Fat Loss Diet Plan For Beginners

Today, I’m gonna show you a 5-step fat loss diet plan for beginners if your goal is to lose weight, build muscle, improve your health, have quality of life and longevity, or all of the above.

They’re super easy things you can incorporate into your life. And it will yield immediate and noticeable results. Starting today. 

These fat loss hacks aren’t just for beginners. Literally anyone, no matter where you are in your journey will benefits from this. Because sometimes we need a little reminding. 

Fat Loss Diet Plan For Beginners (Step-By-Step)

1. Move your body

I was a full time athlete for years and I trained with some of the best weightlifters in Canada. I own a few records myself and I’m telling you. If there was something I wish I would’ve started sooner that would’ve made a huge difference was just moving my body more outside of training. 

And one of the best and easiest ways to do that is by simply going for a walk. And your goal ideally is to get 10,000 steps every day. Because it’s a big enough goal that it forces you to move your body throughout the day.

It sounds so simple. I know. But this was something I neglected for a long time. I had, and most people do this, the infamous active couch potato syndrome. Where I would workout for an hour, and you don’t even actually actually workout for the entire hour. Then I would avoid anything and everything that involved me physically exerting myself.

I was basically still living a sedentary lifestyle for the rest of the day. I mean obviously that’s better than being completely sedentary. But it’s still not optimal. 

The benefits of walking

We evolved as human beings to move. Otherwise, you’d be a tree. You’d be rooted to the ground. Our Paleolithic ancestors regularly walked 5 miles every day and they also ate a whole foods diet. They didn’t have fast-food or diet soda back then. And they also didn’t suffer from modern western diseases like obesity, cancer, Diabetes, or cardiovascular disease.

And walking has so many benefits. It strengthens your heart, it eases joint pain, it boosts immune function, it improves your mood, it helps lower stress, it strengthens your bones and muscles, it also almost keeps you below your maximum aerobic heart rate where you’re mostly burning fatty acids for energy. If you’re trying to lose fat, that’s exactly what you want.

Walking regularly, and you have to do this when you’re younger obviously, reduces your risk of getting Dementia by 40%.

Walking after a meal also lowers the blood glucose response by your body by 50%. And the faster you can regulate your blood glucose, the faster your body can start burning fat again.

And I recently read some pretty revealing stats out there about the 1 mile test and how that translates to longevity. The gold standard is the 1 mile run. It’s 8 minutes for men and 10 minutes for women. If you can do that, you’re good. That means you’re in good health and if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’re gonna live a long and healthy life. 

But one thing stood out to me is the minimum. If you can’t walk a mile without stopping because you’re out of breath. You have something like a 60% chance of dying in the next 5 years from one of the 4 major killers in North America which is Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Dementia. 

All the stats are from the book Keto For Life by the way by one of my favourite authors, Mark Sisson. He’s 66 years old and he looks like that. Talk about practicing what you preach.

Again, I have some street cred when I say this. Your workout doesn’t have to be confined within the 4 walls of your gym. Especially if your goals is to lose weight, have a flat stomach, maybe even see your abs, build some muscle so you can have that tight and toned look, fit better into your clothes. 

If your goal falls somewhere along those lines, you don’t need to go to the gym 5, 6, 7 days a week. It’s too much. That’s actually overkill and could even potentially start working against you. Because that’s when you get into overtraining and one of the side effects of over training is chronically elevated cortisol levels which leads to massive sugar cravings among other things. And we’ll talk about that more in a second here.

That’s why I don’t even recommend signing up for a gym membership right away. You’re better off going for a walk and doing bodyweight workout for starters. And if you want to go to the gym, do a HIIT workout 2-3 times per week that lasts anywhere between 10-30 minutes. That’s it. That’s the minimum effective dose of fitness. And I’m gonna link to my….

Save your money and spend it on something else that gets you a better ROI. And that’s coming up.

Just remember this. Exercise is all about movement, not about counting calories.

2. Eat your veggies

There’s a lot of debate on what the best diet is and you should check out this video on what I think is the best diet for weight loss and the science behind it.

But virtually almost every diet will agree with this one thing. Whether you’re doing Paleo, Keto, Zone, IIFYM, and I’m even gonna agree with vegans and vegetarians on this. Eat your vegetables.

Unless you’re on the carnivore diet. And I’m a big fan of the Carnivore diet. It’s the ultimate keto/low carb diet/elimination diet. It’s unbelievably effective especially when it comes to reversing auto immune diseases. Look up any of the big names in the Carnivore diet space, my favourites are Paul Saladino and Shawn Baker, and they’re both absolutely shredded.

But I don’t have an autoimmune disease which can be triggered by the way by certain vegetables. So I eat my veggies. And I eat a lot of them. My favourites are broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, avocado, and a little bit of sweet potatoes. So those are all mostly cruciferous vegetables which are very low carb and high in fiber. And that’s great for weight loss. Ideally you want to avoid starchy vegetables like peas, corn, and potatoes.

And feel free to experiment with different types of vegetables. Especially the weird ones. I tried kohlrabi pasta for the first time the other day and it blew my mind. It’s low in carbs, high in fibre, and it was tasteless so it was perfect for pasta.nI kinda just sautéed it with some pesto and it was unreal.

The quality of your food matters

Okay here’s a tip within a tip. I mentioned the money thing earlier and it’s gonna be different for everyone. But if you can, buy the highest quality food money can buy. So when it comes to vegetables, try to buy organic if you can.

I’ll give you a tip next you shop. If it comes in a hard shell like avocado for example, you can just buy the non organic kind.

But if its exposed to roundup pesticides like cauliflower for example, then try to buy organic. I know it’s a couple of bucks more but think of it as an investment. And your health is absolutely worth it.

But again, there are levels to this. The higher you get, the better. I wasn’t able to do this when I was just starting out. But now that I’ve made the necessary adjustment in my life, I’m able to invest a little bit more money when it comes to the quality of my food.

You should check out this video if you want to know more on how to eat healthy on a budget.

3. Skip a meal

If you’ve been following my channel, then you should be familiar with this topic. I have tons of videos all about this way of eating but let me just simplify this for you.

This is literally one of the best hacks when it comes to health and weight loss. And it’s free.

And this is one of my all time favourite questions to ask. What do you think will happen if you don’t eat? What do you think will happen if you skipped a meal?  You’re probably, most likely, definitely, going to lose weight. A lot of weight.

This is more commonly known as intermittent fasting. The problem is, there is nothing sexy about it. You can’t sell in the form of powder or a pill. In fact, companies will lose money on this because you’re not consuming anything.

And we’ve gone so far on the other side when it comes to the concept of taking a break from eating that it’s now considered taboo. Like, if you tell the average person that you’re fasting. Nine times out of ten, they’ll tell you that you’re harming yourself and you’re somehow causing irreparable damage to your body. Non sense. In fact, you’re healing your body when you fast. Look it up.

Meal timing matters

There is a world of difference in your physiology when you eat 6 small meals a day which is the conventional diet advice out there versus eating all your food within a 6 hour eating window for example.

The former basically puts you in fat storage mode all day. Your body never gets a chance to burn fat for energy. I mean, why would it? You keep supplying it with energy from food. And the key player here is the hormone insulin. Basically, every time you eat. Your insulin goes up. And high insulin blocks fat burning. So if you have high insulin levels all day, you can’t burn fat. It gets locked away.

While the latter, eating in a 6 hour eating window, is a great way to moderate your insulin levels. And if your insulin levels are moderated, that’s when your body is able to tap into your almost unlimited fat stores for energy during those 18 hours when you’re not eating. This is how fat loss works. 

And you, my friend, have at least 100,000 calories of stored energy waiting to be used in your butt, thighs, and belly. That’s how I want you to look at this when you skip breakfast for example. And that’s honestly the easiest way to get started with intermittent fasting.

All you need to remember is this. It’s not about eating less but less frequently.

4. Schedule cheat meals

This can trip up a lot of people if you don’t do this the right way. And I was one of them. Every time I had “bad food”, I would feel really bad. And that has the potential to start this vicious cycle where you feel bad. So you might as well write off the entire day and see how far you can take it. 

Where as, if you plan for it. If you’re intentional about it. Then you’re fine. Even if it was unplanned. You’re still fine. It’s just a small bump on the road. Just move one. The danger lies when you have a cheat meal and you think you’ve just ruined everything. You didn’t. One bad meal won’t make you fat. Just like one good meal won’t magically make you skinny.

And just remember that you’re one good meal away from being back on track. Just chill.

And some experts out there want you to swear off treats completely. And they’re not wrong. 

But I don’t know, man. To me, life is all about being able to share special moments with your loved ones. And we usually celebrate around food. That’s why I’m a big fan of an optional cheat meal every week. 

Is this process gonna be a little bit slower when it comes to getting results? Maybe. But I’m willing to take that hit. Because the results are gonna be so much more permanent because you don’t feel deprived.

Because they more you tell someone they can’t have something, the more they want it. Human beings are flawed like that.

You should check out this video if you want to know my super awesome method on how to keep losing weight after a cheat meal. 

5. Make supportive lifestyle choices 

1. Alcohol

This is a big one. I have yet to see a randomized controlled clinical trial study that shows that alcohol is good for you. It’s just not. You are literally poisoning your body just enough when you drink. That’s why you get the buzz. Now, I’m not saying you should never drink. Like if you can count the amount of times in your hands when you got drunk in one year, you’re fine. 

But if this is something that happens Friday, Saturday night, then you go for brunch Mimosas on Sunday. You’re gonna need to re-asses your life decisions if you want to stay healthy. Otherwise, you will run a very high risk of developing non alcoholic fatty liver disease among other things. 

Pro tip. Stick to hard liquor like tequila and vodka soda if you’re gonna drink and don’t eat while you drink. Avoid sugary drinks and beer. They don’t call it a beer belly for no reason.

2. Sleep

Let me make this short and sweet. If you don’t get enough sleep, none of this is going to work. There is overwhelming evidence that lack of sleep translates to poor health. As I learn more about this, quality is actually way more important than quantity here. 

You goal is to get rid of as much junk light and get 7 hours of quality sleep in a pitch black room every night. 

3. Stress

Stress is another major killer. Acute short term stress isn’t a bad thing. Exercise is a form of acute stress for example. It’s the good kind of stress. It’s the what doesn’t kill you make you stronger type of stress.

Chronic stress is what you need to manage because that’s where it becomes an issue. It’s when it doesn’t go away. You’re stressed 24/7. Whether it’s stress from work every day. Then you go home and you’re in an unhappy relationship. Maybe you’re dealing with some financial problems. Or a combination of all those things.

Here’s a solution. If you hate your job, quit. Unhappy with your relationship? Break up with that person. If your friends make you feel bad, you need new friends. Weather sucks where you live? Move. 

If the price of something takes away from your happiness, it’s too big of a price to pay. It’s never worth it. Why? Because your mental and physical health will start to suffer and that’s when people get sick. Like that’s how some people get cancer. From stress. 

That’s why I’ve been talking a lot lately about the importance of practicing mindfulness and gratitude because it’s one of the best ways to manage your stress. And it’s free. There are no downsides. Only benefits. You just need to carve out a little space for yourself. 

Wrapping it all up here. Like I said earlier, there are levels to this. The higher you can get, the better. Aim for the 90/10 rule. 90% of the time, follow everything to a tee. The other 10%? Live your best life. Eat ice cream for breakfast. Rinse and then repeat.

As always, if this was helpful, share it with a friend who could benefit from it as well!

Need More Help?

Use this simple 4-step process to melt ALL the fat around your stomach and look good shirtless WITHOUT going on a crazy diet or wasting hours at the gym. Get the Lean Body Blueprint here for free!