How to Drop Lose That Last Bit of Stubborn Fat (5 Tips)
By Adrian| June 25, 2023
Pre-Vacation Hacks to Get Your Body Beach Ready!
The summer months are fast approaching and are nearly upon us.
I coach a lot of working professionals who have holidays booked and they want to get their beach bodies ready!
I think setting a fitness goal and having a target in place is a great way to stay motivated and train.
In this blog post, I’m going to describe how to drop up to 5% bodyfat before your vacation so you can feel more confident in your clothes or at the beach!
Losing Bodyfat vs Losing Weight
Firstly, the title of this blog post is how to drop bodyfat – not how to lose weight.
Losing bodyfat and losing weight are not the same thing.
That’s not to say you won’t lose weight if you lose bodyfat but it’s also not uncommon for some of my clients (particularly guys) to stay around the same weight yet look very, very differently.
So, what’s the difference between weight vs bodyfat?
Your bodyfat percentage is the ratio of muscle: fat your body has while your weight on the scale is literally just showing how heavy you are.
While I think it’s important to track both, I much prefer using your bodyfat percentage as a measure of your progress.
Why?
Your bodyfat tells you how much of me is useless fat I need I need to get rid of and how much of me is useful muscle I need to keep!
Remember, a Kg of muscle and a Kg of fat still weigh the same, they just look very differently.
Lean muscle is much denser and smaller in size than bodyfat.
Now I’m not saying tracking weight isn’t important.
In fact, I don’t understand why some people weigh their food but don’t weigh themselves!
However, if you put all of your self-worth on a single digit on the scales, it can sometimes be demoralising when it doesn’t read pleasingly.
Progress pictures are a non-standardised way of analysing your body composition.
If you wanted something more measurable, you can use tape measurements or a caliper to measure your body composition from home (just be sure you measure the EXACT SAME points each time).
If you wanted to get it done professionally (and more accurately) a dexa-scan would be optimal.
1). Moderate Calorie Deficit:
If you want to drop bodyfat, you need to be in a calorie deficit or in a negative energy balance.
Quite simply:
• If we take in more energy than we use, we gain weight (calorie surplus).
• If we take in less energy than we use, we lose weight (calorie deficit).
• If we take in the same amount of energy than we use, our weight stays the same (maintenance calories).
Energy in is measured by the number of calories we get from foods while energy out can be increased by increasing your activity levels including training, walking & moving more.
The calorie deficit needs to be sustainable – a 10-20% deficit should be more than adequate.
The larger the calorie deficit the more challenging it is going to be to follow.
Have you ever followed a “diet” for 1-2 weeks and then got fed up, ate a cookie at the weekend and turned that into a massive binge?
If this describes you, your previous approach was not sustainable.
Unsustainable methods yield unsustainable results.
Stick to a moderate calorie deficit which you can adhere to.
How do you create a sustainable calorie deficit?
• A simple starting point is to multiply your bodyweight in pounds by 12.
• Decrease/increase calories accordingly based off your activity, progress and hunger levels.
• For example, if you weigh 150lbs x12 = approx. 1,800 calories a day
With my coaching clients, I like to give a calorie range instead of a calorie target.
Why? Experience has taught me that it’s important to have some wiggle room.
In the past, I used to be obsessive over hitting my exact number of calories.
Some days I may not have been hungry or felt like eating but I felt I had to eat anyways to ensure my numbers are right. Sounds a bit rigid, doesn’t it?
Because of this, I have found it’s much better of having a flexible mindset around calories as opposed to a rigid one.
So, I like to give ranges. For example, instead of telling someone they have to eat 2,200 calories, I prefer giving a range of 2,100-2,300.
While tracking your calories is not compulsory, there are benefits to counting calories starting out so you have a better understanding of the number of calories in certain foods.
Over time you will get to a point of nutritional mastery – a term a like to use to describe any of my clients who have an awareness of their overall calorie target but do not need to track them and are still making progress.
However, this did start out with them tracking calories for a period of time before they transitioned away from it.
What can’t be measured, can’t be managed.
Finally - you need to understand that your calories are like a bank account. Every time you eat something you’re making a withdrawal.
The more you eat the more you withdraw until you’ve got nothing left. Not having a negative bank balance come the end of the week is the most important thing.
Some of my clients like to lower calories during the week so they have more flexibility at the weekend.
Others like to keep things pretty consistent every day.
Neither approach is better or worse provided we don’t go over our weekly budget.
2). Progressive Strength Training:
In order to drop bodyfat, my recommendation for you is to commit to a set number of days each week you are 90% confident you can adhere to.
If you’re a 7/10 about getting four sessions in a week, then commit to three if that brings you up to a 9/10 or even a 10/10.
Ideally, four structured strength sessions are a good target to aim for and training each bodypart 2x week.
However, I coach a lot of busy professionals working 40-50 hours a week who train 2-3 times a week and are still seeing results.
Regardless of how many sessions you do, it must fit seamlessly into your lifestyle or you’re not going to be able to follow it.
And speaking of following something, having a plan in place and a routine with specific exercises to you is important.
Going onto YouTube education and trying a Joe Wicks workout or trying out a fancy exercise you saw on Instagram an hour ago is not likely going to yield the same results as having a set plan in place which is structured, progressive and specific to you and your goals.
When I say progressive, I mean each week you’re trying to build on what you did last week.
This might include increasing the weight on the bar, doing some extra reps or sets, decreasing your rest periods or simply improving technique.
Regardless, when you reflect back on each program, you should be able to track if you’ve made progress or not.
Regarding strength training, I feel an often-over-looked way to drop bodyfat is to focus on your performance in the gym.
I always say, when you focus on performance first, the look naturally comes with it.
I feel most people just rely on doing lots and lots of burpees or “HIIT” alone in order to get leaner and tone up.
However, I have found that lifting heavy, including some athletic movements and adding in the a pump and conditioninging yields the best results.
Toning Up = Building Muscle
If you want to drop bodyfat, it’s the same thing as getting in “shape” or “toning up.” So, you have to ask yourself, what gives your body that shape and tone?
No, it is not your bones! They hold your body in place. But to get that shape and tone you desire; you are specifically referring to building muscle.
Muscle is the thing that gives your body that shape and tone in the absence of bodyfat!
I have worked with a lot of clients who previously would have lost a lot of weight in the past yet would still say they were somewhat “skinny fat.”
A lot of the time, it came down to them trying out lots and lots of cardio along with restrictive dieting which essentially led them to become a smaller version of themselves.
Once we changed the focus to strength training consistently and building muscle - not burning it off, they found that “shaped” and “toned” look naturally arrived and as a result, they felt much more comfortable and confident in their clothes.
3). Protein & Fibre Intake:
I always say, when eating in a calorie deficit, you should have two goals in mind:
Maintain as much (if not all) of your muscle mass as possible
Eat as much food as possible while staying within your calorie limit.
This is where the benefits of setting a high protein target comes in.
As I mentioned above, it’s not uncommon for people to lose weight but they just become a smaller version of themselves.
This can be prevented by having adequate protein intake.
So how much protein should you eat? I recommend 1.6 – 2.2g of protein per Kg of bodyweight.
So, if you weigh 70 Kg, this would range from 116g to 154g of protein per day.
Good sources of protein include chicken, turkey, steak, lean beef mince, eggs, tofu, quorn, protein powders and Greek yogurt.
A high protein intake will not only allow you to maintain muscle mass, it will also keep you fuller for longer.
Along with having a high protein diet, another good way to keep hunger at bay is to eat lots of fibre. Fibre rich foods include fruits and veggies.
Fruits and veggies – particularly veggies are what we call high density, low volume foods. What does this mean? They are foods you can eat quite a lot of that don’t contain many calories.
Good examples of high density, low volume foods include spinach, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, blueberries, strawberries and watermelon to name a few.
4). Cardio:
Do you need to do cardio to lose bodyfat without losing muscle? Absolutely not.
Does that mean cardio is a waste of time? Not at all! Adding some extra cardio in on top of your strength training will help you burn some additional calories.
If there is one thing I’ve learned from my past photoshoot, it is that the one universal form of cardio everyone should be doing more of is the most basic one – walking.
Don’t underestimate the power of getting your steps in on a daily basis. I would put a large portion of my progress this year down to walking more.
I aim for 10,000 steps a day. Some days I have to go out of my way to get my steps in. Other days or on weekend hikes, it’s much easier.
An approach which works well for me is going for a 10-minute walk after every meal. Not only does this help me digest my food better, it increases my step count and helps me reach that daily target.
It takes about 10 minutes to get 1,000 steps in. Hitting the 10,000 mark means you’re getting an additional 100 minutes of additional movement in every day.
Other forms of cardio I sprinkle into my routine depending on the time of year include some light HIIT Training, tempo running and circuit training.
But walking more is something I do consistently and my results have been much better since doing so. On top of this, walking is much less taxing than running or doing excessive amounts of HIIT.
Yes, you might burn more calories while running but as a result of this, your appetite can increase exponentially too meaning you may be more likely to over-eat after you go for a run.
Compare this to going for a walk – you’re likely not going to return home starving because it’s not as intense.
5). Consistency:
But do you want to know the most important factor when it comes to dropping bodyfat? Consistency.
Consistency matters above all. It’s all good and well being 10/10 “perfect” for 1-2 weeks, then binging at the weekend and going from a 10/10 to a 0/10 afterwards.
Wouldn’t it be better to aim to consistently be a 7 or 8/10?
And isn’t that kind of how getting healthy and fit goes for most people?
People attempt to cram it all in over a 30-day period with fad diets or “cleanses.” But what about day 31? Do they (or you) fizzle out after that?
Consistency compounds. So, let’s say you struggle to consistently hit the gym. Like you want to go 3-4 times a week but find that you can barely make two.
Don’t berate yourself for being a failure and eventually say, “F*ck it! If I can’t make it three times, why even go at all?”
If your car was out of fuel, you wouldn’t say “I don’t have €50 to fill it, so I’m not going to put any in at all.”
You would take out your €10 or €20 and settle with that for the time being. Is the tank full? No.
But is it better than staying put and not moving at all? Of course!
Exercising and eating well is the same. Training 3-4x per week or eating 3-4 meals high in protein and fibre is optimal but 2 sessions or 2 “healthy” meals are still better none at all.
When it comes to your fitness, almost always doing something is better than doing nothing.
The Takeaways:
1. Losing weight and losing bodyfat are two different things.
2. Bodyfat percentage is the ratio of muscle: fat your body has.
3. To drop bodyfat, ensure you are in a sustainable calorie deficit of about 10-20%.
4. It’s a good idea to have some form of measurement of your food intake.
5. Strength training 3-4x is optimal when it comes to dropping bodyfat.
6. Eating a high protein and fibre diet is a good way to keep hunger at bay and maintain lean muscle mass.
7. Walking more is fantastic for fat loss.
8. Being consistent with your training and nutrition is better than being “perfect” for a week or two.
The Takeaway
- Strength train consistently – pick a number of days you are 90% confident of adhering to.
- Focus on performing better and in turn you will start to look better.
- Walk more!
- The best “diet” needs to include foods you enjoy and be sustainable.
- Don’t fall for the test of success when you do encounter a win.
Thank you for reading – I hope you learned something new and got some value from this.
If you did get value from it, please pay the fee. What's the fee?
If you find this content valuable (maybe you learned something new or are going to implement a new practice) then please share my blog post with a friend or on your social stories and tag me on Instagram (@McLifestyleFitness).
For such a small act that doesn't cost anything, it really helps me reach more people and spread the word on how to optimise your health and fitness.
I don’t run ads towards my blog posts, everything I’ve done to date has been done organically from people like you reading spreading the good word. I’d appreciate your continued support.
4). Not Falling for the Test of Success
While the above three relate specifically to training and nutrition, this final topic related to mindset. In the past, I’ve fallen victim to the test of success. What’s the test of success?
You know that feeling of accomplishment you get when you put a few “good days” back to back? For instance, Monday - Friday you’ve been eating really healthily and so you feel like rewarding yourself at the weekend? Or that sense of achievement you feel when you weigh yourself and see the scale move down and you now look forward to treating yourself.
I love those feelings too - everyone loves to win. But a mistake I made in the past was to let these wins give me a false sense of security. I justified these wins to allow myself to go binge-eating at the weekend and reverting back to my old habits. I would eat portions of food way bigger than normal. This all came off the back of getting a false sense of security from encountering a small win.
I let the test of success get to me - that temptation to “take the foot off the gas” when you experience a win instead of striving for better. It’s a fine line. So, while I’m not saying you shouldn’t take time to celebrate the wins, I am saying it’s important not to let complacency kick in when you do win. Not to allow yourself to lose your momentum and revert back to old habits.
I have lost weight before and rebounded so I know what it feels like. However, this year, I managed to lose weight and keep it off forever by focusing on the fundamentals and handling the test of success. So when you experience a win, when you start making progress, are you going to become comfortable and coast? Or are you going to continue to do the fundamentals that led to your success in the first place? This has been one of the biggest changes I’ve made this year – in my mindset.
Remember, losing weight is one skill to master, but creating a lifestyle change where you can learn how to sustain it and keep it is another skill entirely in itself. Being aware of the test of success and following the fundamentals is the final (and perhaps most important) way to stay lean year round.
The Takeaway
- Strength train consistently – pick a number of days you are 90% confident of adhering to.
- Focus on performing better and in turn you will start to look better.
- Walk more!
- The best “diet” needs to include foods you enjoy and be sustainable.
- Don’t fall for the test of success when you do encounter a win.
Thank you for reading – I hope you learned something new and got some value from this.
If you did get value from it, please pay the fee. What's the fee?
If you find this content valuable (maybe you learned something new or are going to implement a new practice) then please share my blog post with a friend or on your social stories and tag me on Instagram (@McLifestyleFitness).
For such a small act that doesn't cost anything, it really helps me reach more people and spread the word on how to optimise your health and fitness.
I don’t run ads towards my blog posts, everything I’ve done to date has been done organically from people like you reading spreading the good word. I’d appreciate your continued support.
4). Not Falling for the Test of Success
While the above three relate specifically to training and nutrition, this final topic related to mindset. In the past, I’ve fallen victim to the test of success. What’s the test of success?
You know that feeling of accomplishment you get when you put a few “good days” back to back? For instance, Monday - Friday you’ve been eating really healthily and so you feel like rewarding yourself at the weekend? Or that sense of achievement you feel when you weigh yourself and see the scale move down and you now look forward to treating yourself.
I love those feelings too - everyone loves to win. But a mistake I made in the past was to let these wins give me a false sense of security. I justified these wins to allow myself to go binge-eating at the weekend and reverting back to my old habits. I would eat portions of food way bigger than normal. This all came off the back of getting a false sense of security from encountering a small win.
I let the test of success get to me - that temptation to “take the foot off the gas” when you experience a win instead of striving for better. It’s a fine line. So, while I’m not saying you shouldn’t take time to celebrate the wins, I am saying it’s important not to let complacency kick in when you do win. Not to allow yourself to lose your momentum and revert back to old habits.
I have lost weight before and rebounded so I know what it feels like. However, this year, I managed to lose weight and keep it off forever by focusing on the fundamentals and handling the test of success. So when you experience a win, when you start making progress, are you going to become comfortable and coast? Or are you going to continue to do the fundamentals that led to your success in the first place? This has been one of the biggest changes I’ve made this year – in my mindset.
Remember, losing weight is one skill to master, but creating a lifestyle change where you can learn how to sustain it and keep it is another skill entirely in itself. Being aware of the test of success and following the fundamentals is the final (and perhaps most important) way to stay lean year round.
The Takeaway
- Strength train consistently – pick a number of days you are 90% confident of adhering to.
- Focus on performing better and in turn you will start to look better.
- Walk more!
- The best “diet” needs to include foods you enjoy and be sustainable.
- Don’t fall for the test of success when you do encounter a win.
Thank you for reading – I hope you learned something new and got some value from this.
If you did get value from it, please pay the fee. What's the fee?
If you find this content valuable (maybe you learned something new or are going to implement a new practice) then please share my blog post with a friend or on your social stories and tag me on Instagram (@McLifestyleFitness).
For such a small act that doesn't cost anything, it really helps me reach more people and spread the word on how to optimise your health and fitness.
I don’t run ads towards my blog posts, everything I’ve done to date has been done organically from people like you reading spreading the good word. I’d appreciate your continued support.
4). Not Falling for the Test of Success
While the above three relate specifically to training and nutrition, this final topic related to mindset. In the past, I’ve fallen victim to the test of success. What’s the test of success?
You know that feeling of accomplishment you get when you put a few “good days” back to back? For instance, Monday - Friday you’ve been eating really healthily and so you feel like rewarding yourself at the weekend? Or that sense of achievement you feel when you weigh yourself and see the scale move down and you now look forward to treating yourself.
I love those feelings too - everyone loves to win. But a mistake I made in the past was to let these wins give me a false sense of security. I justified these wins to allow myself to go binge-eating at the weekend and reverting back to my old habits. I would eat portions of food way bigger than normal. This all came off the back of getting a false sense of security from encountering a small win.
I let the test of success get to me - that temptation to “take the foot off the gas” when you experience a win instead of striving for better. It’s a fine line. So, while I’m not saying you shouldn’t take time to celebrate the wins, I am saying it’s important not to let complacency kick in when you do win. Not to allow yourself to lose your momentum and revert back to old habits.
I have lost weight before and rebounded so I know what it feels like. However, this year, I managed to lose weight and keep it off forever by focusing on the fundamentals and handling the test of success. So when you experience a win, when you start making progress, are you going to become comfortable and coast? Or are you going to continue to do the fundamentals that led to your success in the first place? This has been one of the biggest changes I’ve made this year – in my mindset.
Remember, losing weight is one skill to master, but creating a lifestyle change where you can learn how to sustain it and keep it is another skill entirely in itself. Being aware of the test of success and following the fundamentals is the final (and perhaps most important) way to stay lean year round.
The Takeaway
- Strength train consistently – pick a number of days you are 90% confident of adhering to.
- Focus on performing better and in turn you will start to look better.
- Walk more!
- The best “diet” needs to include foods you enjoy and be sustainable.
- Don’t fall for the test of success when you do encounter a win.
Thank you for reading – I hope you learned something new and got some value from this.
If you did get value from it, please pay the fee. What's the fee?
If you find this content valuable (maybe you learned something new or are going to implement a new practice) then please share my blog post with a friend or on your social stories and tag me on Instagram (@McLifestyleFitness).
For such a small act that doesn't cost anything, it really helps me reach more people and spread the word on how to optimise your health and fitness.
I don’t run ads towards my blog posts, everything I’ve done to date has been done organically from people like you reading spreading the good word. I’d appreciate your continued support.
4). Not Falling for the Test of Success
While the above three relate specifically to training and nutrition, this final topic related to mindset. In the past, I’ve fallen victim to the test of success. What’s the test of success?
You know that feeling of accomplishment you get when you put a few “good days” back to back? For instance, Monday - Friday you’ve been eating really healthily and so you feel like rewarding yourself at the weekend? Or that sense of achievement you feel when you weigh yourself and see the scale move down and you now look forward to treating yourself.
I love those feelings too - everyone loves to win. But a mistake I made in the past was to let these wins give me a false sense of security. I justified these wins to allow myself to go binge-eating at the weekend and reverting back to my old habits. I would eat portions of food way bigger than normal. This all came off the back of getting a false sense of security from encountering a small win.
I let the test of success get to me - that temptation to “take the foot off the gas” when you experience a win instead of striving for better. It’s a fine line. So, while I’m not saying you shouldn’t take time to celebrate the wins, I am saying it’s important not to let complacency kick in when you do win. Not to allow yourself to lose your momentum and revert back to old habits.
I have lost weight before and rebounded so I know what it feels like. However, this year, I managed to lose weight and keep it off forever by focusing on the fundamentals and handling the test of success. So when you experience a win, when you start making progress, are you going to become comfortable and coast? Or are you going to continue to do the fundamentals that led to your success in the first place? This has been one of the biggest changes I’ve made this year – in my mindset.
Remember, losing weight is one skill to master, but creating a lifestyle change where you can learn how to sustain it and keep it is another skill entirely in itself. Being aware of the test of success and following the fundamentals is the final (and perhaps most important) way to stay lean year round.
The Takeaway
- Strength train consistently – pick a number of days you are 90% confident of adhering to.
- Focus on performing better and in turn you will start to look better.
- Walk more!
- The best “diet” needs to include foods you enjoy and be sustainable.
- Don’t fall for the test of success when you do encounter a win.
Thank you for reading – I hope you learned something new and got some value from this.
If you did get value from it, please pay the fee. What's the fee?
If you find this content valuable (maybe you learned something new or are going to implement a new practice) then please share my blog post with a friend or on your social stories and tag me on Instagram (@McLifestyleFitness).
For such a small act that doesn't cost anything, it really helps me reach more people and spread the word on how to optimise your health and fitness.
I don’t run ads towards my blog posts, everything I’ve done to date has been done organically from people like you reading spreading the good word. I’d appreciate your continued support.
Free 3-Day Total Body Training Program:
Depending on your goal, I have some free resources which might be of benefit to you.
If you’d like a copy of my free, 3-day Total Body Transformation Program click HERE! (Enjoy the core finisher!).
If you’d like a copy of my Free Living Lean Cookbook to prove to you that it’s possible to eat foods you enjoy and get results, click HERE.
(Try out some EPIC protein pancakes!).
And if you’d like access to my Free 7 Day Fat Loss Accelerator (which has helped some members drop up to 7lbs inside 7 days),
click HERE and it will be sent straight to your email.
I hope these free resources help you!
1:1 Online Coaching Application
IIf you’d like a coach to help get you out of a routine that isn’t currently working for you and into one that will , then book your
free consultation call today to see if you’d be a good fit for my Online Coaching.
This is where having the structure and accountability of a coach comes in.
I’ll help you get the results you’ve always desired and
make your journey much easier and quicker than doing it on your own.
You’re just one click away of becoming a success story.
About Adrian McDonnell & McLifestyle Fitness:
IAdrian McDonnell is a highly specialised Personal Trainer & Online Fitness Coach from outside of Tuam, Co.Galway, Ireland.
Previously a primary school teacher for almost 5 years, Adrian followed his passion and pursued a career in fitness after seeing first hands the results he could achieve with himself.
Although Adrian is a Personal Trainer & now Full-Time Online Transformation Fitness Coach from outside of Tuam, Co.Galway – he not only coaches clients locally, but also nationally and internationally.
Adrian specialises in helping working professionals:
- Be confident in themselves·
- Feel more comfortable in their clothes·
- Look better in the mirror·
- Increase their energy and go for more promotions at work·
- Get fitter, leaner & stronger without following rigid meal plans·
- Go on more dates (this is a common one)·
- And feel proud of themselves for doing something they never thought was possible!
To date he has helped Transform over 500 Clients into fitter, more toned & confident individuals.
Transforming people’s lives through proper fitness, sustainable & enjoyable nutrition practices & mindset mentoring is something Adrian is truly passionate about and this is his mission in life.
Want to find out more? Contact me today & I’ll answer any questions you have.
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