Best Strategy for Weight Loss: The Hierarchy of Weight Loss
Best Strategy for Weight Loss: The Hierarchy of Weight Loss
There are tons of strategies for weight loss available today but what is actually the best strategy for weight loss? I went looking for the best strategy for weight loss a few years ago and it was mind numbing. There are countless of strategies for weight loss out there but so many were confusing or not feasible for the long term. These strategies overloaded me with that ten different actions to do at the same time. This easily lead to confusion, frustration, and eventually giving up on the program.
This is a storied probably very similar to yours. This is why I wanted to give you the best strategy for weight loss that I have found. This strategy will provide you with a system that will help you lose weight and keep it off long term. The reason it is the best strategy for weight loss is that it provides you a hierarchy of what is important and can easily be adjusted to achieve even greater weight loss.
The Hierarchy of Weight Loss
When you are trying to achieve weight loss it is easy to be overwhelmed with what to focus on first. Should you be doing cardio or weight training or eating a lot of protein or wearing a garbage bag to sweat the pounds away? This is where so many people get stuck, the beginning. You don’t know which way to turn or direction to go in. Many strategies bombard you with lots of actions to take right away, which you end up doing none of them. So what exactly is the best strategy for weight loss?
The hierarchy directly addresses this issue. It gives you an exact guide on what you should be focusing on each step of the way. You do not move up in the hierarchy till you have gotten your current level in check.
Let’s break down each level of the hierarchy and how you know when to move or stay put.
Level 1: Calorie Deficit
Calorie deficit, the most important level of the hierarchy. Without being in a calorie deficit it is almost impossible to achieve your weight loss goals. That is why it is the most important level and your starting point.
To start you need to find your maintenance calories, the number of calories you need to eat in order to maintain your current weight. Finding this number can be done using a equation (I use this one) or simply multiply your weight in pounds by 15. These are both just estimates it would take scientific tests to find your true maintenance calories.
Once you have your maintenance calories, it is time to set up your calorie deficit. A traditional calorie deficit is 500 calories below your maintenance. This is usually an easily maintained deficit and roughly equals about 1 pound of weight loss per week.
Now that you have your calorie deficit, time to start tracking your calories. I suggest using apps like MyFitnessPal or Mike’s Macros to keep track of your calories. These apps have huge databases with most foods already in them. This makes it super easy to just measure out your food and plug it into the app. If you don’t like the apps, you can also use a notebook to track how much you ate.
You should be consistently hitting your calorie goal for 2-4 weeks before moving on to the next level of the level. As you start to loss weight be sure to adjust your calories accordingly. With weight loss your maintenance calories are going to decrease so you are going to have to decrease the number of calories you are eating to maintain weight loss.
Level 2: Protein Amount
You have been consistently tracking and hitting your target number of calories and now you can move to the next level: tracking how much protein you are eating. Out of the three macronutrients, protein is the most important for fat loss. The main two reasons are that you need to make sure you are getting enough protein to maintain your muscle mass and protein is going to help you keep fuller longer.
For fat loss you should be eating 1 gram of protein for every pound of lean body weight you have. You can figure this out using your body fat percentage. The reason for using lean body weight instead of total body weight is because for some that number is going to be ridiculously high. Example of this would be someone who weight 250lbs and is 30%. If we did 1 gram per body weight that would be 250 grams of protein. That is a lot of protein. If instead you did 1 gram per lean body weight, they would only eat 175 grams of protein. That is a much more manageable amount.
I suggest reading my Counting Macros for Beginners article after this to learn how to fine tune your calorie and macronutrient counting.
Level 3: Weight Training
Your nutrition should be pretty much in check by this point, the fun can begin! Weight training is going to be the style of exercise you want to work on first. Weight training is going to help you maintain strength, build muscle, and maintain weight loss/maintenance. The style or the equipment you decided to use is not as important as doing workouts consistently.
The best workout plan I have found is a Push/Pull Split. This is working on push movements (squat, bench press, overhead press, triceps) during one workout and another workout working on pull movements (deadlift, row, pull up, biceps). The workout style provides a lot of flexibility in the amount of days and helps you load up on volume without becoming too sore.
Here are two example workouts to get you started with weight training:
Push Workout
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bench Press | 4 | 8 |
| 2a. Goblet Squat | 3 | 10 |
| 2b. Incline Chest Press | 3 | 10 |
| 3a. Overhead Press | 3 | 8 |
| 3b. Bulgarian Split Squat | 3 | 8 each |
| 4a. Farmers Walks | 3 | 50 steps |
| 4b. Overhead Tricep Extension | 3 | 10 |
Pull Workout
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| 1a. Romanian Deadlift | 5 | 8 |
| 1b. Single Arm Row | 5 | 8 |
| 2a. Seated Wide Grip Row | 4 | 10 |
| 2b. Plank Pull Throughs | 4 | 10 |
| 3. Lat Pull Down | 4 | 10 |
| 4a. Cable Curl | 3 | 8 |
| 4b.. Cable Reverse Curl | 3 | 8 |
Looking for a more detailed program check out the free 30 Day Spring Shred or contact me for a more personalized program.
Level 4: Improve Sleep
You are getting into your workout flow and starting to see great result but your body needs to recover and repair properly to continue these results. It is not just about getting enough sleep (most of us do) but it is the quality of the sleep you are getting. Here are a couple of tips to help improve your quality of sleep
– Create Your Mole Hole
You want your bedroom just like a mole would: dark, cold, and quiet. Highly suggest some blackout curtains and white noise maker/air purifier.
– Skip The Caffeine And Alcohol
Stop your caffeine drinking after 3pm or early if you can. This allows your body time to process the caffeine and allow your body to get full rest. Also, skip that night cap. Many think a stiff drink helps them fall asleep but it can wreck your quality of sleep.
– Avoid Blue Lights
Take some time away from your screens about an hour before bed. The blue light from the screen triggers your brain into thinking that it is daytime and makes it harder to get deep sleep. If you cannot avoid screens before bed I highly suggest getting some blue light glasses
– Keep A Consistent Schedule
Keeping a consistent bedtime will allow your body to naturally know when to fall asleep. Making it easier to get to bed everyday.
Level 5: Cardio
You have finally gotten to the section that your probably thought would be a lot closer to the beginning of this article. Though cardio is great for your health (I personally love to run), it is not the best way to lose weight initially. Cardio is a great addition to your exercise plan but should not be the main event (unless you are training for a race).
There are two ways that you can add cardio into your workout program: steady-state cardio or sprints intervals. Both have there advantages and disadvantages so pick the one that is most appropriate to your goals. You can always do a combination of the two or alternate to keep things fresh.
– Steady-State Cardio
This is your traditional form of cardio: running/cycling for 20-60 minutes at pretty much the same pace the entire time. Steady-state cardio is great for building up endurance. Some people enjoy these long sessions because it helps them clear their mind and think through problems. That being said these sessions tend to take more time to burn additional calories because they are much less intense.
– Sprint Intervals
Sprint Intervals are much more intense than steady-state cardio. For these workouts you pick your intervals like 30 seconds sprinting and 1 minute jogging/rest. During your sprint intervals you are going 70-90% of your max speed then you taking a rest either by going slower or stopping and catching your breath. You usually do anywhere from 5 to 10 intervals like this. This makes these workouts much shorter but also makes them more much intense. Make sure to build up some stamina before trying to go too hard because if done right these will kick your ass.
You Have Reached The Summit!
You have conquered your fat loss goals but the battle is not over. Staying consistent with every level in the hierarchy will allow you to maintain the weight you are at.
These are the very basics to each of these levels. You can take a deeper dive into each of them if you see fit but this article gave you all the tools you need to succeed. Now get out there and start kicking ass!
Further Reading:
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