This is part 3 of “Your Body’s Hidden Hunger Hormone”. Coach Chris and Ryan Faehnle continue their conversation about fat loss. On this episode, they discuss key concepts and hacks for sustainable fat loss. Also, hear numerous testimonies about Ryan’s Fat Loss Solution Program. Tune in to hear these tips on how to make fat loss sustainable.
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“Learn to embrace a tolerable amount of hunger.”
-Ryan Faehnle
Time Stamps:
00:59 Some of Ryan’s transformation stories
04:15 1 great hack for eating less “junk food”
05:57 If you can embrace this concept you can pretty much eat what you want
07:06 The 3 things you need to do get sustainable fat loss
08:00 Why you need to be consistent over the long haul
11:30 Ryan explains his fat loss program
14:20 Ryan’s nutrition guide on the fat loss program
15:54 Coach Chris’s personal fat loss testimony
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Transcript
Chris: [00:00:00] Your body’s hidden hunger hormone that can make fat loss nearly impossible. Coach Chris Wilson interviewed strength coach Ryan Faehnle. You already share some very cool stories from the people that you’ve worked with. Can you share a few of the other transformations that you’ve witnessed maybe just recently with some people that you’re working with.
Ryan: [00:00:24] Yeah man I’ve had I had quite a few interesting ones. One of them a while back was a he was actually a triple medalist at the Beijing Olympics. He was a swimmer and I knew his coach and his coach contacted me for some help with some offseason training. And we worked him out and gave him a program and he actually shrugged it up pretty nicely for an already elite Olympic athletes triple medalist again in the Olympics. So that was pretty fascinating. Had another guy a football player who was he was a funny one. He weighed 350 pounds. So that’s a lot.
Chris: [00:01:07] And he has a football player he was a defensive tackle our offensive line right.
Ryan: [00:01:13] Yes he was a d line. He was a d lineman but the coaches needed him closer to 315 and because he was really explosive. But he could only do about two plays before he had to get a substitution. So they had they had you know they need to improve his work faster. So with him we didn’t I didn’t change any of his foods. Like I didn’t take away any foods that he ate and enjoyed. I just moderated the amounts and worked a little bit on when to include them. So for example he Loves His Country Time Lemonade which as you know is full of sugar, a sugar water, right? And so he would wake up in the morning and in his mind you know he had his background was not in health and education so he just assumed lemonade equals lemons. Lemons is a fruit. This is good for me. So he would he would get up in the morning and smash several of those Country Time Lemonade can even when he was doing nothing like before practice or before training. So he’d be sitting and then eating you know drinking 140 grams of sugar you know. And so we basically has to modulate a little bit and said “Alright keep your lemonade.” But we’re going to have it you know around workout time or around practice time instead of just while you’re sitting around. So that was one change we made. The other change we made was adjusting the amount of so he like pizza too. So we adjusted the amount of pizza he was eating and I had him incorporate some. So basically, before each meal whenever he was going to have quote unquote junk food like pizza or things that you don’t normally associate with being super healthy. I just told them start every meal with two cups of cruciferous veggies so that’s your broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale, all that. Because it takes up a lot of space in your stomach and it makes you feel full sooner with less calories. So start with two cups of cruciferous veggies and a protein shake. He would have 50 grams away isolate protein two cups of veggies and then eat pizza. Well what ended up happening was he got full sooner so he didn’t eat as much pizza. So that was my way of getting him to eat less without making him without telling him he couldn’t eat what he wanted. That makes sense.
Chris: [00:03:32] And still providing all the nutrition any required you know. Yeah he actually being an athlete having to be physical.
Ryan: [00:03:40] Exactly. So a lot of people do the opposite. They eat their high calorie foods first. Don’t pick up a lot space in their stomachs and then they remain hungry even though they’ve overeat on calories. That’s one of the kind of I hate the term quote unquote life hack. Because there’s a lot of stuff out there that’s kind of cheesy but it’s a great hack for getting in shape. Starting every meal with two cups of veggies and if it’s going to be a particularly junk food-esque meal; two cups of veggies and a protein shake. And that goes a long way in helping you to eat less. The other side of that is you have to listen to when your body’s had enough. You know once you have your veggies and your protein shake and you’re eating whatever other food you are you need to kind of stop when you’re about 80 percent satisfied. So don’t eat to the point where you’re like “Oh I’m so bloated I.” Don’t eat to the point of being full, eat to the point of being satisfied, it does make sense.
Chris: [00:04:34] Right. Because a little bit of hunger won’t kill you. Yeah right here in 80 percent of the way there you’re like OK if I just have one more big glass of water like I’m fine and ten minutes later you aren’t even thinking about food.
Ryan: [00:04:50] If there’s one thing, there’s one like put it all into one sentence for the best chance of success at fat loss. I would say it would be learn to embrace a tolerable level of hunger. So not so hungry where you’re like starving is going to eat everything in sight. Mildly hungry. If you can get used to that feeling it’s not an emergency. How many of us panic when we get a little bit hungry. Oh and it’s ridiculous because we live in the western society where we have access to food whenever we need it. We get a little bit hungry like oh my gosh I’m starving because we’re dramatic like that so we’re dramatic too right. Yeah. “I’m starving.” And it’s like you’re not starving you ate two hours ago. So learning just a mild level of hunger. Starting the meal eating and then finishing the meal while you still have a mild level hunger. That’s one of the best things that you can embrace that concept. You don’t need to get too picky about your food selections you can really you know kind of eat what you want. I know it sounds crazy but it’s not an empty promise. You learn to moderate your appetite, you can do it.
Ryan: [00:06:00] As life goes on and we’re we’re both about the same age. You know married with kids. We really realized something. The wisdom starts to start to be part of your life you know because when you’re 20 you know you just think you know it all and you know you really don’t. And then the older you get you realize that you know you really start to accept the fact that you don’t know a lot of stuff but you’re open to learning and you’re open to things. But simple is what works best in life. The simpler things are the more effective they can be and the more sustainable they can be.
Ryan: [00:06:45] Yes.
Chris: [00:06:46] So obviously we’ve talked about not overeating. We’ve talked about muscle activation techniques or you know how to wake the body up. How to wake the muscles up and working with the existing habit. If so if I was to say those are three things for sustainable fat loss. Is it really that easy the people who are going to say is it really that easy. Those are the three things I’m supposed to do and I’m going to actually get a result?
Ryan: [00:07:18] I tell you what, it kind of really is. But there is one other thing and that’s consistency.
Chris: [00:07:24] OK.
Ryan: [00:07:26] You can’t be 100 percent switched on only 50 percent of the time. I’d rather you be I’d rather be 90 percent switched on 100 percent of the time. So again it goes back to what a lot of people accidentally do meaning well but they’re perfect on their diet. No deviation. Monday through Friday afternoon and then they fall off the wagon Friday night Saturday, Sunday. You’re right back on the wagon Monday. Monday through Friday and same repeating thing. And then they come to me and say I’m eating really healthy. I just don’t understand. Like well you are for about half of the week but then the other half a week you are eating like a complete and total *****. So if you can you know if you can be consistent with that eating. So let’s do this let’s make your super perfect healthy days a little less perfect. And make your really really days a little more perfect and even that out a little bit more balancing in the favor of being healthy and then you know what you’re going to be just fine. Usually they are. So you got to do this for the long haul. It takes a lot of patience. And you know honestly it falls right into line with the action of Ghrelin. Do not chase fat fast do not chase fast fat loss. Yes you could lose fat super fast but it will always always always lead to a rebound. I don’t care about your before and after picture. I care about your two years after your after picture. The information that I’m most impressed with I don’t give up your 12 week transformation Great Transformation. Those are all great. When I was 20 I was really impressed by those I wonder how they did it the way they do it. Secret cat’s out the bag. Super super extreme unsustainable diet training drugs done. There you go. That’s how it’s done. Now I care about how how did how did you get an awesome transformation that’s sustainable that you can live your life afterward. So one of the things I tell people is limit yourself to about a half a percent to 1 percent of your body weight per week in fat loss tops. So for 200 pound individual we’re talking one to two pounds of fat per week. A 400 pound individual it would be two to four pounds of fat per week. It sounds slow but that’s the best way to make progress without creating a ghrelin surge. Its going to leave you super hungry after your diet. So you’ve got you’ve got to be patient. Otherwise you’ll be in shape for a small flash of time. And then you’ll be in worse shape if you know them than when you started if you try to do things too fast.
Chris: [00:09:59] Yeah. Be consistent over the long oh over the long haul. And if it works for everything that works for your finances. If you tell me this it took you know a certain percentage 3 percent 4 percent whatever it is of every dollar you earns every week over a period of years and invested it you’d be everyone would have more money than they knew how to do it. You know when they hit up that they are 60 years old. But we just don’t do it you know. But most people just don’t do it. But it really is that easy. I mean.
Ryan: [00:10:35] Yes.
Chris: [00:10:36] There’s not. It’s not a hard thing it’s just a very hard thing to do to follow through it and follow what it is where people fail. So you take all this great information that you shared and talked about obviously you create a program, Fat Loss Activation.
Ryan: [00:10:55] Yes.
Chris: [00:10:56] It’s a guide. It’s a way to tame. Tame your hunger, activate your muscles. And spend very little time a day doing doing any exercise and following this kind of 80/20 rule and achieving the body that you want as long as you’re willing to commit the time to it.
Ryan: [00:11:22] Exactly. You know I was really I was excited about this project for a couple of reasons. So first of all my background is in hardcore training. I was training high level athletes. I like to train that way myself. I primarily probably train like a hybrid between a bodybuilder, powerless and strong man. So that’s how I like to train. But when I found this friends, relatives whenever they asked me for advice they’d look at me like I had three heads when I talk about squats and farmer’s walks. And I realize it’s just not for everyone. A lot of people need something much simpler something that’s more on their level. So this program the all it requires in terms of equipment is a bench and some dumbbells. So you can do this at home program again. We talk about investing your money bench and some adjustable dumbbells. I’ll tell you what that is a mild mild investment in your physique. Truthfully, go on Craigslist or eBay or something. I bet you could get both for maybe 200 bucks tops shipped to your home.
Chris: [00:12:21] You know that the cost of one grocery bills for the week.
Ryan: [00:12:25] Yes exactly. Or you. If you’re if you’re really inventive make your own bench. Go get the raw supplies you know get get some stuff make it yourself. I’ve got a buddy that makes all his own gym equipment so you know small investment there. Time investment is minimal. 15 minutes is the longest workout in the thing for the base workout. I have included some cardio accelerator protocols for anyone does want to train more but the base program that is results producing is only 15 minutes a day five days a week. So anyway I’m sorry I don’t care who you are. If you want to find an extra 15 minutes delete Facebook, delete Instagram, delete SnapChat from your phone. I just gave you two extra hours a day. Linkups [Inaudible] I mean it’s just there. Yeah you got it. To make it a priority it’s like. And I prefer to tell people to try to train early in the day if you can. Some people. We all have and we all have different lives different schedules. But what I found is most people that put training off to the end of the day will oftentimes find a reason to not do it. Or maybe maybe it’s not them finding a reason but maybe your life just gets in the way. It’s important to you. Get up. Do it get it out of the way and then you have the rest of your day to let it flow as it may. So yeah I’m really excited about this program. It’s also of all the programs, nutrition plans I’ve ever done or written is probably the most simple in terms of nutrition. Its one that really try. I really try to educate the customer on how to eat intuitively and how to listen to their bodies and learn what you need as opposed to following some spreadsheet of I need to eat three ounces of tuna. I don’t even like tuna and be two ounces of sweet potato. Adding two ounces of sweet potato, blah blah blah. Our way of life yet. Exactly. So it’s none of that. It’s really it’s really in my opinion really common sense nutrition that if you stick with it you’re consistent with it. And you know I’ll tell you what, give yourself. This will sound crazy. Its completely against what everyone else is doing in the market these days everyone wants to sell you on a 12 week transformation. Do this program for a year without without faltering. No slip ups. Just one year. I promise you you are going to see a different person in the mirror a year from now. Because a lot of people get on these 30 day challenges. One week detox 12 week transformation and what happens year after year. They keep having the same body or even worse body. How about the you know the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The current system the current culture is broke. So let’s fix it. Let’s start thinking in terms of periods of 6 months to a year or year to two years for a good amount of time to see change with reasonable methods rather than overnight rapid rapid change.
Chris: [00:15:22] Hey I speak from experience because we talked, you know obviously or even discussed this this whole program Fat Loss Activation. Months and months ago. And I implemented a lot of your strategies. I mean diving through all this great literature and all this stuff that you you have written and talked about. And I applied it to my own life and in the last 4 4 5 months I have kept off 15 to 15 to 20 pounds that kept it off. Maintained it. And just feel great. And I can’t say I would still say ideally I would like probably another three to five pounds off me and be able to maintain that. I think you know as we get closer to kind of that goal weight it can be a little bit more challenging
Ryan: [00:16:17] No doubt.
Chris: [00:16:18] to nip those last few pounds. But I have I feel great. I’m not keeping myself from eating stuff that I enjoy. I’ll have a protein shake before I have a meal just to help satisfy me there. Sometimes I have a protein shake before I go to you know that late night craving that hit you after dinner. Sometime around 9 o’clock. Or you kids are asleep. And you know I go, “Oh my gosh you know my dinner just didn’t cut it.” Then I have a protein shakes instead of having a sweet or having something sweet. And I’ll tell you it just feels it feels awesome and I’m not. This is not me just shoot shooting shoot off a bunch of nonsense. Its a 100 percent applicable from the front from everything that you discussed in the program. And I have maintained it and I feel great and I don’t see any reason why this is not the way it’s going to be for the rest of time. It’s not something that you can’t maintain. That’s the whole point. That’s why [inaudible] fail because it’s not sustainable you know. And and if we really look at ourselves and say “I’m unhappy with where I am then you need something that is going to make you happy for the long term not now not give you a month of happiness you know.
Ryan: [00:17:47] Exactly. Well that’s great to hear and I’m glad you’re implementing those principles. And I always find it funny. You know I do eat a lot of healthy food. I eat a lot of high quality proteins, a ton of veggies, fruits and all that but when I’m out in the social setting you know I’ll eat whatever you know whatever I want. And it’s always funny my friends are like, “Wait you’re eating pizza? I thought you couldn’t eat pizza look like that or like a how. How are you doing that? It’s like well. It’s called getting to a point where I’m living a reasonable, sustainable lifestyle that is not overly restrictive. I still train hard but I like to eat too. So it’s it’s my lifestyle. I don’t I don’t ever. The bottom line is if you’re ever looking at your calendar going all when this is diet is going to end? You’ve failed. It shouldn’t be like that. If you’re looking for the end date you already kind of lost the battle because that means you’re battling against your willpower. The way I eat now I could do this the rest of my life. 100 Percent. No problems and be happy.
Chris: [00:18:50] Yeah. That yoyo effect is just so so bad for you and your health to be about to be up to be down. It’s really not good and your body does not like that. It likes to maintain that particular weight. And it is so easy to do with this program well. I, thank you so much for everything. And just having this conversation today just confirms everything that I’m doing and makes you know. And I’m a strength coach and I’m a I’m a certified sports nutritionist. And yet I still picked up so much information from this. And implemented it and saw results. So I mean this can work for anybody. I promise.
Ryan: [00:19:34] Thank you Chris I really appreciate you having me on today. I enjoyed talking with you.
Chris: [00:19:39] Yeah it’s been wonderful. I really hope everyone can benefit from Fat Loss Activation. I know you will. You just have to dedicate yourself to it. And good things will certainly happen. Will talk to you real soon, Ryan.
