How I Got to 11.6% Body Fat in 60 Days (Just Copy Me)

To get lean, you're looking at getting down to at least 15% body fat. But here's the thing. According to the largest DEXA scan analysis of over 9,000American men, 97% are above that, with the average body fat being 27%. To make matters worse, less than 0.1% of men are lean enough for their abs to really pop at 12% or below. Statistically, you're more likely to become a millionaire than you are to get lean. But don't let this discourage you. This is me at 15.6% body fat. This is me just 60 days later at 11.6% body fat, according to Dexa. And based on ultrasound, I've also burned off almost 50% of my belly fat. And the best part, the process was actually quite simple. Not easy, but something anybody can do. If you follow my three part plan, diet training and the crucial steps I took afterwards to prevent regaining fat. And I guarantee you'll be able to get lean fast and more importantly, stay lean for good. But before we dive into the plan, there's a huge issue almost everybody ignores until it's too late. So you know how I clocked in at 11.6% body fat in my last DEXA scan? Well, in the body fat analysis I shared earlier, the lowest recorded body fat out of 9,000 men was 11.7%. And yet, when I scroll through Instagram, it seems like everybody on my feed is absolutely shredded. Max 10% body fat. I feel fat just scrolling through there. The reality? Those ultra shredded physiques often come at a huge cost, one that's rarely talked about. As you get leaner, your body fights back, hunger skyrockets, energy levels plummet and your metabolism slows. Just look at the Minnesota starvation experiment. Participants who were dieted down to sub 10% body fat levels became obsessed with food, some even chewing through 40 packs of gum a day just to feel satisfied. The takeaway? Dropping even below 12% body fat comes with serious trade offs. And it's why most people who get there don't end up maintaining that shape. So be realistic. If you're just starting out, it's far more sustainable to aim for 15 to 20%. And if you're more experienced or you just have less fat to lose, aim for 12 to 15%. And this still looks amazing, especially if you built muscle along the way. For example, Chris Evans was reportedly around 12.5% body fat during his iconic Captain America transformation. He looked incredible and didn't need to go to extremes. Now let's dive into the first step of actually achieving it, your diet. You've probably heard this advice before. Start your diet off slowly and then get more aggressive as you progress. But what if I told you there's a more effective approach that's the opposite of what you'd expect? It sounds counterintuitive, but instead of easing into your diet and ramping up over time, do the opposite. Think about it. When you start a diet, you have the most fat to lose, your energy levels are still high, and you're the most motivated. This is actually the best time to push harder and go aggressive. But as you get leaner, your body starts fighting back. So if you save the hardest part of your diet for when you're already struggling, the chances of you sticking to it drop dramatically. And I'm not the only one who noticed this. A recent study backs it up, showing that an aggressive approach early on led to better fat loss results overall. Now, to get a very rough idea of how many calories you should eat during this phase, take your body weight in pounds and multiply it by 10 or 11. So for me, on a typical diet, I'd stick to around 2300 calories a day, which puts me in a moderate calorie deficit to lose about a pound a week. But this time, in the very first week of my diet, I dropped down to just 1200 calories a day. Now, I would not recommend this. It's not sustainable. And I only did it for a video to see how much fat I could lose in just one week. And you can check that out later if you want to see me suffer. After that initial week, though, I stayed aggressive, eating just 1900 calories a day for the next four weeks. Surprisingly, it was much easier than I expected. Only 30 days in, I'm already down six pounds, visibly leaner and feeling great. But then on the fifth week today, the body, it's feeling it. I just had my breakfast. Usually that keeps me full for at least a few hours, but today my body's telling me, no way, Jeremy. Like, you need more food. And also, the past four weeks, I haven't had any cravings, but today I have this intense craving for donuts. Or even just one donut too. Like, I need multiple donuts. So I think this is officially in my body's way of telling me I gotta slow things down. I think if I try to push through this, it's not going to end well. The good news is, because I started off so aggressively, I was able to increase my daily calories by 300. This helped me Continue losing fat at a slower, more sustainable pace without feeling like my diet was a daily battle. But here's the thing. Whether you start aggressively or take it slow, getting lean will always require eating fewer calories over a long period. And if you're eating the wrong foods, there's no way you're going to make it. So here's the three simple things I did to make my diet as easy and enjoyable as possible. Let's start with the most important macronutrient protein. If you're not getting enough protein, your body will end up burning through your muscle instead of just fat. It's why many people end up looking flat or skinny fat after their diet. To avoid that, eat protein every meal and enough of it. If you open up your hand the protein portion in each of your meals, you should be at least the size of your palm. But now let's talk about the big one, cutting calories. And here's where most people go wrong. They cut out entire food groups, which makes sticking to their diet impossible. You don't have to eliminate carbs or fats entirely. It's about modifying how much of them you eat. But fats are a great place to start because they're the most calorie dense and easiest to adjust. For example, think about your breakfast. Let's say you usually have three three whole eggs and toast. What would be easier? Cutting out the toast so there's no carbs. Or keeping the toast and instead reducing the fat by replacing those three eggs with one whole egg and egg whites. I know what the answer would be for me, and during my diet I applied this concept by using half an avocado instead of a full one in my lunch wrap and having chicken or shrimp for dinner instead of beef. So I challenge you. Take a look at what you're currently eating and find just two or three opportunities to cut down on your fat sources. That alone may already be enough to get you in a calorie deficit. However, chances are you're gonna have to tweak your carbs as well. But again, small changes. For breakfast, I cut my usual pre workout oatmeal from a full cup to a half. For lunch, I swapped my 300 calorie tortilla wrap for two pitas. That added up to just 120 calories. And for dinner, I cut my usual serving of rice in half and loaded up on extra veggies for fullness. And it didn't feel like I really changed anything yet. The fat was quickly coming off. But let's be real, the Hardest part of any diet is the weekends. Believe me, I've been there. You're sticking to your plan all week, but then social events come up. You want to relax, enjoy meals out with friends or family, but at the same time, you don't want to undo all your hard work. It can feel like a lose lose situation. But here's how I made weekends work for me. A science backed strategy called planned Hedonic aviation, a fancy term for treat meals. Every Saturday or Sunday, I'd boost my intake by 500 to 800 calories to enjoy a big meal guilt free. Sure, it technically slowed down my weekly progress by day, but in the long run, it made sticking to my diet way more doable and gave me the boost I needed for the next week ahead. But focusing on your diet alone isn't enough. Combining it with a proper training plan can not only get you leaner faster, but but also plays a crucial role in helping you keep the fat off long term. Now, while lifting weights should be your major focus here, there's a few tweaks that can make all the difference, especially when it comes to your most stubborn muscle groups. See, from my experience and conversations with top coaches, the muscles that are hardest to grow also tend to be at the highest risk of muscle loss during a diet. To counteract this, keep the volume high for those muscles. For me, my chest was always a weak point. So during my diet, I kept my chest volume high while cutting one to two sets from stronger muscles like my back and arms. The result? 60 days later, I was down 10 pounds of fat, but my chest actually got stronger and seemed to continue to grow. That said, be careful not to completely neglect any muscle groups either. A new study released just this year found that any muscles that aren't trained, in this case the inner thighs and calves, will likely be burned off for energy. So to lose more fat rather than muscle, you probably benefit by following a program that doesn't neglect any major muscle groups, especially your calves. But as great as lifting weights is, it doesn't burn nearly as many calories as you think. And the fewer calories you burn every day, the more you're going to have to cut from your diet, which can make sticking to it a lot harder. So what's the solution? Cardio? Obviously, yes. But here's the twist. The cardio you need doesn't have to involve running, jogging or hours on the StairMaster. What if I told you cardio workouts not only burn fewer calories than you'd expect, but can also make you compensate by Burning less energy throughout the rest of the day. It's probably why some of you have noticed that even after adding more cardio to your routine, your fat loss stalls. The real solution? Focus less on cardio workouts and just set a daily step goal. Think about it. The average person burns about 60 calories per thousand steps. So if you go from walking 4,000 to 6,000 steps a day, that's an extra 120 calories burned. Doesn't sound like much, but that's an extra pound of fat loss per month. And you're much more likely to go for a 15 minute daily walk than a daily run. But also be realistic. While 10,000 steps a day is often the recommendation, even for me, that's tough to fit into my schedule. So I aim for a more achievable 8,000 steps per day as my minimum. Some days I hit it just through walking, while other days I might add in some running, cardio, or sports. It's less about how you get there and more about increasing your daily activity in a way you can actually stick to. So with my nutrition workouts and steps in place, here's what my weekly plan looked like. But imagine this. Yo, what up, man? You got something to show? You ready? That's it. Damn, bro, you look amazing. Thanks, man. Thanks. Yo, what's up, bro? Hey, bro. Dude, what happened, man? I just don't want to talk about it. The sad reality is more than 80% of people end up gaining the fat right back after the diet is over. Why? It's not just about discipline. It's about your physiology working against you. This is me before the diet, and here I am after. Who do you think burns more calories a day? You think it'll be the ripped version of me, right? Wrong. Believe it or not, before the diet, I can get away with eating around 2800 calories a day. But now, anything over 2500 and I'd start gaining weight. And if I tried to get even leaner, let's say 10% body fat or below, I'd probably have to eat just 2300 calories a day to maintain it, which I just wouldn't be willing to do. As for why this happens, research suggests that for a 10% drop in body weight, your metabolism takes a hit, dropping by 20 to 25%. So if you went down from 180 to 160 pounds, you'll now burn about 400 fewer calories each day. This is exactly why, within our Built with science programs, we not only teach you how to eat in a way that's sustainable both during and after the diet. But we've also built a custom nutrition algorithm for that tracks how your metabolism changes over time so you know exactly how much to eat to not just lose fat, but keep the fat off for good. But keeping the fat off isn't just about food. Research shows that one of the biggest factors in long term fat loss is how active you are after the diet. And that's why for me, those 8,000 steps a day didn't just stop once I got lean, they became even more critical, especially with a slower metabolism. Which is again why setting a realistic step goal that you can actually stick to long term is so crucial. Now while this three step process is simple and I guarantee it will work for you, I get it if this all still sounds really overwhelming. So if you're looking for extra help and you want a done for you all in one program that guides you every single week to the best shape of your life, then just head over to builtwithscience.com to find what program is best for you and your body. But I highly recommend supplementing your plan with these two abs exercises which will help you build your six pack as you diet down. And you can give that video a watch here. Hope you enjoyed this one. Don't forget to give it a like and subscribe to the channel and see you next time.