Biohacking weight loss is among the latest and most promising trends to quickly melt away body fat.
Authorities deem the vast majority of the world medically overweight or even obese, and dropping excess body fat profoundly improves:
Inflammation
Cognition and brain health
Aging
Disease risk
Athletic performance
Confidence and influence
Quality of life
It’s certainly true that the best fat loss programs follow certain proven principles.
Yet we can capitalize on the power and convenience of modern technology to deliver better results in less time.
When you actually delve into the world of biohacking fat loss, you’ll discover that it’s an integration of related key fields:
- Physiology
- Psychology
- Nutrition
- Movement
- Technology
- Lifestyle
- Discipline
- Resiliency
I’ve put off writing this post for years because this market feels slimy. Crowded by gimmicky “5-minute six-pack” promises. Fat loss, however, is a timeless need and desire.
Luckily, we have a better option.
So I’ve decided to share my bioharmonous approach to rapid weight loss. These are the same fat loss biohacks I used to go from about 12% body fat, down to just below 6% over 8 weeks. We’ll start with the tactics and tips, and then I’ll share the Outliyr framework I use to help folks burn body fat and boost energy levels fast.
How to Rapidly Burn Body Fat & Lose Weight
Despite what you may often hear, rapidly biohacking your way to long-term massive weight loss is possible.
As my friend Jay Campbell continuously proves with his client success stories, the right approach can help you drop 10-30 pounds in just 30 days.
It takes work, but modern technology and tools can make the process significantly easier.
The fancy tools alone can make biohacking your way to weight loss easier. But you’re leaving a ton on the table using the tools by themselves.
You’re swimming upstream.
Understanding the basics of fat loss will help get your results faster, with less effort, and last longer.
In fact, you can just use this framework with none of the tools and still transform your body!
The Outliyr scientific fat loss framework consists of:
- Recording
- Harmonization
- Catalyzation
- Amplification
- Analysis
As an added bonus, this same framework works to biohack your energy levels. The more energy you have, the easier you can adhere to your fat loss program.
We start by measuring our baseline state with various self-quantification tools.
Record
The best fat loss programs record, track, and analyze your current state. Both quantitatively and qualitatively.
The body provides invaluable information about how well it’s functioning through all kinds of health biomarkers.
The most important tests that will help tailor your fat loss program include:
- Genetic/DNA testing (I only use this one DNA testing tool)
- Blood panels (these are the best blood testing services)
- Wearable data
- Continuous glucose monitors (see my review of the top CGMs)
- Body composition analysis
- Subjective assessment
These tools can help you measure the kinds of progress that matter most. Improving your health will be reflected in all kinds of biometrics before it shows on the scale or elsewhere.
Hormone levels and your glucose levels throughout the day speak volumes to your fat-burning state.
This also helps you cut through the noise of generic (and often terrible) advice to find what will work best for you.
Notice that I didn’t include a scale. While it’s tempting to measure progress using your total weight lost, that neglects the metric that actually matters — body fat. Weight lumps in muscle and connective tissue along with fat, so it tells virtually nothing about your progress.
In fact, weight loss can be quite unhealthy and dangerous if you’re losing mostly muscle. And you can even look worse.
The other aspect to track is quantitative. How do you currently look? How are your energy levels? How are your clothes fitting? How easily can you take the stairs? These hard-to-quantify attributes change rapidly in response to fat loss efforts.
Harmonize
After establishing your current status, knowing where to focus, and establishing measurements, the most important (and often neglected) step is to remove friction.
We all have specific things holding us back from dropping body fat.
You can take the usual weight loss approach of tacking on longer and longer workouts, restricting calories and your favorite foods, punishing yourself with extreme cold (ice baths or cryotherapy), etc.
Or you can take the easy and more effective route.
Sometimes boosting fat loss can be as simple as addressing one single vitamin or mineral deficiency.
Or consuming adequate water or certain foods which naturally suppress hunger and leave you feeling good.
Since our soils (and thus food) lack the nutrients they contained several decades ago, the lowest-hanging fruit for fat loss is to consume a high-quality, non-synthetic product replete with vitamins and minerals.
Ideally, a supplement that uses the best, most absorbable forms of these nutrients.
You’ll want one mineral product and one vitamin product. I like these two:
Catalyze
We have two goals in this step. Optimize healthy living practices, and provide the body with all the necessary fuel.
You also need to nourish your body with all the necessary raw materials it requires to function. Particularly focusing on consuming ample:
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Trace minerals
- Essential fats
- Essential aminos
Just like removing the friction, if you’re not doing the basics of healthy living, you’re destined to fail. You may drop weight over the short term, but it will come back with a vengeance. So here we focus on the fundamentals.
You’ve heard the basics of health and wellness, things like:
- Nutrition
- Hydration
- Movement
- Sleep
- Stress management
- Light exposure
- Deliberate breath
- Quiet time
- Eliminating vices
You may already know which areas to personally focus on. Wearables and other devices can help paint an objective picture.
You don’t need to perfect any one of them, but each improvement directly contributes to your results.
Amplify
Finally, virtually everything in this post fits into the Amplify category. These are the core weight loss strategies, tips, and hacks that all the experts debate.
Once you’ve built a rock-solid foundation and removed the friction slowing your transformation, you’re ready to amplify.
This includes all the implementations of the basics, as well as the fancy peptides, small molecules, and advanced therapeutics.
If you add these before following the previous steps, you’ll get weaker results, increase side effects, and potentially waste money.
You’ll want to start slow and select only a few things to test at a time to prevent overwhelm.
Analyze
Is it working? Can you get there faster?
This is the stage where you check in and evaluate. Analysis helps you determine which parts of your routine are working for you, and which add little to no value.
Fat loss is all about personalization, and reflection is what lets you accomplish it.
Look over the data you’ve collected. Check your wearable for trends. Read your log of qualitative assessments. If you relied on a quantification method like blood work, consider a re-evaluation.
Then go back through the previous steps to make sure you still have a solid foundation. Perhaps you’ve mastered sleep and now your focus should change to movement. Look for any friction that may have slowly crept up.
Are you still getting ample vitamins, minerals, and nutrients?
If you want to add/change/remove any of the fat loss biohacks, this is the time. Take notes on your analysis so that you can re-visit this later.
Biohacking Weight Loss Tips & Strategies: Regenerate
The body has a natural fat setpoint. Certain stressors and lifestyle habits can make weight loss virtually impossible.
These are the tips, tricks, and protocols used to help the body self-regulate back into an ideal state.
Then everything else works better.
Stealth infections
Undiagnosed infections are far more common than typically realized. One bad meal, a sip of the wrong water, or even walking barefoot over the wrong patch of ground can let pathogens enter the body and establish themselves. They wreak havoc on your hormones, create cravings, and hog nutrients.
To make matters worse, the symptoms sometimes masquerade as other problems.
Fungal and parasitic infections also suppress the immune system and increase water retention and bloating. Stealth infections can underlie hormonal problems, and digestive conditions, and even lead to organ damage.
If you experience unexplainable bloating and water retention, or your stomach looks like it would pop if poked with a pin, consider an anti-parasite protocol.
Sleep
There’s no way around it. Your success depends on an utterly boring subject. Sleep.
Sleep quality and quantity profoundly impact virtually every bodily system, and thus your body composition. Unsurprisingly, research in Nature and Science of Sleep concluded that suboptimal sleep has significant long and short-term consequences [R].
Sleep dramatically influences hormone levels. Testosterone, growth hormone, and the ones that sculpt a lean body. As well as regulating levels of stress hormones like cortisol—which make you fat in large quantities.
Plus, sleep also manages levels of the hunger hormones leptin and ghrelin [R]. The better your sleep, the less you eat, and the fewer cravings for junk.
If this is your weakness, check out this post on how I biohack my sleep. Some of the keys are to make your sleeping environment dark, cool, and free of distractions. Get light exposure in the early morning. Maintain a consistent sleep/wake cycle, and create a wind-down routine in the evening.
You can also try these natural sleep aid supplements. These have helped me a ton and also confer powerful anti-aging benefits.
Diffuse toxicities
It’s tempting to vilify fat as the enemy of health. Yet it plays important roles, and in some cases, it actually keeps you healthy.
We’re all exposed to hundreds of chemicals and toxicants every day [R]. If our natural detoxification systems are overloaded and the body cannot expel hazardous waste, it has no choice but to store it within the body.
Learn about the vital role of natural detoxification in your health journey and explore effective strategies to support it in this article I wrote about fast and effective cellular detox.
Toxicants interfere with vital biochemical processes, preventing the body from operating properly. Heavy metals are especially dangerous. So the body creates new fat cells to insulate them from the nervous system and key tissues and organs.
If you carry significant body fat, you’ll want to carefully use binders and supportive agents to help your body eliminate these toxicities. Otherwise, when you break down stored body fat, you also liberate these dangerous chemicals into the bloodstream where they can cause serious damage.
Shake & vibrate
One of the core pathways of natural detoxification is the rarely-discussed lymphatic system.
It’s a fluid network that’s part of the immune system tasked with removing cellular waste. Unlike the cardiovascular system, the lymphatic system doesn’t have its own pump to circulate this waste.
Instead, it relies on human movement. Some of the best ways to stimulate lymphatic drainage include jumping/rebounding, inversion therapy, and vibration (check out my review of the best whole-body vibration systems). Normal walking helps too, but not to the same extent.
Five minutes bouncing on a trampoline (or mini-trampoline “rebounder”), or a high-quality vibration platform. I prefer vibe systems because they also directly help weight loss and can significantly boost the benefits of bodyweight exercise.
Circadian rhythm
Our bodies contain a multitude of biological “clocks” in different organ systems. Activity and processes naturally fluctuate throughout the day and night. That’s the concept of circadian rhythm, and the knowledge dates back thousands of years to Ayurvedic medicine.
The more we do things at similar times, the better our body responds. Sleep/wake cycle, the hours we eat, when we exercise, etc.
Theoretically, the more stability the body has, the more it can come out of “fight or flight” mode and afford to burn body fat for energy. Conversely, in times of famine or constant change, the body preserves body fat as it’s a useful fuel.
Better lighting
Light is one of the more powerful biological signals we expose ourselves to on a daily basis.
Sunlight in the morning leads to increased levels of the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin, followed by increased melatonin (sleep hormone) at night. Light exposure entrains our circadian rhythm.
The most notable of all wavelengths, however, is red light. Red light therapy helps the mitochondria produce energy more efficiently.
Multiple studies have also concluded that red light does work to increase fat burning and overall weight loss [R, R, R].
To harness the benefits of red, you’ll want a high-quality red light therapy panel.
Then, you’ll want to minimize bright blue light at night.
Heal your gut
The gut is where we break down foods so that we can later assimilate the nutrients to power our biology.
Due to glyphosate, pesticides, and rampant antibiotic usage, gut issues have become incredibly common. A perfectly functioning and healthy gut is now the exception.
When we cannot fully extract nutrients from the foods we eat, we run into an energy crisis. Certain bodily systems begin operating at reduced capacity. Signaling a biological emergency. Prompting fat retention.
Pathological microbiome imbalances also create cravings and impede fat loss. Check out these top tips to biohack your gut health.
Biohacking Weight Loss Tips & Strategies: Movement
Increasing movement is often the first tactic employed by weight loss programs.
The right modalities work great, while others can set you back further over the long term.
These are the top tips, tricks, and strategies to use fitness for weight loss.
Kill cardio
Well-meaning doctors and health influencers have long painted jogging and running as iconic healthy activities.
It also has a reputation as the king of fat loss exercise. But the way it’s often performed often does more harm than good.
Low to moderate-intensity “cardio” puts the body into a prolonged high-stress state. It has unfavorable effects on hormones (increases cortisol and reduces testosterone) and actually encourages the body to burn lean tissue (muscle) and spare body fat.
Evolutionarily, this makes sense. Muscle requires significant caloric intake just to power. The less muscle and more body fat the body maintains, the longer it can survive in high-stress situations (ie running away from predators). So the body burns muscle and stores more fat.
And the calories burned via even a brisk run hardly exceed a small unhealthy snack. Yet after hard cardio, folks often reward or “refeed” themselves with calorie-dense foods.
There’s too much to write here, so you can read this article on how cardio and running make you fat. Luckily, we have far better and more enjoyable options.
NEATen up
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the summation of all your movements throughout the day that are not part of a dedicated workout.
All the fidgeting, walking, stairs, stretching, etc.
When it comes to quality of life and health outcomes, NEAT is highly correlated with overall health and body composition. The more often you move your body, and the more ways, the better for your waistline.
You can even step up your NEAT and get greater strength, weight loss, and longevity benefits by incorporating a few 20-60-second “micro-workouts” into your days.
It’s becoming clear that a single 60-minute run or gym session followed by the rest of the day spent sedentary just isn’t enough for meaningful fat loss.
Super walking
If I could only do one movement for the rest of my life, I’d pick walking.
Simply because walking has perhaps the most benefits of any movement pattern.
The human body is engineered to comfortably and effectively walk long distances. A nice long walk improves:
- Lymphatic drainage and detoxification
- Posture
- Stabilizes blood sugar
- Blood lipid profiles which expose us to the natural (beneficial) outdoors, and burns calories while keeping stress hormones low.
While a fitness tracker may not measure as many calories burned as a faster-paced run, the hormonal response difference is key. Running elevates cortisol and epinephrine which break down lean tissue and encourage fat storage. Walking does not.
Walking is more pleasant and accessible to virtually everyone, anytime, anywhere. Best of all, you can do this simple upgrade to begin “super walking” as I call it.
KAATSU
Heavy strength/resistance training has its place. It favorably improves hormones, it not only burns calories but also increases your resting metabolic rate throughout the rest of the day, and it diverts food to fuel tired muscles before creating new fat cells.
But it carries the risk of potential injury and requires you to frequent a local gym to get the best, most consistent effects.
KAATSU is a special technology that you apply to your arms and legs and it simulates a heavy strength training session using just body weight. It’s currently a secret weapon used by Olympians, professional athletes, elite military personnel, and successful entrepreneurs.
This game-changing system has decades of use in Japan and facilitates body transformation (increasing lean muscle and reducing weight). Learn more in my KAATSU training science & review post.
Harness electricity
The other breakthrough fitness technology that I’ve recently been using to transform my body is called Electro Muscle Stimulation (EMS).
Research on EMS training dates back to the 1960s in Russia.
Basically, you wear a suit that applies electricity to the muscles which causes them to contract as if they are under heavy load. Not only do you sweat buckets, but you rapidly boost your metabolism and build muscle.
Simply by performing bodyweight exercises, light movement, or even yoga. It also features a special cardio mode which you can use to increase calorie burn and accelerate weight loss.
The system I personally use is called Katalyst, and they claim to:
- Simulate a 2-hour workout in 20 minutes
- Activate 90% of your muscle compared to 40% via traditional training methods
- Have zero impact on the body
Although it sounds gimmicky, high-power devices like this really work (I can’t remember the last time I was as sore as after my first session).
Biohacking Weight Loss Tips & Strategies: Resilience
At our core, one of the differentiating characteristics between humans and other animals is our ability to train and build our personal resilience.
To cultivate greater “life force”.
These are the strategies you rarely hear about that impact the long-term success of your weight loss journey. Yet professionals know not to neglect these.
North star
While the concept of mindset gets thrown around lightly, having a powerful reason to change underlies all effective goals.
Whether weight loss, increasing energy, building lean mass, sharpening mental acuity, or any other health goal, eventually your resolve gets tested. It will feel difficult. You’ll feel incredible pressure to cave in and stop.
Is to begin with a compelling plan in mind. Something that you easily cling to when the inevitable temptations arise.
When you think you’ve found it, try to go a level deeper. Get to your true motive. Discard any preconceived notion of what your north star “should” be.
It can be as simple as naturally resolving a chronic health condition that’s plagued you for years. Or just to look great on the beach. As long as it will deeply motivate you over the long term, you’re set.
Success system
Another rarely discussed factor of long-term weight loss success is your environment.
This goal is difficult in and of itself. Especially in the beginning, even a tiny amount of peer pressure can derail you quickly.
It’s imperative to surround yourself, ideally locally but also online, with a like-minded tribe. People that have been down the same road and will actually support you. Rather than tempt you and downplay your efforts.
Having the accountability of answering to others who know your goals makes you infinitely more likely to succeed. And even more over the long term.
That’s why I regularly meet with my mastermind to keep each other accountable. It’s also why the Outliyr Secret Society works so well.
But all it takes is one person. Ask them to check in with you regularly and watch your motivation skyrocket.
S***** management
Stress management has become almost a dirty phrase.
Stress is not inherently bad. On the contrary, it’s an evolutionarily preserved mechanism to grant us access to a plethora of energy at a moment’s notice.
The issue is that our biology struggles to differentiate between real and perceived threats. And once we enter the stressed state, modern living makes switching back into our regenerative mode difficult.
For example, a mean comment on social media or an aggressive driver cutting you off in traffic can dysregulate your neurohormonal balance for hours.
To master controlling the state of our nervous system, we have a cornucopia of free practices and fancy modern tools to biohack our stress:
- Biofeedback
- Neurofeedback
- Apollo haptic technology
- Breathwork
- Earthing
- Yoga
- Visualizations
- Affirmations
- Mind Movies
- Meditation
- “Working in” active recovery movements
The key here is to choose a few items from the above list and build them into your routine.
If you don’t believe that stress affects you much, or that you thrive with stress as I did, get a wearable that measures either your heart rate variability (HRV) or continuous blood sugar. My mind was blown.
Breathwork
Breathwork is so important that it deserves its own heading.
Within a minute or so, it can change our state. Depending on the type used, into either relaxation or stress.
Did you know that weight loss primarily happens through the breath [R]?
There are tons of different styles and techniques. I use box breathing to manage stress, 4-7-8 to de-stress, and Wim Hof to energize myself.
Overall, just becoming conscious of your breathing patterns is a health optimization fundamental.
Mitochondrial care
If you think back to high school biology class, you may recall mitochondria as “the power plant of the cell“. While that’s true and they do indeed generate your energy, they also do a whole lot more.
Mitochondria are environmental sensors. They determine whether it’s safe to generate energy and how it should best be allocated.
The mitochondria-centric theory of disease shows how they are implicated in virtually every degenerative disease. Plus, those that are the healthiest tend to have the most efficient and numerous mitochondria.
Mitochondria quite literally combine the food you consume with oxygen to generate cellular energy. Smoothly functioning mitochondria make fat loss faster both directly, and indirectly by making movement and other health practices easier.
Therefore, prioritizing mitochondria health is one of the first objectives of any advanced health practitioner. Check out this guide on how to optimize your mitochondria for maximum energy.
Sauna
Next to the foundational health strategies, deliberate heat exposure through sauna ranks as an honorable mention to not only build your health but to transform your body.
Just 20 minutes in the sauna can increase detoxification, boost your metabolic rate (calorie burn), and promote weight loss. Plus, you get all kinds of other benefits:
- Longer healthspan
- Stronger immune system
- Lower stress
- Mental health
- Less pain
- Clearer skin
- Cardiovascular health
During an intense sauna session, especially following a workout, I can get my heart rate up near my max. Up past 170 beats per minute. I can easily burn 500-600 calories in one session.
Stimulating the benefits of cardiovascular training but without the wear and tear and sky-high stress hormones.
Most saunas just heat the air around you. These top infrared saunas actually work by emitting a non-visible form of light that heats the water in your body. Providing the benefits of traditional saunas plus other unique benefits. Plus, infrared saunas are a whole lot more comfortable.
Cold thermogenesis
The other notable extreme temperature is cold therapy. Usually via ice bath/cold plunge.
Sometimes using a special but unnecessary cryotherapy chamber. But even a quick cold shower provides some benefits.
First and most apparent to any cold therapy veteran, this practice quickly builds mental fortitude. Your nervous system learns to re-regulate itself faster when exposed to dramatic external stressors. It also makes you more sensitive to important neurotransmitters like dopamine.
Fat burning wise, cold exposure therapy activates a metabolically active form of fat called brown adipose tissue. When you shiver, this is the fat that heats you up. It does so by increasing calorie burn. As a result, your metabolism increases [R].
That’s one way cold exposure boosts energy expenditure and promotes weight loss [R].
Some self-quantifying biohackers with advanced metabolic testing systems report that they burn between 350-900 calories per session, but I haven’t seen the data.
Biohacking Weight Loss Tips & Strategies: Diet
After exercise, the other half of traditional weight loss programs consist of following hyper-restrictive, boring, and unsustainable diets.
Those generally fail hard and instead, nutrition requires personalization to our unique bodies and lifestyles.
So in this section, we will cover some of the key universal nutrition-related weight loss tactics and tips.
Protein magic
If you do nothing else but increase the dietary protein you consume, you’ll lose weight. It’s almost that simple.
Better yet, if you increase your protein but reduce total calories (or even hold them constant), you’ll see faster results.
That’s because protein is the most satiating macronutrient. You’ll feel full faster when consuming it. Cravings will lighten. Plus, you “waste” about 30% of each calorie of protein during the digestive process.
So even if you technically consume 1000 calories of protein, you’ll only absorb 700 calories worth. Plus, it’s much more difficult to store protein as body fat.
Check out this guide to dietary protein for weight loss, the best grass-fed whey protein brands, or one of my favorite ways to sneak in more protein benefits, essential amino acid supplements.
Caloric abstinence
If you’ve already managed your total stress burden (allostatic load), changing the timing of your meals can work wonders.
But only if you’ve already managed your cumulative stress level. Physical, mental, emotional, and environmental/chemical.
Over the last few years, fasting has peaked and fallen in popularity. That’s because the way it’s typically practiced doesn’t account for the significant differences between people.
There are lots of different styles. From simply eating breakfast later and dinner earlier, to alternate day fasting, and even the fasting-mimicking diet.
Intermittent fasting or the fasting-mimicking diet is great for beginners, but alternate-day fasting yields jaw-dropping results.
Increasing time in between meals does a number of things for the body. It improves insulin sensitivity [R], fasting blood sugar, cellular reparation [R], levels of regenerative growth hormone [R], mental clarity through the natural production of ketone bodies, and promotes burning body fat through innumerable other mechanisms.
Plus, you’re reducing total caloric intake, rebalancing hunger hormones, and potentially increasing your health span.
It’s best to avoid diets that are not too limiting regarding your food intake. For example, the “If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM) diet allows you to eat whatever as long as you hit your daily macronutrients. It often backfires and makes your weight loss efforts harder.
Eat calories
When it comes to the dietary side of weight loss, most people obsess over what they eat.
However, there’s a bigger issue…
Fruit juices, soda, sugar-free soda, mixers, etc can dramatically increase fat gain. In the case of fruit juice, you’re getting a huge bolus of fructose without the phytonutrients or fiber to offset it.
The way your body processes liquids is vastly different from whole foods.
If you want something to satisfy the craving, try sparkling water with a few drops of a high-quality sweetener like monk fruit extract, or if you don’t mind the aftertaste, stevia.
Whole-foods
What does virtually every single case of long-term weight loss success share in common?
Removal or greatly reduced intake of processed and ultra-processed foods.
Structurally, processed foods more closely resemble a chemical lab than something you’d find growing outdoors. In fact, chemical engineers add particular additives to make them as addictive and craveable as possible. They literally hook humans up to EEG brain sensors and tweak, and optimize the ratios to make the bag of chips feel impossible to put down.
As you may expect, processed foods harm physical and mental health, and interfere with most bodily systems [R, R, R].
Including dysregulating insulin, blood sugar, ghrelin, and leptin making weight loss far more difficult.
Supplement
Certain supplements and formulas radically transformed how I looked, felt, and performed on a daily basis.
These days, I strategically use dozens of different ingredients to support my body and mind. My DIY pre-workout drink supports athletic performance without nasty additives or undesirable side effects. My morning nootropics grant me immediate mental clarity, focus, and discipline. Natural sleep supplements improve my rest, deepening the restorative effects of sleep and reducing the time I need to spend in bed.
There’s a common misconception that our ancestors didn’t use supplements. They enjoyed nutrient-dense soil, which translated into food with more vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.
Still, they used roots, stems, leaves, and teas of various plants to make natural supplements. In fact, the 5,000-year-old system of Ayurveda has a vast pharmacopeia of remedies.
For fat loss, the most important supplements include:
- Vitamins
- Minerals
- Essential amino acids
I like to take a week or two away from supplements on occasion.
Hydration
Everyone’s heard about the importance of drinking water. Yet the vast majority of us don’t consume enough.
Some estimates classify over 80% of Americans as dehydrated. And here’s what’s even more important…
Chugging more water won’t necessarily hydrate you.
You must actually absorb that water. To do so, you need electrolytes like sodium, potassium, magnesium, etc.
Deep hydration reduces fatigue and muscle cramps, acts as a natural appetite suppressant, occupies volume within the stomach (reducing the total amount of food you’ll eat), and can actually directly increase body fat loss.
One study found that water consumed 30 minutes before meals increased resting metabolic rate and total calories burned. Resulting in easy weight loss.
Since 99/100 molecules in the body are water, and just a minor 1-2% dehydration can have significant consequences, consider working on your hydration plan.
For an easy hydrating electrolyte solution, I use this product.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) is a staple “cure-all” in the natural and alternative health arsenal.
It appears to provide such a wide variety of benefits that it’s hard to rationalize not using ACV.
Research has found that it’s an effective biohack for weight loss, working by suppressing appetite, regulating food intake, reducing fat storage, increasing insulin sensitivity, and a whole lot more [R, R].
One Japanese study found that 12 weeks of daily ACV consumption reduced body weight, body fat mass, and unhealthy triglyceride levels [R].
Normal organic ACV “with the mother” works great. Just mix 1 tablespoon into 2 cups of water.
Or, you can use supplements. Apple cider vinegar gummies probably do more harm than good. If you don’t like the taste, this is the only ACV supplement I’d use.
Biohacking Weight Loss: Healthy Swaps for Vices
Sometimes, what’s holding you back is a vice or two.
Perhaps you enjoy beers with friends, unwind with an evening smoke, or achieve your productivity with a fourth or fifth cup of coffee.
While there’s nothing wrong with a little indulgence, what if I told you that I’ve found ways to enjoy the effects of each of these without the damage or other downsides?
Alcohol alternatives
When I used to drink (several times per week), I drank heavily. Eventually, I came to terms with the fact that it was wrecking my health and severely setting back my goals.
So I dug into the research and explored everything out there that could emulate similar feelings with sloppiness, toxicity, or hangover.
I came across ethanol-free alcohol, plants used in lieu of alcohol around the world for thousands of years, hemp (not THC) infused beverages, novel nootropics, and a whole lot more.
Check out this post on the best healthy alcohol alternatives that feel great and you’ll understand why I don’t miss drinking.
Tobacco alternatives
Despite the old commercials and doctor-endorse ads, smoking is a hard habit to justify as healthy.
Not only are you inhaling carcinogens from combustion, but most tobacco these days hardly resembles what it used to. The number of toxic chemical additives is hard to believe.
But tobacco has played an integral ceremonial role throughout the existence of humans. Among smokers who lived to old age, lung cancer was virtually a non-issue.
They did things a bit differently. In this article I share the healthier alternatives to smoking cigarettes or cigars and why I recently started using tobacco. And no, I sometimes stop for a week at a time with no problems whatsoever.
Super coffee
Compared to the above, coffee doesn’t feel like it belongs on the same list.
In low to moderate quantities, it doesn’t. In fact, it accelerates body fat burning.
But coffee is also liquid stress.
Those consuming 200+ milligrams per day may want to re-evaluate. Remember, excess cortisol switches the way the body fuels itself. It increases body fat storage and burns muscle instead.
Regardless of your relationship with coffee, consider the following upgrades:
- Adding cacao butter or grass-fed butter
- Adding C8 MCT oil
- Adding L-Theanine
These smooth out the effects of caffeine, providing long-lasting satiety, mental clarity, and weight loss.
This post gives the full Outliyr Coffee Recipe and how it works synergistically.
Biohacking Weight Loss: Designer Therapeutics
Once you’ve mastered the other categories, you’re well on your way.
These advanced weight loss biohacks can add further amplify your results.
Do your own diligence before using them, but know that they can be powerful tools for the right person.
Tesofensine
Considered by some to be the holy grail of fat loss, Tesofensine is among the most powerful little-known substances.
It has a diverse array of all-in-one effects.
A friend of mine, Jay Campbell, describes it like this,
“[It] suppresses appetite better than Semaglutide, increases metabolic rate more than AOD9604, and provides the nootropic effects of a peptide like Semax”.
I started using this in 2023, and wow it’s powerful. Just a single capsule taken in the morning:
- Reduces my appetite by about 20% for over 24 hours
- Dramatically increases energy
- Improves my focus, mental clarity, mood, and motivation
- Enhances my workouts
It’s very difficult to procure and in the regulatory grey zone. You can learn more in my short write-up on tesofensine, and I suggest conducting your own research and checking with your healthcare provider first.
AOD-9604 peptide
When it comes to transforming the body, growth hormone is a vital hormone to understand.
So much so, that it’s a long-established aid for bodybuilders and athletes. It improves both muscle growth and fat loss. Not only is using exogenous growth hormone banned in sports, but it does have its own side effects.
There’s a simpler version of growth hormone, a peptide fragment called AOD9604 which specifically targets its body fat-burning benefits. As a result, it has few to no side effects.
Again, this is a substance only worth consideration in advanced fat loss protocols. You can learn more about AOD-9604 and the best therapeutic peptides here. Always conduct your own research and consult your health provider first.
GLP-1 agonists
The GLP-1 receptor agonists are the hottest weight loss drugs on Earth. You may recognize some of the generic & brand names: Semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus), Liraglutide (Saxenda), Dulaglutide (Trulicity), Tirzepatide (Mounjaro).
Semaglutide has already become the most prescribed drug in history. Because this class of drugs just works.
An injection just once per week can have body-transforming effects with no other changes. Cravings disappear, hunger pangs don’t strike, and addictive foods lose their appeal.
For most people, I don’t recommend them. In this article, I share the often overlooked dangers and potential complications of GLP-1 weight loss drugs.
Yet when implemented into a program by a skilled practitioner, the GLP-1s can be life-changing. There’s less margin for error, so this is definitely an advanced weight loss biohack.
Biohacking Weight Loss Resources: Coaching, Programs, Apps, Products, Books
Some of the most important weight loss tools aren’t physical. Collectively, billions of people have lost billions of pounds.
I personally have not gone through any courses or programs that I’ve found incredibly innovative or comprehensive that I foresee working indefinitely.
The best fat loss plan will be the one personalized to you and your lifestyle. Skilled coaches and thought leaders masterfully distill everything that works into one easy-to-follow system, customized to you.
When I find extraordinary fat loss resources, I’ll surely update this post with the details and any special promos.
Outliyr Fat Loss Cheat Sheet
All this is a lot to take in. So I’ve simplified the essentials into this little section. These are the general fat loss principles that yield the greatest results.
Alignment
- Get clear on your deepest “why” to lose weight
- Find support either from a coach, friend, or accountability partner
- Swap out unhealthy vices
Nutrition — provide the body with all the necessary raw materials
- Focus on increasing dietary protein
- Minimize processed and ultra-processed foods and drinkable calories
- Hydrate with ample water fortified with electrolytes (watch out for unnecessary added sugar)
- Supplement with amino acids, vitamins, minerals
Movement — muscle burns more calories than fat
- Reduce jogging, running, and chronic endurance activities
- Walk or “super walk” throughout the day
- Prioritize resistance training, EMS, or KAATSU
Recover
- Deepen your sleep with a cool, dark, quiet, peaceful bedroom
- Add a few resiliency practices
- Schedule some quiet time into your day
This makes up the base of any solid fat loss program. Only then would I consider the fancy practices, tools, supplements, and fat loss aids.
Whether you’re looking to pack on some muscle or torch body fat, fitness gets confusing.
Do I need a monthly gym membership?
Will this hot new technique actually work?
Which supplements can accelerate my results?
How do I continue making progress while on the road?
This is all possible. And remember this…
Injury is the fastest way to derail your progress and lose your hard work. Click To TweetEventually, most runners get injured. As do most weightlifters.
So what do you do?
Use the right tools.
You can get better results fast, without spending 2 hours in the gym, 6 days per week.
So I designed a simple “Body Upgrade Cheatsheet” to handpick the most essential tools the pros use to transform their bodies in minimal time. Download it here…
Transform Your Body FAST & Long-Term With These Fat Loss Strategies
If you’ve made it this far, congrats. That discipline will serve you well on your journey.
Accumulating visible body fat takes weeks, months, or years. Burning it off is not an overnight activity.
Yet the right strategy can dramatically accelerate your progress and results. And make your new lean body stay that way over the long term.
30-days of the right actions is enough to transform nearly to the point where friends and family may not recognize you.
I follow the five-step bioharmonous weight loss blueprint:
- Record — take inventory of your quantitative (lab testing) and qualitative (how you feel) states.
- Harmonize — find and fix the areas that add friction and hinder your progress
- Catalyze — master the basics or enlist the help of modern tools
- Amplify — add, tweak, and follow the fat loss biohacks listed in this post
- Analyze — discover each of the tips, tools, and strategies that work best for you
By following this process, you’ll gain energy. Your mind will feel sharper. You’ll perform higher across the board. Your quality of life will increase. You’ll look and feel your best.
Weight loss will just be the welcomed side “effect” benefit.
I hope that this is helpful.
There are tons of other useful tips, tools, programs, apps, and resources to help you along your journey. If you’ve found something that’s worked great for you, drop a comment below and let me know!
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