Is it better to exercise or diet to lose weight?

This is a hugely important question that will determine how you approach weight loss. Will you spend an hour on the treadmill before work, or will you cut back on portion sizes?

First off, there’s a huge misconception that you NEED to exercise to start losing weight. That’s totally incorrect.

Formal exercise is actually the least important of the 5 key steps to lose weight.

There are 4 foundational steps you need in place to lose weight BEFORE starting a structured workout routine.

Read our foundational article ‘Weight Loss For Men Over 40’ to discover the 5 key weight loss steps you need to follow.

I’ll prove this to you with these 11 comparisons images below. These images will help you easily answer: is it better to exercise or diet to lose weight? Enjoy these images (especially #10)!

It’s Time You Learned How To Start Eating Healthy
By Dr. Anthony Balduzzi, Men’s Health Coach & Founder, The Fit Father Project

And when push came to shove, you probably went right back to the cookie dough or fast food. Old habits die hard, right?

Healthy eating is a challenging feat. It’s not just about being careful of the food you put in your body. It’s about the time, preparation and commitment.

But of course, you probably already know the challenges of eating healthy. But did you know that there’s a much simpler way to approach it?

In this article, you’ll find tips on how to start eating healthy. You’ll even find our free 1-day meal plan.

Read on to find out how you can can make healthy habits fit into your lifestyle.

A Short Guide To Answer How Many Calories Should I Eat To Gain Muscle?
By Stuart Carter, Men’s Health Coach & Head Trainer, The Fit Father Project

If you’re training right, but not noticing the gains you should be, your diet is probably to blame.

The trouble for most ‘hard-gainers’ is that they aren’t taking in enough calories to increase muscle size.

In this guide we’ll take a look at not only the number of calories you need to eat, but how these calories should be split out to get the best effect.

I’m sure you’ll agree, the last thing you want to do is add muscle, but have too much fat on top to be able to see it.

The process of gaining muscle with minimal fat is what we like to refer to as ‘lean-bulking’.

This is where I’m going to take you with this guide, so let’s jump in and learn how to gain some solid, lean muscle.

Healthy Meal Plans Shouldn’t Be Rocket Science
By Dr. Anthony Balduzzi, Men’s Health Coach & Founder, The Fit Father Project

When you’re just starting out on the road to health, you’re probably coming across many different meal plans that sound like a great idea. Low carb, vegan, pescatarian, paleo… The list just goes on and on.

But the thing is, you don’t need an overly complicated meal plan or diet to get healthy. You just don’t!

What you do need is some basic rules, commitment and consistency.

If you are ready to tackle the most important part of staying fit and healthy, keep reading for more tips about the best meal plans for men!

Once you’re done reading, you’ll have all the information needed to jump into our free 1-day meal plan.

How To Make Bodybuilding Meal Prep Easy and Sustainable.
By Stuart Carter, Head Trainer & Men’s Health Coach, The Fit Father Project

The secret behind being successful with meal prep revolves around being consistent and making it easy.

You’re probably already aware that you need to eat more calories than your ‘normal’ intake.

This is the only effective way to grow your muscles and improve your body building physique.

Exercises such as those provided by the Old School Muscle Program are essential for building your muscles but they will only be effective if you consume enough calories to power your muscles and help build and repair them.

However, this does not mean eating anything and everything you feel like!

You might get away with this in your 20’s, but in your 40’s you need to consider what you are putting in your body.

Find Out About The Best Supplements For Men.
By Stuart Carter, Head Trainer & Men’s Health Coach, The Fit Father Project

In our experience, there are no short cuts which are sustainable in the long term.

So, there are several steps you will need to be consistent with before you can start to see significant results.

Learning which are the best supplements for men like you, will be one of those very important steps.

The Most Important Step To Start With.

The first step is the most important and often the most surprising; it is not an intensive weight lifting program!

In order to build lean muscle you need to develop the right attitude and look at your nutrition.

In fact, any body transformation is usually 80% diet and 20% exercise.

It is the most important element of building muscle and stripping fat, regardless of your age.

However, once you cross the magic 40 threshold there are a variety of best supplements for men that you should be taking to optimise results and performance.

These are not just designed to help you build muscle; they will ensure you stay fit enough and strong enough to complete this old school muscle building program!

Start Dieting with a Cheap Meal Prep Plan
By Dr. Anthony Balduzzi, Men’s Health Coach & Founder, The Fit Father Project

This is especially important when you’re trying to get back into shape.

Once you commit to eating healthier, you won’t want anything to stand in your way! Especially not the cost of healthy foods.

If you’ve never shopped for meal planning before, you may be confused as to where to start.

If you go to the grocery store without a game plan, you will end up spending more than you should.

But that’s where our guide comes in. Keep reading for the three most important things you need to do when meal prepping to make sure it’s cost-effective.

Cheap Meal Prep Tip #1: Buy in bulk whenever possible.

The first thing you need to know about cheap meal prepping is to buy in bulk.

Buying in bulk allows you to save on items when they’re on sale. It also allows you to avoid going back to the grocery store too many times.

But, it’s important to know what items you should and should not buy in bulk.

• Fruit? Nope– it would go bad too quickly
• Meat and fish? Absolutely– freeze what you’re not going to use in the immediate week
• Rice and quinoa? Absolutely– it won’t go bad in your pantry
• Vegetables? Probably not– no one wants mushy spinach

In general, delicate produce like fruit and vegetables shouldn’t be bought in bulk because they’ll go bad too quickly.

Meat and fish, on the other hand, are probably the best things to buy in bulk especially around a sale.

Cheap Meal Prep Tip #2: Cook twice per week.

Next up in your master plan for cheap meal prep is cooking twice per week.

What? You won’t have to dirty your kitchen to cook more than two times per week?

That’s right. This trick simultaneously saves a ton of time, energy and money. Here’s how it works.

After you purchase your groceries on a weekend, set aside an hour on Sunday to prep meals for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Then on Wednesday, make meals for the rest of the week.

This simple act of cooking twice a week makes sure that you account for all the ingredients that you buy and use them all responsibly.

This way, you rarely ever waste food.

Minimizing your food waste is an incredible feat, seeing that Americans alone throw away billions of dollars worth of food every year.

Another great aspect of cooking twice per week is that you know exactly what you’re going to eat for the next three days.

This will allow you to switch things up, plan new meals, and get exciting (but healthy) snacks that will make sure that you don’t burn out of meal prepping.

There’s no reason to quit meal prepping when you can plan ahead and make sure your meals are satisfying.

Cheap Meal Prep Tip #3: Store your food, ready for when you need it.

And finally, find a good system to store your the delicious food you prepared!

The last thing you’d want to happen after you responsibly buy your ingredients and dutifully prepare your meals is having them disorganized and stuffed into your refrigerator.

Make sure you have enough containers for your meals so you can organize them in your fridge by day.

This way, all you have to do is grab a stack when you’re on your way out to work.

Storing your food properly also makes sure that none of your hard work spoils before you can eat it.

For more ideas of what to eat and how to prepare it, check out our free 1 Day Meal Plan by clicking below.

Cheap Meal Prep Tip #4: Get your partner or a friend involved.

Cheap meal prepping is a fantastic thing to do for your body and overall health.

But sometimes, it can be difficult to get motivated. If it sounds like something you’d struggle with, consider getting your partner or best friend on board with you.

Sharing tips of what worked and what didn’t together can help you get ahead and like most things, it’s nice to share the journey with someone!

Here at the Fit Father Project, we have had countless men go through our meal prep process.

Many of them started by downloading our free 1 Day Meal Plan.

In your journey to get back into shape, a proper diet couldn’t be more important.

Tools like our 24-minute fat burning workout are great jumping off points if you’d like to start to see changes in your body.

But remember, a proper diet is the first step to weight loss.

Go forth and conquer your cheap meal prep! Long lasting health awaits you.

Dr. Anthony Balduzzi
Founder, The Fit Father Project
Brotherhood Nickname: “Mr. Results”
Bragging Rights: Has helped over 10,000 fathers lose over 75,000lbs and rebuild lean muscle

P.S. If you haven’t seen my FREE 1-Day Meal Plan for Men over 40, I highly recommend you click here to get a free copy sent directly to your email. Remember: nutrition is a core foundation of weight loss for men over 40.

Small note about research cited in this article:

*Always remember: weight loss results & health changes/improvements vary from individual to individual. Just because these studies cite certain data does not mean you will experience these results. Always consult with your doctor before making decisions about your health. This is not medical advice – simply very well-researched info.

Find Out The Answer To How Many Calories Do I Burn a Day?
By Stuart Carter, Men’s Health Coach & Head Trainer, The Fit Father Project

In the article you’re about to read, I’m going to show you how you can work out the number of calories you burn each day, based on your own individual body composition.

This is called BMR, or Basal Metabolic Rate and is the true rate you’ll burn calories at, whilst resting.

Obviously, if you’re active throughout the day, then you’ll burn more calories than this, but knowing (and regularly reviewing) your BMR will set you up well for whatever weight goal you have.

What I want to do in this article, is answer your question – How many calories do I burn a day? – by giving you the number of calories you personally will naturally burn.

We’ll then move on to how you can use the information to affect your weight, whether that’s to lose weight or gain weight.

How long does it take to build muscle? Find out in this complete guide.By Stuart Carter, Men’s Health Coach & Head Trainer, The Fit Father Project

As you can understand from the above, it means there is no one single answer.

Throughout this article though, I’ll share some information with you that will allow you to answer the question, depending on your particular circumstances.

We’ll look at what things have an impact on how much muscle you can build and what you can do to make sure you’re optimizing each of them.

The below table will give you a chance of answering ‘how long does it take to build muscle?’, depending on how long you have been training for, or what your “Training age” is.