aspirin (325 mg) stack three time per day in the early 1990’s (about 30 minutes prior to breakfast, lunch, and dinner), while lifting weights using an upper/lower split routine (Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Friday). I think it was for about 6 to 8 weeks. While I was already relatively muscular and lean at the time, the body fat came off almost like magic. It was amazing! I had already been working out like this for months, and my eating had been fairly “clean” for quite a while. But it was only with the addition of the ECA stack that my extra body fat noticeably dropped and my definition became very pronounced.

    • Drew Baye Oct 8, 2016 @ 11:03

      Hey Roger,

      Yes, but in the U.S. the only way to get it is in products like Primatene (12.5mg ephedrine HCL, approx 82% ephedrine) and Bronkaid (25mg ephedrine sulfate, approx 63% ephedrine). Unfortunately it is heavily regulated here because of its use in making methamphetamine and most stores will only let you buy a couple boxes at a time.

  • Scott Sep 14, 2016 @ 12:07

    I am not a person who posts anything in online blogs or product reviews. That said I will post here that Drew’s site is the most common sense site I have ever come across. Any one who follows his advice will absolutely change their body of the best of their genetic potential drug free. All that other crap out there will just beat a person’s body up with injuries and sideline a person from making progress.

    I have followed this site for years and never posted. Great articles all the time and thought I would drop post.

    Great work Drew.

    • Drew Baye Oct 5, 2016 @ 11:38

      Thanks Scott, I’m glad you like the site and hope it has helped you with your training.

  • Jeff Sep 14, 2016 @ 19:33

    Drew,

    Thank you for your work and information. I came upon your blog about a year ago. Long story made short. I am 44 165 5’8″ and come from an ironman/ultramarathon background. I am somewhat of an outlier though. I would do 30 miles and come home and do 20 straight strict pull ups and tons of pushups. When my pull ups started falling short down to 8 I left endurance and found crossfit, which f’ed up my lower back. I moved on to Leangains and loved it, but would be very sore and couldn’t progress. I did 9 compounds split up into 3 each workout and worked out 3 days per week and nothing on the other days:
    Mon
    DL/Bench/Row
    Wed
    Chin/Dip/Press
    Fri
    Sq/Row/calves/abs
    I couldn’t progress, so I went back to a HIIT BW routine that got my pullups up, but left me weak in other areas.

    I recently (7 weeks) started doing 5 day split with HIIT bike. At 5 weeks I didn’t do anything, but hike. My lifts were not going up. During my break I studied your method like crazy. It wasn’t much different than Martin Berkhans heavy RPT in that he pushed rest and only 2 sets.

    My problem is 1)fat loss. today example diet: 1cup oats 1 cberries 1scoop whey 2 tb peanutb 1 1/2 cup rice milk; lunch 6 eggs; dinner salad (low dressing) 1 1/2 ch breasts small portion of baked potato wedges with a little ketcup
    2) I have no freaking idea if I am putting out hard enough in my lifts.
    Sunday
    DL
    Bench
    Chins
    Calves
    Wed
    Sq
    Row
    Press
    abs
    Rest days walking. I feel way more energy on off days now. I can see shadow abs on some mornings. I don’t need to be ripped, but would like to get my waist down to 30″ from 31 1/2.

    JB

    • Drew Baye Oct 5, 2016 @ 11:38

      Hey JB,

      1. Measure and track all of your food and your calorie and protein intake. While keeping your protein intake around one gram per pound of lean body mass per day gradually reduce your daily calorie intake until you’re losing between one and two pounds per week. For more specifics read Getting Ripped.

      2) Do as many repetitions of each exercise as possible without breaking form. When you think you are unable to continue positive movement keep trying anyway for about five seconds. If the weight still doesn’t move, slowly lower it and move on to the next exercise. The more you do this, the better you get at pushing yourself to your actual physical limit.

  • Steven Turner Sep 18, 2016 @ 21:29

    Hi Drew,
    Stomach banding is also a popular method people use to lose weight. Most people who have had stomach banding the exercise advice is to walk one-two hours per day and hire a personal trainer. Initially many people will lose a significant amount of weight. Normally in about one two years after surgery for many a significant amount of weight is put back on. Many people who have stomach banding also have a low fitness base. The extensive amount of walking they start doing and the high impact exercise that most personal trainers use with these clients, besides the weight being put back on they now have to contend with many overuse injuries.

    What most people who have had stomach banding surgery are not given is the sound and excellent advice that you have provided in this article. High Intensity training with slow controlled movements.

  • Al Oct 8, 2016 @ 7:13

    Hi Drew, what do u think of swimming for muscle gain or weight loss? Not simply floating in water but doing various strokes for an hour each week. Is this good … will recovery concept apply to swimming as it does to weight training? Or can we do more swimming and get away with it?

    • Drew Baye Oct 8, 2016 @ 10:54

      Hey Al,

      Swimming is not an effective way to build muscle mass or lose fat as I already explained in the article:

      “Trying to lose fat by burning more calories through additional physical activity alone is a very inefficient, very slow way to eventually lose very little fat. There are no activities you can do for thirty to sixty minutes a few times a week that are going to burn enough additional calories to result in a noticeable rate of fat loss.”