Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 279: How to Lose Fat WITHOUT Tracking (Do These 11 THINGS)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome in, folks, to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. In this episode, I'm going to be sharing with you 11 things you can do to reduce body fat and lose weight if your goal is to improve certain health markers and metrics that might be associated with weight, whether that be blood pressure, things like blood sugar. If you want to get leaner for summer, as we're approaching now the beginning of April, I think it makes a lot of sense to start thinking ahead. If you'd like to be leaner for perhaps a beach holiday coming up in August or September, it's probably a good idea to start sooner than later so you don't deploy such aggressive and oftentimes prone to error dieting tactics. You know,

Starting point is 00:00:52 the same mistakes that most people make every year when trying to lose fat. So in this episode, we're going over 11 things you can do to enhance fat loss that have nothing to do with counting calories specifically. If you are completely averse to calorie tracking, you will really enjoy this episode and it should give you a lot of tools that will help. Now, I'm a huge advocate for calorie tracking. I think it makes things easier. Actually, I think it falls into that category of discipline equals freedom.

Starting point is 00:01:24 The old Jocko Willink quote, the more disciplined you are on the front end with your calorie tracking, the more freedom you can have overall with your diet, assuming you're able to keep things from getting too disordered. I know a number of you who struggle with this, so I'll just put it this simple. If you don't want to track, here are 11 things you can do to lose fat. This episode is brought to you in special thanks to our awesome partners over at Gooder. Gooder makes the best inexpensive polarized sunglasses that have a total premium feel. If you are active and you go outside and you run and you cycle you jog, or you do things that really put a

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Starting point is 00:03:30 for you. And remember guys, these have a money back guarantee. You absolutely can't go wrong with Goodr. So again, that's goodr.com slash Danny and check out using the code Danny. Now into the episode. Okay guys, so let's get right into it. 11 things you can do to make fat loss substantially easier. And it is my goal for each one of these bullet points to not take too long. I want this to be digestible, fun, easy, and helpful. Quite frankly, it needs to be actionable. And while I love getting into the nuance and the science, this is an episode more about habits and tactics. And if you'd like to learn more about things like zone two cardio, about fiber, about protein metabolism, about muscle growth and programming, please peruse the library of other episodes. We're closing in on 300. We have lots of good ones.

Starting point is 00:04:21 I think you'll really, really enjoy the guest episodes. But the first tip I have for you, the first thing that you can do to lose fat more easily without tracking your calories is to have a daily step goal. It might make you laugh because many people will use a tracker or an app that gathers data, which is in effect another form of tracking when they're attempting to get to a 10 to 12,000 step goal target, let's say. But the good thing about this goal is it will firmly situate you with an activity level that is reasonable for body fat loss. I tell clients all the time, if you are going to maintain a sedentary lifestyle while you try to lose body fat, meaning you just want to work out for like

Starting point is 00:05:04 an hour, five days a week, three days a week, four days a week, you name it. And just go about your, you know, hashtag Sigma grind set lifestyle of like working 10, 12 hour days at a desk and then slamming Netflix and Tik TOK when you're not and never moving, you're going to have to diet and you're going to have to exercise in a fashion that's way more extreme because you're not burning a lot of calories throughout the day. And probably, you know, your, what you can actually eat, the number of calories you can eat is about as low as it gets when you're sedentary. So the goal of getting 10,000 steps has nothing to do with the actual number 10,000, nothing at all. It has to do with the fact that around 10,000 steps, I think people start to kind of shift

Starting point is 00:05:52 out of the category of I'm not active and more towards the category of I'm pretty active and active in what we would consider to be a traditional sense for the human being. If you think about it, most human beings for 200,000 years of our existence on this earth walked and moved a lot. And it's only this new generation of human beings, the last, let's say, 80 to 100 years, where our movements come down a lot. And then in the last 30 years, it's really gone crazy, crazy low. So imagine like every dog that's ever lived, got tons and tons of activity and exercise, but then all of a sudden dogs stop getting that, which we, it's, it's ironic because we do see this. You see a lot of obese dogs.

Starting point is 00:06:35 And when you see overweight, obese dogs, the first thing the veterinarian tells you to do is pull back on their food and increase their expenditure. I remember when I heard James Smith, like a personal training legend, I heard James Smith, like a personal training legend, influencer, James Smith, the dude's written like three books now. He pointed this out years ago. He's like diet and exercise works for your dog. It'll kind of work for you too. And he was being funny with it, but it's true. And I think it starts with a step count. If you are trying to exercise multiple days a week, thinking that only being active and moving for one to two hours a day in a very oftentimes controlled fashion is going to be all that it takes, you'll have to diet harder.

Starting point is 00:07:13 So you need to up your movement throughout the day. And if you look at the difference between people who have quote unquote fast metabolisms and people who have quote unquote slow metabolisms. There's real terms for this. I believe it's thrifty and spendthrift. But if you look at those two metabolic phenotypes, you'll typically find people who have a quote unquote fast metabolism are tapping their feet a lot. So I'm sitting at a desk right now recording this podcast and I've been tapping my foot very, very much unaware of this, by the way, for at least the last two minutes. And I think some people would see that and be like, oh, that's like anxiety. I'm not anxious. I'm literally sitting or my fast metabolism creating involuntary movement. And people who have slower metabolisms typically don't have those kinds of displays. They don't

Starting point is 00:08:12 do this stuff as often and it's not conscious. So you offset almost all of that disparity by, not all of it, but a good chunk of it by moving your activity level up. So if you want to have a quote unquote fast metabolism, start acting like somebody who has a fast metabolism. Tip number two is an extension of this, and it is to actually plan opportunities to perform zone two cardio. This is a great way to do zone two cardio is hiking, incline walking, walking with a ruck or a weighted vest. Okay. inclined walking, walking with a ruck or a weighted vest, okay? Do your zone two cardio as prescribed at 150 minutes per week for aerobic health and mitochondrial function. So if you do enough, like zone two cardio, okay? Like let's say it's 100 minutes a week and you spread, let's say it's 150 minutes a week. We'll go for the gusto, the whole shebang.

Starting point is 00:09:05 That's spread out over, let's say seven days, a little more than 20 minutes a day. If you go for a 20 minute brisk walk a day and then make a point to walk more throughout the day or take the stairs or park farther away, you'll get to that 10,000, 12,000 step threshold we just talked about. But if you're able to bump it up to that zone two cardio, where you're actually moving a little bit, the benefits that will have for your aerobic health and the benefits that that will have for your mitochondria will be off the charts. And the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. So you'll feel more energized. You'll feel better when your mitochondria are functioning at their peak. And when you are in

Starting point is 00:09:45 good aerobic fitness, you have better mitochondrial density, you have better mitochondrial function. So you have more of them and they work harder to produce energy. You'll feel better. You'll probably move more. You'll have better energy and recovery in the gym. This is a good thing. And if you want to enhance your fat loss, enhancing your literal cardio metabolic function will do that. Maybe not directly, but it will definitely help in many indirect ways. And if you're somebody who's just like, I'm not going to meal prep, I'm not going to go out of my way to count calories and make sure that I have what I need, we're going to talk about the nutrition stuff in a minute, but you need to have those lifestyle things taken care of

Starting point is 00:10:25 because one of the ways that that high level of accounting that you're going to be sacrificing by opting out of tracking, uh, is so helpful is it helps you, you know, it helps you not have to be so tight with lifestyle. If you're somebody who's really good at the rigid and kind of challenging aspects of dieting. Okay. Tip number three, assuming you're not going to track protein, but you know what a protein source is, you need to have four big servings of protein evenly spread across your day. So if you wake up at six, you have one at 730, one at 1130, one at 330, and one at.30. So you have four protein servings, breakfast, early lunch, late lunch, dinner, something to that effect. And the reasoning here is protein is very satiating.

Starting point is 00:11:16 So if you cluster it around a couple different feedings in that manner, you'll have three unique, four in this case, unique opportunities to feed your muscles, which is important when you're in a deficit and wanting to hold onto tissues, but also feed your body so that you are satiated and full. And it will minimize the grazing, tasting, licking, snacking, sipping habits that we have when we're oftentimes not truly satiated. We're just eating foods that taste good. And protein tends to be a food that can oftentimes taste quite good and also be satiating. Many people like eggs, chicken, fish, beef, dairy, and even the plant-based protein options like tofu and many of the grains

Starting point is 00:11:57 that contain protein also have a good amount of fiber. Like a lot of these foods, they're going to fill you up and they can be seasoned in such a way that they're quite tasty and savory. You can also opt for quick things like yogurt, beef jerky, and protein shakes, even protein bars, whatever's practical. The goal here is to get a good amount of protein in across the day, preferably spaced out enough that you are being sure to get enough and you're not tracking, right? So if you're not tracking, how can you be sure that you're getting enough? You can literally plan it out like, yo, I got a protein four times a day and it's got to be a big serving. It can be that simple there. What's going on guys? Coach Danny here, taking a break from the episode to tell you about my

Starting point is 00:12:40 coaching company, core coaching method, and more specifically, our one-on-one fully tailored online coaching program. My online coaching program has kind of been the flagship for Core Coaching Method for a while. Of course, we do have PDF programming and we have app-based programming. But if you want a truly tailored one-on-one experience with a coach like myself or a member of my coaching team, someone who is certified, somebody who has multiple years of experience working with clients in person online, somebody who is licensed to provide a macro nutrition plan, somebody who is actually good at communicating with clients because they've done it for years, whether that be via phone call, email, text, right? This one-on-one coaching

Starting point is 00:13:19 program is really designed to give you all the support you need. With custom training designed for you, whether you're training from home, the gym, around your limitations and your goals, nothing cookie cutter here, as well as easy to follow macronutrition programs that are non-restrictive. You'll get customized support directly from your coach's email, or they'll text you, or they'll WhatsApp you. We'll find the communication medium that best supports your goals, as well as provides you you with accountability in the expertise you need to succeed as well as biofeedback monitoring, baked in accountability support, and all of the stuff that you need from your coach when you check in. We keep our rosters relatively small so that we can make sure you get

Starting point is 00:14:01 the best support possible. But you can apply today by going over to corecoachingmethod.com, selecting the online coaching option. And if we have spots available, we'll definitely reach out to you to see if you're a good candidate. And if we don't, we'll put you on a waiting list, but we'll be sure to give you the best shot

Starting point is 00:14:19 at the best coaching in the industry. So head over to corecoachingmethod.com and apply for one-on-one coaching with me and my team today. Okay, here's the next one, guys. Have two servings of plants and two servings of fruits. So when I say plants, I understand that fruits are plants, or they are at least the byproduct of a plant's flowering process and ultimately reproductive process. But what we're talking about here is like green, leafy, cruciferous vegetables and fruit. That's really what I mean. Like, yes, you could definitely load

Starting point is 00:14:50 up on a bunch of nutritious plants that are not green, cruciferous vegetables, but those do seem to have a lot of fiber, be very filling, be very rich in antioxidants and nutrients, and they pair well with fruit. You can have a salad every day with two servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit. I mean, it can really be that, that simple. Like, oh, I have some combination of arugula, spinach, kale, various lettuces, and then strawberry and blueberry. Like if you haven't put berry on a salad, like wake up, try it. That shit is really good. And the micronutrient density in that meal alone is probably enough to offset needing to take a freaking multivitamin because you're getting so many of the different vitamins and you're not tracking. So it's nice to know that most of those leafy cruciferous greens quite

Starting point is 00:15:35 literally have zero calories. So in this instance, we're basically saying have two servings of leafy greens and two servings of fruit. If you want to space those out, that'd be great. You could put them with your protein feedings and just have four meals a day that you don't really have to think about. And that's kind of my goal with this particular episode is I want you to literally be able to share this with anybody and be like, yo, this is 20 minutes on how to make fat loss substantially easier. And if we can get there with this episode, I'm going to be one happy son of a gun. Okay. Tip number five is don't eat within two hours of going to bed. Now I know what you're thinking. Did I really just tell you not to eat before bed? Am I some kind of, you know, like bro scientist who thinks that you can't lose fat if you eat past a certain time? Did I just violate my kind

Starting point is 00:16:26 of quote unquote evidence-based street cred? Because if I did, I apologize. But let me say this first. You can eat the calories whenever you want, but later in the day, people have a proclivity for eating foods that tend to be more hyperpalatable. They have less willpower because they're worn down. A lot of people are pretty stressed and have a ton of shit on their plate. And so if you tell them after seven o'clock, I don't want you going to the pantry and making any big food decisions, that can be a really helpful form of restraint. The same kind of restraint that we're looking to create through tracking, because tracking is just a form of creating a conditional restraint. You know, you can have it, but only up to this amount. And some people struggle with that. So a constraint like this

Starting point is 00:17:14 might be better for those people because it's just going to align better with how they operate. You know, with the clients that we've worked with that have been successful, we're always successful for the same reasons, oftentimes at the physiological level. But how I tell you to follow these 11 steps, you might indirectly create a deficit in a way that's more palatable or some combination of these 11. And so I really like the idea of shortening the eating window by two hours and taking people's opportunity and ability to really put themselves in a position with food where most people tend to have the least willpower, the most desire to kind of enjoy themselves while they're unplugging from stress. Food can be a really good quote unquote copiate, like an opiate, but a coping kind of thing

Starting point is 00:18:13 that people can really retreat to in the later hours of the day. So not a huge fan of using it that way. And so I think this kind of guardrail, if you will, can help a lot. way. And so I think this kind of guardrail, if you will, can help a lot. Okay. Now on the other end of this, this is tip number six. And again, this assumes that you are not going to be tracking calories, but you're going to be mindful and thoughtful about finding ways to eat less of them. Because again, I'm specifically kind of speaking to anybody who's looking to lose weight for the health promoting benefits that come with that, be that lower blood pressure, better blood sugar and insulin sensitivity, the positive effects it could have on joint pain. And then obviously for anybody who's looking to get in

Starting point is 00:18:55 shape, you're trying to constrain the amount you eat. And so in the previous tip, I mentioned cutting off two hours before bedtime, the habit of eating. And so in the next tip, this one being number six, it's pushing the first meal off at least two hours or until you're actually hungry. I think a lot of people are kind of on the fence about breakfast. Should I have it? Should I not have it? Because of essentially, you know, the intermittent fasting or the popularity of intermittent fasting really confusing people. And this is not to achieve or accomplish the effect that one would get from fasting. That's different entirely. This is just to provide a little bit more constraint. So you push it off until you're actually hungry.

Starting point is 00:19:47 I think with most fasting protocols, you're gonna see people who are going to begin eating substantially later than their hunger onset occurred. So they'll be hungry before they eat, but they have a eating window that they have to really settle into. And what I'm saying is just wait to have your first meal until you actually get a little bit of hunger. I think reflexively, a lot of people will eat first thing in the morning

Starting point is 00:20:10 because it makes sense to start the day with something. I would just argue, take that with you or take something with you as you go about your daily tasks. If there's an opportunity to eat, eat it when you first feel hungry. It will help with calibrating naturally or more naturally around feelings of satiety and not eating arbitrarily or because you feel like you're obligated to, and it can probably better position you to eat less across the day. If you eat like one hour later in the morning and stop eating about two hours earlier in the evening, that's three hours a day where you're not going to be eating, which if we're talking about tracking things other than calories, tracking like your steps and a food kind of intake calendar or kind of log in the sense of time, these are helpful and objectively

Starting point is 00:20:55 less cumbersome to track than every single thing you eat. The seventh thing you should absolutely do if you want to lose body fat is lift weights. You want to lift weights at least three times a week, preferably total body if it's three times. If you can get in four to five times, you can try an upper lower split or a specialization split, but you should definitely, definitely be lifting weights if your goal is body fat reduction. Not only do lifting, does weightlifting specifically have positive benefits for fat loss, specific hormone profile production like testosterone and growth hormone, things that can quite literally help with body composition. It helps you hold on to muscle and preserve metabolism while dieting, which can be a problem if you lose weight too rapidly.

Starting point is 00:21:39 The eighth thing is to drink a ton of water. I recommend half your body weight in ounces of water and you can go lower than that, but I just like that threshold. So for a 200 pound adult looking at a hundred ounces, I mean, you could start and keep it simple. A lot of people like to just go for a gallon a day. I'm going to drink a gallon a day, which could be overkill for some people, if we're being completely honest, like, you know, not everybody needs nearly that much water, but the goal here is drinking water promotes satiety, promotes fullness, promotes hydration, promotes energy, promotes health in both the brain and joints, as well as performance in the gym. So, so many amazing benefits that come with drinking water, but definitely going to help keep you full, make better food decisions and remain hydrated,

Starting point is 00:22:23 which will be very beneficial if you want to lose fat and you're not tracking calories. Okay. Number nine is to take advantage of stimulants that can help make you not only feel energized while you're restricting calories, but can also have an appetite suppressive effect. Caffeine being the main one here, but pretty big proponent of having tea or coffee in the morning if you're trying to lose fat for the added energy that you might need when you're in a deficit and the appetite suppressive effect of these particular compounds or that these compounds can have in some people. Now, I'm currently not drinking caffeine, but if fat loss was top of mind, I'd consider adding it back into the routine for sure.

Starting point is 00:23:07 The 10th tip I have for you if you're not going to track but you want to lose fat is stop ordering out, eating out, or ordering in using delivery apps. I've talked about this ad nauseum, but it's important to remember that American restaurants and eating establishments are prioritizing the customer experience, not the caloric intake of the customer. Okay. So you're going to get foods that are designed to taste good, often cooked in oils and agents that bring with them a lot of calories.

Starting point is 00:23:35 Usually there's a lot of condiments and some pretty generous portion sizes. So you can make it really hard to stay on track with where you need to be if you're not counting calories to include a lot of these foods. So wouldn't necessarily recommend eating out or ordering in a whole heck of a lot. And the final tip I have for you for sure is to meal prep and prepare some meals ahead. You might not necessarily want to track every day, but you could at least track those meals one time a week and have most of your meals tracked without ever needing to break out a tracking app. You can literally just be like, oh, I want 50 grams of protein. So I'm going to weigh out a whatever, however many grams I need of

Starting point is 00:24:13 chicken to get to 50 grams of protein. And I'm going to have 45 grams of carbs. I'm going to weigh out however much sweet potato I need to get to 45 grams of carbs. Oh, that's what that looks like in one Tupperware. Okay. I'm going to weigh that out for seven Tupperware, five Tupperware, however long you want to cook for and put a piece of tape on it that says 50 protein, 40 carb. And I'm going to track it one time then. And then I'm just going to make sure that I have those meals when I'm supposed to have them. And I'm not going to whip out my phone and track because a lot of people are super resistant to that. And I totally get it. Okay, guys. So those are just some quick tips to help make fat loss easier. If you're looking to lose weight for

Starting point is 00:24:50 your health, for your confidence, for your performance, for a vacation, whatever, right? It can be very, very tricky, especially without counting calories. So if you're not going to do that, or you're just really resistant to doing it right now, these tips should help you. I want to thank you so much for tuning in. Remind you, if you have not yet shared this podcast with somebody, leave a five star rating and review on Apple podcasts or Spotify. That helps a ton. And I will see you on the next one.

Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 279: How to Lose Fat WITHOUT Tracking (Do These 11 THINGS)

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