[Josko]
All right, welcome back to the Kraken Power podcast, we’re your hosts Josko and Brandon, and in this episode, we’re going to be talking about fat loss without tracking your calories. And I know that everybody’s interested in how to do that because nobody wants to track apparently, roll the intro.
[Brandon]
Everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but no one wants to track the macros.
[Josko]
So in this episode, we’re going to be talking about fat loss without tracking. So many of our clients come to the gym and they hear the words like tracking your macros, tracking your calories, and they just like, just like crumble. They’re like, I don’t want to do this.
It just seems way too much. I don’t think it’s like that. I don’t think it takes that much effort.
I think it can be a lot of effort, but if you figure out how to do it properly, you can make it as easy as possible. Like it can be super easy.
[Brandon]
Yeah, it can be easy. And I’ve been doing it consistently for about like three years, but, but I remember the very first day that you were like, Brendan, you’re going to be coaching this. You should track your macros.
And I was like, Oh man, this is going to be such a huge life shift for me. I was like, Oh my, I don’t even know how I’m going to do this. And then once I started doing it, I was like, Oh, okay, it’s not too bad, but I can understand not everyone being like neurotic as me and doing it every day.
And even I get fatigued of it. So that’s why we have to have other ways of tracking without, you know, weighing everything. How do you still get your results without having to track macros?
[Josko]
So basically I’ve been tracking my macros for like seven years and I haven’t tracked my calories and macros for the last like three to four months. And I have been seeing really good results, not tracking my macros. And the thing is though, I’ve built all of this background knowledge because I’ve tracked my macros for that long.
But and I, but now that I’ve not been tracking, I’ve realized there’s so much to nutrition other than just like putting numbers into an app. And I want to share some of the insights that I’ve had and how I’ve been managing my weight while not tracking and some of the mistakes that I’ve made in the past. But basically the main things, there’s three things that we’re going to talk about in this podcast episode and basic that will help you manage your weight or lose weight while not tracking.
Okay. So the first one is going to be, I know people are going to be like, Oh my God, not this again from this stupid podcast, but like, like stop eating before three to four hours before bed so that your sleep can improve, you know?
[Brandon]
Yeah. Like in our nutrition program at Kraken, like one of the big things that we always kind of harp on. And then in our old podcast, we, I think we talk about sleep, every podcast, pretty much every single podcast.
Yeah, every podcast. Cause it’s just that important. Yeah.
And even like everyone thinks they’re like, Oh, I just need to eat like less calories and stuff like that. But I’m like, if you focus on your sleep, you’re inherently going to do a lot of those things and you’re not going to eat as many calories. You just go to bed.
Yeah, exactly.
[Josko]
Yeah. So, um, the, the sleep is like one of the key pieces that, um, anybody can fix. Like, and nobody has perfect sleep out there.
And, uh, even I have my aura ring on and I try my best. Like I wake up in the morning at like, uh, four 45 to like five o’clock every single day. And I like try to be as diligent as I can going to bed at the perfect time.
And I still don’t have like the greatest stats all the time. Like I have to be super good with my sleep. And there’s people out there who like think that they’re having a good sleep because they’re like, Oh, I sleep like I go to bed at 10 and I wake up at six.
And yet they’re, if they put on an aura ring, their stats are like absolute trash.
[Brandon]
Yeah. I was absolutely shocked when I first got my aura ring and I started tracking my sleep. I always say like people are like, Oh, how do you like the aura ring?
I’m like, Oh, it changed my life because I had such a big perspective shift.
[Josko]
So, but by the way, if you don’t know what an aura ring is, it’s basically just a like fitness tracker. It’s a sleep tracker that you wear on your ring. This ring.
Yeah. So, but yeah, it is, it is a shock. And a lot of people, they think that, Oh, you know, it’s just like a snack at night.
What’s the big deal? Or like, uh, it’s just a one beer or one drink or, you know, like I only wake up to go to the washroom once or twice per night or whatever. It’s something like that.
Right. But it, it makes a huge difference and you can see it on your stats. And then once you see it on the stats, you’re like, okay, I can, like, I can fix this first of all.
And then when I do fix it, I feel way better. Yeah. Um, but so this specific thing though is just not eating three to four hours before bed.
So let’s say if you’re going to bed at 10 o’clock, all meals should be cut off between like five to 6 PM. Like you should not be snacking after that, even a little snack, just like cut off all your meals after that. And then the thing is you will limit the amount of calories that you’re eating in a day, right?
Because you’re going to start your fast for overnight a little bit earlier, but also at the same time, you’re going to be improving your sleep, which is going to improve your hunger hormones. And if you improve your hunger hormones and you’re going to feel full, uh, and you’re also not going to feel as hungry throughout the entire day.
[Brandon]
And let’s be real. Like most people are going to have a lot of like unnecessary calories and like snacks and stuff like closer to that bedtime. Like you’re like, oh, I’m just going to wind down and watch TV.
And then like, what else usually available is like chips or, you know, ice cream. Yeah. Those are just, you know, the most typical examples.
Right.
[Josko]
Yeah.
[Brandon]
But it’s always those very like calorically dense process stuff that usually you kind of crave right before bed. And it’s just, it’s purely habitual.
[Josko]
Yeah. It is purely habitual because like you’re never craving anything that’s like nutrient dense ever. So that means you’re not really that hungry, right?
Like if you didn’t have that in your house, you’d probably just go to bed.
[Brandon]
Yeah. No one’s at like 8 PM. I really want to just like have a steak with this movie.
[Josko]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s always just like crap food. Yeah.
So it’s such an easy way to lose weight. Just cut off all food three to four hours before bed and then get a great sleep and then cut out a bunch of calories.
[Brandon]
You don’t even need an Oura ring to see this. Like you will start to see it in your physique. You’ll start to see it on the scale.
[Josko]
But speaking of Oura ring though, the Oura ring, like whenever I have a late night meal, like let’s say if I had like a dinner that I had to go to or something and then I wake up, my stats are all like crashes. So did you eat too late last night? It’s like, fuck you.
Yeah.
[Brandon]
Do you think there’s like a, like a sleep championship out there where like people are just like trying to get like the best score on Oura ring?
[Josko]
Oh yeah. There’s like Reddit guys who do that. Yeah.
[Brandon]
But do you think there’s like an official thing? Like, you know how?
[Josko]
Cause people have gotten a hundred. You know who got it? Yeah.
Kim Kardashian.
[Brandon]
Kim Kardashian.
[Josko]
She got a hundred sleep score. Yeah. Wow.
Readiness, sleep and I think activity.
[Brandon]
That might be the only thing that I’m kind of envious of Kim Kardashian. What? You don’t like those glutes?
Yeah. Yeah. All right.
[Josko]
I don’t know how I’d look with those kinds of hips, but yeah. So she actually got a hundred. It was like on Reddit.
Yeah. That’s the only reason I know. Are you sure she didn’t hire someone else to do it for her?
I think that when you’re just famous like that and you just like automatically just care about your health cause you want to like make more money and be healthier.
[Brandon]
And she’s got just like the nicest bed. Yeah, probably. Yeah.
Just Egyptian cotton. So much down.
[Josko]
So three to four hours before bed, cut off all food. Super easy. And all you have to be, all you have to do is just be like super strict about it.
Just say like, I don’t eat past six o’clock. Done. And it’s going to be hard the first few days.
[Brandon]
Yeah, it will. Yeah. Well, especially if you’re like habitually like eating something while, like I said, while you’re doing some kind of wind down activity.
Um, but it does get easier.
[Josko]
Yeah, it will get easier a week or two and then you’re going to forget about it. Yeah. Um, so number two is walking 30 to 60 minutes per day.
And this is like a dedicated walk that you’re going on for exercise, 30 to 60 minutes per day. So this isn’t like you like walking, you know, like from your car to the grocery store and that counts as one minute. And then like, I walk from the office to the, to the Starbucks and that counts as two minutes.
You know what I’m talking about? Like you are going on a walk. And the reason why is because you burn significantly more calories and also it puts you in the mindset of like, I am trying to be healthy or I am trying to be, um, I am trying to lose weight.
Right. So that’s another super easy thing to add in. And we call it a dedicated walk.
Dedicated walks. Yeah. You’re, you’re, you’re really good at this.
So I do a 30 to 60 minute walk every single day. Um, with your family. No, not with my family.
So I used to do with my family, but then the thing is now what? Just leave them home. Just leave them at home.
Yeah. So before the thing, I used to do them all the time with my family, but that was back when the kids are in strollers, but the kids aren’t in strollers anymore. One of them is cause one of them is only two months old, but, um, the other two are walking and they’re like so slow.
And also like they’re, uh, they’re three. So they’re not, they’re like super distracted. Like they wouldn’t be able to just like walk like that.
If we go on a walk somewhere, they’re like picking up rocks and stuff. That’s part of walking except, uh, I need to get this done. You know, come on kids.
So rock them just strapping. Yeah, that’s true. I could, well, I should, they’re not even at this age.
No, they’d get bored. But so yeah, I go on a, on a dedicated walk and I usually do two in a day. So I’ll wake up or after like around like nine or 10.
So I wake up at like four or 45, five o’clock and around nine or 10, I’ll do a walk like 30 to 45 minutes. And then at nighttime I’ll do another 30 to 45 minutes and I don’t do it for weight loss. I don’t do it.
Well, I mean I do. Yes. And then I do do it for like health and stuff.
Of course. But the main thing is that it just puts my mind at ease. You know, it’s a time where, um, it’s not anything strenuous to the point where I’m like super gassed and it like makes me feel good after.
And, um, it just puts my mindset into that place where it’s like, um, you know, I’m getting stuff done, you know?
[Brandon]
Wasn’t that one of the things with like a lot of the great thinkers in our time? There’s like just something about ambulating and like thinking, you know, like very closely intertwined.
[Josko]
Yeah, totally. I, I, I believe that. Yeah.
I don’t even know if it’s necessarily about, uh, you walking like, cause like sometimes even when I’m driving, like I go into that space. So it’s just traveling.
[Brandon]
I think it’s traveling.
[Josko]
Yeah. It’s like having to go from one place to another. Yeah.
But now that you think about it, so like when you’re on a treadmill, you’re definitely not thinking like that.
[Brandon]
No, I’m thinking like, when the hell can I get off? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And maybe we should just have those ones where it has like trees going by. Yeah, it should be like a 40 experience.
[Josko]
Yeah, totally. So yeah. Um, basically, you know, calorie burn, stress reduction, that’s the goal of the, of the walk and then also, you know, just being in nature and just, it’s so awesome.
Like I love walking. And then on top of that, um, just making sure that you target like at least 8,000 steps minimum. So 8,000 plus, you can go up as high as you want.
Well, I mean, I’m sure there’s some diminishing returns once you’re like pushing like 20 every single day, but, um, a dedicated walk, 8,000 steps every single day and hit, go for a walk. Even if you’re over 8,000 steps, you know, if it’s going to push you over 8,000 steps, cause you had like a day where you were like going out a lot and like grocery store and stuff like that. And you, you reach the end of the day and you have like 8,000, it’s not like, yeah, I don’t have to go for a walk.
It’s like, no, I go for a walk every day because it’s good for me. You know, it’s a dedicated walk that you’re going on. Right.
It’s like putting time aside for your exercise or time aside to brush your teeth. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
And, uh, the best time to walk is also just after you eat. Yep. I’m going to bring your blood sugar down, regulate everything.
[Brandon]
Yep.
[Josko]
So, uh, that’s, uh, that’s number two. And then number three is a focus on protein of course, with hand measurements. So, like I said, I’m not tracking my, uh, macros anymore.
I’m not using the scale or anything with a scale. Yes. But I still kind of have an idea of how much I’m eating by using my hand as a measurement tool.
So for example, um, I eat two palms of protein per meal. So the palm is like this part. I don’t even know how to explain it.
Like the palm is like without the fingers and without the finger. Okay. And so I have one of those, uh, sorry, two of those per meal, three times per day, and that’s going to push me to around like 130 to 180 grams of protein, depending on the type of protein that I eat.
And that is more than enough for a person my size. So I weigh 175 pounds, 170 pounds, and that’s more than enough for somebody my size. And, um, you know, maybe it’s not perfect that I’m having 170 grams every single day, but some days I have 180, some days I have 130, some days 140, and then it ends up being probably around like 150 to 160 ish on average.
[Brandon]
Yeah. You’re averaging like 0.8 grams to one pound. Yes.
Gram pull up body weight. Yeah. But does it need to be exact like every day, as much as like everyone wants to be exact, like 185 grams of protein every single day, it’s like, there’s so many variances in your life just from day to day, how much activity you do, how much stress level you have throughout the day.
It’s like, we, yes, we want to keep those measurements consistent, but also it’s like, if you’re off by like 10 to 20, even 30 grams every other day, it’s, it’s not going to make that much of a difference.
[Josko]
No, no. For the most people that are just trying to just get hit fit, healthy, lean, build some muscle. It like doesn’t matter at all.
[Brandon]
As long as you focus on it though. Like one thing you do have to do is you intentionally have to add protein into your diet. Yeah.
It’s not like you’re accidentally stumble upon like, Oh, you know, 185 grams. Unless you’re going to like, I don’t know, like all you can eat or something.
[Josko]
Right. The problem with a lot of people when they first joined with us anyway, is that they’re eating like 60 grams of protein per day, which is like barely enough for anybody. And, uh, what we do is we like slowly increase the amount of protein that you’re having over time.
So that’s, that’s what your goal should be is not just like trying to eat 185, but just like increasing it slowly over time if you’re having a hard time with protein anyway. Um, so, but yeah, use your hand measurement tools. Like you have, your hand is on you at all times and you can just easily decide how much protein to eat.
But I also use it for all of my macronutrients. So I’ll use it like for my carbohydrates. So I do a cup, two cups, cupped hands, two to three cupped hands of carbohydrates.
Um, so this could be like something like, let’s say like, I don’t know, around potatoes. Yeah. Like, let’s say like, I don’t know, that many potatoes, like two or three of them.
You know, I’m not super strict. Sometimes I’ll have four. Sometimes I’ll have two.
Sometimes I’ll have three. It’s not a big deal to me, but it’s just a, you, it’s just a way that I, that I can control how much I’m eating and making sure that I’m not going overboard. And then I just make sure that I’m having my one plate and then I’m not going to go back to the kitchen and have more.
And that’s how I regulate my weight is just using my hand. Oh. And then also of course, um, two fistfuls of veggies.
I don’t personally eat any veggies cause they suck, but like two fistfuls of veggies and then a two thumbs of fat. So you can have like two to three or whatever, sometimes four, but just trying to average around like whatever. Anyway, you have to decide what works for you, but you can use your hand as a measurement tool.
And I think like with each one of these servings, like, let’s say if you were to have one cup hand of carbohydrates, one palm of, um, protein, protein, and two thumbs of fat, each one is probably about like, let’s say, uh, like the cup hand and the, and the, the palm of protein is probably somewhere around like 25 to 40 grams of protein. Okay. And then the, um, the, uh, the, for the carbs, it’s probably about like 25 to 30 grams, 40 grams of carbs.
And the thumbs is probably around like 10 grams per thumb. So you could just like, look at it like that. Like how many of these like hand measurements do I need, you know?
Um, but there’s also tools online that you can find this stuff out like precisionnutrition.com. I don’t know if it’s precisionnutrition.com, but search like, uh, precision nutrition, hand portion guide. They do a really good one.
They’ll print one out exactly for your measurements. Exactly. And just follow that.
And you’ll, you don’t really have to track anymore. Right. But you’re, you’re tracking, but you’re not really tracking.
[Brandon]
Yeah. It’s just like a much more like, I wouldn’t say less disciplined because people think that like, they’re not following something if they go to hand portions, it’s just, just not as intense. Right.
[Josko]
Yeah.
[Brandon]
And you’re going to get great results doing it as well.
[Josko]
Yeah. And you just keep every single meal consistent. You say like, I eat three meals per day, which is going to be this many, like fingers or whatever.
Right. Palms, fists, or whatever. Yeah.
And, uh, so then that’s how you measure it. And, uh, super easy.
[Brandon]
And when you’re talking about like focusing on protein specifically, like which kinds of proteins are you specifically focused?
[Josko]
So focus on meat, like that should be your focus. Like that’s where you’re gonna get the most protein from, but of course there’s protein in like rice and potatoes and all that other stuff that you eat, but the focus should be on meat and that’s going to give you the most bang for your buck for sure. So like that, you know, chicken breast, steak, lamb, chicken thighs, fish.
Those are, those are the protein sources that you’re going to be targeting. And then, um, there’s going to be some, for example, if you have like a ribeye, that’s going to take your thumbs away, you know, like, cause it’s so high in fat. But this is something that you should be experiencing, experimenting with it with yourself.
And this is more of like an intuitive approach to eating as well, which is, uh, the main thing that you’re learning when you’re trying to go from tracking your calories so diligently every single day to being like trying to intuitively eat, like you’re, you’re basically forgetting all of the numbers. You’re trying to forget about all the numbers and stuff and just being like, do I feel full right now? And, uh, ever since I started doing that, I’ve becoming more in tune with my body and realizing that those hunger cues that I used to have were just an illusion where it’s like, if I, if I have a full meal, um, I’m, I might still be feeling hungry for about 10, maybe even like 20 minutes after, but then it just literally goes away.
So that means it was an illusion. I’m not actually hungry.
[Brandon]
So you’re saying that you’re becoming much more like present and in tune with what your body and your relationship with food.
[Josko]
Exactly. Yeah. And then when I, I noticed that, like, um, because I’m not focusing on my calories so much and putting it into an app that I’m like eating at specific times in the day, um, instead of just like being like, Oh, I need to hit my macros.
Like, it’s like, like, like I plan like, Oh yeah, like for lunch, I’m going to have like 1000 calories and 2000 calories. It’s more just like, Oh yeah. I wake up in the morning, I’m hungry.
And then like 11 o’clock I’m hungry again. And I’m like, it’s time to eat. And then like four o’clock I’m hungry again, you know?
[Brandon]
So yeah.
[Josko]
And then if I get hungry outside of those windows, either I don’t eat and I just wait for the next meal and have a slightly bigger meal because I’m assuming that I’m going to be more hungry. If I’m not more hungry than I just have the same size meal, or if I’m like at home or like it’s readily available, then I’ll have fruit and I’ll just be able to fill those gaps with like some snacks, you know? Um, but yeah, it is like just a lot of listening to your body.
Whereas before it was just looking at numbers all the time.
[Brandon]
I would still say like looking at the numbers is valuable, but your end goal should be to shift to something like that.
[Josko]
Most of my clients are tracking their calories. So, but it’s a, it’s also a tool for me to see like how much this person’s eating and how they’re reacting to it. But if somebody says like, I don’t want to track my calories anymore.
It’s like, I have a solution for you, you know? Like you don’t have to do that. Right.
Yeah.
[Brandon]
Yeah. You’re not like completely falling off the bandwagon. It’s like, you’re just doing something else to help you still.
[Josko]
It’s also like, you know, calorie tracking helps you so much with just recognizing like what’s good and what’s bad. Well, I don’t want to say bad, but like, let’s say like, I mean, yeah, bad.
[Brandon]
Yeah.
[Josko]
What’s worth it and what’s not. What’s worth it and what’s not. Exactly.
It’s like, Oh yeah. Like that, those Cheetos, like it’s not worth it. Like they’re okay.
But like, I like how they taste, but like, I don’t, I like how my physique looks better, you know? So that’s a, there are positives benefits to both, but I think over time, well, if you, if you’ve gone to the point where you’ve are experienced enough with your nutrition, when it comes to like macro tracking and stuff, then you should try to do it a more intuitive way where you don’t have to track, because it does take up a lot of your mental bandwidth and it does take up a lot of time as well. As much as we say, it doesn’t like I totally does.
So, um, yeah, that’s, uh, basically what we want to sum up in this episode. So in conclusion, stop eating three to four hours before bed. So you can improve your sleep and also limited amount of calories that you’re eating.
And then from there, number two is walk 30 to 60 minutes per day. Every single day as a dedicated walk outside of the steps that you’re currently doing, and also focus on protein and hand measurements. Um, yeah, that’s pretty much it for this podcast episode.
And I guess we’ll see you in the next one.
