Understanding Fat Loss

People overcomplicate fat loss.
Especially when they’re not succeeding at it.

There’s an infinite list of excuses for why someone just can’t lose weight: cortisol, insulin, age, gender, genetics, body type, “big bones,” mercury being in retrograde, global warming, microplastics…

But in healthy individuals, fat loss is actually pretty straightforward.
And once you understand how it actually works—it works every time.

Let’s clear the air.

Fat loss isn’t about clean eating, detoxing, avoiding gluten, or balancing your gut microbiome. Those things have very little to do with losing fat.

So what does?
Energy balance.

Fat loss happens when your body needs to dip into stored energy— body fat—to meet daily demands. You’re burning more energy than you’re bringing in. That’s an energy deficit.

Think about it like money.

You don’t go broke from buying one coffee. But if you’re constantly spending more than you earn, you will drain your bank account.

Fat loss works the same way.
You don’t lean out from one cardio session or one good meal. But consistently spending more energy than you’re consuming? That compounds. That’s where fat loss comes from.

Your spend (energy out) comes from:

• Your metabolism (what you burn just staying alive)
• Your activity (training, cardio, walking, moving, work, parenting, life)

You can’t do much to change your resting metabolism—but you can control how much you move.

So on a fat loss plan, we leverage that: Steps, cardio, training, general movement—all of it adds to your total spend.

But if you’re also eating more to match the extra movement? You cancel out the effect. Burn 2,500 calories a day, eat 3,500, and you’re gaining —regardless of how “clean” your food is.

So what do we do?

We control intake.

If you burn 2,500 and eat 2,250, you’re in a 250-calorie deficit.
Now add in resistance training (~100 cal/session), walk 2,000 extra steps (another 100), and throw in some cardio (another 100).

That’s a 550-calorie daily deficit — or 3,850 per week.
That comes from you, and that’s potential fat loss.

A smart fat loss plan is a system. Each part does something:

• To increase spend: daily movement, cardio, training.
• To control intake: a diet to cap your calories.
• To protect aesthetics: resistance training and protein.

I sprung that last one up on you because this is where weight loss becomes physique transformation.

If your only goal is to shrink, you can do it with diet and walking.
But if your goal is to look lean, muscular, and fit—you need resistance training.

Muscle is expensive for the body to keep around. If you don’t use it, your body will get rid of it. And in a deficit, it’ll strip it even faster.

Resistance training sends the signal: “This muscle is in use. Don’t touch it.”

It protects your shape and shifts tissue breakdown away from your hard-earned muscle.

I also mentioned protein. Your body uses it for everything—from rebuilding tissue to making enzymes and hormones, things your body values more highly than your muscle content. If your diet doesn’t provide enough, your body pulls it from muscles.

That’s why most fat loss diets keep protein high and pull calories from carbs or fats instead - to keep you shapely.

From a bird’s-eye view, your fat loss environment might look like this:

Each element contributes something valuable.
If you pick and choose which ones to follow or skip some because they’re inconvenient—your results will range from spotty to nonexistent.

That’s why most people fail. They don't see the whole picture. But not you. You understand the system.

Now apply it. Want an easy-to-follow guide to putting your fat loss on track? Grab your free copy of the Fat Loss Method below.

Let’s build the environment for fat loss—and make it stick.
See you next time.

Jorge