- 6/11/2025
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Belly fat is really easy to gain, but seems almost impossible to lose.
00:05Now you're probably aware that your diet is the key to losing fat from this area,
00:08but you likely have no idea where to start,
00:11let alone how to keep fat loss going for long enough to get rid of the most stubborn areas.
00:16Today, I'll show you step by step in three stages how to eat to start losing fat
00:20and how to keep that going until you successfully lost all of your belly fat and for good.
00:25Before we dive into the three stages, let me explain what these stages mean and why you need them in the first place.
00:32So you're likely somewhere between a body fat of 15% and 25% or maybe even higher.
00:37Regardless of where you are right now, you need to lose enough fat from other areas of your body
00:42before your body will start prioritizing burning off your belly fat for energy.
00:47For most people, this starts to really happen around 15% body fat.
00:51By the time you reach around 12% or 10% body fat, your belly fat will be almost completely gone.
00:57Now, while your diet is key to achieving this, the diet you use to get you from let's say 25% to 15%
01:03most often won't be enough to take you down to the next level of 12%.
01:08The same is true for going from 12% down to even 10%.
01:11As you get leaner and leaner, there's certain things you need to be aware of
01:15and certain changes you should make with your diet to prevent you from getting stuck and to prevent you from losing muscle.
01:20Let's start with stage 1.
01:22The first stage is designed to kickstart the fat loss process and keep it going until you get to about 15% body fat.
01:30Throughout this stage, your hunger levels will be low, your risk of muscle loss will also be low,
01:35and physiologically, it will be the easiest stage to get through.
01:38The stage is actually quite simple.
01:39There's only two factors you need to focus on, calories and protein.
01:43Let's first talk about calories.
01:45You don't need to completely cut out carbs, sugar, or any of your favorite foods.
01:49All you need to do is create what's known as an energy deficit to start forcing your body to burn body fat for energy.
01:57You create this deficit by consuming less calories than your body burns every day.
02:01Now to find the appropriate energy deficit for your body,
02:04take your body weight in pounds and multiply that by anywhere from 11 to 13.
02:09If you're a taller individual, younger or more active, go with the higher end.
02:13If you're a shorter individual, older or less active, go with the lower end.
02:17The number you get will be a rough estimate of the amount of calories you should eat every day.
02:21But to hit your goal calorie intake, some foods are better than others.
02:25What I recommend is focusing on what's known as low-calorie-density foods.
02:30These are foods that for the amount of space they take up in your stomach,
02:33will only add a relatively low amount of calories to your daily total.
02:37For example, here's what 200 calories of Oreos look like,
02:40and here's what 200 calories of cereal looks like.
02:43For the same amount of calories, you can fill your stomach with a mountain full of strawberries and carrots.
02:48Not only that, but since low-calorie-density foods tend to be unprocessed,
02:53they also tend to require more calories to burn and digest than more processed foods.
02:57Now as for how much of a difference this can make for fat loss,
03:00a recent 2019 paper took 20 adults and first ran them through a diet
03:05consisting of only high-calorie-density processed foods for two weeks.
03:09Afterwards, they switched them to a diet of low-calorie-density unprocessed foods for two weeks.
03:15In both conditions, they were allowed to eat as much food as they wanted.
03:19The result?
03:20The processed foods diet led to almost two pounds of weight gain.
03:24Once they switched to the unprocessed diet, however,
03:26their daily calorie intake dropped by over 500 calories and they ended up losing over two pounds.
03:32At the end of the stage, I'll provide a list of low-calorie-density food items for you to pick from.
03:37But before that, there is one more factor you need to pay attention to.
03:41Although eating fewer calories than your body needs will help you lose weight,
03:44you want as much of that weight loss to be from fat rather than muscle.
03:48This is where protein comes in.
03:50You need to start eating more of it.
03:52In fact, in studies where subjects go on the same diet and lose the same amount of weight,
03:56the ones who eat more protein end up losing more fat and less muscle.
04:01As for how much protein you should aim for,
04:03a good recommendation for relatively heavier males in this stage who are at a higher body fat
04:08is to eat one gram per centimeter of your height.
04:11So if you're 175 centimeters tall, aim to eat around 175 grams of protein per day
04:16with the rest of your calories coming from carbs and fats.
04:19Whereas if you're a relatively lighter individual or closer to 15% body fat,
04:24then you'll want to multiply your body weight in pounds by 0.8
04:28and at a minimum, eat that many grams of protein per day.
04:31Now this might sound like a lot at first,
04:33but as you'll see, it's pretty easy to do if you choose the right protein sources.
04:37So to apply this all, take a look at these lists.
04:40Here's a list of some low calorie density, unprocessed foods,
04:43and here's a list with protein sources ordered from highest to lowest
04:46in terms of how much protein they contain relative to their calories.
04:50Use these lists to build your meals throughout the day
04:52and try to have one lean protein source
04:54and at least one serving of fruits and or veggies into each of your meals.
04:58For example, instead of a muffin for breakfast,
05:01have some egg whites with blueberries and oatmeal.
05:03You definitely still can have processed foods now and then,
05:06but just be mindful of your serving sizes and enjoy them in moderation.
05:10So focus only on calories and protein every day.
05:13And if you're consistent, you'll be able to get your body fat all the way down to 15%.
05:17But at this point is when you'll likely need to refine your approach to continue getting results.
05:22Before we dive into the next stage, I'm curious,
05:24what stage are you currently in right now and what's your goal body fat percentage?
05:29Let me know in the comments down below and also let me know
05:31if what I'm about to say later on in this video changes your mind at all about your goal.
05:36This is where stage 2 comes in, which involves going from 15% down to 12% body fat.
05:42By this point, you'll be hungrier, your fat loss will slow down,
05:45and you'll be at a slightly greater risk of muscle loss.
05:48As a result, this is where most people get stuck.
05:51There's two things that will help you overcome this.
05:53First, you need to get more precise with your approach from stage 1.
05:56As your body loses more and more fat,
05:58your metabolism will decrease and you'll start burning fewer calories per day.
06:02This is your body's way of protecting its remaining fat source.
06:06This means the energy deficit you used in stage 1 to get down to 15% body fat
06:11may no longer be enough to get you down to 12% body fat.
06:14To overcome this, if you haven't yet been doing so,
06:17you should start tracking your daily calorie intake and doing so more carefully.
06:21You might not think this is necessary, but research has shown the average person
06:25will think they eat about 429 less calories per day on average than they actually do.
06:31So even if just temporarily, measure out your food to see how many calories you're actually
06:35consuming and ensure you're in an energy deficit.
06:39Second, this stage is when you'll want to start addressing your carb and fat intake.
06:43Take a look at this list of carbs and fats.
06:45Although healthy fats are needed in your diet,
06:48on a gram per gram basis, fats contain more than twice as many calories as carbs do.
06:53Because of this, an effective approach is to keep your protein intake high as is,
06:58but lower your daily fat intake to the lower end of what's recommended for general health.
07:02This is about 20 to 25% of your daily calorie intake.
07:06As a result, you'll now have room to introduce more carbs into your diet.
07:11These extra carbs can not only help you better manage your hunger levels,
07:14but they'll also provide you with a boost in energy to support your daily activities and performance
07:19in the gym, helping you burn more calories every day and better maintain your muscle mass.
07:24Make these two weeks and if you're consistent, you'll be able to get down to around 12% body fat.
07:29This is where stage 3 comes in.
07:32This is the most difficult stage.
07:34While consistency with what we mentioned earlier will be the key to progressing through this stage,
07:38it's going to require more discipline and sacrifice.
07:41First off, not only will you very likely have to be accurately tracking your calories every day,
07:46you'll also want to ensure your daily meals are making the best use of the limited calories you have.
07:51At this point, your hunger levels will be the highest they've been.
07:54So most of your meals throughout the day will need to come from high volume foods
07:58that will help you stay full for less calories.
08:00I do have a past video I made that shows the most effective high volume food swaps to make,
08:05which I'll link at the end of this video.
08:07But this also means that you'll need to be more disciplined when it comes to social events and dining out.
08:12You don't have to eliminate it completely, but you will have to make wise choices when you're out
08:16and make sure that you plan in advance for big meals out or for alcohol,
08:21both of which can drastically increase your calorie intake without you even realizing it.
08:25Lastly, ask yourself if the sacrifices are worth it.
08:29In my opinion, for most natural lifters, a body fat of around 12-15% is the most sustainable physique.
08:35It's practical to maintain, you get the health benefits of being leaner,
08:38and you'll still look great, especially if you have a good amount of muscle on you
08:42and well-developed abs from training them.
08:44While getting leaner than this, yes, it's going to provide a bit more definition than cuts.
08:49It not only requires a lot more sacrifice, but for many people,
08:52that's when daily energy levels and strength will start to be negatively effective.
08:56And, unlike our Bit With Science member Patrick over here who started off with a good amount of muscle,
09:02you might actually not end up liking the way you look being really lean if you haven't yet built up much muscle.
09:07So while you definitely can get to 10% body fat by pushing through with what you've learned,
09:12at least consider hanging around at a higher level of body fat first.
09:15And be proud of how far you've come and realize that the extra push just may not be worth it,
09:20especially if you can't maintain it.
09:22Overall, guys, the strategy when it comes to your nutrition is actually quite simple.
09:27The hard part is staying consistent with it.
09:29You have to be clear about what your goals are and then find what you personally enjoy
09:33and can stick to consistently in the long run.
09:36And if you're looking for step-by-step guidance with setting up your nutrition plan
09:39and finding foods and meals that you actually look forward to eating every day,
09:43just head on over to builtwithscience.com and take my analysis quiz
09:47to discover the best approach for you and your body.
09:49I'd also highly suggest that you give this video a watch next
09:52for an exercise to help you speed up the fat loss process
09:55or give this video a watch next for some quick and easy fat loss food swaps
09:59you can make into your diet right away.
10:01Thanks for watching.
10:02Don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you next time.
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