“You can feel the fat being sucked out of you!” – Jon T. (fellow adrenaline member)
I frequently get emails from people that are looking to lose fat.
Many of them want a quick fix or an easy way to shed those extra pounds. After emailing back and forth several times and making suggestions to their diet and workout plan, it quickly becomes apparent that they are not ready.
Jon T. is NOT one of these people.
We have been corresponding off and on for several months now. His goal was to decrease his body fat percentage. He hovered around 13-15% and no matter what he tried could not get it any lower.
Jon and I built up a strong relationship in part due to a common struggle. I was hovering around 11% and couldn’t seem to get it lower. I had tried Paleo and The Zone but couldn’t seem to drop it.
Jon and I kept each other updated on our progress and shared tips on what was working and what wasn’t.
Just yesterday I received an email from Jon.
I could feel the electricity and excitement in his words.
“Just to let you know… I have got myself down to 11.5% body fat!”
He was stoked and I was excited for him.
This article is a tribute to his exact workout plan and how he dropped 2% of his body fat in three weeks.
I am also including 5 tips to help you lose fat. They are all easy to incorporate into your life and if you follow them closely, you’ll see a beautiful figure awakening in the mirror.
****
What Was Jon’s Workout Plan?
The Power of The Interval…
Before we get into the exact plan I must first touch on the importance of the interval… or interval training.
Interval training is a workout technique where you move from one exercise to another with little to no rest in between. Curves has been using the training method to help millions of women lose weight for years.
Its a powerful technique because it keeps your heart rate elevated which helps you burn fat.
Jon’s 200 X 15 Interval Workout Plan is even more effective than the ordinary interval workout because it includes an additional component… strength training.
Strength Training increases metabolism because it builds lean muscle tissue. Though more importantly is the fact that an increase in lean muscle tissue improves insulin sensitivity.
Here’s a quote from Marks Daily Apple where he talks about a large epidemiological study with 13,644 participants and the benefits of increased muscle and insulin…
“With each 10% increase in skeletal muscle index (a measure of how much muscle is on one’s body), HOMA-IR (a measure of insulin resistance) saw a relative reduction of 11%. Folks with higher insulin sensitivity have better glucose control (carbs don’t destroy them)…“
Why is this important?
Increased muscle = better able to control blood sugar levels = body doesn’t convert carbs to fat as quickly.
So is this the reason Jon was able to drop the 2%?
Possibly.
Most of us try to find the one perfect “thing that works” but end up going through a 3 step cycle:
1. We try something for awhile and if we don’t see immediate results…
2. We give up.
3. Then we wait for awhile (which is also the time where we get off our diet, stop exercising and beat ourselves up mentally) before we find the next “magical” workout or diet program.
Jon’s workout was effective because it incorporated cardio and strength training… and of course a few other items which we’ll discuss…
So what the heck was his workout already!?
The 200 X 15 Fat Loss Workout Plan
Ok, ok. Here’s his workout…
Each morning (5 days a week) he performed:
***10 Sets of 15 Burpees mixed with “rest” periods of 200 jump ropes.***
*After his workout he waited an hour and a half before eating breakfast.
Yep, that’s what he did. Simple, I know.
You may be thinking, “How am I going to do that before work?” or “I am going to starve to death if I can’t eat before or during my workout.”
The body will more effectively burn fat if is using it as a fuel source for the workout. If you have extra sugar floating around your blood stream from your hash browns or protein bar, your body will use that instead of fat.
If you are stomach is empty, your body will draw upon sugar from liver glycogen stores, muscle glycogen and fat.
The reason Jon waited an hour and a half after the workout to eat was to draw out this process of burning fat.
In Jon’s own words… “You can feel the fat being sucked out of you!“
Here’s The 200 X 15 Fat Loss Workout Video…
If you want to track to see how effective this workout is.. below you’ll find a workout sheet you can download. (Sorry, this is no longer available. When I switched servers I lost it and haven’t been able to recover it. The image below is what my sheet looked like.)
In order to lose fat, this next part is possibly even MORE important than the workout plan.
So listen up…
In Order To Lose Fat, This Workout Is NOT Enough… Its Impossible To Out Run Your Mouth
I must stress here that exercise is not the only technique that Jon used to drop his body fat.
Nutrition was a huge part of it.
The diet that Jon used was Paleo and he stuck to it… which means no cheating.
The Paleo diet limits grains and other complex carbohydrates. From the research that I have performed, the diet works well for some but not for others.
Each body is different and requires a different percentage of macronutrients: protein/carbohydrates/fats. I’ll go into this in full detail below, but first…
I would like to give you some quick fat loss tips.
We all need help shedding those extra pounds and I thought I would give you some easy to apply techniques to help you burn fat.
5 Fat Loss Tips To Help You Lose Weight
1. Drink More Water Than You Normally Do
In 2010, CNN Health reported that water was a great way to help reduce fat. The study followed 48 overweight and obese men and women who were on a low calorie diet.
Half of the participants were told to consume 16 ounces of water before each of their three meals.
After 3 months the people that drank water lost an average of about 15.5 lbs compared to the 11 lbs that the control group lost.
While I was working with Neil Tejwani of NBC’s The Biggest Loser (He lost over 200lbs on the show.) he told me that this was one of his “tried & true techniques” for losing weight.
He said that he almost always had a cold (because it took even more calories to convert cold water to body temperature) bottle of water with him.
So drink up!
2. Eat Protein With Your Carbohydrates
Mmmmm… pig snout does a body good. Doesn’t this look appetizing?
Seriously though… when trying to lose fat, excess sugar in the blood stream is a killer.
As stated before, the liver and glycogen store sugar. If these are already full and you consume sugar, insulin levels will spike to remove the sugar from your blood stream and convert it into fat.
*Protein, when eaten with sugar, acts as a buffer from spiking insulin levels.
This means that it will take longer for the sugar to be digested and stored which is key in our battle to keeping fat off.
Here are 10 great sources of lean protein suggested to us by WebMD:
1. Fish
2. Seafood
3. Skinless, white-meat poultry
4. Lean beef (including tenderloin, sirloin, eye of round)
5. Skim or low-fat milk
6. Skim or low-fat yogurt
7. Fat-free or low-fat cheese
8. Eggs
9. Lean pork (tenderloin)
10. Beans
So before you start diving into that baked potato… consider cooking up some pig snout with it. 😉
3. Drink Your Food & Eat Your Drink
In other words, become a turtle when you are at the dinner table.
The above adage “Drink Your Food and Eat Your Drink” comes from a Chinese proverb. It simply means… go slower. Take your time and learn to enjoy your food.
“Drink Your Food” = Take the time to thoroughly chew your food until it is like a liquid. This has the added benefit of letting the enzymes in our mouth digest some of the food.
“Eat Your Drink” = Drink your liquids slowly.
We tend to move so fast in today’s culture that we don’t take the necessary time to enjoy the process of eating.
Some studies show that it takes upwards of 10 minutes for the stomach to signal the brain that it is full. I don’t know if this is true but I do know that as Americans we tend to over eat, so definitely something to look into.
Portion size is important.
Jack Lalanne once said, “Don’t exceed the feed limit.“
He was suggesting that we are like cattle. Eat and eat and eat.
There’s a great calorie calculator here to help you learn how much you should be eating.
4. Boost Your Metabolism With A Little Green Tea
Green tea naturally has caffeine in it.
Caffeine is a stimulant and will increase your resting metabolic rate which helps you burn more calories.
Of course, you don’t want to go over board with it. Green tea should not replace your total fluid intake but it is an effective tool for boosting your metabolism.
You may also want to try black and oolong tea. Mayo Clinic gives us a general guide for how much caffeine is in an 8 oz cup…
Amt of Caffeine in Green Tea for 8 oz = 24-40 mg
Amt of Caffeine in Black Tea for 8 oz = 14-61 mg
Amt of Caffeine in Oolong Tea for 8 oz = 12-55 mg
*Obviously I can see how these ranges vary widely which is my point exactly. Try different teas and find one that you enjoy.
**If I am promoting caffeine use, why don’t I just suggest using coffee or 5 Hour Energy Drink?
Great question. Both of the above sources have more caffeine than tea. However…
Hippocrates once said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine by thy food.”
I don’t consider either of the above substances to be real food… they are processed derivatives of food. Coffee is from the coffee bean and energy drinks from certain vitamins, minerals or laboratory manufactured substances.
The body can more easily handle foods in their natural form. Please understand me. I am speaking in generalities. The body can obviously not handle a poisonous mushroom. Blah!
5. Identify Your Ideal Protein/Carb/Fat Ratio
The 5th and most important tip to help you with fat loss is to choose the right combinations of foods for you.
I am a huge proponent of eating whole foods, limiting processed foods and cutting out junk. This alone with help you lose weight.
However, where do you go beyond that?
How do you find out how much to eat, what combinations of foods AND learn specific meal plans best for you?
I start with a program called “Diet Solution” (yes, this is my affiliate link).
It’s a program that is extremely helpful in leading someone step by step through the process of diet transformation in a way that is safe and effective.
I used it to determine my own nutritional needs and if you are someone that is looking for a community of supportive people working toward a common goal of weight loss, there is no better place to look.
Below I will show you exactly how the program leads you in determining what you should be eating to help you lose fat and create a sustainable meal plan right for you.
Step 1: Identify Ideal Protein/Carb/Fat Ratios For You
The program will guide you through a series of questions to help you determine what ratio is best for you based on your metabolism type. I am a “mixed type” and should be consuming approximately 40% proteins, 50% carbohydrates, and 10% fats.
Step 2: Determine Your Allowable Food Servings
The program will then ask you your current weight and give you the exact amount of calories you should be consuming to maintain your weight or lose weight at a health pace (Don’t worry, you won’t be counting calories. This step is to help the system give you suggested meal plans.).
Here’s what mine looks like:
Based on your metabolism type and the answer you obtained above… you’ll get your meal requirements:
It will also give you a chart for the right combination of foods that you should be eating for EVERY meal, including snacks.
Step 3: Identify Your Ideal Foods
The next part is the coolest. It will actually give you exact foods and serving sizes you should be consuming. The little tabs open up new areas with more examples of food. Here are my food examples.
There are a ton of other resources inside including an 87 page “Beyond Diet” Nutrition Manual, Recipe Guides, Shopping Guides and an active community to help you lose weight.
Here’s my profile (come find me and we’ll connect!)…
And here are the other resources that become available to you…
*In full disclosure… I am an affiliate of Isabel’s program (she’s the creator of it) and do make a small commission if you decide to purchase it through any of the links on this page. I can honestly tell you that it is one of the best resources available online to help people lose weight.
Click Here To Learn More About The Diet Solution Program
There is even a full money-back guarantee if you don’t like it as much as I do.
If you decide to stick with the program, I thank you for the support and recommend that you look me up in the community. My screen name is “Tadas” which is my full name. I bet you didn’t know that. 😉
Hope you have found this post helpful in your fat loss journey.
If you have learned any other tips to help people lose weight, feel free to suggest them in the comment box!
To Your Health,
Todd Kuslikis
I’ve been reading through different things for burning body fat. Some sites offer conflicting advice. One said avoid carbs AND avoid meat, and of course, sugar. That doesn’t leave much to eat, lol. I was doing well with 80/20 paleo, but since I wasn’t exercising, I ended up with the “skinny fat” effect. I now want to gain some muscle back. And I need to get back to paleo because wheat products hate me. 😛 And I guess I could drink some more water too. I tried HIIT and felt like I was going to die (I might have a touch of exercise induced asthma since this has been an issue even when I was a kid and I have never been overweight). Strength training seems to agree with my body better. I do have a manual, inclined treadmill that seems to kind of combine cardio and strength. I like to use that after the actual strength training part of working out. Not sure I can wait a full hour and a half to eat after though. I tend to get migraines and my blood sugar likes to get really low to where I get dizzy and mean and short of breath. I could try going for maybe 45 minutes or so.
Hi Sherry,
my body is not big but my stomach is the problem i don’t eat much but i drank much tell me what to do to get my body n stomach
What if I am too fat and weak in the upper body to do pull-ups yet. Should I start with the weight loss somehow first then try the 30 day body weight beast mode or is there a modification I could do until I build my strength back up?
Hi Jason,
I’d recommend you do pull up modifications. Check this out.
Hi! cool routine! I will try it out for sure!what do you suggest with the whey protein intake, also wait about an hour and half or?
Hi Todd!
First off, I’m a huge fan of your work, I got your bodyweight bundle and am plugging exercises into my daily routine left and right.
In regards to this article, I am a track and field decathlete hanging around 188lbs at around 12% bodyfat. I love the idea of this to help burn fat but want some advice on how to modify it so that It won’t be detrimental to my main training and performance. I really want to get down to 180lbs. I’ve been cleaning up my diet the last few weeks so that I’m 80/20 primal. But I need something to get me over the hump!
Thanks for all you do!
Hi Todd.
Could you please tell me how many calories your ‘3 Weeks With The 200 X 15 Fat Loss Workout Plan’ burns? Thanks
Excuse me Todd, I have 2 questions please.
1: This work out I intend to do it in the morning and then your “3 month work out plan” is that okay? Does it harmful???
2: In the “3 month work out plan”, I don’t know how many sets and reps do I have to do in every exercises can you help me out???
Hi Peter,
1. Yes, that’s totally fine but listen to your body to see if its too much.
2. You do one set and max out on reps.
Todd
Those looking for a few great tips on how to rope better check out the boxing site below.
My roping has really improved – 200 is no problem for me now.
https://www.expertboxing.com/boxing-training/boxing-workouts/boxing-jump-rope-training-guide
I changed this workout just a bit , because I could not finish it the first time I went through this and my calve muscles were touched. For those new to jump roping this will
ease you into them and rest those calves.
>100 Jumping Jacks (good warmup too)
>100 Jump Ropes
>12 Push-up Burpees
Do this for the first 2 weeks and make the last week the full workout!
Clyde
Great advice Clyde! Always adapt the workout to your own fitness level.
Hey Todd,
Jumping ropes is too noisy, and since I do this workout early in the morning and I don’t want to wake up my kids, do you an alternative?
I love your website, and your story is very inspirational, keep upthe good work!
Thanks,
Hi Hugh,
Yes, they certainly can be noisy. Use an imaginary jump rope. Seriously, it will achieve the exact same thing. 🙂
Do you have an alternative for Skipping. I had knee reconstructive surgery years ago and that specific exercise is out of the question. Any suggestions?
Thanks, I would appreciate it.
Every weekend i used to pay a visit this website, for the reason that i want enjoyment, as this this web site conations genuinely fastidious funny stuff too.
Hi Todd,
Would you recommend doing the 3 months extreme body weight exercise training together with this plan?
Would you recommend still doing this routine on an empty stomach and waiting before eating if you have type one diabetes?
Hi Doug,
No. You definitely want to eat and monitor your blood sugar levels. If you start to faint than definitely stop and take a breather.
Hey Todd,
What should I do if I can not do 200 skips in a row? Just keep doing them no matter how much times I trip over the rope? And how long will this workout take roughly? I only have about 30 mins max in the morning to workout and do not have time to wait an hour and a half to eat breakfast, will the workout still have the same effect if I eat breakfast about 10 minutes after the workout?
Thanks
Hi John,
You don’t need to do them in a row. Its ok if you take short breaks to get your bearings. If you have only 30 minutes than set a timer and stop after the 30 min mark. It will still work really well.
Do the best you can brother and push it hard!
Todd
Hi Todd,
I started the 200×15 workout today and my calves are smoked! After the third set I wasn’t sure if I would finish 10 sets. It took me 51 minutes to complete day 1. My goal is to drop that time over the next couple weeks. I’m starting at 187.8 lb and 21.2 BF. I’m also doing a 3 week kettlebell workout as well as the 200×15 workout. Looking to drop 10 pounds of fat and getting my BF in the teens.
Thanks for the workout!
Wow Eduardo! You are a machine! Keep up the great work!!
thank you for your fat torching workout.
However, I would need an alternative. I have a bad knee and a herniated disk in my lumbar area; in other words, i cannot jump rope or do burpees…
Are there other exercises you could recommend which could have the same effect as the workout you posted on your website.
thanks a lot
Hi Jake,
Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t recommend doing this workout if you have a bad knee and herniated disk.
I currently don’t have a lot of cardio exercises on the site but strength training mixed with eating at a caloric deficit are two of the best ways of blasting fat.
Here’s an effective workout.
You’ll also want to stay away from processed carbs if you are looking to decrease your body fat.
Let me know how else I can help.
Todd