Before The Ultimate Fighter reality show that I'm totally obsessed with comes on at 11 pm, I wanted to hammer out a quick nutrition post for my fellow fat-haters.  Diet accounts for 75-85% of your weight loss and muscle building results - depending on the day, I may quote the low end or high end of that - but let's just say that it's far and away the most important aspect you should be worried about.

Because of that, I want to start providing you with some sample weight loss meal plans, fat burning recipes, supplement reviews and much more... so that you'll have absolutely everything you need to sculpt a lean and tone body that sets you apart from everyone else.

Here's a typical day of eating for me...this is exactly what I ate for one of my five 'normal' days last week.  Remember, for advanced fat loss and toning, I highly recommend using a cheat day and fast day back-to-back for two days out of the week.

This sample day of eating from my current diet plan is fairly aggressive, as I'm working my way down to the 4% body fat level (I usually 'hang-out' around 9% and once in a while will take it much lower for an upcoming occasion...in this case the pics I'll be taking for the launch of my exclusive membership site).

Brad's Sample Fat Loss Diet Plan:

Breakfast - 3 whole large eggs, 3 egg whites (scrambled), 1 cup cooked oatmeal with skim milk and 1 tbsp natural peanut butter

AM Snack - 1 scoop whey protein mixed with water (boring, but you have to suck it up), 1 tbsp natural peanut butter (I'm a peanut butter junkie)

Lunch - 4 oz deli-style turkey breast (yep, all by itself)

Midday Snack - 1 oz almonds

Pre-Workout - 2 scoops whey protein mixed with water (sometimes I'll mix with fruit juice, but wanted to keep the calories low today)

Post-Workout - 2 scoops whey protein mixed with 8 oz grapefruit juice (the sugars are beneficial post-weight workout, as this causes insulin spike, which shuttles protein to your starving muscles so the repair process can begin immediately).

Supper - 1 oz lean sirloin steak (usually opt for chicken, but guess I was feeling froggy today) cut into strips and mixed with 2 cups green salad and 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.

Bedtime Snack - 1 cup fat free cottage cheese with a few almonds mixed in (can't stand cottage cheese by itself, plus the crunch adds a nice twist).

Totals for the day - 2,017 Calories, 274 g Protein (63% of calories), 106 g Carbs (24% of calories) and 55 g Fat (13% of calories)

As you can see, this is pretty low calorie for a 175 lb dude.  Remember, you'll have to adjust the total calories up or down slightly, depending on your gender, starting weight and activity level.

Also, notice that the majority of my food choices were lean proteins, which accounted for 63% of the total calories eaten.

This provides me with enough building blocks to allow muscle growth, but keeps the total calories low enough to create a caloric deficit that is required for fat loss.

Don't get too fixated on the individual breakdown of things...as you'll see in upcoming sample weight loss diet plans, my macronutrient percentages (protein, carbs, fat) will vary quite a bit from day to day.

What's important is that you're getting tons of quality protein with each meal/snack, you're laying off the processed carbs and you're creating a large enough caloric deficit to promote fast fat loss.

I don't recommend counting calories and measuring out your food on a daily basis...I think this is ridiculous, borderline OCD and not very conducive to...what's that one thing...oh yah, LIVING.

However, I do recommend counting your calories and measuring out your food choices very thoroughly for a day or two, just so you know what the actual serving sizes should look like for the most common foods you'll be eating.

If you've never done this before, I guarantee you're underestimating how much food you're eating on a daily basis.  It's a good eye-opener to try this for one whole day that you're around home...so you can get a more realistic feel for just how small some of these serving sizes are and just how fast the calories can add up.

Time for me to enjoy some caged fighting, UFC style.  Hope you guys enjoyed that meal plan and can try that bad boy out sometime to help you lose weight and tone up.  Be sure to drop me a line in the comments section...love to hear from my community of lean body lovers.

Your Coach,

Brad Campbell

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I'm sure it gets a lil overwhelming trying to sort out all of the factors that go into losing body fat.  But let's not forget that losing fat is simply a matter of creating a negative energy balance.

In other words, if we burn more calories than we take in on a daily basis, we'll lose weight.  Nothing earth-shattering about that concept.  Yet, most people are so damned worried about what types of carbs to avoid, which cardio machine to use, how many reps and sets work best for weight training, if their Nike Shox match their Under Armour shorts or if they should rock the Pumas instead (okay maybe that's just me) and so on.

Our society is constantly searching for the next best diet, the greatest fat burning workouts, weight loss supplements, advice from fitness experts, opinions from everyday people on fat loss forums that couldn't tell their a*s from a hole in the ground, etc.

When the truth is, there are literally THOUSANDS of ways to successfully burn fat and lose weight.  Some are far better than others, but nonetheless, there are a boatload of methods that can get the job done.  What we forget is that it still comes down to burning more calories than we take in over a period of time.

Here are the 3 ways we can create a caloric deficit without injuring our brains by over-thinking the process:

--> Keeping everything else the same, we can create a negative energy balance by eating less food

--> Keeping everything else the same, we can create a deficit by exercising more (or more intensely)

--> We can both decrease our daily calorie intake AND exercise more (or more effectively)

So which is best?

This depends on the individual, but assuming no one enjoys starving themselves day in and day out...and assuming most people are too busy to workout 10 hours each week...I'd recommend both cutting caloric intake and burning more calories through your workouts.

Think about it like this - creating a deficit of 1,000 calories per day simply by eating less and without changing anything else, you will have theoretically burned off an extra 7,000 calories in 1 week.  This would equal a whopping 2 lbs of body fat.  Not very impressive at all...and just think about eating 1,000 LESS calories each day for an entire week - not cool.

That last paragraph pretty much sums up why people who only crash-diet almost always fail in the long run.  It's flat out too hard to be that disciplined for much longer than a day or two, let alone the months it would take to make significant body transformations.

Exercising more, without changing anything else, would probably be an easier option, at least for me.  But again, I could only last so long before I'd get lazy or burn myself out...not to mention I hardly have time as it is.  Plus, you have to workout like an absolute maniac to burn an extra 1,000 calories per day.

It should be clear by now that the best and fastest way to lose body fat - both short term and long term - is to lower the amount of calories you're eating AND burn more calories through working out.

In theory, the more calories you cut through diet and the greater the amount of calories you burn through exercise, the larger the energy (nerdy term for calorie) deficit you create...and the faster you can burn body fat.

Always remember this simple equation and if you're not getting the fat loss results you want, stop overthinking it - you're either putting too much sh*t in your mouth, not exercising properly (this could be not working out consistently, not exercising hard enough or not following the right workout plan) or both.

Trust me when I say there's no hex on you, your genetics aren't the reason behind your failed fat loss and you're not doomed...it just takes an honest, no-nonsense assessment, a few tweaks to your nutrition plan, workout routine or both...and you'll be on your way to a tight body in no time.  It really IS that simple.

Thanks for joining me at Fat Loss 101.  Class dismissed.

Helping you burn body fat faster and sculpt a lean body,

Your Coach,

Brad Campbell

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