Maximizing Fat Loss in 21 Days

Fitness

Nutrition

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Maximizing Fat Loss in 21 Days
by Jeffrey Stout PhD, CSCS & Ash Batheja, MPT, CSCS

You have exactly three weeks to lose some serious body fat. That's not three weeks from tomorrow, next week or next month. Your personal boot camp begins now, and no, you don't have a choice. This runs much deeper. It's about making a promise to yourself and fulfilling it. It's about reaching the brink of quitting, pushing yourself to the limit, going beyond, and then doing it again. And when it's all done, in 21 short days, it will have been about one thing, becoming a top-notch physical specimen.

Believe me, it's not as bad as it sounds. No, it won't be easy but it's only three weeks. And frankly, you don't have to void every personal engagement you've already made. You do, however, need to plan and prepare your diet and workouts for the next three weeks. You must plan your diet carefully and follow it strictly. You've got to prepare for grueling workouts, not once, but twice per day. You must make a promise now to never miss a workout, never waiver on your diet, and never give less than a 100% effort.

If you think losing appreciable amounts of bodyfat in three weeks is impossible, I understand and empathize, but I also disagree. Consider the fact that we are constantly bombarded by the Mantra, that fat loss should be a slow, gradual process, and that visual changes in appearance should be only be accomplished over a period of months, not days. While that advice will raise no disagreement here, it poses many problems to the average exercising enthusiast.

From a psychological standpoint, people simply don't look that far into the future. We are all about the "here and now", especially when it comes to our bodies. We want washboard abs and we want them now, and when we don't get them, we let ourselves become sidetracked. When we are constantly told that we can't become noticeably leaner in just a few weeks, we lose the necessary focus it takes for the long, (exhausting) haul. In other words, we are subconsciously telling ourselves that we have an entire lifetime to reach our goals.

When that's the case, it becomes very easy to miss workouts, cheat on your diet, and party all night. After all, if you revert to preworkout levels of strength, body fat, and muscle mass, who cares? You've got a lifetime to make it up, right? Since that's the way you've been conditioned, it makes it quite easy to put diet and workouts on the back burner when your life outside the gym gets a little hectic, There is no sense of urgency. So sure enough, after a period of months or even a year passes, you've made exactly zero progress.

That is why this program is so different--and successful. I'm giving you're a deadline. You only have three weeks. There's no time to make any other commitments, no time for slacking, and no promises to make to anyone but yourself. Treat this as if your preparing for a body building contest-- even if you've never done one before and never plan to compete in your life. Mark today's date on your calendar and mark 21 days from now. Keep a log of every workout and every meal. Get your body fat tested before and after. Take pictures or measurements, you can even keep a diary. Just do whatever it takes to guarantee perfect attendance with your workouts, flawless compliance with your diet, and more effort than you've ever given, on anything. I'm not asking you to become a self-absorbed narcissist, but it's about time you make a commitment to yourself--a commitment to dedication, tenacity, and pure torture--for three weeks. And when it's all over, all the sacrifices and effort will have been worth it because the results will be positively shocking.

Dedication is the first step, but it must be accompanied by "the workout". First of all, you must understand that easy workouts get you nowhere. I've had enough of this philosophy, I'll explain. Basically, this theory states that, if fat burning is to occur, exercise must be of low intensity and long durations. This is because fats are the preferred fuel for less intense activities, while carbohydrates and other rapid sources of energy are reserved for more demanding physical ventures, such as weight training and sprinting. While this is true, it has given rise to very ineffective workout habits.

By this rationale, most personal trainers recommend exercising at 65%-75% of your maximum heart rate if fat loss is the goal. Go any higher, they say and you're no longer burning fat--that's why you see everyone at the gym popping in their Boys II Men tape and cruising at 3.5 mph on the treadmill. So how come none of them are getting losing bodyfat? The answer is simple. If it's true that as intensity drops, a greater percentage of fat is utilized, then why doesn't sitting on the couch watching Fitness Beach do more for you than joining in? Well, any "fitness expert" can answer this one-- you simply don't burn enough calories to make a bit of difference. The key, as research has shown time and time again, is that it's the amount of calories burned dictates the positive changes in body composition, not the percentage of fat that's being used during exercise. It goes much further than that.

Think of this, have you ever compared the physiques of a sprinter vs. a marathon runner? Sprinters have lean, muscular bodies, yet they rarely train aerobically. Marathon runners have much thinner and slight builds, even though they spend hours in their "fat burning zone". Why? Because it hardly takes any muscle to run like a marathoner; it takes a great deal of endurance from your cardiorespiratory system. In other words, if you train like an endurance athlete, your heart will become more efficient at pumping blood to your muscles, your lungs will learn to take in more oxygen, and your muscles will become better at extracting it. Sure, if you train long enough you will burn off some fat, but there are two associated problems with this. One, most us don't lead the life of a rock star, and thus you don't have three hours a day to train. Second, and more important, your muscles will adapt to this prolonged low intensity exercise by becoming smaller. Your body adapts to everything--since it takes such a small amount of muscle to run at a slow pace; the rest of it simply withers away.

Now, let's get to know the sprinters, and know them well, since you'll be doing their workout. If you've ever sprinted 100 yards as fast as you could, you know exactly how tough it is, and you know exactly how much muscle it takes. When I tell personal trainers that they should train their clients like this it's always met with something to the effect of "Oh good heavens, they'll be out of the training zones. They are going to burn muscle!" If that was the case, why are sprinters lean and muscular while the average treadmill walker has skinny arms and a gut? It's simple. If you don't use muscle, you lose it. But the opposite is also true. When you sprint you use your muscles to such a powerful extent, they respond by growing bigger and stronger. Remember, that your body adapts to everything.

So what's getting rid of fat you ask? Well the large stress that's placed on your muscles from sprinting, combined with the increased muscle mass, will speed up your metabolic rate like never before. For you, this means you've created a fat-burning furnace in your body that works non-stop. Why try to increase your rate of fat burning for an hour (from walking) when you can elevate it for an entire day by sprinting? Furthermore, the rate that you burn calories during sprinting is about three times greater than jogging. You want another reason to sprint, okay, fact,-sprinting releases mammoth amounts of hormones that burn fat constantly. So why doesn't everybody train like this? Well, let's take a look at your workout and the diet.

Week 1	AM Workout	PM Workout	Repitition
Monday	10sec of sprinting, 2min of walking/jogging	Weight training followed by aerobic exercise (15min @ 85% of max heart rate)	repeat for 10 cycles
Tuesday	10sec of sprinting, 2min of walking/jogging	Aerobic exercise for 25min @85% max heart rate	repeat for 10 cycles
Wednesday	Off	Weight training followed by aerobic exercise (15min @ 85% of max heart rate)	repeat for 10 cycles
Thursday	10sec of sprinting, 2min of walking/jogging	Aerobic exercise for 25min @85% max heart rate	repeat for 10 cycles
Friday	10sec of sprinting, 2min of walking/jogging	Weight training followed by aerobic exercise (15min @ 85% of max heart rate)	repeat for 10 cycles
Saturday	0sec of sprinting, 2min of walking/jogging	Aerobic exercise for 25min @85% max heart rate	repeat for 10 cycles
Sunday	Off	Off

Note: Always begin workouts with a warm up consisting of light jogging or walking, followed by stretching of the muscles to be used during exercise. Also, try to perform the AM workouts first think in the morning of an empty stomach - this kicks the fat burning stimulus even higher.

Week 2 Repeat AM workouts with the following daily additions: add 5 seconds to each sprint interval, reduce walk/jog interval by 10 seconds. Perform PM weight-training workouts as listed, add 5 minutes to each aerobic workout.

For AM workouts, add another 5 seconds to each sprint interval, and reduce walk/ jog interval by an additional 15 seconds.

For PM workouts, ad another 5 minutes to each aerobic workout.

As you can see, this workout is not for the average Nautilus addict. But don't worry if you feel you can't keep up with its intense nature. If you find yourself struggling to perform successive 10 second sprints after two minute rest periods during that first week, extend the walk/jog interval (but don't even think about selling yourself short-it's supposed be hard!). The key is that you perform the correct number of sprints or the correct duration, as listed in this chart. You still need to make appropriate weekly progressions, however. For example, if on Monday of the first week you need three minutes between sprints, you still need to increase the sprint interval by five seconds and reduce the rest period by fifteen seconds each week.

Now as far as the PM workout goes, you need to follow a weight-training regimen that specializes in fat loss. That means selecting large muscle group exercises such as squats, bent over rows and bench presses that blast your body with two to three intense sets. This isn't about reading a magazine while you waste your time on the hip sled. It's grueling - you need to perform approximately 10-15 repetitions per exercise with about a minute rest between sets. Every exercise should be purposeful and intense, just like your sprint workouts. In fact, training with weights in this fashion is not entirely different from sprinting. You burn calories at a high rate, forcing increases in your metabolism, and stimulate colossal amounts of fat-burning hormones. Refer to the following chart for your weight training regimen. Now remember, I am not against intense workouts for individual body parts, but for three weeks you can cut back on the volume of weight training without experiencing any adverse effects. Instead of working out for 2 hours a day and resting long enough for naps between sets, pick up the pace so that your weight lifting workouts more closely resemble your sprinting workouts.

Remember, just because you're cutting back on volume doesn't mean that you should decrease intensity. Just the opposite, you should be increasing intensity. Rest periods should be kept to a minimum (45-60 seconds for upper body and 60-90 seconds for legs). Training chest, back, delts, biceps, triceps, quads, hamstrings, calves and abs adds up to 9 exercises. At 2 sets each that is 18 total sets. Each should average around 60 seconds. That puts the entire workout time at less than 40 minutes. If you did 3 sets per exercise, that would mean 27 total sets-and your workout time would still be less than an hour. It is likely that you are training longer than that in your current workout plan and have little to show for it.

For the first weight training session start with 2 sets per body part as opposed to 3. If the workout is too easy for you, simply increase to 3 sets on your next visit to the gym. Trust me, it won't be too easy. Th first 2-3 exercises might give you the mistaken impression that you need to do ore volume, but if you maintain that pace indicated and train as hard as possible, you'll be feeling pretty spent at around the 20-30 minute mark.

Remember, you may be training quickly with moderate to high reps, you must still attempt to lift s heavy as possible without sacrificing form. You should barely be able to complete the last rep in each set. If you are flying through 15-20 reps, then the weight is simply too light.

Don't just go through the motions, You only have 2-3 sets for each muscle group. You can't afford to waste even one rep. Much less one set. What about warming up, you ask? You can do a few pushups or chins before you start to get yourself loosened up but if you train properly, quickly, and intensely, you shouldn't need much more than that.

Chest	Bench Presses	10-15 Reps
Back	Bent-Over Rows	10-15 Reps
Delts	Side Laterals	12-15 Reps
Triceps	Lying Triceps Extensions	10-15 Reps
Biceps	Seated Dumbbell Curls	10-15 Reps
Quads	Squats	12-25 Reps
Hamstrings	Lying Leg Curls	10-15 Reps
Calves	Standing Calf Raises	15-20 Reps
Abs	Crunches	25 Reps

If you're wondering about the PM aerobic workout, don't worry. This should be the easiest part of your training day, relatively speaking. The first thing you need to do is determine the correct exercise intensity by calculating your target heart rate. To do that you need to figure out your age-predicted maximum heart rate. That's easy all you do is subtract your age from 220. From there, you can just take 85% of your max and you've found your target heart rate. But I'm going to show you a more accurate way to determine the necessary exercise intensity to bring about a total and complete fat meltdown. It's called the Karvonen formula.

Don't be intimidated by the name-it's a very simple formula. Besides, if you're not willing to punch a couple numbers into a calculator, you couldn't be very serious about getting lean.
Since you already know your max heart rate (220-age), all you need now is your resting heart rate. For that, you need to take your pulse on your wrist or neck while in a very relaxed state (preferably upon awakening) for 15 seconds. Now multiply it by four, and you've got your resting heart rate. Most people are in the 60-80 beats per minute (bpm) range. Now you're ready to plug your numbers into this formula:

Target Heart Rate = (Maximum Heart Rate-Resting Heart Rate) x (% of max) + Resting Heart Rate

Don't get confused. Stay with me. I'm going to explain everything in clear and concise manner and give you a practical example. The "percent of max" in this case is .85, as listed in the PM workout. Everything else should be determined by you. Let's do the math on a 25 year old man Maximum Heart Rate (220-25=195) with a resting heart rate of 60 bpm.

Target Heart Rate = (195-60) x .85 +60
195-60=135
135x.85=114.75 (round up to 115)
115+60=175
Target Heart Rate - 175 bpm

I've found that using a piece of exercise equipment, such as a stationary bike of treadmill, works well for this portion of the workout. You can use anything you like. But, let's say you use a treadmill. All you need to do is warm up for about five minutes. Kick the treadmill up to a slow jogging pace, and take your pulse every couple of minutes, increasing the speed until you reach your target heart rate (you may have to stop to test your heart rate so you don't fall off the track, sine it's difficult to do while running). Using the example of the 25 year old, if it takes a speed of 8mph on the treadmill for him to reach his target range of 175 bpm, that's the speed he'll use for all his workouts. You don't have to test your heart rate every workout unless you use a different piece of equipment. Piece of cake, right? And now, your entire workout is set. The next, and last step before beginning this workout is to plan your diet to maximize fat loss.

Though everyone wants to make this issue more complex than it really is, it's actually quite simple. Everyone knows that, to lose fat, you need to take in fewer calories than you expend. But this is usually taken to dangerous extremes. I can't believe how many dieters consume an inadequate amount of calories which I believe this is one of the primary reasons most people fail in their weight loss endeavors. They cut their calories so low, they give their bodies no choice but to lower the metabolism so drastically that weight loss becomes impossible.

Think about it. If you don't give your body enough calories to maintain normal physiological function, it learns to compensate by slowing all of its processes to maintain survival. In other words, your body learns to store fat. You can forget about losing weight at this point- your body has realized your not giving it enough energy, so it stores everything it gets and clings to fat like a magnet.

The same goes for your fat intake, contrary to what Susan Powter says; fat alone does not make you fat. Too much of anything, be it fats, carbohydrates, or protein makes you fat. One of the biggest mistakes people make when they're trying to get lean, besides eating like an anorexic is cutting fat intake way too low. Again, your body simply kicks into "starvation mode." Since our bodies need fat for many metabolic functions, you're just teaching your body to hold on to it tighter. In fact, you're more likely to lose muscle and soon look like Richard Simmons.

To maximize fat loss, you first need to determine exactly how many calories a day you'll need. Calculating that is the easy part, but sticking to it can be a problem. You've just got to plan your meals in advance, do a little label reading, and keep a log of everything to maintain accuracy. This is a huge part of getting lean; don't think for one second you can neglect this part of the program or just "guess". I've seen too many people wonder why their program isn't working until I find out they're snacking on more junk food than Homer Simpson.

Okay, now lets get our calculator and determine your protein needs. Once that's set, you can calculate your total daily calories. Since you'll be working out hard enough to terrify small children, you're going to need a lot of protein to recover, about one gram per pound of body weight. From there, you'll multiply that number by four (since each gram of protein carries four calories, giving you the amount of daily calories from protein. That amount is going to make up 30% of your total calories. To determine your daily total calorie intake, multiply your daily protein requirements by .30. Below is an example, using a person with a bodyweight of 180 pounds.

180lbs x 1g protein / lb. Bodyweight=180g protein
180 g protein/dx4 cal.g=720 daily calories from protein
720 / .30 = 2400 calories / day

That was easy enough. Next, you can easily figure out how much carbohydrates and fat you'll need to take in. On this program, carbs will make up 45% of your daily calories, and fats will cover the remaining 25%. Since you already know your total daily calories, just multiply that number by .45 to find your total carbohydrate calories, and by .25 to get your total number of fat calories. Then you can divide the carb calories by four and the fat calories by nine to get the exact number of grams of each.

Let's finish off the example using our 180 pound athlete as an example.

2400 Total calories x .45=1080 carbohydrate calories
2400 total calories x .25 = 600 fat calories
1080 carbohydrate calories / 4= 270 g carbohydrates daily
600 fat calories/9=67 g fat daily

Note: one gram of carbohydrate or protein equals four calories, one gram of fat equals nine calories.

Now your diet is set - except for a little twist. The amount of calories you just calculated is only used in the first day of the program. From there, you're going to drop your total calories by 100 each day for a week. Then, at the start of the following week, you'll begin the first day with the total that's 100 calories less than the very first day of the program, and again drop that total by 100 calories per day. You'll then repeat this process for the third and final week, always maintaining the 45/30/25 ratio of carbohydrates, protein and fat. Need an example? I thought so.

Let's stick with the 180 pound athlete we used previously. On the first day of the program he will consume 2400 calories. He'll then drop that total by 100 for each day of the week. At the start of the second week, he'll begin at 2300calories and again drop that by 100 each day. He'll do that for one more week, beginning at 2200 calories the third week. Here's what the 21-day breakdown looks like:

Sample Caloric Intake

Day	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Week 1	2400	2300	2200	2100	2000	1900	1800
Week 2	2300	2200	2100	2000	1900	1800	1700
Week 3	2200	2100	2000	1900	1800	1700

I just need to give you a few more tips before you get started. First of all, eating the right amount of calories is only one part of your diet. You've got to be concerned with sound nutrition. That means that your carbohydrates shouldn't come from simple sugars and junk food. You need to eat foods like whole grains, lentils, fruits and vegetables, and pasta. Also, consume your carbs with your protein, this cuts down on the rapid release of insulin from your pancreas, which basically pushes fats into cells for storage. As for protein, choose high quality sources, such as lean beef, turkey, chicken, and egg whites. Stay away from lunchmeats and fast food.

By the way, don't even think about skipping breakfast of getting all your calories from just a few meals a day. You need to eat five or six times a day on this program- this will force your body to become more efficient and raise it's metabolism. And try to consume most of your carbohydrates and fats in your first four meals so you're full of energy for your PM workout. Finally, your last couple meals should be no later than 8 or 9 PM. This will allow for greater recovery throughout the night and decrease the likelihood of fat storage.

About the Author
Dr. Stout has a diversified background in exercise science. His primary fields of expertise are sports supplements, neuromuscular fatigue, and body composition analysis. He has over 70 published manuscripts, abstracts, and national presentations in nationally and internationally recognized journals. Dr. Stout currently serves as assistant professor at Creighton University and is the director of the Human Performance Research Laboratory. His current teaching responsibilities include courses in exercise physiology, statistics, research design, and biomechanics.