- Eat less
: This is logical since gaining weight involves eating more calories than you use and storing the excess, eating less calories than needed to maintain your mass will result in losing weight. Only when your total amount of calories drops below your maintenance line will the fat storage of the body be burned as back-up fuel.
The best way to lower your caloric intake is by gradually reducing the amounts you eat, like 200 calories per week until you reach your target level. Your target level is about 10 calories per pound of your ideal bodyweight. Meaning if you weigh 220 and want to weigh 200, 200 is your ideal weight and your target level is about 2000 calories per day. Just remember to reduce the calories over time to reach this level.
If your body is used to getting 3000 calories per day and you suddenly drop down to 2000 calories per day, your body will take this as a sudden threat to the system and start storing body-fat in a hurry to be able to survive more sudden drops. That would be counter-productive.
By gradually reducing your daily caloric intake each week, it will just seem like you are taking in a little less food and give the body time to adjust to the new amounts every time without worrying about shocking your body into storing fat. Instead, you'll be well on your way to a fitter body! Remember, it's not just about eating less, but burning more. The cardio and weight training you do will help you burn some of those extra calories as well.
- Maintain high-protein consumption:
When you go on a calorie-restricted diet, make sure that you are still taking in enough protein. Whey protein powder, chicken, turkey, lean beef, eggs, and milk should be the main staples. This will help fuel your muscles and help keep them strong, as your muscles feed off of protein to help them grow and tone. You should consume approximately 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight for best results. High protein/low carb shakes and bars can help you accomplish your goals and meet your dietary requirements. Protein should comprise about 40-50% of your diet. Increase protein intake as you decrease carb intake.
- Cutting carbohydrates gradually:
When in the off-season, many bodybuilders tend to eat high amounts of carbs to bulk up and add body mass, which is perfectly okay. But when losing weight is the goal, the carbs must be cut. You can't cut carbs all at once, or this will put your body in a state of shock. Gradually cut the amount of carbs in each meal week by week, and you will start shedding fat without losing muscle. Your body uses carbs for fuel and if you are on a low carb diet your body will switch to burning fat instead. Your carb consumption should make up about 25-40% of your diet.
- Eat smaller portions, more frequently:
Since your goal is to avoid storing anything as fat, you want to eat 5-6 small meals a day so that you're never full, but you're also not hungry. That way you keep your body satisfied and constantly fueled with good nutrition, but you're not overloading it with so much at once so that fat storage occurs. Three meals a day should come from whole food and the other three can be from supplements or good nutritional snacks, like protein shakes or bars. Alternate your food and supplement meals to keep things interesting. Eating more often allows meals to be smaller, and it keeps your metabolism going steadily without overdoing it with one huge meal.
- Cut carbs at night:
The last two meals of the day for me contain very little carbs if any. This will prevent them from being stored as fat at night when your metabolism slows down.
- Increase cardio gradually:
Start with 20 minutes on workout days between weight training sessions, and increase it 5 minutes a week, and increase it as long as you need to burn the desired amount of fat.
- Thermogenics:
Thermogenics are favorites among our customers because of their high potency and effectiveness for increasing metabolism, boosting energy and stimulating fat loss. Most thermogenic supplements contain a synergistic combination of ingredients. Namely, the E-C-A (ephedra-caffeine-aspirin) stack combined with appetite suppressants and other effective metabolism boosters. Everyone's results are different, but generally speaking you can count on losing at least a good ten, maybe fifteen pounds within a short time with the help of a good thermogenic in conjunction with your healthy diet and workout plan.
Our customers have seen spectacular results with Cytodyne's Xenadrine NRG, Twinlab's Ripped Fuel Extreme and Nutrex Lipo 6 to name a few. Although thermogenics are the most effective supplements for fat loss, there is also a chance of side effects with them, especially if you have high blood pressure or a heart condition. For most people, they are perfectly safe; however, if you're sensitive to stimulants like caffeine and ephedra, we have a number of stimulant-free alternatives that work well also. Some popular stimulant-free thermogenics are Prolab's Metabolic Thyrolean, EAS's Phen-Free and Syntrax' Guggulbolic.
Download a sample one week meal plan 
