How to Lose Belly Fat – Naturally and For Good

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Author: Coach Adam | Founder of Fitness Freedom Athletes

How to Lose Belly Fat – Naturally and For Good

This is Andy, and he lost 42 lbs in 12 weeks without starvation, cardio, or giving up carbs. He did it all from home without using a gym…

He went from feeling tired, sluggish, depressed and in his own words “like he was killing himself slowly.” To waking up at 5:30 each day feeling energised, way more healthy, and losing 5 inches from his waist…

How to Lose Belly Fat - Naturally and For Good

If you too want to lose belly fat fast, then read on. Because In this post, I’ll show you exactly what I did with Andy’s nutrition approach, right down to his exact meals.

And show you the two types of at-home training methods Andy used to get these awesome results in just 12 weeks

So you can copy it, shed stubborn fat, build lean muscle, and boost your energy levels to feel confident in your own body.

Belly Fat Annihilation Program

By the way, if you’d like the step-by-step video guide and toolkit for this post. Checkout my Belly Fat Annihilation

Nutrition For Fat Loss

First up, is nutrition. You can’t out-exercise a bad diet. There were two objectives with Andy’s nutrition:

Firstly – Improve his insulin sensitivity to get his body functioning as a high-performance machine. Which meant his muscle and functional cells would absorb the nutrients he ate from food more effectively not just dump them into fat cells which it was doing

Secondly – To teach his body to use stored fat instead of carbs as its primary source of energy. Known as having good metabolic flexibility. Which means when he exercises and goes about daily life, his body will turn to fat for energy rather than breaking muscle down.

Don’t have time to read the post in full? Then watch the video below to learn how Andy lost belly fat naturally and for good…

Maintaining Muscle Mass

This approach is the difference between someone like Andy losing fat whilst maintaining and gaining lean muscle. And someone else losing some fat but also losing muscle and feeling hungry all the time, hating life.

It’s because they didn’t focus on getting their body functioning correctly first. They only focused on reducing calories and starving themselves. Which inevitably leads to a rebound, screwed hormones, and complete de-motivation.

That’s not what we want. We want long-term sustainable weight loss. And here’s how Andy achieved that.

How to Lose Belly Fat - Naturally and For Good

Carbs, Fats, And Proteins Intake

First I increased his fats a lot. Reduced his carbs down and kept them to only one meal per day. And kept his protein intake relatively high. So Andy’s overall macronutrient intake was:

50% fats
20% carbs
30% protein

If calories, specifically from fat, are too low for a long period, this can have a negative impact on your hormone production. Don’t be scared of fats. Don’t cut fats thinking you’ll lose fat faster. It works the opposite way.

Calorie Intake

Before I go into what each of Andy’s meals was, I first calculated Andy’s BMR his basal metabolic rate. Which just means how many calories he burns living his life.

Now I know calculating your calories can be a pain, but you only need to do it once to transform your body. Maintaining is the easy part, transformation is the hard part.

Once you understand what I’m about to teach you, and then achieve your goal, you’ll no longer need to track your calories. So long as you continue with this Evergreen Nutrition Framework and don’t go crazy, you’ll maintain the weight loss.

I treat my client’s bodies like a Formula 1 car. I calculate exactly what their calorie intake needs to be for their goal. Because it allows me to see how their body responds and make data-driven adjustments to improve progression and keep momentum.

Calculating Calories

So To calculate Andy’s maintenance level, his BMR, I used the following equation for men

MEN = (10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) – (5 x age in years) + 5 = BMR

WOMEN = [10 x weight(kg)] + [6.25 x height(cm)] – [5 x age in years] – 161 = BMR

This came out at 2000 calories for Andy. And I then times that by the number by his daily activity. This goes on a scale from 1.2 being sedentary to 2.2 being extremely active:

1.2 = Sedentary
Desk job, and Little Formal Exercise

1.3 – 1.4 = Lightly Active
Light daily activity AND light exercise 1-3 days a week

1.5 – 1.6 = Moderately Active
Moderately daily Activity and Moderate exercise 3-5 days a week

1.7 – 1.8 = Very Active
Physically demanding lifestyle and Hard exercise 6-7 days a week

1.9 – 2.2 = Extremely Active
Athlete in ENDURANCE training or VERY HARD physical job

Andy was currently at a 1.2. This gave me his BMR, his maintenance calorie intake, with his daily activity included, which was 2400 calories. I then reduced it by 100 cals to put Andy in a very slight deficit at 2300 cals.

Why only a 100-calorie deficit? Because I also increased Andy’s daily activity with specific training methods, which I’ll come onto. So we created a deficit with a little bit from training and a little bit from nutrition.

Diet Plan For Fat Loss

Here’s how Andy’s daily meal plan looked at 2300 cals with 50% fats, 20% carbs, and 30% protein

Wake-Up
Do ‘High-performance morning routine’

Movement
Workout, walk, or chores

Breakfast
Fats 30%, Protein 30%, Veg (NO CARBS)

Lunch
Fats 30%, Protein 30%, Veg (NO CARBS)

Dinner
Fats 30%, Protein 30%, Veg, Carbs 100%

Snacks (Have any time)
Fats 10%, Protein 10%

He had his high-performance wake up routine, which ill come onto, followed by some form of movement, which I’ll also come onto. Then he had fats, protein, and veg with no carbs for breakfast and lunch. And then had his carb allowance at dinner time.

There are three reasons why Andy didn’t have carbs until dinner…

#1 Insulin Sensitivity

Firstly, to improve his insulin sensitivity so his muscle and functional cells would absorb the nutrients he ate from food more effectively.

Which meant within a few days he started feeling more energised, upbeat, and mentally focused, with no brain fogg.

#2 Fat Burning Mode

Secondly, I wanted to keep his body in fat-burning mode for as long as possible after his sleeping fast.

When Andy was active during the day, his body burned his stored fat as energy. Along with the fat from food.

#3 Hunger Levels

And finally higher fat is very satiating, it reduces hunger levels right down. For the entire 12 weeks, Andy did not once say to me that he felt hungry.

He then had his carbs at dinner time so his body had all 3 macronutrients to re-build whilst he slept.

Here’s Andy’s meal plan broken down with the foods he ate and what he did each day.

Upon Waking

Andy did this 4-step ‘high-performance morning routine’ as soon as he woke up every day:

Step 1 – Go to the toilet.

Step 2 – Weigh yourself and send to Coach Adam.

Step 3 – Clean and floss teeth.

Step 4 – Drink one pint of warm water with:
+ Slice of lemon squeezed and dropped in + Slice of ginger (snap it)
+ pinch of Himalayan salt
+ 1 Pro-biotic

He went to the toilet and then he weighed himself for data. Then cleaned and flossed his teeth. The reason he did this, is because there are lots of bad bacteria in your mouth from the night’s sleep.

You want to clean this bad bacteria out before you eat or drink anything. So it doesn’t get washed down and affects the good bacteria in your gut.

Your Second Brain

Your gut is your second brain, you need to treat it like that and do everything you can to keep it healthy from the get-go.

Then Andy had a pint of water with lemon and ginger root to help the liver detoxify from free radicals released as the body repairs and grows during the night.

A pinch of Himalayan salt to help rehydration and add minerals. And a pro-biotic to boost good bacteria levels and aid digestion throughout the day.

This quick morning routine made sure Andy’s body was primed for high performance from the get-go.

Movement

Before his breakfast, Andy either did a workout which I’ll come onto, went for a long walk, or did house chores.

We took advantage of his sleep fast and kept Andy’s body in fat-burning mode whilst doing an activity to eat into his fat stores.

Breakfast

Now look at this, Andy’s breakfast was a simple shake consisting of:

  • Whey Protein: 2 Scoops
  • Olive Oil: 4 TEA Spoons
  • Powdered Greens: 1 Heaped TEA Spoon
  • Magnesium: 1 Tablet

The 4 teaspoons of olive oil provided healthy fats and sustained energy. And some powdered greens provided anti-toxins, potassium, and vitamins.

Quick tip for you here, if you want to have lots of daily energy, keep your potassium levels high. Green veg like spinach and broccoli are full of it.

And finally, a magnesium tablet because magnesium is essential for cellular function and our food is lacking in it due to overfarming lands.

Andy has a very busy work and family life. This shake meant he could get it in quick and be cracking on with work and family demands energised and focused.

Lunch

Check this out. Here’s one of Andy’s lunch options, a smoked salmon bowl. He had a variety that followed a similar structure:

  • Spinach / Greens: Large Handful (Wash First)
  • Smoked Salmon: 80g
  • Avocado: 1/2 Medium Size
  • Feta Cheese: 2 Thumb (30g)
  • Pumpkin Seeds: 2 TABLE Spoons
  • Virgin Oil: 1 TEA Spoons
  • Sauce Options: 1 TABLE spoon (Pesto Sauces, Mayonnaise, Cream Cheese)

These types of lunches are super easy and quick to make, you just get a big bowl and bang in the spinach, smoked salmon, avocado, feta cheese, pumpkin seeds, olive oil and then drizzle over a sauce option.

Pumpkin seeds are the best out there because they’re so nutrient-dense. You can swap the protein, cheese, and sauce to make many variations. Again, no carbs.

Keeping Andy’s body in fat-burning mode.

Dinner

Dinner time was when Andy ate with his family and sometimes ate out for work, so I allowed a little flexibility off plan, so long as he followed this rule:

How to Lose Belly Fat - Naturally and For Good
  1. Fill 1⁄2 of your plate with the veggies you love. Green ones are always GREAT!
  2. Fill 1⁄4 of your plate with any kind of lean protein you love.
  3. Fill the final 1⁄4 of your plate with a healthy carb you love. Like Sweet Potato, brown rice, whole grain pasta.

Then when Andy could stick to the plan, here’s one of his dinner meals, Chicken Breast & Sweet Potato:

  • Sweet Potato: 1.5 cups
  • Chicken Breast: 1 Medium
  • Vegetables (lots of green): 2-3 cups
  • Pesto Or Alt Sauce (Flavour): 1 TABLE spoon

Sweet potato as the carb source, chicken breast, lots of veg, and then a sauce to add flavour. I kept Andy’s fat intake low for dinner because he was having carbs.

Insulin is released in higher amounts from lots of carbs. Insulin is a storage hormone. Your body will look to store fat straight away in the presence of insulin.

That’s why every food that causes you to gain weight easily is high in carbs AND fat. Think of cookies, chips, pizza, cake… All high in fat and carb. That high combo together is a recipe for fast fat storage.

One should always lead, either high fat and low carb. Or high carb and low fat. Again, you can easily swap out the carb, protein and sauce options to create variety. Super simple, super quick.

Snacks

And check out Andy’s snacks. Almonds and walnuts as option one. With greek yoghurt and smooth almond butter as option two:

Option 1:
Whole Almonds: 12
Walnut Halves: 12

Option 2:
Brooklea 0% Fat Greek Yogurt: 1 Cup
Smooth Almond Butter: 1 TABLE Spoon
Pumpkin Seeds: 1 TABLE Spoon

Quick and sustaining. The reason it’s 0% fat is because I wanted to save the fat total for the walnuts, almonds, and peanut butter. They contain a better variety of healthy fats than full-fat yoghurt.

A Common Concern

You might be thinking, “But Adam, what about the carbs in things like whey protein and veg” Great question. When I refer to carbs, I mean carbs that are going to cause large insulin spikes.

That’s what we want to avoid.

The carbs from veg and those in whey protein don’t negatively affect insulin sensitivity and cause insulin resistance. Like spikes from carbs such as potatoes and white bread do

Here’s a hot tip for you, plants are the only food source that I am aware of. That contains a source of anti-estrogens available. Eating plenty of high-sulfur veg like broccoli and cauliflower can help raise testosterone levels, the main fat-burning hormone.

And the fibre also helps keep your appetite satisfied.

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Exercise For Fat Loss

Andy had two types of exercise for his results. Firstly, Metabolic HIIT workouts. Secondly, muscle-building suspension trainer workouts.

For the first 2 weeks, he did 20-minute metabolic HIIT workouts, 4 times a week. Yep. That’s all it takes for great results when your body is functioning correctly from the right nutrition approach.

That’s why it’s so important to follow a diet that keeps your insulin sensitivity great.

Then after 2 weeks, I replaced 2 of the HIIT workouts with muscle-building suspension trainer workouts. Making sure Andy was performing ‘muscle-centric technique’ with his suspension trainer.

I’ll come onto what I mean by ‘muscle-centric’ technique next. Because it’s so important.

How to Lose Belly Fat - Naturally and For Good

1. Metabolic HIIT workouts

There are 3 reasons why Andy did Metabolic HIIT workouts…

#1 Spiking Metabolism And Fat-Burning Hormones

Firstly In a calorie deficit, metabolism slows down. Intense short workouts like these metabolic HIIT workouts help to improve this.

The more times you can spike metabolism-increasing hormones from workouts, the more fat you’ll burn.

#2 Improve Mitochondria in cells

Secondly, The two important aspects of fat loss and health are mitochondrial health in your cells and aerobic Fitness.

Metabolic HIIT workouts help with both of these. They improve the efficiency at which the mitochondria in your cells burn fat for energy.

#3 Motivation

And finally motivation. I wanted Andy to prove to me he could manage the short HIIT workouts. It does a lot for clients’ motivation and crushes limiting beliefs when they complete a week of workouts.

Throwing long workouts at Andy that required a gym and sacrificing precious family time just wouldn’t have worked.

He got up and got these done in the garage before his wife and child woke up and felt great for the rest of the day.

2. Suspension Trainer Workouts

After two weeks I swapped two of Andy’s workouts to muscle-centric suspension trainer workouts.

Muscle-centric technique is what I’ve been teaching my clients and the thousands of members in the Fitness Freedom Athletes community for years.

Most resources teach you how to use a suspension trainer with “Movement-Centric Technique.” Which is a waste of time. Because your body weight load is shared across multiple muscles.

So no single muscle takes enough load to cause a muscle and strength-building stimulus. You need to use “Muscle-Centric Suspension Trainer Technique”.

Building Muscle

Isolate the muscle you want to target and don’t allow other muscles to help out. By using a slow, controlled technique, and your mind-muscle connection to squeeze the muscle powerfully.

Then the majority of your body weight load goes onto that single muscle. One muscle handling the majority of the load under constant tension creates a BIG muscle-building stimulus.

Which means you build lean muscle effectively from each workout and from home

Losing Belly Fat Fast

By using these two types of workouts for the 12 weeks. Andy was able to improve his cardiovascular health and overall fitness with the Metabolic HIIT workouts. And maintain and build lean muscle mass with the ‘mucle-centirc’ suspension trainer workouts.

Andy’s additional secret for losing so much weight was making sure he hit his 10k steps a day. Yes it’s the classic saying!

But getting your steps in each day is the difference between ok results and good results. And the difference between getting good results and FANTASTIC results is getting a coach to help you.

Do You Need To Lose Some Unhealthy Belly Fat?

If you’ve found this helpful and you’re a busy professional who is struggling to lose weight and transform your body, then checkout my “Belly Fat Annihilation”

It will give you all the teaching, tools, and guidance to do it yourself.

Losing Fat Smarter Not Harder,
Coach Adam
Body Transformation Coach

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About The Author

About The Author

Coach Adam, Body Transformation Coach

Founder of Fitness Freedom Athletes

Hello, my friend… I help busy professionals build lean muscle and transform their bodies from home-with a TRX suspension trainer or resistance band, and simple nutrition optimisation. I call it Fitness Freedom!

I spent 8+ years as a personal trainer hating the ego-driven gym culture. Every day I saw busy professionals like you struggle to make sessions, feel intimidated by the environment, and regard the gym as a chore NOT enjoyment. Because of this, their results were limited. But they believed there was no other way. So in 2016, I setup Fitness Freedom Athletes. To teach you how to transform you body from home… so you never need to rely on gyms, diet fads, or anyone else’s schedule.

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Coach Adam Fitness Freedom Athletes

About Coach Adam

Hello, my friend... I help busy professionals build lean muscle and transform their bodies from home-with a TRX suspension trainer or resistance band, and simple nutrition optimisation. I call it Fitness Freedom!

I spent 8+ years as a personal trainer hating the ego-driven gym culture. Every day I saw busy professionals like you struggle to make sessions, feel intimidated by the environment, and regard the gym as a chore NOT enjoyment. Because of this, their results were limited. But they believed there was no other way. So in 2016, I setup Fitness Freedom Athletes. To teach you how to transform your body from home... so you never need to rely on gyms, diet fads, or anyone else's schedule.

Read my story here

Adam Atkinson TRX Traveller Fitness Freedom Athletes

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