0:00
Hello and welcome to today's podcast episode and in today's podcast episode I'm going to discuss whether or not you're making fat loss more complicated than it needs
to be
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Because many people are, potentially yourself included.
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I see this all the time with the you know abundance of conversations that I have, whether it's in person, um, on social media, threads, Instagram
0:18
Introduction: Why Smart People Struggle With Fat Loss
0:27
And there there's definitely a lot I can say about this because, you know, of course it is going to depend on like a specific
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Person basis like the answer will vary from person to person.
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I would say generally a lot of people are
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overcomplicating it or overthinking it and they just don't know what to focus on or what to do and they get um like shiny object syndrome with like the next
0:52
I don't know what to call it, like um promise, unnecessary supplement
1:00
It that's talked up to them just like completely catches their attention and then you know they start focusing on the wrong thing again.
1:06
So yeah, there's a lot of uh things that I can say about about this topic because I just do think it needs to be discussed.
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So
1:12
Yeah, otherwise I've got ten questions in front of me today, along the theme of are you making fat loss more complicated than it needs to be, with the first question being
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How Do I Know If I'm Overthinking Fat Loss?
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How do I know if I am overthinking of fat loss?
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And I do think this is a good question, although it is quite broad as well.
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But I would say chances are you're overthinking fat loss if
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Let's put it like this, like you're wondering, should I do this type of workout split or that type of workout split?
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Should I eat this type of food or that type of food?
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Shall I um do X situation or Y scenario or Z exercise or N child like whatever it might be?
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Meanwhile you're doing nothing
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If that's all of the like your if your mind is all over the place, you're not sure what to focus on, but meanwhile you ain't doing a thing, you're overthinking it.
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You need to get started.
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And that's like the most, I would say abundantly clear way, you're a likely overthinking fat loss.
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Now of course, you know, there are scenarios where yeah, okay, chances are you genuinely don't know what to focus on and you need reassurances.
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um on what to focus on so then you can know what to be consistent with but at the end of the day you know I I I feel I still feel like there's just so much information out there
nowadays like you can Google it you can chat GPT it
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Like there's just so many things you can do.
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Um so I I just personally don't think that someone can be so stuck and unsure that they genu with everything that they genuinely don't do a single thing.
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Like like I said, most people don't
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Know completely what to focus on, but I'm sure you just know you need to walk more.
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I'm sure you know you need to eat more protein.
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I'm sure you know you need to get your ass in the gym at least.
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You know, those are very simple, straightforward things.
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Those are that's that's what you can start with.
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Uh question number two, how no
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Do I Need To Track Calories Forever?
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Question number two, do I need to track calories forever?
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Uh no, I wouldn't say you need to track calories forever.
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You definitely don't.
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I feel like I've discussed this a few times on the podcast episode now
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uh on the podcast I mean um you you don't need to track calories forever.
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I think calories can calorie tracking can be amazing.
3:23
It has a time and place 100%
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Um, I think it can be very eye-opening for someone who has either historically never done it or not really done it or has done it but they were very inconsistent with
doing it, which I would still argue then you didn't really do it, did you?
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Um
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I think it has an amazing time in place for those types of people.
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And more, there are other scenarios where I would say it's very good
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Um but do you need to track calories forever?
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No.
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Like that would be tedious, right?
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Like just for the rest of your life every single day.
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No, you don't need to track it forever.
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There does come a point where you've gained so much experience from calorie tracking that you just don't need to keep doing it, especially depending on what your goal
is.
4:02
For example, I tracked calories not 100% of the time, but I would say very consistently for like seven or eight years, which is wild for to for me to think about.
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That now I am I still do it but I'm much more sporadic with it.
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Like I will go five months without tracking at all nowadays and then I'll get back to tracking like two or three months
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And I'm I'm back to tracking right now, again, not 100% of the time, but I would say like five days a week.
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Because again, I've just amassed so much experience, but the reason why I'm back to calorie tracking again is because
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I'm now on like a minicart kind of thing.
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Um and when you are like going through a minicot or fat loss journey like I do think that extra
4:41
level of uh of precision is important and that's when I think okay yeah we'll reintroduce calorie tracking um so the answer is no you don't need to do it forever um
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Because you're going to amass just experience from doing it for at least a select period of time, assuming you do it consistently.
5:00
And that should be enough eventually, assuming you do it for at least let's say 30-50 days.
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Maybe much, much longer, depending on if you want to keep going with it.
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That you'll just have a really good idea as to what you're eating.
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Um saying that as well, like you can just go through phases in life where you do it consistently for a while and then when you don't.
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Um
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So there's different ways to approach it as well.
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How Often Should I Change My Workout Programme?
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Question number three, how often should I change my workout program?
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Um it's qu this is quite a broad question.
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Like there's I wouldn't say there's like one specific right answer to this.
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Like I'm not just gonna be like 10 weeks, okay, next
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Like, it's going to depend on quite a few things.
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Um Are you bored of your workout pro program?
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Maybe do you did you have a do you have an injury?
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Do you have a specific goal?
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How long have you been doing your current one for?
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I do think I see the mistake of some people switching up workout programs way too often to the point they're not making any progress because again, progress in the gym
comes on the back of progressively overloading
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If you never progressive overload, how are you going to make progress?
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You can't progress, um, you can't progressively overload if you're changing your workout plan every one to two weeks, for example.
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Now, on the other hand, I also see some people just do the same workout plan for years.
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I would say that's more rare than the first scenario that I gave, but it still happens as well.
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Where I just think, mate, if you did a new workout split, you would see
6:23
wild amounts of gains because you have just been doing so so the same thing for so long that your body would react tremendously to a new type of stimulus
6:32
Um so again, it can go both ways if I was to give a rough guideline.
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I would say most people would probably do well
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um changing it up again maybe anywhere between like weeks seven, eight, nine, ten.
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Maybe like weeks six to twelve.
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Anywhere among day you're kind of laughing.
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I do think six weeks six weeks is a bit on the faster side.
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Ideally I would say about weeks eight to twelve.
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I think that's much better.
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Um and I would say that's like a rough guideline, it's not a hard rule.
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Because of the reasons I mentioned.
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Am I Wasting Time If I'm Not Doing The Perfect Workout Split?
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Question number four.
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Am I wasting time if I'm not doing the perfect workout split?
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I think this question kind of goes back to what I was saying
7:15
at the beginning for the first question where it's like if you think like you're wasting time not doing the quote unquote perfect workout split that's the sign of you
overthinking it.
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Like you need to just get in the gym, pick a workout split.
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It doesn't have to be perfect.
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You just need to get in there and then follow what I would say are more important training principles
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um training closely to failure, having good form, progressively overloading.
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This isn't to say that this your split isn't important at all.
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Like I have met people like
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Doing splits I'm just like what is that?
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Like it'll be like arms five days a week for example um and no legs
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So it's like, okay, yeah, it's not me, it does this doesn't mean just do anything, but like just like pick a full body plan, a push-pull legs, an upper lower split, you
know, something that works, that's you can be consistent with that you know covers your whole body and you're good
8:10
Do I Need Supplements To Get Lean?
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Question number five.
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Do I need supplements to get lean?
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Uh no.
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Chances are you are like
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In that category where you don't need supplements to get lean.
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I would say the type of person that needs supplements to get lean falls into a very small percentage of people, like 0.
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5% of people
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Because the fact is that most people just aren't doing the or focusing on the bigger rocks that they need to focus on for getting leaner.
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For example
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Like most people who ask this question of do I need supplements to get lean, they're not in a calorie deficit.
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Or if they are some days, they're not in it most of the time.
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Or not in it enough to see progress.
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They're not eating high protein.
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They're not consistent at the gym.
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Um
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You know, they're not hitting their step bog.
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They're not consistent in general.
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Like there's a lot of things where I'm like, I bet you that the type of person that asks this question is the type of person who I'm just like
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You actually have like five, six, seven, eight other things that you're going to do well to focus on before you even think about supplements.
9:14
Now, the only time I would say the type of person that could
9:18
use a supplement to start getting lean.
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This was me back in like 2018-2019.
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It's like where you have every single bit of your routine completely optimized
9:29
Like it's already on point and you are relentlessly consistent with it.
9:34
You are relentlessly consistent with your calories, your protein, your steps, your workouts, your progressive overload, your strength gains, like you name it,
you're consistent with it.
9:43
That's the type of person where it's like, okay, a supplement will potentially make a difference because at the end of the day, supplements only make like a 1 to 2%
difference anyway
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Um and that one to two percent isn't going to mean anything if like what's going to make up the 95% of results aren't being thought about.
9:59
But again, if you are focusing on the thing that does provide like 95% of results, then yeah.
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Feel free to start using supplements.
10:06
That could definitely help.
10:08
Question number six.
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Should I Wait Until Life Calms Down Before Focusing On Fat Loss?
10:10
Should I wait until life calms down before focusing on fat loss?
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Um
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I'm trying to think how to phrase this because I feel I hear this a lot and I'm gonna be honest, what I'm about to say is going to come from a place of love.
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This is typically a cop-out
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Now, I'm not denying that your life isn't busy.
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I understand it is.
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But we're adults.
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Life is always going to be busy.
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There's always going to be something
10:38
that pops up.
10:39
There's always going to be something new that's going to take your attention.
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It's going to require your attention.
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You know, you're going to, you know, it's going to keep you busy.
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With this type of thought process, you're just never going to end up in the gym consistently for at least a while.
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For it long enough for it to matter and get your results.
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You need to start going and being consistent with fat loss, with working out, etc.
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while life is busy because when life calms down
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That means you're going to have an effortless time sticking with it.
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Because if you only wait for life to be not busy for you to focus on your health and your fitness
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Then every time life inevitably gets busy again, it means you're just going to stop.
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And let's face it, as adults, most of our life is spent being busy.
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That means that the best time for you to start working out
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I was gonna say working out like how to figure out this health and fitness thing, but I could say working out as well.
11:37
Is while you're busy, because that's when it matters.
11:39
That's when that's when you need to start getting good at it.
11:42
Because like I said, if you can master your health and fit
11:45
When you are fucking busy when life calms down, which is going to be a minor a minority of the time, you're going to have a much easier time approaching it
11:56
So it's better you approach it actually, no, let's do this while I'm busy so I can get good at it when so I can find it effortless when I'm not, rather than let me wait for me
to not be busy
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Which is hardly going to be most which is hardly ever happening, so that when I get busy again I'm just gonna stop again.
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Like it's uh it's like a f it's a backwards thought process to think, okay, let me wait for life to calm down before I focus on fat loss again
12:18
Life isn't going to be calm.
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You're an adult.
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We've all got stresses and responsibilities.
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Yes, some people have much more than others, but ultimately most of your life is going to be spent being relatively busy.
12:30
Um
12:31
Just do what you need to do now.
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Figure out how to make it work in your existing routine.
12:37
Again, that all came from a place of love.
12:39
I'm not getting at you.
12:40
Question number seven.
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How Many Metrics Should I Actually Be Tracking?
12:43
How many metrics should I actually be tracking?
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Um it is going to depend on the person, but I would say most people, not absolutely everyone, but most people would likely do well to focus on
12:54
Calories, protein, tracking, you know, your calories and protein, your steps, and how consistent you are at the gym, how much you're showing up on a weekly basis
13:06
I would also say that other metrics such as your sleep, like hours fell asleep, not hours in bed, because hours in bed and hours asleep is different.
13:17
Hours of sleep and fiber, I would say, are two very good metrics to also potentially track.
13:26
Again, I would say on top, you know, have calories, protein steps, and your workout consistency at the gym as like the main things to track.
13:35
And I I would probably argue, you know what, put let's let's put hours of sleep in there as well.
13:41
And then if you want, and you're starting to find the calories and protein are
13:46
Like being quite easy to track, or you're getting quite familiar with it, and you're ready to start tracking a third thing, then I would say potentially your fiber as
well.
13:54
Like, fiber is definitely worth something paying attention to.
13:57
Um
13:59
So yeah, I would say like don't overcomplicate it beyond that.
14:02
So many people love to just track a lot of what doesn't matter
14:07
or maybe too few things where we're like actually just focus on these things, have that structure in place, and you're just going to find things get much easier for your
fat loss journey.
14:16
Because ultimately like these are the things that matter the most as to whether or not you are going to see fat loss.
14:21
Like
14:21
calories you need to be in a calorie deficit protein you need to keep your protein high so that you can gain muscle you don't loot or you don't lose valuable muscle you
need to be working out of the gym
14:30
you know to ensure that you're fit, you're healthy, you're not losing muscle mass, you're potentially gaining muscle mass, or you are gaining muscle mass if you're
progressively overloading, you know, hours of sleep.
14:38
Sleep matters a lot.
14:41
I think people realize that much more nowadays, just because I was like thinking back to the late 2000s, early 2010s, where I felt like sleep used to get mocked a lot.
14:51
Like, oh, it's for the weak, etc.
14:53
Where I was like, nah, I think people do realize that it genuinely is really important and it does matter.
14:58
Um
14:59
And your steps because you know uh ultimately like it's good to be physically active in the gym, but let's face it, we're only in the gym for like what an hour a day
15:08
Maybe through so which means like three or four hours a week, most of our life is going to be spent outside the gym.
15:13
So we also need to look at how we're going to maximize our physical activity outside of the gym as well.
15:17
And that's going to come through via steps.
15:19
So all of these things are important.
15:22
Why Do I Keep Restarting Every Few Months?
15:24
Question number eight.
15:26
Why do I keep restarting every few months?
15:28
There could be so many reasons for this.
15:29
Like I'm trying to think how can I take this down?
15:31
There's like 50 different ways I could take this down, maybe a hundred
15:34
Um one common one is that you try and take on way too much too soon.
15:38
Um you have that initial phase of motivation where you're
15:42
Incredibly excited to start on this health and fitness journey because you're motivated and you want to see results and maybe you I don't know, something's inspired
you in this moment
15:50
And because you're in this moment where you are very motivated and you're very excited to do what you need to do, you
15:58
There's this like level of I don't want to say delusion, I think that sounds so harsh, but there's this level of just like unrealistic thinking
16:07
That makes you think you're going to be able to take on way more than you otherwise could, much more consistently over the long term.
16:14
And I'm not saying you can't do anything or it's impossible.
16:16
I'm just saying that most of what people set themselves when they are incredibly motivated
16:21
They don't end up sticking to it a lot of the time.
16:23
And because they don't end up sticking to it, they think they're failing.
16:27
And because they think they're failing, they stop their fitness journey.
16:30
Because they're like, I can't keep this up anyway.
16:32
So what's the point?
16:33
Whereas in reality, like what would be much better is if you actually um took on maybe less goals.
16:40
Instead of aiming to work out seven days a week, aim to work out three days a week.
16:44
If you go more than that, it's a bonus.
16:46
Instead of aiming for
16:47
I don't know, a thousand calories a day.
16:50
That's stupid, but people do that because they think less is better and they think they're going to see faster fat loss like that.
16:55
So instead of doing that
16:57
Aim for like, you know, more of a slight calorie deficit.
16:59
After all, you're still in a calorie deficit, so you're still going to be f still uh see fat loss.
17:03
It's just a more sensible one, which allows you to stay more consistent
17:07
And because you can stay more consistent, you're going to see better results in the long term.
17:11
It's funny how it works, right?
17:12
Rather than the one that's very aggressive, you see some results short term, but then you can't keep it up, you stop, and then long term you rebound.
17:18
So
17:18
Yeah, maybe aim for like 1800 or 1900, which is more of a slight calorie deficit.
17:24
Instead of aiming for 12k steps, maybe aim for like
17:27
8K for example, like depending on where you are right now.
17:30
So again, I'm not saying lower your standards for yourself.
17:34
What I'm saying is have more realistic standards and keep it something that you feel like you can be much more relentlessly consistent with.
17:41
And that like three months from now you're going to look at it and think, oh, this is amazing.
17:44
I'm doing so well.
17:45
I'm being so consistent.
17:46
Let me keep going with it.
17:47
Because like I said, the mistake that many people make is that they set goals that are so incredibly challenging.
17:52
And just
17:53
unrealistic that again a month or two months pass they realize oh I haven't done it much so what's the point I'm just going to stop completely
18:01
How Long Should I Stick With Something Before Deciding It Isn't Working?
18:02
Question number nine, how long should I stick with something before deciding it doesn't work?
18:07
Um I would say about three weeks is enough time.
18:10
And that's assuming you're like genuinely consistent with it because sometimes people are like, oh yeah, I did this thing for a month and it didn't work.
18:16
And then you dig deeper and they were like consistent with it 50% of the time.
18:20
50% consistency isn't enough to determine whether or not something worked.
18:24
If you were like at least 90% consistent with something for about three weeks, I would say that's enough time to determine whether or not something worked.
18:32
If you have three weeks of consistent data underneath you, you can make
18:38
Uh or at least I guess if you have some sort of experience like myself as a trainer, you can then have a good idea as to maybe what it is you should adjust.
18:47
Because again, you've got that consistent data underneath you
18:51
For at least an extended period of time.
18:53
Because again, like you can be consistent for a week, like, but a week isn't enough time to see any sort of like progress.
18:59
Like, I'm not saying you can't see progress in a week, but oftentimes it's going to take longer than that
19:03
Um, so I think three weeks is a good amount of time.
19:06
And if you think that's too long, then chan but you have to remember like at the end of the day you've probably not been looking after your set your health for about ten
years.
19:14
So what's three weeks in like
19:16
And uh like those three weeks are going to pass anyway.
19:20
And uh and in six months from now you won't even think about those three weeks as much.
19:25
Um
19:26
What's The One Thing Most People Are Overcomplicating About Fat Loss?
19:27
Question number 10, final question for today.
19:29
What's the one thing most people are overcomplicating about fat loss?
19:33
The one thing.
19:34
There's many things
19:37
And I feel like nothing's coming to remind right now.
19:39
I would still say I I I surprisingly see like a lot of nutrition myths I thought have died, especially in like Threads, where it's like people think they have to cut out X,
Y, and Z food, like white rice or bread
19:50
Um, whatever it is you name it like people think they still have to clear it out and I'm just like this is wild to me that in 2026 people still think you have to never eat
white rice and bread again.
19:59
Like you just need to be in a fucking calorie deficit
20:02
Keep protein high, work like I know I'm making it sound so almost reductionist and simplistic, whereas I know you know on an individualistic level there's a lot more
that goes into it, like psychologically
20:12
and you know everyone has their like own challenges and tasks but you know to put it on a very simplistic level uh that's what I'm doing right now okay like if we were if we
were going to determine what the most important things of fat loss are it's what I was mentioning
20:26
Um where I like I said people will just really start to overcomplicating it when I think they start trying to focus on all these foods that they think they need to exclude.
20:34
They don't need to do that
20:36
Like everything can have a place because ultimately it's just going to come down to portion sizes.
20:41
Um So I I would say I surprisingly still see that on threads a lot.
20:45
And in fact I still see quite a few myths pedaled on threads that I thought had died like a while ago.
20:50
Um for example intermittent fasting still seems to be really big for fat loss.
20:54
Um all of a sudden again where I'm just like, where did this come from?
20:57
I thought I thought people finally realize that it doesn't matter.
21:00
Like the hours on the clock, it matters ultimately.
21:02
Like, are you averaging averaging out out a calorie deficit over like a certain span of time?
21:08
Um, you can still gain body fat while doing intermittent fasting, you know.
21:12
So
21:13
Yeah, there's quite a few.
21:14
Um, and I think Threads has been quite good at like highlighting that for me, which is, you know, and the plus side it does have give me content to speak about.
21:22
For example, here with you now on the podcast.
21:24
Anyway, on that note
21:24
Final Thoughts & Free 14-Day Fat Loss Kickstarter
21:25
If you did enjoy this podcast episode, then please do leave me a review on whichever platform you listen to this on.
21:33
If you also found this helpful and you want
21:35
More fat loss tips.
21:36
I do have a 14-day fat loss Kickstarter, which I will link in the show notes of this podcast episode.
21:41
And it's just basically where I send you an email every day for two weeks.
21:44
Um think about it as me having me in your corner keeping you accountable every day for two weeks.
21:49
And I'm just sending you like random tips or advice or suggestions that you can implement there and then to help make your fat loss journey easier.
21:56
And again, it's just like for two weeks.
21:58
And it's free.
21:59
Again, the link is in the show notes of this podcast episode.
22:01
Otherwise, take care.
22:03
Have an amazing day, and I'll see you in the next podcast episode.
