Like so many questions that are worth answering, this one starts with the phrase “it depends”. Getting lean depends on a whole range of things like:
- What you currently eat
- What you do for a job
- What your diet history looks like
- How long you’re willing to stick to something
- How much muscle and fat you’re currently carrying
- If you do anything physical in your leisure time
But if we move past the idea that there are whole load of factors that play into this, we can break it down to a yes.
You can get lean without setting foot in a gym (or even having a home gym)!
So now you want to know how…
Firstly, we’ve got to caveat this with the disclaimer that if you are metabolically healthy and follow all the steps here you will drop bodyfat and get leaner. But, if you are not metabolically healthy then there’s work to do there first before you can safely and sustainably drop bodyfat.
Step 1
Weigh yourself and take some honest photos – you don’t have to show these to anyone but these will show exactly where you’re starting.
Step 2
Accurately track all the calories that go into your mouth for 5-7 days (we usually recommend MyFitnessPal for tracking)
Step 3
Weigh yourself again and assess if your current calorie intake is causing you to gain, lose or maintain your weight.
At this point you start to learn about how many calories you need to maintain your current weight (and bodyfat levels).
Step 4
Remove 15-25% of your daily caloric intake.
Step 5
Take photos and log your weight every week for 6-12 weeks and track what happens
How to supercharge your results…
After you’ve done Step 4 there are some tweaks you can make without any special equipment or any special knowledge:
- Look at the balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates that your MyFitnessPal data is reporting and then eat 1-1.2g of protein per lb of bodyweight.
For example, if you weigh 80kg (176lbs) then eat 170-210g of protein per day. This will encourage your body to hang onto the muscle that it already has and keep you feeling full.
- Start walking more than you currently do
Without any special equipment you can drastically increase the amount of calories you burn on a daily basis by just getting up and walking more. If you currently don’t walk that much then adding 10 minutes of walking to your day can be an easy place to start because it can slot in almost anywhere and become the gateway to walking a bit further or a bit more often.
- Go to bed earlier than you currently do
Not getting enough sleep is a great way to sabotage your progress by increasing the stress levels in your body. If you’re already applying some stress by lowering your calorie intake then adding more by staying up binge watching Netflix is a terrible idea.
So there you have it – how you can get lean without ever setting foot in a gym:
- Work out how much you currently eat
- Lower it slightly
- Do it consistently
- Eat more protein than you currently do
- Walk a bit more than you currently do
- Go to bed a bit earlier than you currently do
This whole idea is based on you being metabolically healthy and gently taking your daily energy expenditure above what you currently eat to get you leaner. If that all makes sense to you then please let us know how it goes. If you want to discuss things more then please book a FREE Nutrition Consultation.