The Ultimate, No Bs* Guide To 

Dieting For Fat Loss 
By Alexander J.A. Cortes 

   

1 
Table Of Contents 
About The Ultimate, No Bs* Guide To Dieting For Fat Loss 4 

Calories and Macro Counting 4 

Fat Loss Absolutes 5 

The Two Things 5 

Losing Fat Is Not A Perfect Process 6 

Major Terms And Concepts To Understand 6 

Is this how the body processes food? 7 

Everyone Is Different With How Many Calorie They Need 7 

The Three Energetic States You Can Be In 8 

Hypercaloric 8 

Isocaloric 8 

Hypocaloric 9 

Understanding Macros-Calories are found in Three macronutrients: 

carbohydrates, fat, and protein. 10 

The Three Macros 11 

1. Carbohydrates 11 

Carbohydrates Are Predominantly Carbon. 11 

Carbohydrates Are The Preferred Energy Source Of The Body 11 

Carbohydrates help drive muscle growth 11 

How many carbohydrates to Consume? By the numbers 12 

Carbohydrate Cycling 13 

2. Protein 13 

Protein is made of amino acids. 13 

2 
 How much Protein to Consume? By the numbers 14 

3. Fat 15 

How Much Fat to Consume? 16 

How To Diet To Lose Bodyfat? 18 

1. Determining Calorie Intake and Baseline 18 

2. You then figure out Maintenance macros based on step one 19 

3. You then make a decision to lower energy intake from maintenance to 
sub maintenance. 20 

Keeping Fat Loss Going After Your First Calorie Reduction 22 

1. When Fat loss stops, you cut calories again (2nd calorie reduction). This 
would likely be required after 4-6 weeks of dieting 22 

2. When That Stops, what do I cut the Third time? 23 

3. Your Calorie Reductions will be Determine by what your Starting 

Maintenance Macros 24 

4. What About CHEAT MEALS and REFEEDS? 25 

Answering another Major Question that someone will ask: What are 
Good Macros to follow? 26 

Carbs-Protein-Fat 26 

Low Carb Diet Macros 27 

Very Low carb diet Macros (Keto diet and carnivore diets) 27 

Who Is Alexander J.A. Cortes? 28 

 

3 
About The Ultimate, No Bs* 
Guide To Dieting For Fat Loss 
Fat loss is the most popular subject in all of fitness and health, considering 
around 3/4 of Americans are overweight, this is not surprising. 

What I am presenting here is NOT the "Ultimate" model of how to lose fat, 
but it is the most quantifiable and scientifically supported way on how to lose 
bodyfat in a measurable, manageable way that removes guesswork as much 
as possible. 

What way am I referring to? 

Calories and Macro Counting 

This guide is written to dispel bullshit, mythology, and give you a 
comprehensive understanding of 

- HOW Fat loss work 

- HOW to lose bodyfat 

To begin with, let's establish some First principles and some definitions.  

One of the major failures of most fitness guide, and fitness professionals, is 
the assumption that people have a clear understanding of terminology and 
concepts. Most people do NOT.  

I cannot count the time's people have asked me WHAT foods have protein in 
them, or what foods are carbs, and I realize they've literal negative 
knowledge of nutrition. 

My aim with this guide is not to simply show you what to do, but show you 
HOW to think then about nutrition, fat loss and what it means for overall 
health (and credit to Eric Helms and Alan Aragon and Renaissance 
Periodization for their mental models of how to think about this). 

4 
Fat Loss Absolutes 
Continuum:​ A range or series of things that are slightly different from each other 
and that exist between two different possibilities. 

Before you start reading this, there are TWO things you must do to assure 
that your fat loss is a success. 

The Two Things 

1. Before you embark on a fat loss diet, accept that you will be 
WEIGHING YOURSELF DAILY.  

Same time every day, in the morning, right after using the restroom to 
urinate (and possibly defecate), BEFORE you’ve had anything to eat or drink. 
That is when you weigh yourself.  

And if you are losing fat, then OVER TIME, your bodyweight will trend DOWN.  

2. Photos 

Weekly progress pictures. I​ f you are taking weekly frontal and back pictures 
of your body, you will begin to see cosmetic changes. Pictures don’t lie, and 
neither does the scale.  

Sometimes the scale might stall, but your body is continuing to look different. 
Sometimes your pictures might seem the same, but the salce is going down.  

Weighing yourself provides objective numerical data.  

Photos provide objective visual data.  

Having both keeps you honest and motivated and informed about the Fat 
loss process. No guesswork.  

5 
Losing Fat Is Not A Perfect 
Process 
It is a trial and error process, an ongoing experiment. This is why data 
tracking is so critical, and why the only reliable means to guarantee fat loss 
requires measure and management. 

For every person that HOPES that finding the "right diet" will guarantee 
automatic fat loss, there are many others who have tried exactly that and 
failed at it. 

The Scale and Photos do not lie. If you want to be sure you are losing fat, 
your weight should be trending DOWN the entire time, and your photos 
should show you looking less and less fluffy.  

This is why I wrote this guide. Diets mean nothing if you do not understand 
principles and methods. And they definitely do not work if you have no data 
that proved them to work.  

Major Terms And Concepts To 

Understand 
Calories: A
​ calorie is technically a measurement of ENERGY.  

Specifically, its the following: 

1. The energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 

°C (now usually defined as 4.1868 joules). 

2. The energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 

through 1 °C, equal to one thousand small calories and often used to 
measure the energy value of foods. 

6 
Within the context of food, the first definition is used. The calories in any 
given food are figured out by heating the food until it burns up, and 
measuring how much heat energy it gave off. 

Is this how the body processes food?  

NO. But its approximate enough that it does provide a fairly accurate form of 
measurement for measuring our food intake.  

We measure our food intake by the amount of usable energy that our food 
contains.  

A calorie is a measure of the available energy within FOOD.  

Everyone Is Different With How 

Many Calorie They Need 
EVERYONE'S calorie needs are different because no two body process energy 
exactly the same.  

Everyone needs calories obviously, but how your body digests and processes 
food versus mine will not be the same. 

There are still major principles and trends; everyone needs protein, everyone 
needs fat, everyone CAN eat carbs (although they might not need them). But 
the specific amounts, and what kinds of food, and the timing and 
distribution, that is always going to be ultimately custom. 

This is why you should not directly compare yourself to anyone else when it 
comes to losing fat.   

7 
The Three Energetic States You 
Can Be In 
Hypercaloric 
This refers to a diet in which you consume MORE energy than your body 
uses, which leads to FAT GAIN. If you have ever gained unwanted bodyfat, 
you have been eating hypercalorically. 

Isocaloric 
This refers to eating "at maintenance". In an IDEAL WORLD, everyone would 
naturally do this. And in fact with a whole foods, non processed diet, this is 
typically how most people eat. It is extremely easy to overeat chips, sugar, 
liquid calories, and processed foods. 

It is very difficult to overeat meat, vegetables, rice and oats, and full fat dairy. 

The term for eating and maintaining your weight without thinking about it 
much at all is AUTOREGULATE.  

Healthy people that have a non abusive/non emotional relationship with 

food and make good choices all autoregulate. These are people who don't 
binge out on unhealthy foods, who aren't addicted to sugar and sweets, who 
don't fill emotional voids or handle stress by eating and eating. 

Unfortunately very few of these people exist in American society today. Most 
Americans do NOT know how to autoregulate, nor will they ever be able to 
without first learning about macros, calories, healthy choices, and making 
conscious behavioral changes. 

8 
Hypocaloric 
This refers to a diet in which you consume LESS energy than your body uses, 
which leads to FAT LOSS. If you have ever inadvertently lost weight without 
really intending to, you were eating hypocalorically. 

Fat loss DOES NOT HAPPEN without an energetic deficit. 

This deficit is not always possible to perfectly calculate, because internal 

ENTROPY (how much energy is wasted) is always changing. Calorie burn is 
stochastic this way: you can measure it, but it also fluctuates and varies.  

What does that mean? It means that some people burn fat very easily, while 
others struggle 

It means that you can two people who weigh Exactly the same, but one burns 
bodyfat and loses weight eating 2200 calories, while the other gains weight. 

Regardless, every human being on earth requires an internal energy deficit. 

You MUST create that shortage, otherwise fat loss DOES NOT HAPPEN, AT 
ALL, EVER. 

Every fat loss diet in existence, they all create a deficit. Low carb, high carb, 
paleo, vegan, ketp, carnivore, whatever, Anyone who has lost weight on any 
of these and everything in between, they were creating an energy deficient 
state within the body. 

This is a thermodynamic law of the universe. There are no exceptions to this, 

ever.    

9 
Understanding Macros-Calories are 
found in Three macronutrients: 
carbohydrates, fat, and protein. 
Macros should always be considered not in isolation, but in PROPORTION to 
each other. Accounting for what you just learned about hyper, iso, and hypo 
caloric eating, it follows that knowing how much you consume of each 
macronutrient is relevant. 

This lack of knowledge is how people gain fat without intending to, don't 
build muscle but do not understand why, or fail to lose fat and swear that 
"dieting" doesn't work. 

What you are eating and HOW MUCH you are eating DOES MATTER. 

This is called the Calorie Constraint Hypothesis (credit to renaissance 

periodization)- that for any particular goal, there is a certain 
corresponding optimal daily calorie intake and macro intake. 

If your goal is to gain muscle, eating low protein and Intermittent Fasting is 
NOT conducive to your goal. 

If your goal is to lose bodyfat, eating a high fat and high carb diet is NOT 
conducive to that. 

The reality is there are optimal formulas or at least ranges to follow. 

This requires you knowing the basics about the three macronutrients, 
carbohydrates, protein, and fat, and then figuring out approximately how 
much of each you should be eating.   

10 
The Three Macros 
1. Carbohydrates 

Carbohydrates Are Predominantly Carbon.  

This applies to the all the macronutrients, but I like to remind people of this 
with carbs, because with carbohydrates are quite literally eating a very 
energy usable form of “carbon molecules. The human body uses carbon in 
the form of sugar. The human body LOVES carbs, because they are 
phenomenally easy to access as a fuel source. Carbs are not evil. There are 4 
calories in one gram of carbohydrates. 

Carbohydrates Are The Preferred Energy Source Of The Body 

Your muscles run on glucose (blood sugar), and glycogen (stored 
carbohydrates in the muscle). Athletes need carbohydrates to fuel their 
physical performance. The preferred fuel of the human nervous system for 
physical/mental performance is glucose, not ketones. 

(at this point in time, zero carb high level athletes are the exceptions and extreme 
outliers. If you want to go that route, be my guest, but understand that 99% of the 
elite athletes in the world consume carbs. That 1% that doesn't, Im not using them 
as a model for people to follow. That would be irresponsible. Scientific literature 
and historical evidence and proof of work from EVERY great sports performance 
coach I know is all the same: feed athletes carbs) 

Carbohydrates help drive muscle growth 

Low and depleted glycogen levels NEGATIVELY correlate with muscle growth. 
Whats that mean? That means that muscles that don't get enough carbs and 
don’t replenish their glycogen stores are NOT likely to grow and get bigger 
and stronger. Again, this is obvious stuff that the sports performance and 
bodybuilding and athletic communities already know; you don't get bigger 
and stronger eating zero to little carbs. 

11 
When you consume carbohydrates, your body releases insulin. Insulin 
release is EXCELLENT for muscle growth, it promotes muscle anabolism 
(muscular recovery and repair), which is obviously what you want for lean 
mass gain. The downside is that insulin also promotes fat storage, but that is 
a feature of the human body, not a bug. You need some fat for a healthy 
metabolism, and unless you're overweight, some fat storage is NOT a "bad 
thing" automatically. 

The timing of WHEN you eat carbs DOES MATTER. If you consume carbs 
before, during, and after INTENSE training like lifting weights, playing an 
intensely aerobic and anaerobic sport, then MORE of the carbs will go 
towards replenishing muscle glycogen and fueling the muscle's performance. 

Its when you consume carbohydrates in a SEDENTARY state that it becomes 

an problem and gets shuttled more towards fat gain. 

This is why athletes can have very high carb intake, but an inactive person 
needs very little. 

Depending on your daily activity, and your individualism metabolism, 

carbohydrates could be anywhere from 0-10% of your diet (which would be 
Keto or Carnivore), all the way to up to 60% of your diet (which would be a 
very active athlete who trains every day) 

How many carbohydrates to Consume? By the numbers  

Carbohydrate needs vary then from 0 grams per pound of bodyweight, all 
the way to 2+ grams per pound of bodyweight. The more carbs you 
consume, the less fat you are going to be consuming. General guidelines look 
like this 

Obese/overweight and inactive:​ 0 to 0.25 grams per lb bodyweight daily 

Sedentary but some exercise: ​0.25-0.75 grams per lb of bodyweight daily 

Exercises frequently: 0
​ .5 to 1 gram per lb of bodyweight daily 

Intense exercise, high active: 1

​ gram to 2 grams per lb of bodweight daily 

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The more you train and the LEANER and more MUSCULAR you are, the 
more carbs you can consume 

Carbohydrate Cycling 
A simple model: You change the amount of carbs you consume depending 
on how physically active you are. 

- On days you lift/train/workout, you eat more carbs 

- On days you are inactive, you eat little to no carbs. 

This simple approach can be combined with a calorie deficit, isocaloric 

eating, or a calorie surplus. It works very well for every kind of goal; fat loss, 
weight maintenance, or "lean gains" 

2. Protein 

Protein is made of amino acids.  

Your body is made of protein and amino acids. So eating protein is, in a way, 
eating what you are made up of. There are 4 calories in 1 gram of protein. 

After your calorie needs are determined, Protein is the first macronutrient 
you account for. Amino acids are critical to life, without sufficient amino acid 
intake, you'll never be in optimal health. Animal proteins are inarguably the 
best source of amino acids (if you're vegan and going to argue about this, get 
the fuck off my list and go preach to someone who gives a damn). Meat and 
dairy consumption are proven over and over and over gain to correspond 
with being bigger, taller, more muscular, and smarter. 

The agricultural revolution made the human race SHORTER, not taller. 
Hunter-gathers that ate meat were bigger and stronger and had none of the 
nutrient deficiencies that plagued agricultural societies. 

Meat/protein is extremely micronutrient dense, far more than plants. 

Protein is NOT BAD FOR THE KIDNEYS. While it is true that more protein is 
not always better (once your nutrient needs are being met, you don't need 

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more) the idea that a high protein diet is somehow "bad" for you is largely 
tripe. There have been studies on protein intake up to 600 grams a day, and 
ZERO negative side effects were seen. 

What CAN be bad is if you overconsume purine rich food, which leads to 
increased levels of Uric acid in the blood, and then your kidneys do not filter 
that out. In that case, you need to consume less purines. 

Or what can be bad is if you are excessively obese, and your kidneys are not 
working very well and have trouble filtering uric acid, but again, that doesn't 
mean protein is "bad", that means you need to unfat yourself. 

How much Protein to Consume? By the numbers  

That various. Some people need LESS than other, some need MORE. 

The range for protein is 0.4 grams per lb bodyweight, all the way up to 1.25 
grams per pound bodyweight 

0.4 is for basic health. 

0.6 is for MAINTAINING lean mass as an athlete 

0.6-1.25 is the range for gaining lean mass. 

Using the Prior model, it looks something like this 

Obese/overweight and inactive: 0

​ .4-0.6 grams daily 

Sedentary but some exercise: ​0.6-0.8 grams daily 

Exercises frequently: 0
​ .6-1 gram daily 

Intense exercise, high activity, trying to gain muscle mass-0.8-1.25 grams 

daily 

1.25 is where protein intake becomes excessive. NOT because its "bad for 
your kidneys", but because no additional benefit in muscle gain is seen at 
that point. Your simply going to be chewing through a lot of dead animal 
flesh and drinking a lot of protein shakes, and be pooping a lot. 

14 
A good "rule of thumb" number to start with is ONE GRAM OF PROTEIN 
PER POUND OF BODYWEIGHT. 

HOWEVER, If you are very overweight (in excess of 200lbs), start with 
one gram of protein per pound of LEAN BODY MASS. 

I would not recommend a 300lb person consume 1 gram of protein per 

bodyweight. I'd suggest they roughly figure out their bodyfat percentage, and 
then eat one gram of protein per lb of lean mass. 

Based on my professional experience, I consider 0.6 to 0.8 to be the "sweet 

spot" range for MOST PEOPLE when you put them on a whole food diet and 
tell them to eat as much as they like (provided its whole foods). This comes 
out to eating one gram of protein per lb of lean body mass. On a whole foods 
diet, that is what overall protein intake will add up to, without needing to 
consume protein shakes. 

Above 0.8 grams per pound bodyweight, many people need to use 
protein shakes or eat 4+ smaller meals to get all the protein in. 

3. Fat 
Fat-Fat is an acid that contains a very high-energy form of carbon, hydrogen, 
and oxygen.  

Fat is an ESSENTIAL Macronutrient. All the hormones produced in the body, 

all of your tissues, your skin, your brain. Fats are essential to health, because 
practically ALL of your bodies hormonal processes require fat to run 
properly. Fat is very energy dense, and a gram of fat contains 9 calories. 

All of these use fatty acids as part of their structure or production in some 
form or another. 

Hence, there is no such thing as "0%" body fat. 

Even the leanest bodybuilders, on stage, after months and months of dieting, 
will still have body fat, even if it is only 3%. 

15 
Further, you need a certain amount of body fat to be HEALTHY. 

For most men, being in the single digits, sub 10%, that is actually an 
unhealthy hormonal and physical state. 

While there are exceptions, generally 8-9% is the leanest a man can be and 
still be in good health. Lower than that, you are looking at testosterone 
shutdown (a common problem with natural bodybuilders), aching joints, and 
generally feeling stiff and low energy. 

For women, the low teens, 12-13%, this is about the level where most women 
will experience health issues; no menstruation, hair skin and nail health 
decline, libido disappears. 

So, fat is needed for health, and some level of fat will always be a part of your 
total weight. 

How Much Fat to Consume? 

This varies wildly. Fat intake can be as low as 10% of your overall energy 
intake, up to as much as 60% (on a TRUE ketogenic diet, you are consuming 
mostly fat) 

A low fat diet is defined as anything less than 30% of daily calories coming 
from fat. 

For Pro Bodybuilders who are taking exogenous testosterone, they can 
consume only 10% of their daily calories from fat and function. This would 
generally be TOO LOW for a regular, non anabolic using person. 

Overall though, the major question here is of energy balance. Depending on 
whether or not you eating hypo, iso, or hyper, the fat intake of the diet will 
vary. 

That makes the fat intake relative to the Protein and Carbohydrate 
intake-meaning that you must account for how much protein and carbs you'll 
be consuming first before figuring out fat. 

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An obese person could lose weight on ANY DIET, low carb or low fat, so long 
as calories are controlled and an energy deficit is achieved. 

Now, I take that position that low carb dieting is often the Preferential model 
to follow for obese and overweight individuals, but its not the ONLY model. 

Because of these factors, Fat does NOT have a perfectly defined 

Minimum Intake. 

If you do not consume enough healthy fat, hormonal health can suffer. But 
unlike protein, which has defined minimum intake, Fat does NOT. Some 
people need MORE fat than others, some less. So the minimum is more a 
RANGE 

Because of this, I am going to make a Percentage based 

recommendation. B ​ ased on the current research and evidence, the Range 
for Daily fat intake to maintain hormonal health is approximately 

Obese/overweight and inactive: 4

​ 0-60% of daily overall intake 

Sedentary but some exercise: ​30-60% of daily overall intake 

​ 0-40% of daily overall intake 

Exercises frequently: 2

For Very Overly Fat and Obese people, Carbohydrates are the first thing 
you generally look to lower when dieting. 

But for NOT so fat people and FIT people, its the Reverse. 

Fat, NOT carbs, is what you begin cutting out first. Especially when trying to 
Get to SINGLE DIGIT BODYFAT. 

Keep this in mind relative to your starting point. 

If you're a fatty, start cutting down carbs 

If you're not a fatty but want to get shreddy, start cutting down the fat intake. 

17 
How To Diet To Lose Bodyfat? 
Fat loss depends on creating a deficit, but before you do that, you must know 
your Maintenance Calories. 

1. Determining Calorie Intake and Baseline 

Before you can create an energetic deficit, you need to start with your calorie 
baseline. To figure this out, you must determine your calorie BASELINE FIRST 

How to Determine Your Baseline? 

I. Weigh yourself every day first thing in the morning upon rising 

II. Start counting your calories 

III. Compare your intake to your weight. If weight stays the same, you've 
accurately found your calorie baseline. If it goes up, you're hypercaloric. 
Lower your intake to determine your baseline. If it goes down, you are 
hypocaloric. Raise your intake to determine your baseline 

IV. Once you've found your baseline, reduce your calorie intake by 500 
calories. This can be in the form of CARBS (if you've overly fat), or Fat (if 
you're not excessively fat). 

How To Find Out How Many Calories You Need and Determine a 
reasonable Start point for your Calories: 
Most peoples maintenance calories are between 13-15 times their 
bodyweight 

Multiply your bodyweight (in pounds) by 15 calories. So, I'm 200 pounds. 

200 x 15 = 3000 

I would eat that for 3 days. If my weight drops afterward, then that is too low 

I would then go up to 16 calories per pound of bodyweight. If my weight 

increases, I would go down to 14 

18 
And so on and so forth. Most people’s maintenance calorie level will be in the 
13-15 range. Some very active people may be 16+. 

And fat loss generally starts in the less than sub 12 range, down to however 
low one needs to go. 

I suggest starting with 13. 

2. You then figure out Maintenance macros based 

on step one 
If I’m going to eat 3000 calories daily, I pick some numbers 

1.25 gram of protein per lb bodyweight daily=250 grams=1000 calories (250 

grams @ 4 calories per gram) 

1.5 gram of carbohydrates per lb bodyweight daily=300 grams=1200 calories 

(300 grams @ 4 calories per gram)  

So that is 2200 calories 

3000-2200=800 

That leaves 800 calories for fat intake 

800/9=89 grams of fat 

Those are now my baseline macros 

250 grams protein 

300 grams of carbs 

90 grams fat (rounded up for convenience) 

19 
3. You then make a decision to lower energy intake 
from maintenance to sub maintenance. 
This could be in the form of fat, or carbs. Remember this rule; Fatties cut 
carbs, shreddies cut fat. 

Protein you generally never lower. You may in fact need MORE protein the 
more of a deficit you are in. 

This cut in energy intake should be somewhere around 20-25% percent of 
your daily intake. On a 2,000 calorie diet, that is 500 calories. 

500 calories is the rule of thumb to follow. If you are a smaller person 
though, it might be LESS than this. 

So that means determining your maintenance/baseline calorie intake, and 

then extracting 500 from that to create a deficit 

Why 500 Calories?  

While its not perfectly accurate that there are 3500 calories in a pound of fat 
(it’s actually between 3400-3700), its accurate enough that creating a daily 
500 calorie deficit almost always guarantees at least one pound of fat loss a 
week. Smaller deficit are harder to measure out, and are not significant 
enough to create fat loss (more than likely your body will just adjust and 
you’ll move around less, and then wonder why the small deficit isn’t working)  

Using my example: 

Let us go with cutting 500 calories to start with. 

3000-500=2500 calories 

Where am I going to cut those calories from? 

Because I’m already fit, I'll cut them from FAT 

500/9=55.5=55 (always round to multiples of 5, it makes life easier) 

20 
Subtracting that from my fat intake, that means I'll cut down from 

90-55 grams=35 grams of fat 

My new macros are 

250 grams protein 

200 grams of carbs 

35 grams fat   

21 
Keeping Fat Loss Going After 
Your First Calorie Reduction 
Let us say you cut 500 calories already, but now thats slowed down. What do 
you do? Cut another 500?  

No. Cut too drastically, your metabolism will slow down too much. Cut 
nothing at all, and you’ve plateaued.  
 
That first 500 cut might still be working slowly, but all fat is NOT created 
equal, and increasing the deficit slightly will be necessary.  

1. When Fat loss stops, you cut calories again (2nd 

calorie reduction). This would likely be required 
after 4-6 weeks of dieting  
Depending on what your starting macros were, you might cut, or you might 
cut carbs. In my case, I started with high carb intake and cut fat, and I don’t 
want to drop fat too low, so I’ll keep cutting carbs. 

To continue losing bodyfat, you’ll keep reducing overall calories by about 10% 

These is typically around 150-300 calories. If you cut calories TOO fast and 
TOO much, you plateau fast. Thats why its not another 500 

Using my example 

250 grams protein 

300 grams of carbs 

35 grams fat 

I’ve got A LOT of carbs to subtract from, so we can cut from that.  

22 
Lets say Im going to cut down by 200 calories. Then I would reduce 
carbohydrates by 50 grams (50x4=200) 

250 grams protein 

250 grams of carbs 

35 grams fat 

2800 calories 

This is is less than 10%, so the fat loss will probably only last 1-2 weeks 

2. When That Stops, what do I cut the Third time? 

In this case, for my third calorie reduction, I'd likely cut down Carbs further, 
to 200 grams daily (another 200 calorie reduction) 

That will go another 1-2 weeks (I’ve now been dieting around 2 going 3 
months) 

Then I can take it down to 150 grams for my FOURTH reduction (another 200 
calorie reduction) 

That goes another 2 weeks.  

Then I can cut it further, to 100 grams.  

Lastly, if I wanted to get shredded I could cut it down to 50. 

That goes a 2-3 weeks, at that point I'd be feeling HORRIBLE, But I'd be 
getting close to “Shredded.” 

Each calorie reduction would have lasted at least 1-2 weeks. Another month 
of no carbs, and I’d be around 16 weeks in and getting to “nasty” single digit 
body fat. 

23 
3. Your Calorie Reductions will be Determine by 
what your Starting Maintenance Macros 
This is where we need to backtrack a bit.  

Your marcos are not my macros. To determine your maintenance macros to 
start with, you need to refer back to the Macro guidelines.  

Protein 

Obese/overweight and inactive: 0

​ .4-0.6 grams daily 

Sedentary but some exercise: ​0.6-0.8 grams daily 

Exercises frequently: 0
​ .6-1 gram daily 

Intense exercise, high activity, trying to gain muscle mass: 0

​ .8-1.25 
grams daily 

Carbohydrates 

Obese/overweight and inactive: 0

​ to 0.25 grams per lb bodyweight daily 

Sedentary but some exercise:​ 0.25-0.75 grams per lb of bodyweight daily 

Exercises frequently: 0
​ .5 to 1 gram per lb of bodyweight daily 

Intense exercise, highly active​-1 gram to 2 grams per lb of bodweight daily 

Fat 

Fat is always whatever is left over to fulfill maintenance calories after you’ve 
calculated protein and carbohydrates.  

Fatties cut carbs, shreddies cut fat 

24 
If your fat intake is high, and carb intake is low, then you cut from fat when 
you diet, and hold off on cutting carbs as long as possible.  

If you carb intake is high, and fat moderate, you can start with cutting carbs 
or fat. Carb intake will be the main macro you end up reducing though.  

If your carb and fat intake are relatively equal to each other, then you can 
alternate making cuts in one or the other.  

You NEVER cut protein though. Protein intake always stays elevated. 

4. What About CHEAT MEALS and REFEEDS? 

That's a great question imaginary person that asked this. Cheat meals and 
Refeeds are "it depends". If you're a super fatty, you don't need cheat days. 
You might just need a REFEED, a day to replenish stored carbohydrates 

Refeeds 

If you're low carb dieting, you'll need to refill glycogen at some point. 

This usually means somewhere around every 7-14 days. 

This is a day of usually calorie controlled eating (you're not eating whatever 
you want). On refeed days, you eat very low fat (20% or less of calories), but 
very high carb (50-60% of calories). 

This replenishes muscle glycogen. This keeps your metabolism from slowing 
to a crawl because it allows you maintain training intensity in the gym. And 
also is psychological relief as well. 

Cheat Days 

If you're low fat dieting and "hard core" dieting to get freaky lean, you'll need 
cheat days or meals 

This can be a 1-2 times weekly meal, or as you get LEANER, one day out of 
the week where you eat WHATEVER YOU WANT. 

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FYI, you need to be training fucking hard, cardioing fucking hard, and dieting 
fucking hard to validate having a cheat day. Which unless you're a hardcore 
bodybuilder, you're not doing any of the above like you think you are. 

In which case, a "Cheat meal" or two is more appropriate than the cheat day 
option. 

Answering another Major 

Question that someone will ask: 
What are Good Macros to 
follow? 
That is a terrible question. I've given you general heuristic idea. There are 
many many different calculators that exist and they ALL give you different 
numbers as to what your macros should be. 

Lifestyle+Genetics+trying different things=Your macros 

Here is an overview of different numbers: 

Carbs-Protein-Fat 
High Carb diet Macros for athletes and those who are active with healthy 
bodycomposition. 

If you are eating like this, you are someone who 

-Works out intensely for at least an hour daily, and possibly multiple hours 
daily 

-Fat gain is not a concern of yours at all 

60-30-10-Very very high carb, moderate protein, very low fat 

50-40-10-Very high Carb, high protein, very low fat 

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50-30-20-Very High Carb, moderate protein, low fat 

Moderate Carb Diet Macros-These are Good start points for "average 
joes/janes" who work out intensely 3-4 times weekly 

40-40-20-High Carb and Protein, Low fat. 

40-30-30-High carb, moderate protein, moderate fat. 

Mixed Diet (roughly equal carbs, proteins and fats)-This is the infamous 
mediterranean diet. These diets tend to autoregulat themselves 
(meaning this is how many traditional cultures traditionally eat), 
because no one macronutrient is be emphasized. 

30-40-30-moderate carb and fat, high protein. 

33-33-33-The "Zone" diet and mediterranean diet. 

Low Carb Diet Macros 

20-40-40-Low carbs, high protein and fat. 

20-30-50-Low carbs, moderate protein and high fat. 

Very Low carb diet Macros (Keto diet and carnivore 

diets) 
These types of diets, it's probably not necessary to bother counting macros. 
That said, I have known many people who plateaued in their fat loss on a 
keto diet or carnivore diet, and realized that CALORIES STILL MATTERED. 

Keto and carnivore dieting CAN be seemingly "magical" for some people, but 
not everyone. As I told someone on twitter today before I blocked them for 
annoying me: no on diet is a magic bullet without fault that works for the 
entire human race 

10-40-50-very low carb, high protein, very high fat. 

0-40-60-no carbs, high protein, very very high fat.   

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Who Is Alexander J.A. Cortes? 
My name is Alexander Juan Antonio Cortes. I am a writer, dancer, personal 
trainer, and storyteller. I have an obsession with the art and science of 
self-actualization. I believe that everything in the body and mind can be 
trained to be better, faster, stronger.  

Here’s my website: ​https://cortes.site/ 

Follow me on Twitter: ​@AJA_Cortes 

Follow me on Instagram: A
​ JA_Cortes 

Learn about my other training programs​. 

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