MB #034: Favorite Fat-Loss Tips, Belief, and Action Plans

Read Time:~3 Minutes

This week's highlight is the Monk Manual. The tension between pursuing productivity and living a slower life that sustains peace and joy, is a real tension. Especially if you're business-focused and require a lot of technology for your work (like I do). That's why I love what Monk Manual is up to. Their goal is to help men have a more monk-like way of thinking amidst the pursuit of a healthy amount of productivity. They have an awesome rustic leather-back journal/planner that provides you with the perfect daily and weekly prompts to level up your intentionality around what matters most. Use the code MISSIONFITDADS at checkout for 15% off.

Hey friends,

Welcome back to The Mission Briefing, the weekly newsletter with the goal to equip you with what you need to accomplish your family's unique mission.

We've been sick and traveling so today will be short and sweet.

Today at a glance:

• Food For Thought: Belief = Action
• Quote: James 2:26
• Fitness Tips: Fat Loss Tips
• 90% off action plans + MFD Community

🧠 Food For Thought:

We never act and we never feel emotions that aren’t perfectly aligned to what we actually believe. Belief is demonstrated by action. If we say we believe something one way but act and respond another, we don't actually believe that thing.

✍️ Quote Of The Week:

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith (pistis) without works is dead. James 2:26

Pistis is the Greek word translated into faith and belief in the New Testament. As you read through the scriptures and see faith and belief, you can view them as the same concept and one that is proven and evident by your actions.

💪 Health And Fitness Tips:

Weight Loss Tips I've Learned Over The Years

1. The 3 top focal points for fat loss should be adequate protein intake, weight training, and reducing caloric intake so that you're in a deficit. You're reading that right, cardio has merit, but doesn't make the top 3 list.
2. Eat slowly and mindfully. This allows your fullness signal time to act before you over-stuff yourself.
3. Aim to eat to 80% full. The Japanese are great at this and even have a term for it that they live by. Aiming to cut off at 80% ensures you're not overeating.
4. Stay hydrated. This includes water and electrolytes in the AM before drinking coffee. Often dehydration masks itself in hunger signals, so if you're hungry, try drinking a tall glass of water, waiting a few minutes, and then assessing.
5. Stop eating before bed. Digestion issues and sleep issues come about when you eat too close to bedtime. Aim to finish eating 3 hours before your bedtime.
6. Don't focus on other things when eating. If you're scrolling social, working at your desk, watching TV, etc. you're more likely to mindlessly overeat.
7. In relation to #1 above, aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of your ideal goal body weight, per day. For example, if you want to cut to 180 lbs, you should be eating 180 grams of protein per day to aid fat loss, retain muscle, and stoke the metabolic fire.
8. Go for a walk when you feel cravings. Stress is often the culprit.
9. Get a standing desk, take a 5-minute walk a few times during your work day, and practice "workout snacks" which are brief moments of movement like a few pushups and squats throughout the day.
10. Set a milestone target, don't try to lose all your weight in one go. You need to limit your time in a caloric deficit otherwise you'll cause shifts to your metabolism that make it harder to lose more weight and keep it off. Aim to lose less than 10% of your body weight at a time before reverse dieting, then starting the process over again.
11. Reverse diet between each fat loss phase and after you've reached your final goal. Reverse dieting is where you slowly add (like 50-100 calories per week) back into your daily intake. If you've ever lost weight only to gain those pounds back (plus a few extra pound friends that came with it), a lack of reverse dieting is probably the reason. Our metabolism gains efficiency as we reduce calories, enabling us to do more with less. When you jump right back to eating the amount you ate before, it has the equivalent effect of adding even more calories to your old eating ways. Then boom, extra pounds.