pick up a copy of the book “4 Hour Body” by Timothy Ferris. You can implement bits and pieces of his advice and/or modify the plan to work for you.
The book outlines a diet and workout plan all based on a “minimum effective does” theory — 20% of a standard weight training plan will give you 80% of the results. If you don’t have aspirations of becoming a fitness model / body builder, blow off the remaining 20% of results as the the incremental effort to obtain them isn’t worth the effort.
First, and most importantly, make sure you correct your diet — no (reasonable) amount of exercise will overcome a crappy diet.
second – Add weight resistance training to your routine. Contrary to common belief, cardio exercise, while great for endurance, is not an effective fat burning tool. This means you don’t need to (and shouldn’t) spend hours running on the treadmill each week like a gerbil!
I picked up the 4 Hour Body in mid-February and began my goal of dropping the 30lbs I gained after graduating college while working my desk job. In 2.5 months I’ve dropped over 20 lbs (fat loss offset by muscle weight gain) and my strength is nearly as high as it has ever been with very little effort/time commitment (I used to religiously lift weights 4x per week in college). The best part, the diet and workout routine has been extremely easy to follow and stick with due to limited time commitment and the fact that I’m not hungry while eating in a caloric deficit. Here’s an example of what’s working for me:
diet – I follow a ketogenic diet (modified version of the diet laid out in the 4 Hour Body) 6 days per week and eat whatever (literally) I want one day per week (my “cheat day”). Ketogenic diet doesn’t leave me hungry and consists of high fat (about 60% of calories), moderate protein (about 30% calories), and remainder of calories from alcohol and veggies high in fiber. Make sure your fats are from “clean” sources – grass fed beef, eggs, Kerrigold butter, coconut oil, olive oil, bacon without sulfates, avocados, almonds, etc. I enjoy craft beer, so the most difficult adjustment with this diet has been cutting back on my IPA consumption to one day per week — luckily most spirits and wine have no/low carb content. I love that I can regularly eat steaks topped with butter while cutting inches from my waistline.
Gym – I spend 10-15 minutes once every 4 days doing weight resistance training, alternating between workout A and workout B. Each workout consists of one set of two different exercises. That’s it. In and out of the gym in 10-15min (I almost feel “lazy” for working out so little/quickly). Easy to follow, not very time consuming, and results have exceeded expectations (I initially very skeptical of the workout routine and diet).
