Eat cake, drink beer, and lose fat.
You in?
Yeah, me too!
I’d love for that to be the plan.
Although I’m not a huge cake fan so I’d rather say eat ice cream, drink bourbon and lose fat.
But you get the point.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to flexibility.
You’ve got the extremists on one end who set the expectation that you have to be perfect.
You can’t eat sugar. You can’t eat any processed foods. You can’t eat carbs. You can’t drink alcohol. You can’t you can’t you can’t.
If you want this then you have to do whatever it takes!
It’s a damaging perspective both physically and mentally.
A focus on perfection and food rules can lead to disordered eating behaviors.
I’ve witnessed some pretty gnarly disordered eating behaviors developed or triggered with people trying to follow programs that preach or foster an environment of perfection and food rules.
However, the other camp is almost equally as damaging.
The message of … you can eat and drink whatever you want and still lose fat. Sounds amazing …
But it’s not true.
In typical human fashion … we love to swing the pendulum hard in either direction when the answer often lies in the middle.
Anyway, the whole idea of being able to eat whatever you want and lose fat is a tricky one.
Because technically it can happen.
There was a study done where a man only ate twinkies and lost fat.
Literally didn’t consume any other food. Just twinkies but he ate in a deficit so he lost weight.
Jordan Syatt did the big mac challenge where he ate a big mac every single day and still lost weight.
Others have done similar challenges with snickers and donuts and ice cream.
And guess what … if they ate in a deficit, they still lost weight.
While I think the message is an important one …
We sometimes lose sight of an important truth …
You may not have a world of flexibility if you’re trying to lose fat.
And trying to fit in alcohol, restaurant meals, fast food, or whatever else into your fat loss plan can make it really difficult to see progress.
Let’s just consider an example …
Say your fat loss calories are 1800 per day. And you have a couple of glasses of wine and go out to eat.
Most restaurant meals are going to be 1000 calories minimum. Even if you do your best to make good choices … between the alcohol and the dinner … you’ve pretty much blown your load in one shot.
It’s going to be really challenging to stay consistent that way.
Am I saying you can’t go out to eat or drink at all when you’re in a fat loss phase?
Of course not.
I prefer the MOST amount of flexibility possible.
But that’s my point …
The amount of flexibility may not be as great for you as it is for someone else.
The underlying takeaway here should be clear …
THIS IS WHY WE SHOULDN’T BE DIETING ALL THE TIME.
This is why we should spend most of the time building muscle, improving metabolic function, balancing hormones, living in maintenance, building sustainable habits.
That way when it’s time for fat loss … we have SOME flexibility but more importantly, we can focus and get that shit done as quickly and efficiently as possible.
That’s the key to all of this.
For those that spend their whole existence trying to lose fat … they remove any hopes of flexibility and enjoyment.
Eventually, they will need to stop pursuing fat loss. The sooner the better.
If you feel like you are spinning your wheels and your body just won’t let go of body fat …
Then I’d suggest you need to spend some time priming your metabolism and placing the focus on maintenance and muscle.
It’s not what anyone wants to hear. But it’s probably what you need to hear.
Even the best metabolism in the world will have limitations on flexibility during fat loss.
We help our coaching clients understand how much flexibility THEY have, as an individual, during each phase.
It really helps from a mindset perspective to know what you can and can’t get away with.
And then being able to make informed decisions based on your body and your goals.
Again, we build in the highest amount of flexibility for each client but there is always a point of diminishing returns.
Fat loss does NOT have to be extreme. It does not have to mean eliminating all things you love.
But it’s also not a free for all. There are sacrifices that need to be made.
The key is figuring out what that looks like for YOU.
And, as always, the shortcut to figuring that out and seeing the results you desire is investing in yourself by investing in a coach.
Especially a coaching program that continues to produce results consistently and repeatedly 😉
