5 Inconvenient Fat Loss Truths

I like to say that losing fat is simple, but not easy.

Simple to understand, but difficult to execute. 

Oftentimes client expectations of what a fat loss phase should be like are way out of alignment with what the reality needs to be to ensure high quality fat loss results.

Here are 5 inconvenient fat loss truths that you must understand before embarking on a fat loss diet...

First lets address hunger. You must understand that some hunger is inevitable during a fat loss diet. This isn't to say that you should be starving every waking moment. But you definitely should experience a build up of hunger, especially before meal times. 

There are a number of things you can do to alleviate hunger whilst dieting. You can read more on this here.

The second inconvenient truth is that you should not be dieting all the time. This is perhaps one of the most common mistakes I see people making. They are always vaguely following a loose plan. However, in reality they are spinning their wheels, making little to no progress and getting extremely frustrated in the process.

My advice? Set out a pre-determined period of time in which to diet. Have a pre-defined start and end date. Diet for a longer timeframe if you have more fat to lose. Have a post-diet plan for when you finish the fat loss phase to ensure you do not just regain the weight you have lost.

In my personal experience dieting for shorter, but more aggressive, bouts of time tend to work a lot better than long, drawn out, dieting periods. 

The third inconvenient fat loss truth is that your training performance will likely suffer during a fat loss diet.

Peak training performance occurs when you can properly fuel your workouts. 

However, during a fat loss diet we are deliberately under-fuelling the body in order to tap into fat stores. 

So don't expect to set any records in the gym whilst you are dieting. Instead, focus on maintaining your strength and (very importantly) your muscle mass during your diet.

Another thing that may be affected by your diet is your sleep quality. 

It will pay dividends to ensure your sleep isn't too affected by your fat loss diet. Read this article for tips on ensuring a good nights sleep.

The final inconvenient truth about fat loss is that there may be certain foods that are 'off-limits' during a fat loss phase. 

There may be people who suggest that you can eat whatever you like and still lose fat. This is true if you are extremely good at tracking all the calories you consume with great accuracy and you are able to moderate the foods you love to eat. The so-called 'Twinkie Diet' by Professor Mark Haub is a great example of this.

The truth is, it is extremely rare that people can accomplish this. The statistics on people's ability to accurately report their calorie intake is damning. 

In my experience, people do better when they restrict certain foods during a fat loss phase, especially so-called 'trigger foods' that they have a hard time moderating (ice cream anyone?!).

Restricting calorie-dense foods that you have a hard-time moderating doesn't automatically make these foods 'bad' or 'unhealthy'. It means that for a limited period of time you would be better off substituting these foods for ones that better suit your needs. 

So to summarise, it is important that before embarking on a fat loss diet you know what to expect to ensure small things don't throw you off.

First, understand that some hunger is inevitable. Set a timeframe for your dieting phase and have a clear plan of action for when you finish. Pay close attention to your sleep quality and understand you probably aren't going to be setting any records in the gym. Lastly, understand that some foods may be off limits for a while, but know that this is a temporary restriction and these foods can be re-introduced back into the diet once the dieting phase is over. 

Applying these principles to your fat loss diet will reap huge rewards in the long-term.

How Jo Lost 20kg in 16 Weeks...

On January 1st Jo wanted to make a change and decided to join the FAST 28 January Fat Loss Challenge.

Fast-forward 16 weeks and he is currently down 20kg and counting. 

Let me break down some of the key factors in how Jo achieved this amazing feat.

1. Have a clear and concise plan to follow that simplifies the process.

Here is what Jo said about the FAST 28 Fat Loss Plan:

"Paul's FAST 28 Plan was perfect for me. The plan is clear, concise and surprisingly flexible"

The aim of the FAST 28 Fat Loss plan is to make the process more simple. The food plan is extremely easy to follow and execute.

If you find yourself overwhelmed, confused, paralysed with choice, it might be time to simplify things. 

2. Guidance and accountability to help stay on track.

Jo has a weekly face-to-face training session with me. This allows me to check in and troubleshoot any issues with the plan and answer any questions he may have.

Having a form of accountability is one of the key reasons people hire a coach to help with their fat loss.

3. Ways to measure progress on a consistent basis

On the FAST 28 Fat Loss Plan there are 3 key ways we measure progress...

• Scale weight - Daily

• Waist Measurements - Fortnightly

• Photos - Monthly

Remember what gets measured gets managed.

4. A nutrition plan that is rigid enough to ensure fast fat loss results, but flexible enough to provide plenty of options.

The FAST 28 Fat Loss Plan comes with over 70 high protein recipes to ensure there is always something tasty to eat.

The plan focuses on provided you with plenty of healthy, nutritious and low-calorie foods to ensure the body gets the nutrients it needs whilst simultaneously providing you with the fat loss results you are looking for.

5. Increased activity levels outside of the gym.

Jo had 3 training sessions in the gym to complete each week. But one of the major drivers of his weight loss success over the past few months is consistently moving more.

The FAST 28 Fat Loss Plan encourages more movement by setting a goal of 10,000 steps per day but Jo consistently walked 12-15,000 steps per day.

Walking more is perhaps one of the easiest ways to get more activity into your day and accelerate weight loss results. 

Why lifting weights is crucial to weight loss...

Weight loss occurs as a result of creating an energy deficit; more energy is expended than eaten over a period of time.

As I have covered before, this scenario is most easily created by reducing energy intake rather than trying to expend energy doing loads of exercise.

So why should lifting weights form part of your weight loss plan?

There are two key reasons for this.

First, without exercise, weight lost from dieting could be 22-46% muscle depending on your initial body composition and rate of weight loss.

To make matters worse, without exercise and sufficient protein intake muscle loss could spike to 60-80% if one is sleep-deprived and/or psychologically stressed.

This means that the majority of the weight you lose will be coming from lean mass (i.e. muscle) rather than fat. 

Additionally, weight regain after diet-induced muscle loss may result in something utterly terrible called a Fat Overshoot. A Fat Overshoot is where you potentially gain more fat than you originally had to get back your original level of fat-free mass.

Second, we have seen that exercise is critically important for long-term weight maintenance.

Whilst caloric restriction is effective for weight loss, it appears to be relatively ineffective as a sole strategy for long-term weight loss maintenance.

We consistently see that those who successfully maintain weight loss maintain higher levels of physical activity than those who don't (Ostendorf et al, 2019).

The FAST 28 Fat Loss Plan prioritises creating a calorie deficit by reducing calorie intake, but strength training 3 times per week and meeting a certain threshold of steps per day are huge parts of the plan.

Nutrition is the lynchpin for obtaining and maintaining fat-loss results, but without resistance training on a diet muscle loss will likely occur (Dr Ben House, 2021). 

Why lack of sleep might be stopping you lose fat

When it comes to fat loss, sleep is often one of the things people turn to last. However, in my opinion, ensuring you are achieving optimal sleep should be one of the first things you do to ensure you achieve the very best results possible and feel at your best day-to-day.

Let's look at two studies that do a great job of emphasising the role of sleep in fat loss.

The first study took a group of participants and split them into two groups:

• One group slept for 5 hours per night for 2 weeks. 

• One group slept for 7.5 hours per night for 2 weeks.

Both groups were fed an identical diet to ensure they were in a calorie deficit. 

Both groups lost a similar amount of weight (approximately 3kg), but the differences in fat loss were stark: -

• The short sleep group lost only 0.6kg in body fat as compared to the longer sleep group who lost an average of 1.4kg.

So as you can see, sleeping fewer hours can have a huge impact on your ability to lose fat.

"These results highlight the importance of human sleep for the maintenance of fat-free body mass during periods of reduced energy intake"(Nedeltcheva et al, 2010)

The second study by Brondel et al (2010) took a group of 12 who were put into 2 different conditions for 48 hours:

• 8 Hours sleep

• 4 Hours Sleep

After each condition food intake and activity levels were assessed.

In comparison with the 8 hour sleep session, subjects consumed 22% more energy on the day after sleep restriction.

"These experimental results suggest that sleep restriction could be one of the environmental factors that contribute to the obesity epidemic."(Brondel et al, 2010)

The take home point here is that sleep is absolutely critical to fat loss. Lack of sleep or disrupted sleep has been found to increase losses in lean body mass. This is why I created a whole section on sleep and it’s importance in my FAST 28 Fat Loss Plan.

So before you get too bogged down with small details around your training and nutrition, make sure you are consistently getting good sleep to ensure you maximise your results. 

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

Eating out at restaurants whilst attempting to lose fat will require you to rob Peter in order to pay Paul.

You’ll have to sacrifice calories you would normally eat elsewhere to ‘make room’ for the extra calories consumed when eating at restaurants.

That’s the trade off.

You cannot expect to eat your regular diet, and eat out at restaurants on top of that, and still lose fat. It won’t happen.

It would be like trying to empty a bath full of water. You remove the plug and water starts to drain slowly. This is your weekly calorie deficit doing it’s job. At first the change is imperceptible. But after several weeks you can start to see a real difference.

Now imagine you pour in a huge bucket of water back into the bath. Any water being lost from the bottom is essentially being replaced at the top. These huge buckets of water are the calories consume at restaurant meals. Huge amounts of calories over a short space of time that serve to stop you losing any fat.

The bath remains full.

The average main meal in a restaurant is a smidge under 1,000 calories according to research by Robinson et al (2018), something I have written about before here.

So, if you only have around 2,000 calories to play with each day, there will be a lot of sacrificing to be made in order to make it work.

This is where a lot of guys come unstuck. They grossly underestimate the amount of calories in food they eat out at restaurants. They then wonder why they aren’t making progress despite seemingly only consuming the number of calories allotted to them.

Their metabolism must be the problem.

No, they need to drop their calories even lower.

No, they need to do 30 minutes on the treadmill every morning before breakfast.

Chances are you think that you are only consuming 2,000 calories per day across the week, but those couple of days you ate out? Your calories were actually closer to 4,000 for the day.

So all of that hard work you put in was essentially cancelled out by those restaurant meals. The very definition of spinning your wheels.

Can you go out to restaurants and still lose fat? Yes absolutely. But you have to be extremely careful about what you select from the menu. You need to ensure you allocate calories from other meals because your calorie intake WILL be higher as a result of these meals out. You need to be realistic about how many times you can afford to do this whilst trying to lose body fat.

Here are 5 tips on how to dine out and not destroy your diet: -

• Look at the menu in advance and decide what to order ahead of time.

• Sacrifice calories ahead of time by eating fewer calories at breakfast and lunch.

• Leave the bread they offer you at the beginning of the meal.

• Instead of an entree, which in many cases can be the most calorie-dense foods on the menu, opt to start the meal with a large garden salad.

• Don't be afraid to leave food on your plate.

5 Ways to Prevent Weight Regain

The statistics around weight regain are damning.

Research has shown that short-term weight loss utilizing a variety of approaches can be successful, yet more than 80% of successful individuals experience weight regain after 1 year, 85% after 2 years and over 95% after 3 years (Langeveld & de Vries, 2013).

What's clear is that whilst many people can lose weight, most people cannot maintain it.

This can lead to immense frustration and a sense of despondency. 

Why even try losing weight in the first place? 

The good news? There is plenty of research on successful weight loss maintainers available. Below I distil 5 key traits these people share and how they can help you on your weight loss journey.

So here are the five key traits that successful weight loss maintainers share...

1. Changing lifestyles: Maintaining weight loss over the long-term requires a shift in lifestyle. Your old habits and behaviours resulted in your old results. Without changing your habits and behaviours you'll end up with the same results...

"Once a problem improves, people often stop doing what caused it to improve" (Dweck, 2006).

2. Periodically Track Food Intake: Tracking food intake is a useful tool to utilise periodically to ensure you are eating the correct amount of food to maintain weight loss. It will also help reinforce how much food you require so that once you stop tracking food you can continue to eat a similar amount. It is not something that you need to do all the time. However, tracking food for a week every 3 to 6 months is a highly useful exercise to ensure successful weight loss maintenance.

3. Continue to Self-Monitor: Successful weight loss maintainers have a greater frequency of self-weighing than weight regainers (Mcguire et al, 1999). It’s important to keep tracking your weight, to ensure that you are remaining successful. If you notice your weight beginning to creep up, you can take action to stop regain by tweaking food intake or activity levels. The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) is a database in the US of successful weight loss maintainers. One of the earliest studies conducted in the NWCR found that 44% of participants weighed themselves at least once per day and 31% weighed themselves once per week.

”Weight monitoring may allow individuals to notice how specific situations or patterns of eating or physical activity behaviours relate to changes in body weight. Weight monitoring also provides an opportunity for positive reinforcement when changes in behavior correspond to weight loss or avoidance of weight gain.” (Butryn et al, 2012)

4. Stick to a Weight Range: Weight can fluctuate based upon a number of factors including food intake, sodium intake, activity levels, time of day, time of cycle (females) etc. As a result, trying to stick to an exact weight can prove to be a frustrating pursuit. Therefore, maintaining your weight within a range can be more useful. For example, rather than trying to remain at 80kgs, you try to stay between 78-82kg, for example.

5. Remain Active: Seek out as much activity within your day to day life as possible. Can you go for a walk during your lunch break, rather than stay stuck at your desk? Can you meet a friend for a walk, rather than a pint at the pub? Can you get off the bus/train a stop early and walk a little further each day?

“A higher number of pedometer recorded daily steps and other measures including everyday activities has likewise been found among weight maintainers.” (Elfhag & Rossner, 2004)

To summarise, successful weight loss maintainers...
-Continue to self-monitor weight & food intake;
-Focus on sticking to a weight range, rather than obsessing over a single number;
-Remain active;
-Adopt these behaviours as part of a new lifestyle they have adopted for themselves. 

If you always do the basics, you'll be advanced

One of the great ironies about those with the best physiques is that they aren't privy to lots of advanced information or methods. You may think that those with the best physiques are doing things that you have no hope of ever doing. This couldn't be further from the truth.

The difference is that those who are most successful always do the basics. They are consistent with all the mundane, basic things that many might dismiss as 'too easy' or 'too basic' to worry about. Nothing could be more from the truth. Mastering the basics is what makes you advanced.

So what are the basics, as it pertains to fat loss, I hear you ask. To me, here are some of the fundamentals you need to do consistently: -

• Drink plenty of water: There is little point giving blanket recommendations here. The amount of water you should be drinking for optimal health and performance will vary depending on body size, activity levels, climate etc. So rather than give direct recommendations you should always ensure your urine is a clear or light, straw colour at all times. 

• Consume a diet high in protein: It is much easier to give recommendations here - if you are strength training and trying to gain muscle or lose fat you should be consuming 2g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day. The main thing I notice with almost all clients when they start with me is they are not consuming enough protein. You need to ensure you are meeting these protein recommendations day-in, day-out. 

• Consume the correct number of calories: To begin with, this may mean using an app to help track the number of calories in the foods you regularly eat. Understanding the calorie content of foods you regularly consume will allow you to step away from tracking over the longer-term because you will have built up a greater level of awareness. It will also ensure you are aware of how many calories you are consuming and will allow you to adjust your intake based on your goals. 

• Perform resistance training: I recommend that if you are looking to lose body fat, you should be doing a minimum of 2 strength training sessions per week to ensure you provide your body with a stimulus to build strength and hold onto muscle mass.

• Keep day-to-day activity levels high: Those that are most successful at losing fat and maintaining it over the long-term understand the power of maintaining high activity levels. An easy way of assessing how active you are is via your daily step-count. 

• Eat a nutrient dense diet: Ensuring that the majority of the foods you eat are whole and minimally processed means that you provide the body with the vitamins and minerals it needs for optimal health and well-being. These foods will also help to keep you fuller for longer, making the fat loss process less arduous.

All of this can be dismissed as too simple to focus on, or stuff that you have heard a million times before. However, if you were to analyse anyone who has been successful at losing fat and maintaining it, they will have absolutely nailed these basics and incorporated them as part of their lifestyle. These aren't things you do for 12 weeks and then forget about. These are things you continue to do for life. 

So remember:  if you always do the basics you'll be advanced.

Eat Junk & Lose Fat

Back in 2010, Professor Mark Haub, of Kansas State University, lost 27 pounds (12.2kg) in 10 weeks eating a diet made up up primarily of junk food. He ate 1,800 calories per day, made up of Twinkies, Doritos, sugary cereals and Oreos. Not only did he lose a lot of weight, he also improved some of his key health markers, including cholesterol, triglycerides and body fat percentage.

So what does this tell us about fat loss?

Calories matter. A lot. 

As it pertains to fat loss, calories are undoubtedly the most important consideration. Whilst it is advised to select your foods from far healthier sources, you can absolutely lose body fat on a diet comprised primarily of junk food, provided you ear eating in a calorie deficit.

The second interesting point to note is that very often health will improve with weight loss. As you can see with the example from this study, his cholesterol improved despite eating primarily junk food that was high in fat and sugar for 10 weeks. 

We need to stop thinking in absolutes as it pertains to nutrition for fat loss. There are no 'good' or 'bad' foods per se. There are no foods that will 'stop' you losing fat. What matters is what you do most of the time. 

If you ever find yourself eating what you might consider food that is 'bad' for you, you can stop thinking that it is going to ruin your diet and sabotage all of your fat loss efforts. 

So whilst I am not advocating this type of approach to dieting, hopefully it illustrates two key concepts: -

1. You need to ensure you are eating the correct amount of calories in order to lose weight & this should be your prime consideration above all else, and;

2. Your diet can be comprised of a vast array of foods that can include some processed, 'junk' food, provided you adhere to point #1. It might be easier to stick to a fat loss diet knowing you don't have to base your diet solely around white meat and broccoli. 

Here are a few reasons why eating a diet of mostly un-processed, whole foods, with a high protein intake will be advantageous...

1. Satiety: Junk food is often extremely high in calories, but very low in nutrients. They will do very little to quell hunger. However, a higher protein intake will help stave off hunger, making the overall dieting experience easier.

2. Muscle Mass Retention: A higher protein intake will help you retain your muscle mass, which is crucial to the fat loss process.

3. Health: Whilst Mark Haub's health markers did improve throughout the duration of the 10 weeks, I would suggest that if he had continued with this diet over a longer time-frame he would have seen diminishing health. Eating a nutrient dense diet is going to support training performance, provide more energy and boost your immune system. 

TLDR: To lose body fat, pay attention to calories above all else. For longer-term health and well-being ensure you eat mostly whole, un-processed foods in the knowledge that some 'junk' food isn't going to kill you. 

Curate Your Fat Loss Environment

Willpower is like a muscle that fatigues each time you call upon it. It depletes with use across the day.

Therefore long-term weight loss success is predicated on your ability to curate an environment that doesn’t rely on willpower and discipline.

Start by doing an audit of your kitchen pantry & fridge. They say you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with; so choose your friends wisely! By the same token you are the average of the 5 foods/meals you eat the most. What foods do you eat most often? Do these foods assist or hamper your weight loss goals?

Let's talk about friction.

The goal is to increase the friction for things you are trying to avoid/restrict and reduce friction for things you are trying to consume.

How can you make it harder to eat the things you are trying to restrict (increased friction)? 

Throw them out.

Place them right at the back of the fridge/pantry so they are out of sight.

Place them in a container that is difficult to open.

Remove take away delivery apps from your phone.

How can you make it easier to make healthy choices (reduced friction)?

Stock up on foods you want to focus on eating.

Pre-cook some protein (such as chicken breast or eggs) so you have a high protein snack ready to go.

Chop up fruit and vegetables and have them in clear containers at the front of the fridge so they are highly visible and easy to reach.

Stock these foods at work too so you always have a healthy option on hand.

Use marinades, spices and herbs to make your lean proteins more tasty (without adding tons of calories from sauces).

Your environment is malleable, so shape it to suit your needs.

Busting Through The Plateau of Latent Potential

One of the core reasons it is difficult to implement new habits that last is because people make small changes, fail to see a tangible results, and decide to stop.

There is a lag-time between making a change and seeing a result.
“I’ve started to improve my eating habits and have been walking more, why hasn’t my weight shifted yet?”.

Once this type of thinking takes root it is easy to see why people might just give up. But to make meaningful change habits need to persist long enough to break through this plateau, which author James Clear calls the ‘Plateau of Latent Potential’.

“Complaining about not achieving success despite working hard is like complaining about an ice cube not melting when you heated it from 25 to 31 degrees. Your work was not wasted; it was just being stored. All the action happens at 32 degrees” (James Clear)

The Plateau of Latent Potential can be observed below…

We often expect progress to be linear, but this is rarely ever the case, especially not as it pertains to weight loss. The message here is to expect the valley of disappointment and to see it as part of the process. And ultimately it is the commitment to the process that will determine your progress.

So if you find yourself several weeks into the new year not seeing much change yet, don't despair and start changing course. It might be that your efforts have not been wasted, merely stored. You are still in the valley of disappointment. Keep going and your will bust through the plateau. Focus on the process. Focus on your daily habits. You will reach your goal.

Dieting Mindset: From Avoidance to Abundance

When dieting, it is very easy to get trapped in what I call the "avoidance mindset". For example, you go to a restaurant and the waiter asks if you would like a drink, to which you might respond "I'd love to, but I can't drink alcohol at the moment.". Or when a friend offers you a chocolate at work; "I can't eat sugar".

Now don't get me wrong, dieting does require restriction in one form or another, whether it is restricting portion sizes, restricting food groups, restricting eating times etc. However, instead of focusing on what you are restricting, it might be easier to shift the focus to all the foods you are still able to eat.

Here is a quick reframe:

You need to give yourself unconditional permission to eat anything. You then choose to restrict food.

Please read the above sentence again ☝️. It’s extremely important that you understand this.

So...

“Food X,Y,Z is off-limits”

or

“I can’t eat X,Y,Z”

becomes...

“I’m making a choice not to eat that for this period of time”

Avoidance Mindset

Abundance Mindset

A really great study by Loria-Kohen et al (2012) (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22209501/) illustrates the importance of your perception of a restriction. In this study 2 groups of women were split in half. Both groups were given a calorie restricted diet but only one group were told they had to remove bread from their diet.

The result of the study were that the group told they had to remove bread from their diet had worse rates of adherence and a higher drop-out rate.

So to summarise, stop focusing on foods you aren't eating, and instead switch your focus to foods you are eating.

How to Prevent Hunger and Over-Eating Whilst Dieting

Successful fat loss diets require the dieter to create and maintain a caloric deficit (put simply, energy consumed is less than energy burnt). Hunger is the enemy when it comes to dieting. Research has found that not being hungry is the most important predictor of successful weight loss. Without hunger, dieting would be as easy as just consciously deciding to eat less. Unfortunately, weight re-gain is common amongst dieters: -

“despite overweight people’s investments of effort, time and money in losing weight, virtually all non-medical approaches to weight loss are characterised by eventual weight regain, usually within several years”

— Lowe, 2012

Lets have a quick look at the statistics: -

• Overall prevalence of obesity has doubled in the last 30 years

• As of 2012, 63% of Australians were classified as Overweight or Obese

• 2/3 of US adults are considered overweight or obese

The health risks associated with overweight and obesity include the following: -

• Type II Diabetes

• Heart Disease - causes 4 out of every 10 deaths in the US

• High Blood Pressure - 1/3 of Americans have high blood pressure

• Osteoarthritis

• Stroke

• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (excess fat and inflammation in the liver of people who drink little or no alcohol)

• Some types of cancer, including breast, colon and kidney

Whilst I can’t possibly hope to cover the multitude of reasons behind this increase in overweight and obesity, overeating is clearly one factor that stands at the heart of the problem.

So what causes us to overeat? According to Stephan Guyenet, a prominent Obesity researcher, we’ve evolved to be driven toward calorie dense, non-toxic food in an energy scarce ancestral environment. However, we now live in a society where most of the food is at a level of reward/palatability that our species has never encountered before. We're surrounded by it, and everywhere we turn, someone is jockeying for our attention, trying to get us to purchase their food.  

The following food properties favour eating: -

• Calorie Dense

• Fat

• Sugar

• Starch

• Salt

• Absence of bitterness

These preferences are innate. Back when humans were hunter-gathers, it makes sense that we would favour foods that are highly calorie dense and highly palatable, given the sporadic nature of eating. Humans could have gone days or even weeks without much food, meaning they had to capitalise when they were able to eat. Our genes haven't changed greatly since those times, yet our environment couldn't be more different. Today we have an abundance of highly palatable, calorie dense, convenient food everywhere we turn.

To illustrate how easy it is to over-consume food, I provide you with the results from a study titled "Spontaneous Overfeeding with a 'Cafeteria Diet' in Men: Effects on 24-hour Energy Expenditure and Substrate Oxidation”. Ten lean individuals were recruited and their daily energy requirement for weight maintenance was calculated. They were then placed in a metabolic ward setting where the only food that was available were from two large vending machines containing a variety of prepared foods of known calorie and nutrient compositions. Examples of the types of food include muffins, pancakes, scrambled eggs, cheeseburgers, apple juice, soda etc. Over the course of seven days, participants in the study gained an average of 2.3kg. The participants were consuming on average 60% more than their baseline energy requirements.

So the palatability and caloric density of foods can make us over-consume. But what other factors affect our appetite?

• Sleep: Sleep regulates everything, including your appetite. Sleep deprivation can also cause a reduction in your metabolism. So, having poor sleep patterns can result in an increased appetite and a slower metabolism - causing what is known as an ‘energy gap’.

• Decision Fatigue: Your ability to override what your instincts are telling you is what is known as ‘executive function’. Executive functioning is an intensive process that fatigues with use. This is generally why people experience a loss of will-power later in the day. They accumulate decision fatigue throughout the course of the day and are then prone to binge eating at night.

• Social Effects: Not only does eating in social settings create a distraction from the food, which will make you less mindful of how much you have eaten (see point below.), the implied social norms also play a large role. For example, if your eating company orders salads, low calorie foods and forgo alcohol, you are much more likely to follow suit.

• Mindfulness & Eating Speed: Put simply, if you are not focused on your food, you will eat more of it. This is why research has found people eat more in front of distractions such as T.V’s and lop-tops and when eating out socially. The research surrounding eating speed is far more mixed, but eating speed and mindfulness are highly correlated. You are far more likely to mindful of your food if you take time to chew your food properly and savour the taste of it.

• Hunger Entrainment: Hunger has a circadian rhythm and as a result you tend to get hungry at times you would normally eat. This is why people often experience increased hunger after exercise. It is not the exercise itself that is making you hungry. Actually, research has found that exercise has an appetite suppressing effect. However, post-workout is a time we always tend to eat, so we get hungry in response to this.

• Body Fat %: The less body fat you have, the hungrier you become. This is why dieting becomes increasingly hard the leaner you become.

So, with this in mind, here are some of my top tips to prevent over-eating and control appetite: -

1. Eat slowly and mindfully -Turn off the television, close down the lap-top; take time to enjoy your food.

2. Prioritise your sleep - The importance of good sleep is a topic too large to cover here but to emphasise the point here are some adverse effects of sleep deprivation: Increased cortisol production; reduced testosterone production; increased appetite; increased insulin resistance; poorer nutrition partitioning; decreased cognitive functioning and overall decreased well-being. Some quick tips to ensure good sleep: Regular sleep and waking patterns (even at weekends); cool room temperature; very dark room; limited exposure to electronic equipment in the hour or so before sleep.

3. Avoid decision fatigue by limiting the number of decisions you have to make regarding your diet. Prepare food in advance or order pre-made food from the numerous meal-delivery companies that are now in existence. Ensure you shop from a grocery list and never go shopping hungry.

4. Get Into Routine - The body craves routine. Try to eat meals at roughly the same time every day to avoid hunger pangs. A good rule of thumb is all meals to fall within a 2 hour window.

5. Stay well hydrated

6. Avoid Proximity - Keep snacks (especially the ones you find highly palatable) out of reach and don't keep any food in your kitchen that you don't intend on eating.

7. Avoid ‘cheat meals’ and stop viewing food as a reward - If you view Saturday as ‘Pancake Saturday’, you spend the rest of the week thinking about the pancakes you are going to eat on Saturday. Find other ways to reward yourself that don’t involve food. Also, by eating a ‘cheat’ food you make it more salient in your memory and increase cravings for that food. The best way to reduce cravings for a food is to starve it, rather than indulge it.

8. Focus on eating foods that provide a high level of satiety - These foods have a high volume (few calories per 100g - the apposite of calorie density), are high in fibre & water, are high in protein and have a high viscosity (i.e. are more solid than liquid). For example, chicken breast is far more satiating than whey protein. Foods that tend to be highly satiating are Quark, Cottage Cheese, Casein, Pumpkin, dark (green) vegetables, blackberries, peaches, plums, strawberries and grapefruit.

Over-eating in today’s environment is increasingly easy. I hope that some of these tips will enable you to empower yourself to make better decisions and take control of your health.

What is The FAST 28 Fat Loss Plan?

The ‘Fast 28 Fat Loss Plan’ is my solution to the problem of how to lose fat quickly whilst maintaining these results for the long-term. I had two clients whom I was working with who wanted a rapid fat loss solution. So this was my answer to their problem.

To date I have had approximately 8 people complete the program. The average weight loss amongst this cohort has been 5.7kgs over the 28 day period. The feedback has been extremely positive. So why do I believe in this product so much?

Neal recently completed the plan, losing 6.2kg in the process.

For one, the protocols I use are backed by scientific principles. There is no pseudoscience or witchcraft! Nothing I am promoting cannot be backed by strong scientific evidence.

Second, there is the element of education that runs throughout the plan. This is not just a meal template. I have created a course that now spans 14 chapters. The depth of the material will provide you with enough knowledge to help you with your weight loss over the long-term. This is a course you can return to again and again for information and help whenever you might need it.

Third, most people I deal with would rather a shorter, more aggressive dieting phase, rather than drawing out the dieting period over a longer period of time. Losing body fat requires restriction one way or another. Psychologically I believe that doing shorter, more aggressive fat loss bouts are easier to adhere to and more rewarding from a weight loss perspective as you can see changes in weight and body fat quicker.

Fourth, the inclusion of a two-week maintenance phase at the end of the dieting phase is there to help with long-term weight loss. I do not want to create a rapid weight loss program that sees everyone who undertakes it gaining back all the weight they lost in a matter of weeks. The goal is to produce long-lasting weight loss results by teaching all of the participants the importance of dieting in a cyclical manner and teaching how to properly transition into a maintenance diet.

Jacob managed to lose 8.45kg over the 28 day dieting phase.

Who is the FAST 28 Fat Loss Plan for?

The plan is for anyone who wants to lose body weight in a short period of time because they have a deadline to meet (photoshoot, wedding, holiday etc) or if they have tried to lose weight but seem to be stuck in a plateau.

How Long does the plan run for?

The dieting phase is 28 days, with a 14 day period at maintenance once the dieting phase has been completed. You have lifelong access to all the material provided in the course. You are welcome to do multiple rounds of the 28 day dieting phase if you have more weight to lose and one round isn’t sufficient.

What is provided in the plan?

The plan comes with tracking sheets so that you can track your progress and habits every day. You also receive a nutrition and supplement guide with a host of recipes that fit with the plan. I also provide information on the fat loss process, how to shape your environment for success, a guide to training and activity during the diet, and a guide to sleep. This is much more than a diet plan.

Oisin managed to lose 7.9kg during his 28 day dieting phase

Does the plan require a lot of complicated calorie and macronutrient tracking?

My aim for this plan was to maximise the effectiveness of the results whilst minimising the complexity of the process. Within the plan clearly list the foods that you are allowed to eat and the quantities you should be aiming for. There are no complicated equations or tracking apps involved. I believe that greater simplicity will mean faster results and fewer headaches.

How do I sign up for the plan?

Just follow this link here

“If you commit to Paul’s program you will see amazing results. Paul’s FAST 28 program suited me perfectly. The diet takes commitment, but he clearly states it is aimed at achieving meaningful results in a relatively short space of time - it’s not forever. The diet plan is simple and straight forward and resulted in me losing 6.8kgs in 28 days.”

— Jason Ireland

“Following the FAST 28 plan enabled me to lose 7.9kg in a month and more importantly it got me into a simple to follow routine with my training and diet that I’d previously struggled with.
Before starting the plan I was training inconsistently after an injury and had a ‘healthy’ diet where I’d meal prep Monday - Friday and then over indulge on the weekends. I was gaining weight every week on week even though I was meal prepping all week and training a couple of times a week.
I would recommend this plan to anyone looking to get into a routine with training and diet and drop some decent kgs in a short period.
The FAST 28 takes a few key principles and if followed the results are extraordinary. The content isn’t over complicated and for me was broken down into 3 simple parts;
Diet - simple to follow diet advice that didn’t involve calorie tracking or weighing food constantly.
Training - 3-4 full body workouts per week that were 40-50mins long.
Liquid calories (mostly alcohol for me) - remove/reduce as much as possible which had a massive effect on my sleep, energy levels and hunger cravings.”

— Oisin Farrell

Client Testimonial: Billy Osborne

“i want to get my body fat 16% or lower and raise my muscle mass” This was your primary goal when starting out training with me. Do you believe you have achieved this?

Absolutely at my last weigh in with paul I was below 13% I’m now aiming for below 10%. I believe my muscle mass has increased also it looks that way.

“being at the beach after christmas and new year.” You stated that you lacked confidence on the beach with taking your shirt off. Is this still the case? How has your confidence improved since starting training with me?

My self confidence has greatly improved more than happy to take my shirt off on the beach now.

“driven optimistic realist” was how you initially described yourself in 3 words. What words would you use now?

Motivated, grounded and optimistic

Having trained for the past 16 weeks and improved your eating and lifestyle habits, what long-term changes do you think you have made?

I have instilled more awareness in my capabilities, and have gained greater knowledge in the value of nutrition and exercise regimes

What have you learnt about yourself over the past 3-4 months?

My capabilities of achieving goals and the avenues I am required to perform in order to obtain the goals that I have set.

What would you say to someone considering starting training or undergoing a transformation?

Not to be afraid of the unknown. It is an amazing journey to travel.

Would you recommend my services to others?

100%. Since training with you I have learnt completely new skill sets that have not only enabled me to achieve my goals, but I am also feeling better in relation to my physical job.

How would you describe me as a coach in 3 words?

Knowledgeable, Understanding, Mentally and physically aware.

And above all a gentleman.

Thank you.