I’m almost 50, and after years of lifting I’ve built solid muscle, but I was sitting around 25% body fat. Most of that concern now is about health—mainly getting visceral fat down—so I decided to dial things in.
Here’s the basic approach that has actually worked for me:
1. Keep the base diet clean
- No refined sugars or high-fructose corn syrup.
- No sweetened drinks.
- Normal homemade meals with fresh ingredients, leaning more toward meats and simple whole foods.
- I don’t count calories. I just eat until I’m full.
With this alone, my weight stays stable, but I don’t lose anything while lifting.
2. One weekly 22-hour fast
To get the fat loss moving, I added one 22-hour fast each week. I skip breakfast and lunch, then eat dinner like normal. That’s it.
This alone has been giving me roughly 0.10-0.25 pounds of loss per week. Not fast, but steady. It hasn’t dragged down my strength or muscle growth, which is what I care about.
Over six months, this has resulted in:
- 14 pounds lost
- 4–6 inches off my waist
If I keep going at this pace, I should hit around 15% body fat in another 6–12 months, which is right where I want to be.
Nothing here is extreme. It’s just consistent, simple habits that I can keep doing. The slow pace seems to work better for me than anything drastic, and I’m getting leaner without sacrificing the muscle I spent years building.
As somewon