Saussy’s Guide to Sexy Summer Abs, Pt. 1: Food & Metabolism

Yeah, I know — that’s definitely not me.

Hey there, internet. Hope ya didn’t miss me too bad.

It’s officially April, which means that we’ve all got about 2 months or so before Summer is in full swing and all those hard-earned beach bodies will start to come in handy (maybe half that long if you’re in LA). The objective sciences of Instagram and Musical.ly have proven that, perhaps especially so during the coming months, every mildly visible abdominal ripple proportionally translates to an increasingly better time at the many pool parties and beach trips that are sure to come across our calendars. And in excited anticipation for these events, you’ve probably spent the last several months looking in the mirror and telling yourself, “this Summer’s gonna be my Summer!”

But, if you’re like literally every other person on planet Earth, you probably didn’t do enough prep in the off-season and have just realized that you still have a considerable bit of work to do on your set before you’ll be dropping jaws or impressing passing acquaintances. As such, you’ve probably spent the last few nights frantically googling new-fangled diets, amazon prime-ing 2 or 3 barely FDA-approved fat burning supplements, and seriously considering whether or not taking steroids is really all that bad for you (assuredly, it is).

So, as somebody who’s been through that cycle and back and received more than his fair share of questions about attaining an impressive physique alongside the increasingly demanding duties of work and life, I’ve taken it upon myself to put together this 3-part guide that will teach you everything I know about getting ripped and doing it fast (or as fast as possible).

As with most topics related to the fitness and nutrition industries, there’s a ton of misinformation out there about losing body fat and building up the abdominal region — and when you think about it, it’s for good reason. Impressive summer abs are something that just about everybody wants, so naturally there’s more than a few folks out there ready to capitalize on that desire and take your money without offering much in the way of accurate or useful information.

For this reason, I wanted to share all the things that have (and haven’t) worked for me in the realm of building a sweet summer body with limited resources and time.

And as a tiny disclaimer, I’m not an undisputed expert in all things fitness or nutrition; I don’t hold any degrees in nutrition science or kinesiology and I’m not a certified personal trainer of any kind. And moreover, I haven’t accomplished anything especially unheard of in regards to fitness — if anything, my fitness experience has been fairly typical. I just want to use what I have learned in my time to help you better make decisions to serve your physical fitness and avoid the pitfalls that generally befall so many who try to reach ambitious fitness goals.

So without further adieu, I give you Part 1 of this series: Food & Metabolism.

How do I force my body to burn fat?

This is the first main question that folks will run into: you’ve presumably got some excess body fat you’d like to get rid of, and thus far it’s proven to be fairly stubborn despite how many meals you skip or miles you run. So, how do you force the body to burn it?

The answer is paradoxically both extremely complicated and astoundingly simple, and it’s likely something that you’ve heard more than once: Calories burned must exceed calories consumed, or, as this principle is more often colloquially referred to: it’s all about Calories in vs. Calories out. This is, at a very high level, the only essential law of fat loss, and as long as your diet and exercise routine follows this principle in some way, chances are good that you’ll see results before long. Conversely, if any fitness program out there bills itself as producing fast results without forcing you to change calorie consumption or expenditure (you’ve seen a million of these — e.g. “EAT EVERYTHING YOU WANT AND STILL GET RIPPED: 5 FITNESS HACKS YOU NEED TO KNOW!!!” — key word there being “hack”), it’s likely a scam or an incredibly niche program that works very selectively for certain people and body types. “Calories in, calories out” is the only principle that will almost assuredly work regardless of age, gender, or genotype.

However, as mentioned, this principle becomes incredibly complicated when you start delving into specifics.

The truth of the matter is that not all calories are equal. I’ve already delved into the science behind macronutrients in other articles, but as a quick recap, your main 3 macros are Carbohydrates, Fats, and Proteins. Each is in a variety of foods, each serves a different function in the body, and each is essential in some quantity for survival and maintaining adequate nutrition.

Carbs, despite what dedicated proponents of the Keto diet will say, are the singular, primary fuel source for the human body. I’m not a biologist and I won’t go into all the digestive processes involved, but in short, when you eat carbohydrates, the various sugars within them are broken down into energy and stored in the muscles for later use. This is why you’ll feel noticeably stronger after eating a carb-rich meal; it’s because your muscles are literally more full of energy, a fact which you can notice if looking in a mirror as well — muscles will tend to “pop” more after a nutritious meal because they are literally more full of energy. Depending on the type of carbohydrate, this metabolization can happen immediately or over the course of several hours. As such, generally speaking, a person will feel energetic when their body is full of carbohydrates and will likely feel tired and sluggish when it is not.

However, when the body decides that it has received enough carbs to adequately perform the day’s tasks, it will begin to turn excess carbs to fat, for use in times of famine or scarcity. It’s important to remember that, despite the relative abundance of food in modern society, as recently as around 100 years ago, it was still very common to have massive food shortages or periods of famine, especially in cities; as a way to combat this, the human body evolved in ancient times to store excess energy as fat, so as to maintain its own form of contingency energy and more consistently survive through these periods of bad harvest or ill-fated hunting. And nowadays, as much as we might wish that our bodies just immediately burned every calorie that we ate, the human race wouldn't have gotten very far that way in the wild, and we’ve got a long way to go before our bodies naturally get there (if green revolution trends continue, we may get there in a few hundred thousand years, probably longer).

As a general rule, the body always “wants” to be storing some amount of energy as fat. Think of your body like the most financially responsible person you know: this person spends within their means, always tries to save at least some of their income, only dips into savings sparingly, and will cut back on their spending drastically whenever their income is cut off. This, I’ve found, is an apt metaphor for how metabolism works: the body will always try to store some fat if given a consistent caloric intake, will seldom burn fat unless readily expendable carbs are totally unavailable, and will feel tired and slow when it receives inadequate nutrients or spends vastly more calories than it has to spend.

As for how the body formally decides when to begin storing carbs as fat, there is typically a specific intake level where fat will begin to be created, known informally as a person’s “carb tolerance.” This tolerance depends on a multitude of factors and will not remain constant throughout a person’s life: age, gender, daily activity level, genetics, stress level, and overall diet all play a role. When people talk about having a “fast metabolism,” what they are generally saying is that they have a very high carb tolerance. Similarly, if it seems as though you or somebody you know can’t eat two halves of a sourdough sandwich without putting weight on, a low carb tolerance likely has something to do with it.

So, what do you do if you want to burn fat? Simple: you have to force your body to expend more energy in the form of physical exercise than it is taking in from ingested carbohydrates. When the body runs out of carb calories to burn, it will resort to burning fat calories (the same way that it would during a time of food scarcity). As such, the “Calories in vs. Calories out” mantra can be more appropriately summarized as “Energy Calories Consumed vs. Energy Calories Burned.”

There are a number of ways to do this. Some people simply minimize their carb intake, thus forcing their body to burn fat almost immediately as a primary energy source with almost no carbohydrates in the way. This, you’ll notice, is the main concept behind the Keto diet and various forms of carb cycling; avoid giving the body the energy that it is “looking for,” so to speak, thus forcing it to use its backup source of energy: fat. In order to work, these strategies generally require more adjustments in the kitchen than in the gym — while results will, of course, vary, most Ketogenic or low-carb diets can produce great results without much of an increase intense physical activity, so long as the right diet plan is followed. This, I believe, is part of why the Keto diet has surged in popularity over the past calendar year; it is literally the best possible diet for the short-on-time, non-gym rat professional to follow for quick, focused results.

The other option is to increase physical activity level, such that all metabolized carbohydrates are burned off quicker and the body effectively has to “dip” into fat stores much sooner in order to maintain physical activity level. This method relies on a person exercising their muscles beyond their current capacity, forcing their body to use all available energy to power their bodily motions. There are differences in how the body adjusts to both aerobic and anaerobic exercise, but I will save these details for a later article — for now, suffice it to say that as long as the calories are being burned, you will see some results. While I personally find this to be a much more sustainable long-term strategy, it’s certainly not the ideal choice for everybody, and it requires a fairly massive and consistent time commitment to be successfull.

These strategies are, of course, not mutually exclusive of one another; almost all diet & exercise plans are some combination of the two. And although most plans will place an increased emphasis on one or the other, maintaining a solid strategy for both equally is vital to achieving results within a short timespan. A strong diet is nothing if not complemented by healthy activity levels, and consistent exercise is wasted if it is paired up with an unhealthy, imbalanced diet. One cannot, and should not, exist without the other.

I wish that there was some easy, quick secret or overlooked strategy for burning body fat that I could let you in on, but unfortunately something like that just doesn’t exist. The simple answer is that results will vary no matter who you are or what you try, and the only way to guarantee results is to try a lot of different things and be patient with the results. Remember: while you may see some benefit from your diet/exercise routine within the first few days, you should expect for it to take around 3 weeks before any long-term results materialize.

What Should You NOT Do?

In putting together a diet and exercise plan that is right for you, there are very few outright wrong answers. However, there definitely are some — so let’s list them here:

• DON’T skip meals or stop eating altogether. This has been, unfortunately, etched into popular culture as a quick way to burn off body fat; no calories consumed means I’ll burn off all my fat, right? Wrong. While skipping meals and reducing caloric intake to effectively zero will result in fat loss in the short term, it is A) not sustainable in the long term, and B) comes with its own host of highly damaging side-effects. In addition to the effects of malnourishment, immune system depletion, and vitamin deficiencies, muscle tissue will often be the first casualty of this strategy long before fat cells are: cutting off caloric intake will cause muscles to waste away and, in extreme cases, may even force the body to effectively cannibalize muscle tissue for energy (it’s not quite as grisly as I make it sound, but it’s still both unpleasant and extremely dangerous). This is what people generally mean when they refer to being “skinny-fat”; they’ve gotten “skinnier” per say, but largely only because their muscles have wasted away beneath an ever-present layer of fat cells. On top of this, cutting off food intake will send signals to the brain to dramatically slow down caloric expenditure, causing you to feel slow, sluggish, tired, and irritable. Remember: if you are hungry, eat something — make sure it is something nutritious, but above all else, be sure to eat something.
• DON’T quit on your diet on the weekends. This has gotten easier for me since I quit drinking alcohol, but I remember struggling with this for a very long time as I was beginning my diet & exercise plan. It’s far too tempting on a lazy/hungover Saturday afternoon to cave in and order a boatload of carb-heavy takeout or splurge on sugary champagne drinks at brunch, especially if you live in a large city with a thriving foodie scene. And despite how much you may want to simply write off these meals as cheat days, they count just as much as any other day of the week and can threaten to totally throw off your diet routine if you allow them to. Some people (younger people, mainly) may be able to do this and see fewer negative results from it, but for most older people, the effects will become apparent almost right away as fat piles on and results begin to stagnate. For me, this happened right around when I turned 20 — my “young man’s grace period” didn’t last too long. I envy those with “fast metabolisms” who can still splurge on calories one or two days out of the week well into their late 20s and avoid putting on excess fat, but remember that no matter how strong your genetics, everybody’s metabolism slows down at some point in their life. It’s important to build the dietary discipline to stick to a meal plan before it does.
• DON’T overly rely on supplemental or artificial foods. This won’t apply to everybody, but I recall that when I started my routine, I was desperate to find foods that gave me a macro boost in the right direction without too many excess carbs, sugars, or saturated fats. As a result, in my early days, I ended up eating a lot of protein/fiber bars and various protein and maltodextrin powders to supplement the real foods in my diet. While these supplements aren’t inherently unhealthy and can play a crucial role in muscle synthesis and maintaining workout stamina, most are at least somewhat artificial and can wreak havoc on a digestive system if consumed in too high of quantities. This especially goes for protein powder and other forms of protein supplements. These foods serve their purpose, but, when looking to hit macro targets, always remember that real, natural food trumps supplemental food every time.
• DON’T overdo it on caffeine and other stimulants. Many studies have come out linking high consumption of caffeine and other stimulants to a heightened metabolic rate and a quicker rate of fat loss. In theory, this makes sense; these substances dilate the blood vessels, allowing for faster blood flow and giving the body enough of a burst of energy to potentially burn off more calories than it might have done otherwise, even in a less active state. However, high caffeine consumption also comes with its share of drawbacks — as somebody whose college diet was characterized by an obscene amount of espresso and energy drinks, I witnessed many of these drawbacks first hand. Caffeine crashes can cause tiredness, sluggishness, irritability, mental fogginess, and a lack of focus, and can make it easier to lose motivation to exercise and meal prep — and for those who hit the gym regularly, yes, this does include pre-workout. Caffeine in moderation largely isn’t harmful, but the keyword is moderation.
• DON’T stick to any one routine for too long. When looking to burn off fat, complacency kills. While it’s important to stick to a diet routine and follow through on it consistently, every diet — no matter how hardcore — will eventually run its course. Back to evolution: the body is always adjusting itself metabolically to fit whatever calorie intake/expenditure level you give it, so with any diet, the body will always eventually adjust itself to a level where it can store some energy as fat. As such, it is critical to “keep the body guessing,” so as to prevent it from ever reaching a state of comfort metabolically.

What HAS Worked For Me?

The following are dietary strategies that I tried that have thus far worked well for me in the realm of burning fat and keeping new fat off:

• Paleo Dieting. While I have never followed an official Paleo plan, nor did I ever set out to create my own, I have found that my best results have often emerged from inadvertently sticking to a Paleo program. For those who are unfamiliar, Paleo entails eating a majority of foods in their most natural state, without an over-reliance on processing or man-made additives. As a general rule, this means cutting out most frozen foods, canned goods, and salty snack foods with unpronounceable or highly-processed ingredients, most of which the body has a hard time breaking down and digesting (remember, many of these foods are younger than our grandparents — our digestive systems haven’t evolved fast enough to keep up). Especially in the case of vegetables and fresh meats, pursuing a paleo approach is highly practical and can yield some of the best results.
• Strict Carb Cycling. Staggering carb intake throughout the week can be highly beneficial, especially when paired up with an intense fitness regime. By receiving a varying carb intake level throughout the week, the body is forced to keep “guessing” the appropriate metabolic rate and thus never has the chance to get comfortable at any one level; thus, it will continue to burn fat even as activity level remains relatively constant.
• Cutting Out Sugar. Sugar, in most of its forms, is probably one of the most damaging things that you can put in your body. Not only are most sugars rapidly digestible and in the most danger of being stored immediately as fat, but many are also artificial and can cause a damaging glycemic crash, leading to more tiredness and sluggishness. Sugar, in addition to the havoc it wreaks on overall health, is also highly addictive — a fact that many players in the food industry have no problem abusing. Staying as far away as possible from sugar, especially artificial sugars, is highly recommended if looking to maintain a healthy diet.
• Cutting Out Alcohol. I hesitate to recommend this, since it’s more of a general lifestyle choice than a dietary one. However, I cannot overstate the benefits of removing alcohol from one’s diet. In addition to freeing one from the ill effects of alcohol on skin, memory, temperament, and time management, removing alcohol from the diet frees up more dietary processes to focus on burning fat and maintaining healthy digestion. If you’re curious, give it a try, and I guarantee you’ll be pleased.

What DIDN’T Work For Me?

With the number of things that did work for me, just as many (if not many, many more) did not. Here are just a few:

• The Keto Diet. As much as I will sing the praises of the Keto diet, I’ll admit that it flat out did not work for me when I first tried it. This however, was not the fault of the diet; rather, I simply could not stick to it. I had too many situations where I caved and ate a piece of chocolate or bread, and as a result I found myself in an almost constant state of Keto flu, wherein I still craved all the foods I remembered and was always too tired and irritable to adequately work out. I’d still highly recommend trying Keto if you’re interested, but it takes an enormous amount of discipline and preparation to pull off and can be a difficult diet to start on.
• IIFYM. “If It Fits Your Macros,” or IIFYM, is a dieting strategy that professes that all variants of each macronutrient type are effectively equal, and that a complete diet is any combination of foods that, well, “fit” your macros. Hypothetically, if you needed to consume 100 grams of carbs daily, IIFYM would claim that getting all of these carbs from candy and sugar would be the same as getting them from root vegetables or bread, just so long as you hit the 100 gram total. While this does work for some people (mostly young people with raging hormones and blazing fast metabolisms), it will not work for most, and comes with all of the same negative side effects that consuming these lower-quality foods does. Additionally, it doesn’t make much sense nutritionally — just because various forms of sugars are all classified as “carbohydrates” doesn’t mean that they’re all the same thing nutritionally or chemically, and there’s not much reason to act like they are aside from retroactively justifying a bad diet. Avoid IIFYM unless you’ve already got a relatively easy time keeping fat off.
• Intermittent Fasting. I’m adding this one here with a bit of an asterisk/grain of salt. For those looking to improve their mood or general wellbeing, I’d highly recommend intermittent fasting as a place to start; it’s relatively easy to work into a schedule, it doesn’t require any extra work, and it can actually do wonders for mood and energy level throughout the day. That being said, as you increase your activity level and begin to require more calories throughout the day to fuel your body, IF may start to get in the way. While keeping meals within an 8 hour window can be a great way to reduce unwanted snacking, it’s important to remember that if you’re hungry, you should eat, no matter what. I would often find myself starving in the morning regardless of however much I ate during my eating window, and I’d notice my energy levels falling off right up until I’d eat lunch and open my window again. As such, I’d recommend trying intermittent fasting, but don’t take it as gospel, especially as you begin to regularly expend more and more calories. Breakfast does exist for a reason.

So there you have it — every bit of nutritional/food-related advice and information I could give about getting into the best possible shape for the summer. Hope it was informative and I hope you learned something!

Join me next time as I delve into Part 2 of three: Workout & Exercise Routines. I’ll be elaborating on many of the specific workout routines and exercise plans that will help expedite fat burnoff and emphasize those washboard abs. I’m excited to write it, and I hope you’re all at least half as excited to read it.

See y’all later — go prep some meals.