Fat loss isn't complicated. As long as we adhere to the fundamental principle of calories out exceeding calories in, we're going to lose fat. But, calorie deficits have been talked to death about, and the last thing you want to read is another article telling you to eat less than you burn. So instead, I'm going to talk to you about the importance of a control week before you start your fat loss phase that I use with everyone I work with, which ensures a much greater likelihood of setting up a more effective dieting period.
The purpose of the control week is to acquire as much data about where we're currently at in order to make the most informed plan going forward. It's also so that we know at what level we need to operate when starting out. Let me tell you a story about a beginner and a karate dojo to drive this point home.
Imagine you've never done karate or any martial arts in your life. You go to a karate dojo where there are plenty of people doing high-kicks, punching through blocks of wood, and generally being all-around badasses. The sensei asks what your experience level is, and you for some reason say purple belt. Maybe you recently watched Bloodsport or binged Cobra Kai and were feeling dangerous or just felt that being paired with the other beginners was beneath you. Whatever the reason, the sensei proceeds to pair you up with the other purple belts in class. You go onto the mat armed with confidence and quickly find that you're in for a ride. The various purple belts each proceed to give you an ass-whooping one after another. You limp off the mat and the sensei asks you if you're really a purple belt, to which you meekly respond that you've never practiced karate before. You leave the dojo, frustrated, and embarrassed, and don't come back for a very long time.
The karate dojo represents the fat loss goal, the sensei is your logical brain and the other fighters/purple belts are the obstacles you'll face on this journey (hunger, social pressures, disappointing family and friends, adhering to macro targets, scale weight not budging, embarrassment, success). Much like going to a karate dojo and being paired with fighters of your own caliber, you need to enter a fat loss phase with the same thought process. Dieting will at times come with hunger from the calorie deficits that you have to enter into, feelings of anxiety if your scale weight doesn't move, sticking to targets when going out for meals, feeling embarrassed amongst family and friends if they find out you're dieting, and even figuring out how to deal with success (this might sound like a funny obstacle, but I've worked with people who would self-sabotage after seeing a good result).
If you work with a coach, it's their responsibility to figure out what 'belt' you are before going into a fat loss phase, and if you're doing this solo, then that responsibility falls on you. We all want to cut corners, but in this case, taking a week to figure out what your rough food intake is, what level of adherence you can realistically commit to initially, and what your knowledge level is will provide a much better idea of what things actually matter. Everything matters but only at varying points. If you've never dieted before or attempted a fat-loss phase, and your diet is terrible, this needs to be acknowledged. It's unlikely that you should set rigid macronutrient targets, cycle calories, and avoid all treats. You could probably start with habit-based goals, limiting junk food from daily to 2-3 times per week, and adding vegetables to your meals. Conversely, if you already possessed a good knowledge of dieting, had attempted it before, and were already sticking to a set calorie intake, you're no longer a white belt, and can face tougher opponents and not get smashed.
What we're really talking about here is ensuring that we set things up for the best chances of success and avoid failure at the beginning. Going back to the karate story, what do you think the beginners overwhelming emotional response was to getting beat up by the purple belts at the dojo? Bad. Maybe bad enough that they wouldn't want to attempt karate again for months or even years. We want to avoid this from happening when we attempt dieting, and it's exactly what happens when you hear about people who yo-yo back and forth and never seem to be able to keep their results.
So, back to the control week. To be honest with you, what research seems to suggest is that 7 days isn't enough time to figure out super accurately what you're average calorie intake is and that we probably need closer to 30 days. But 30 days isn't practical, and if you've got your mind dead-set on losing fat, you're not going to want to wait 30 days while you collect data and try to figure out if you're a blue belt or a white belt. No, you want to get going now. So 7 days will get you in the ballpark, and it's still much better than skipping the data-collection period entirely.
Once you've figured out what things are important, you can focus on those and build up your proficiency with dieting to face the tougher levels. If the white belt practiced against other white belts, they would probably have felt like they got a workout but that they wanted to come back and keep practicing, and each week they got a bit better at karate until they could keep up with the green belts. That's exactly how dieting works.
Strike hard. Strike first. No mercy.
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