0:02 If you've been on and off dieting for
0:04 years, but you're not losing belly fat
0:07 for good, this needs to stop. In my nine
0:09 years of coaching busy men, I've seen
0:11 the same patterns over and over. It's
0:14 not about being lazy, but doing the
0:15 things I'm going to explain in this
0:18 video wastess years of effort without
0:20 getting and staying lean. So, I'll show
0:21 you the mistakes that are keeping men
0:24 stuck at 20% body fat and above, and
0:26 then what you can do instead to finally
0:28 get lean and maintain it. For many guys,
0:30 it always starts the same. They decide
0:32 to finally get serious. So, they set
0:35 like some extreme goal like losing 10
0:38 kilos or 20 lbs in 6 to 8 weeks. But
0:40 what they don't realize is just how big
0:43 of a deficit that actually requires
0:46 because 1 kilo or 2.2 lb of body fat
0:50 equals 7,700 calories. So to drop 10
0:54 kilos or 22 lbs, that's 77,000 calories
0:58 spread over 6 weeks, which is 42 days.
1:01 That's an 1,800 calorie deficit every
1:03 single day, which simply isn't realistic
1:05 for most people unless you're eating
1:07 next to nothing or you're doing some
1:09 crazy fasting while still somehow
1:12 keeping your daily movement really high.
1:14 Instead, the smarter and far more
1:17 sustainable approach is working on this
1:20 in phases. So you drop the first 10 lbs
1:22 or 5 kilos, which is usually the
1:25 easiest. Then instead of rushing
1:27 straight into the next one to lose more
1:29 and pushing yourself harder, actually
1:32 prove that you can keep that 10 lbs or 5
1:34 kilos off for at least 1 to 2 weeks
1:36 before starting the next phase. If
1:38 you've got work, travel, events, or just
1:41 a stressful patch of life coming up,
1:44 then you might need an extra week or two
1:45 so that you can just maintain things
1:48 before pushing hard again. And that is
1:51 perfectly fine. This is not a race. But
1:54 when you start with unachievable goals
1:56 and then you push even harder, when the
1:58 scale doesn't respond, you eventually
2:01 hit a wall. Then you lose that momentum.
2:04 You feel demotivated and eventually kind
2:06 of give up, which means you're going to
2:08 restart a new diet next year or whenever
2:11 that is just to lose the same fat that
2:14 came back on from the last diet. And if
2:16 you even do manage to lose weight this
2:18 way, the next problem is where
2:20 everything's going to collapse. After
2:21 reaching your fat loss milestone,
2:24 whether it's 30, 40, or 50 lbs, most
2:27 guys think they're done, even if they're
2:30 not as lean as they expected to be. Then
2:32 it's really easy to slip back into the
2:35 old habits instead of locking in your
2:37 results. And because the new weight and
2:39 habits aren't stable yet, you can
2:41 rebound really fast. Suddenly you feel
2:44 like you up and you failed and you can't
2:46 do this and everything just starts to
2:49 crumble, right? Not because you're weak,
2:51 but because the approach had no
2:55 succession, a phase to slowly return up
2:57 to your maintenance solves this. It's
3:00 also called a reverse diet. Gives your
3:02 body a chance to stop the deficit and
3:04 then you gradually adjust to higher
3:06 calories without putting on more body
3:08 fat. But if you're not lean enough when
3:10 you start this, doing this isn't going
3:12 to get you leaner unless you
3:14 significantly ramp up your training and
3:16 your daily calorie burn above the levels
3:18 that you've been at. This is also a good
3:21 time to consider doing a lean bulking
3:23 phase to prioritize muscle growth and
3:26 strength. However, I doubt that you want
3:28 to get fat again. And when men skip this
3:31 succession phase, they almost always
3:34 regain what they had just lost, which
3:36 then forces them to restart another diet
3:38 months and years later, repeating the
3:41 same cycles again and again. But if you
3:43 have actually reached your goal and you
3:45 are as lean as you want to be, then this
3:48 is the perfect time to do this reverse
3:51 diet phase. You simply incrementally
3:53 increase your calories while closely
3:55 monitoring your leanness and your
3:58 strength gains over time. And if you
4:01 start gaining more fat, not just weight,
4:03 then you know, okay, I'm in a surplus
4:05 now. So, you just kind of scale it back
4:06 a little bit. And this can be as simple
4:09 as a 100 calorie increments to, you
4:11 know, testing this for one to two weeks
4:14 at a time and being consistent. This is
4:15 harder than it sounds because most
4:18 people push so hard and so fast at doing
4:21 fat loss, they haven't given their mind
4:23 enough time to drop the old habits and
4:25 the cravings that used to keep them
4:28 stuck. So once the fat loss diet ends,
4:31 then the deprivation drives them to eat
4:32 more than they can handle. And fat
4:34 regain is always easiest right after
4:36 reaching your goal because you've been
4:38 in a deficit for a long time. Your
4:41 metabolism has adapted slightly. But
4:44 it's not just discipline or going slow
4:46 that can keep you stuck in dieting for
4:49 years. I'll explain why. Albert Einstein
4:51 supposedly said insanity is a definition
4:53 of doing the same thing over and over
4:55 and expecting different results. And
4:56 when it comes to dieting, I would have
4:59 to agree. The problem is many people
5:01 start a diet that will never work long
5:04 term, but it will work well in the short
5:07 term. I'm talking about diets like keto,
5:10 carnivore, um, extended fasting, paleo,
5:12 Atkins, raw food, shake diets, whatever
5:14 the trend is for the month. I'm not
5:15 saying all those diets are bad, by the
5:18 way. But for most busy guys, they simply
5:22 do not last. However, they do work for a
5:24 few weeks, maybe a few months. So, the
5:27 assumption becomes the diet works. I
5:30 just wasn't disciplined enough. But if a
5:32 tool has failed you once, twice, maybe
5:34 even three times, then it's the wrong
5:38 tool for the job because it doesn't fit
5:40 your lifestyle or your preferences. So,
5:43 it's easy to get trapped in this loop
5:45 of, you know, you do keto for 2 months,
5:47 you lose a bunch of weight, then you
5:48 fall off the wagon cuz of Christmas
5:50 parties and whatever, you regain some
5:52 fat, and then because it worked the
5:53 first time, worked for that one to two
5:55 months, then you do keto again next
5:57 year, and you just keep repeating the
5:59 same pattern, you know, lose, fall off,
6:02 regain over and over. And busy men with
6:04 travel, business, kids, social
6:06 commitments, all this can't necessarily
6:09 follow rigid structures forever. And the
6:11 more times this cycle repeats, the more
6:13 discouraged you're going to feel, the
6:14 more pressure you're going to pile onto
6:17 yourself to be perfect the next time
6:20 that you do it, which leads directly to
6:22 the next trap that silently destroys
6:24 being consistent without you even
6:26 realizing it. So, if one meeting in your
6:28 day runs late, do you cancel the rest of
6:31 your day, go home, curl up into bed, and
6:38 I hope not. But when it comes to
6:40 dieting, men place extremely high
6:42 standards on themselves. If they eat a
6:44 chocolate, if they have a wine, or they
6:46 grab a handful of chips, they act like
6:49 they've completely ruined everything and
6:52 need to ride off the entire week until
6:54 next Monday. But that is not how fat
6:56 loss works. There is no on andoff
6:58 switch. Whether you eat Twinkies for
7:00 breakfast or a kale salad for dinner
7:02 every day, at any point in time, you're
7:05 in one of three states. You're either
7:07 maintaining the body fat you have,
7:09 you're gaining more body fat, or you're
7:11 reducing body fat. That's it. You don't
7:13 need fresh organic daily produce from
7:15 farmers markets, meals, or hours in the
7:16 kitchen prepping meals like Jamie Oliver.
7:17 Oliver.
7:18 >> Hi guys, welcome to the Ministry of
7:20 Food. I've got a bit of a bonus, but
7:21 it's not hard. It's just over a
7:24 centimeter thick, so it's not wobbling.
7:25 Lovely. And you're going to rub it
7:27 backwards and forwards again and again
7:29 >> just to lose fat. You just need
7:31 consistency. And if that sounds too
7:33 simple, you are over complicating it.
7:35 And if you expect yourself to eat
7:37 cleaner than a bodybuilder who is one
7:39 week out from competition, 8:00 in the
7:42 morning I'll have fish and a rice cake.
7:46 At 10:00 I'll have fish. At 12:00 I'll
7:48 have fish and a rice cake. You're going
7:50 to feel like a failure every time that
7:51 you don't eat like that. And it's this
7:54 perfectionist mindset doesn't just break
7:56 your diet, it sets you up for another
7:59 problem that can instantly drain your
8:01 progress. So most guys stick to their
8:03 plan from Monday to Friday. They feel
8:06 very disciplined and then things start
8:08 to loosen up on Friday night which can
8:10 spill over to Saturday and sometimes
8:12 even Sunday. So it's like this domino
8:14 effect. Being so strict during the week
8:16 makes it easy to fall into the trap of
8:18 thinking that you can splurge a little
8:20 bit on the weekend. But come Monday
8:23 morning, you're heavier than you were on
8:25 Friday and now you feel like [ __ ] And
8:27 if this keeps happening, it simply means
8:30 that you're neutralizing your deficit or
8:32 you're tipping into a slight surplus,
8:33 which means that you're not losing fat
8:35 at all. And despite thinking that you
8:38 were good during the week, this is going
8:39 to keep you stuck, just like it keeps
8:42 many guys stuck at 20 25% body fat uh
8:45 for years by being consistently
8:47 inconsistent. You know, works, dinners,
8:49 birthdays, travel, football nights,
8:51 drinks with the clients, none of these
8:53 are the problem. You can still get lean
8:55 doing this if you eat more on weekends
8:58 as long as your overall weekly deficit
9:01 and your weekly average weight is
9:03 trending down. The problem is not
9:05 knowing how to navigate these higher
9:07 days without wiping out your entire
9:10 week. And what makes this even tougher
9:12 is that these moments trigger another
9:15 pattern that drives more overeating far
9:17 more than people like to admit. You can
9:20 have the perfect plan during the day,
9:23 but if work stress hits at nighttime or
9:25 you're exhausted after a long stressful
9:28 week, suddenly the pantry and the fridge
9:30 become a coping mechanism. And many guys
9:32 don't want to admit that they're
9:35 emotional stress driven eaters. Many do
9:37 as well. It's incredibly common,
9:38 especially for busy dads and
9:40 professionals who are working a lot,
9:43 high stress, and limited downtime. Food
9:45 just gives this quick hit of comfort, a
9:47 break, a reward after a long day. And
9:49 often none of that shows up in the meal
9:52 plan you thought you were following. But
9:54 really, the problem isn't the food. It's
9:56 the unconscious patterns behind it. When
9:58 stress is driving your eating, it
10:01 becomes almost impossible to stay
10:03 consistent. Because the trigger is more
10:06 powerful than your conscious choice. The
10:08 emotional pain overrides your good
10:10 intentions. The solution, though, is not
10:12 to beat yourself up. Don't punish
10:14 yourself. There's clearly some unmet
10:17 emotional needs that need support. And
10:18 typically, these emotional patterns were
10:21 formed decades ago, even in childhood.
10:23 So, stuff like therapy or deep inner
10:26 work can help unwind these. But the real
10:27 issue is that we really want to face
10:30 these root causes of the stress and the
10:32 emotions. But when we do, it's very
10:35 short-term discomfort for long-term
10:38 freedom. And this pattern alone can keep
10:40 you stuck above 20% body fat, even when
10:43 everything else looks good enough. But
10:45 even deeper than stress eating is
10:46 something that most men don't notice
10:48 because it's so familiar. They're so
10:50 close to see it, which I'll explain
10:53 next. Most guys don't realize how good
10:56 they would feel at 12 to 15% body fat,
10:58 better energy, sleep, confidence, better
11:00 blood markers, performance in work, in
11:03 the gym, and just life would be great.
11:04 Everything improves. However, one of the
11:06 biggest reasons men stay stuck is
11:09 because they have normalized being in
11:13 that 20 to 25% body fat. It doesn't feel
11:15 urgent. It doesn't feel extremely bad
11:18 because everyone else around them is the
11:20 same or bigger. It just feels normal.
11:22 But once you experience this leaner
11:25 level, you realize how much your old
11:27 normal was actually holding you back.
11:29 And this mindset alone wastes years.
11:31 Because if you don't believe that
11:32 feeling amazing is available to you,
11:35 then you never can consistently go after
11:37 it. And the truth is staying lean isn't
11:39 just about habits. Because without this
11:41 last thing I'm going to explain, your
11:42 habits will never stick. Some may not
11:44 agree, but I believe if you truly nail
11:46 what I'm about to talk about, you will
11:49 never have an issue with being fat. If
11:52 deep down you still see yourself as
11:55 someone who's trying to lose weight, you
11:58 know, giving it a crack, hoping,
12:01 praying, wishing, and all this, you're
12:02 always going to fall back to the same
12:04 old patterns. But when you start asking,
12:06 "What would the lean version of me do?
12:09 How would he think? How would he feel?"
12:11 Then you can start to develop this new
12:13 identity. Because if you see yourself as
12:15 the guy who can't lose weight and is
12:17 overweight for a whole long list of
12:19 reasons, then all of your feelings and
12:21 your thoughts and your actions are going
12:24 to be based on that over the long term.
12:26 It's like still thinking yourself as the
12:29 guy on a diet instead of the lean man
12:31 who simply eats and trains like a lean
12:33 guy. If you said to me, "Zack, do you
12:34 want a beer?"
12:36 >> Saying no is the easiest thing because I
12:39 don't identify as a drinker anymore.
12:41 It's not what I naturally do, unless
12:43 it's a conscious choice and I want to
12:44 enjoy a drink. This doesn't happen
12:46 overnight, though. And if you've never
12:48 been lean, you might think, well, how
12:50 the hell can I identify as a lean guy
12:52 when I'm overweight? Well, it's like any
12:54 habit. It takes practice again and
12:57 again. Kind of like the ocean crashing
13:00 onto a rock cliff headland. Over time,
13:02 that rock is going to change shape
13:04 because of the repetition of the water.
13:06 And it just so happens that in a way
13:08 where you don't really notice the change
13:12 until you look back 6 to 12 months uh
13:14 later and you're like, "Oh [ __ ] I don't
13:16 even do those things anymore."
13:17 Admittedly, this can be one of the
13:19 hardest things to do. Harder than a
13:20 diet, harder than a tough workout
13:23 program, but it's the only thing that
13:25 locks in the physical changes.
13:28 Otherwise, anyone can drop 30 to 50 lbs,
13:29 get lean, build muscle. But if they
13:31 don't own that identity, it's just going
13:33 to be a temporary character. They're
13:36 playing until the show's over, and then
13:38 they keep repeating the same things year
13:40 after year instead of finally becoming
13:42 that lean guy. And if this is something
13:44 you want onetoone coaching and
13:47 accountability with, my metabolic recall
13:49 method is designed for busy men who want
13:51 to get and stay lean with a busy
13:53 lifestyle. To get more info, tap the
13:54 link in description. You can read more
13:56 about that. Or or if you prefer to go
13:58 this at your own pace, you can get all
14:00 my systems in the business body
14:01 blueprint routine. Link is also in the
14:03 description. After you do that, go watch
14:05 this video next to see what men's body
