How to have
0 Body Fat
5 Steps to Get Under 8% Bodyfat (Science-Based)
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we all have a layer of body fat sitting
on top of our muscles and by stripping
away
most of that body fat you start to see
things like more muscle definition
striations and veins
and even though it's difficult to get to
really low levels of body fat like 12
10 and 8 it's definitely possible to
achieve
naturally so in today's video i want to
go over the exact steps that you need to
take
to get to those really low levels of
body fat now first you have to ask
yourself if this is really something
that you even
want to do because there are some
drawbacks to having a really low body
fat percentage
some of these include hunger a lack of
energy low libido
lightheadedness mood swings and always
feeling cold
so i'm sure it's no surprise when i say
that staying under 8
body fat is typically unsustainable over
a long period of time
especially if you're doing it naturally
so yes you can get to those really low
levels of body fat for a certain day
where you have an event like a
bodybuilding competition
a photo shoot a wedding or whatever but
the chance of maintaining such a low
body fat percentage every day over time
is slim especially while still being
able to feel good
and that's just the truth but regardless
many of you may just want to get as lean
as possible for that certain event
and then afterwards bring your body fat
percentage back up a little
so you can still feel nice and healthy
while also looking defined and aesthetic
so step number one is to create
specifically a small
calorie deficit keep in mind if you're
overweight or obese and you currently
just want to lose as much body fat as
possible
in the shortest amount of time there are
more aggressive fat loss options
available for you
but you're not ready just yet to be
thinking about getting down to a single
digit body fat percentage
if you want to get to a really low body
fat percentage you should already be
somewhat lean and you should plan on it
taking a good amount of time
anywhere from six weeks to months
depending on how lean you are right now
when starting out
now the reason why you want to create a
small deficit is because
when you're already lean and you're in a
calorie deficit your body activates
certain mechanisms that lower energy
expenditure
to a greater extent than someone that
has a lot of fat to lose
when you already have a relatively low
body fat percentage a negative energy
balance causes your thyroid hormone
growth hormone insulin insulin-like
growth factor 1 or igf-1
and testosterone to all drop rather
quickly instead of these anabolic
hormones that help you build muscle and
burn fat your body will produce
more adrenaline noradrenaline and
cortisol as a result you'll be more
prone to muscle loss which is why it's
important to maintain only a slight
calorie deficit
this is all supported by research for
example one study compared
the difference between three months of
dieting with a 25
calorie deficit or a very low calorie
diet of only 890 calories per day
at the end of the study even though the
very low calorie diet group lost
more weight the ratio of muscle to fat
loss was much higher
that's why you want to take a slower
dieting approach especially as you lose
more and more body fat
a good guideline is to go for a 20
calorie deficit if you're between 12 and
14
body fat right now a 10 calorie deficit
if you're between 10 and 12
body fat and a 5 calorie deficit if
you're between 8 and 10
body fat to figure out approximately how
much body fat you have
on your body right now you can get a
dexa scan but
it's time consuming and it costs money
so a surprisingly accurate way that you
can guesstimate your body fat
is by looking in the mirror and
comparing your level of body fat to the
picture
that you see on the screen right now
whichever figure looks most like you
that shows you your approximate body fat
percentage
the next step is to cycle your calories
and there are
a couple reasons for doing this first
since you'll be dieting for some time
you should keep in mind that hunger is
the primary reason that diets fail
that's why it's important to optimize
your diet and lifestyle for controlling
hunger
and one way you can do that is by
cycling your calories
this means consuming more calories and
some days and fewer on others
let's say for example that you need to
eat a total of 12 000 calories per week
to lose fat which is about
one thousand seven hundred fifteen
calories per day while you could eat one
thousand seven hundred fifteen calories
every day and reach twelve thousand
calories by the end of the week
you could instead have two lower calorie
days and five higher calorie days each
week
an example would be to consume 1200
calories on monday and thursday
which would save you the calories for
the rest of the week allowing you to
have 1920 calories on the other days
and you can set this up in a way that
suits your preferences so you can do
three four or even five lower calorie
days to bank a lot
more calories for the other days of the
week according to the evidence cycling
your calories like this can improve diet
adherence diet satisfaction
and weight loss compared to continuous
calorie restriction
now to make calorie cycling work you
need to keep a couple important things
in mind
first ensure that you hit your protein
target every day of the week
so get at least 1.6 grams of protein per
kilogram of body weight daily
which is about 0.73 grams of protein per
pound of body weight
the second point is that since your
protein intake will remain the same
you'll obviously need to be reducing
either carbohydrates or fats
or a combination of both to lower your
calories on your lower calorie days
and third you'll want to schedule your
low calorie days on your rest days
this is because protein synthesis is
what leads to muscle growth
and even muscle maintenance and protein
synthesis will be lower on the days that
you eat
less calories especially if you're
considered advanced
so save the higher calorie days for your
workout sessions
keep in mind even though you are having
higher calorie days by cycling your
calories
you're balancing them out with the lower
calorie days these are not
cheat days or full out refeeds in fact
the next step is to be very careful with
cheat days when trying to hit a really
low body fat percentage
and you'll probably want to avoid them
in general i see a lot of people making
the mistake of cheating every week with
things like
protein cookies low calorie ice creams
as well as
other processed foods and then they're
left wondering
why they can't get past a certain level
of body fat even though cheat days can
definitely help you stay on track
mentally when your goal is to simply
just lose some weight
and even though when done right they can
help you maintain your strength
as you cut since you'll be able to eat a
lot more carbohydrates
and refill those muscle glycogen stores
giving you more strength
it doesn't change the fact that cheat
days are not that great if you want to
get to those really really low levels of
body fat
and there are a couple reasons why first
the obvious is if you raise your calorie
intake above maintenance and you don't
balance it out with lower calorie days
like we just talked about
you'll obviously regain some of the fat
you've already lost
it's very easy to gain the fat back but
not so easy to lose it
when you're at those lower levels second
even though a cheat day may raise your
metabolism there's no evidence or reason
to think
that the already tiny increase in your
metabolic rate will continue
when you go back to your regular calorie
deficit that's because the increased
metabolic rate that we see after someone
has a cheat day
is primarily due to the larger thermic
effect of digesting that larger amount
of food
so simply digesting more food is what
will cost your body
more calories and elevate your
metabolism you're not just going to
continue permanently burning more
calories going forward
just because you had a cheat day third
your appetite doesn't actually decrease
on the subsequent days
following a cheat day or a refeed that's
why i always say that the primary
benefit for most people is strictly
mental not so much physical
in fact research shows that appetite
regulation is primarily driven by body
composition
not energy intake so the amount of
calories you eat on one day generally
doesn't influence the hunger on the
following days
some studies have even showed that over
feeding by sixty percent more calories
actually can increase appetite rather
than decrease it
in other words it's not very likely that
you'll trick your metabolism and your
hunger levels by cheating
so in the best case scenario a cheat day
will usually just pause your fat loss
however it can also do more bad than
good because if you go overboard
it'll cause you to regain some of that
lost body fat instead of trying to boost
your metabolism with cheat days when you
hit a plateau
you want to either lower your calorie
intake further or
increase your activity level further
you'll have to lower your energy balance
in one of these two ways because your
body will have
already adapted to your previous calorie
intake
now when choosing between cutting your
calories further or
exercising more you should know that one
is not inherently better than the other
that's because fat loss is almost
entirely about energy balance
it doesn't matter if you reduce your
energy balance by doing cardio or by
eating less
given the same energy balance weight and
fat loss are the same
with that said if possible you may want
to try reducing your calorie intake
first instead of adding more cardio to
your workout program
because it takes a lot of cardio to
match the amount of calories you could
burn
by simply eating a little less on top of
that cardio can impair muscle growth
this can be seen in a 2012 meta-analysis
that found
adding cardio to a resistance training
routine reduce muscle growth effect size
by 39 percent
this negative effect for your muscle
mass is referred to as the interference
effect
but even with this effect in mind there
does come a point where it becomes
impossible or at least highly
impractical to lower your calorie intake
any further
while still meeting your protein and
micronutrient needs
if your calorie intake is already really
low then you'll have to increase your
activity level there's no way around it
in that case there are two strategies
that will help you minimize the
interference effect
while still burning calories first
remember that the goal of cardio for fat
loss is simply to increase
energy expenditure not to improve your
endurance that's a separate goal
so program in as little cardio as you
need to achieve the calorie deficit that
you're aiming for
second the lower intensity forms of
cardio like walking for example
contribute a lot less to this
interference effect than the higher
intensity forms of cardio
and third you'll want to perform the
cardio workouts as far away from your
strength training workouts as possible
research shows that this also really
helps minimize the interference effect
however if you by some chance have no
choice but to combine the cardio
and the strength training in the same
workout then save the cardio for after
your weight training
so you can perform at your best and lift
the heaviest loads that you can
this is crucial to maintain muscle while
in a calorie deficit
finally the fifth step that most people
overlook is to ensure that you're
getting enough sleep
in general it's important to get enough
sleep if you want to lose weight but
this is especially true
if you want to get very lean and there
are two main reasons for this
one is that sleep deprivation suppresses
appetite satiating hormones like leptin
while at the same time raising the
levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin
and it definitely doesn't help that
ghrelin levels are
already automatically elevated when
you're very lean which means it's
especially important to focus on
controlling these hunger hormones
while reducing your body fat percentage
further and further
the second reason is because poor
quality sleep
prevents fat burning and stimulates
muscle wasting
so even if you lose weight despite
sleeping poorly more of the pounds that
you lose will be coming from muscle
rather than fat
and there's lots of evidence to support
this for example one weight loss study
found that sleeping only 40 fewer
minutes per day from monday to friday
shifted the ratio of the amount of
muscle to
fat loss from 20 percent to 80 percent
and another study revealed that sleeping
five and a half hours instead of seven
and a half hours a day
increased muscle loss by sixty percent
while decreasing the weight loss
in the form of fat by fifty 55 so bottom
line make sure that you're getting
enough sleep it's very important
if you want to reach those low levels of
body fat so
that about wraps it up guys even though
these steps may sound simple
by following them consistently for
enough time you'll be able to drop your
body fat to a really low level
i really hope you guys enjoyed this
video if you have make sure you
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also if you're looking for a
done-for-you workout plan that can be
done
at home or in a gym and also includes a
customizable meal plan that will be
based around you
and your preferences whether that be
intermittent fasting carb cycling one
meal a day
keto or vegan whatever we do all those
plans so click the link below in the
description and head on over to my
website
between the three gyms we have in new
jersey and the online training
we've literally put thousands of people
through these programs and my clients
that follow the plan
are losing twenty pounds or five percent
of their body fat in only six short
weeks
to learn more click the link below or
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