What's going on, guys?
Sean Nalewanyj on www.SeanNal.com - www.RealScienceAthletcs.com.
And in this video today I want to talk about the issue of hunger during a fat loss phase
and basically just address the fact that, yes, it is normal to feel hungry to a certain
degree while you're in a cutting phase and you're trying to lean down.
In order to lose body fat you need to be eating in a calorie deficit where you're consistently
burning more calories than you consume, there's no way around that.
And when you do eat in a calorie deficit over an extended period of time your body is naturally
going to send out hunger signals to some degree to try to motivate you to eat and you are
gonna experience increased cravings that you're gonna have to deal with and manage throughout
the process.
And I know this sounds pretty simple on the surface but the reason I wanted to talk about
this is because I think for beginners out there who are carrying excess fat and are
trying to lean down, or those who might be finishing up their first focused bulk and
who are going to be doing their first cutting phase, it's really important to understand
this and accept beforehand that it is a natural part of the process.
I think some people tend to get misled by certain content they might see on youtube
or an Instagram where fat loss is basically portrayed as being easy as long as you follow
that specific person's dietary approach, or you buy their program, or their supplements
or whatever else.
If you just use intermittent fasting and drink coffee then fat loss is going to be an effortless
process, or if you follow a ketogenic diet or you use carb backloading or some specific
macronutrient breakdown then you can lose fat and build the body of your dreams without
ever feeling any cravings at all.
And while that is very marketable and it sounds great on paper, it sells programs really well,
it's just not the reality of how things actually work in the real world.
Now, I'm definitely not saying you have to starve yourself or that you have to experience
huge amounts of hunger just to lose some body fat, that's definitely not the case, and,
yes, there are several strategies you can use to minimize that hunger as much as possible,
and, yes, there will be individual variation at play as well.
But regardless of any of that, the fact remains that some degree of background hunger during
certain periods of the day, some degree of increased cravings and desires for certain
foods that you'll have to learn to keep under control, some degree of energy loss as you
maintain your deficit and drop your body fat lower and lower, is normal and it is to be
expected.
It doesn't mean you're doing something wrong, it's just a natural byproduct of consuming
fewer calories than your body requires to maintain its current weight.
I mean, if you're someone who's overweight then you have to think about how you gain
that fat in the first place.
The reason you gained body fat is because you were eating in an ultimately unnecessary
calorie surplus over an extended period of time, long enough that that fat was able to
accumulate.
You were consuming more calories than your body required, you were probably indulging
in a higher amount of good tasting but higher calorie foods, and you probably weren't exercising
on a consistent basis either, that's how people get out of shape to begin with.
So this idea that someone is going to get out of shape through overeating and through
under exercising but then getting back into shape is gonna be this easy, effortless process
that's just not realistic, it's not how things actually work in the real world.
If you've allowed yourself to go too far in one direction through what you might call
comfortable habits then if you want to pull yourself back in the opposite direction it's
going to involve some discomfort.
There's a certain price that has to be paid to undo the damage, so to speak.
And if that wasn't true then everyone out there would have a lean and impressive body
and everyone who started out on a fat loss program would see it all the way through to
the end, which is obviously not the case.
Now again, the degree of hunger that's involved during a cutting phase is gonna vary from
person to person.
It depends on your current body fat percentage, it depends on how lean you're ultimately trying
to get, and it depends on the size of the deficit that you're using and whether you'd
rather lose fat more slowly with a smaller deficit but be less hungry throughout the
process or just tough it out with a bigger deficit in order to lose fat faster.
It definitely shouldn't be your goal to make yourself hungry and you might feel completely
fine during the initial stages of your cut but as time goes on and as you get leaner
and leaner your body will make certain hormonal adjustments and those cravings will start
to kick in more strongly.
Now eventually, once you've dropped your desired amount of body fat and you're able to raise
your calories back up and go back to eating at maintenance then the hunger will subside,
hormone levels will rebalance, and you'll go back to feeling normal again.
This isn't a permanent thing but it's just something you'll have to deal with throughout
the actual fat burning process.
And this is why having a properly structured plan is so important because what you need
to do is stack the odds as much in your favor as possible and get your appetite as under
control as you can.
Now, these are things I've talked about before but I'll just give you some quick tips here
before I close the video out, number one and probably the most important is to work on
maximizing your total food volume relative to the number of calories.
So you want to focus on eating a mostly whole food, minimally processed diet, and base it
around foods that are as non calorie dense as possible.
And increasing your vegetable intake is a great way to do this.
That's going to allow you to physically fill yourself up as much as possible while still
staying within your caloric limits, and drinking plenty of water throughout the day can also
help you fill yourself up a bit more on top of that as well.
Also make sure you're getting enough protein because it's the most satiating of the three
macronutrients, so at least 0.8 grams per pound of body weight daily.
In terms of your diet as a whole, if you do have issues sticking to your cutting plan
because of that increased hunger then don't use too large of a calorie deficit.
So anywhere between about 300 to 500 calories below maintenance is usually going to be a
good figure to aim for.
That'll be large enough to produce significant fat loss from week to week but small enough
to help keep your appetite moderated.
In addition to that you can also experiment with different daily meal frequencies and
layouts.
So some people do well with larger meals eaten less frequently, some people prefer smaller
meals more frequently, and some people get really good results by pushing their first
meal to later in the day like with intermittent fasting.
But this is a really individual thing so you'll need to play around a bit and experiment to
see what works best for you.
On the training side of things I'd also recommend not going overboard on cardio.
There are some people who actually do better with higher cardio volume and they prefer
to burn calories through exercise and then eat a bit more as a result of that, but in
my experience large amounts of cardio usually causes a net increase in appetite overall
and it makes it harder to not overeat.
So I'd say to start off with no more than three cardio sessions per week and only increase
that later on if you really need to if your fat loss has stalled once you're deeper into
a cutting phase.
Another thing that helps is getting enough sleep each night because when you're sleep-deprived
your body releases lower amounts of leptin and higher amounts of ghrelin which are two
hormones that regulate appetite.
So, definitely get your sleep dialed in.
And one last quick tip is to slow down when you eat.
Just a really simple thing but that can help you feel a bit more satisfied off of a slightly
smaller amount of food.
So I'll leave it there, guys.
Definitely employ those tips I just mentioned because they can make a big difference in
terms of minimizing hunger but at the same time recognize that some degree of hunger
is still inevitable.
Usually it can't be eliminated fully and it's just something you'll have to deal with if
you're really serious about losing a significant amount of fat over the long term.
So, thanks for watching, guys.
I hope this advice was helpful today.
If you want to get a complete step-by-step roadmap that covers all aspects of proper
nutrition for losing fat and building muscle along with fully structured training and supplementation
plans as well to fully maximize your progress, then you can grab my complete Body Transformation
Blueprint program by clicking up at the top of the screen or visiting www.BTBluePrint.com.
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Thanks for watching, guys.
And I will see you in the next video.