Quickstart for reducing weight and fat

TL;DR: Started the year strong with a solid training and nutrition routine, but momentum slipped in March after a play and a trip to Lisbon. To get back on track, I've been following a 4-week plan from Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald. Goals: drop from 74 kg (19% body fat) to 69 kg (12%). The plan includes 3 days of easy running, 3 strength workouts, 1 long run, 2 high-intensity interval sessions, and a bike session, plus a modest calorie deficit. Four weeks in, I've lost about 1 kg and 1% body fat, but I must admit I've been flexible with diet. Overall, it helped me regain motivation and learn some nutrition basics.

I started the year off strong, but the play I was in in March saw a decline in my performance and consistency that I haven't been able to bounce back from yet. At the end and beginning of the year, I had been several months without drinking alcohol, watching what I eat, and being really strict with my training. The beers after the play started to throw me off, but I still managed to maintain my training schedule.

The trip to Lisbon was a bit of a turning point. I had a few days when I didn't go out, and although I bounced back a bit, when I started to party more, the running stopped. When I got back from Lisbon I had a few attempts to recover, which went particularly well in Trento, but I've always struggled with long runs on Sundays.

My lungs have been feeling pretty good lately, but I think the 4-5kgs I've gained compared to the end of the year are making me less comfortable and lighter on my legs. For this reason, a couple weeks ago I started a plan to adjust my weight and body fat and improve my performance. I've taken it from the book 'Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance', by Matt Fitzgerald ¹. It doesn't impose any strict diet, but a series of habits (control appetite, keep a diary of what you eat, control the quality of your food, etc.).

I started this journey at a weight of 74 kgs with a fat percentage of 19%. My goal is to get down to around 69 kgs and 12% body fat. To do this, I have a special 4-week training plan where I'm reducing the volume of my running training a little and increasing my strength training, as well as trying to have a calorie deficit of between 300 and 500 calories a day. After two weeks, I'm at 73 kgs and 18% fat percentage (little by little). I should mention that I'm not being too strict about the calorie deficit and I'm not giving up a couple of glasses of wine with friends or family at the weekends.

The weekly plan ² consists of 3 days of easy running, 3 days of strength workout, 1 long run, 2 high-intensity intervals sessions and 1 bike session. More or less it follows the 80/10/10 rule: 80% of training below threshold, 10% at threshold, and 10% above threshold.

So most of workouts are sessions of easy running. These sessions are steady and low-intensity, designed to keep me in a relaxed aerobic zone, building endurance and fat-burning efficiency without exhausting my body. Each run lasts about 40-60 minutes at a comfortable pace, focusing on consistency over speed.

I've also been incorporating strength training consistently into my schedule because it's proven to enhance performance, reduce injury risk, and improve body composition. Research shows that even short strength sessions of 20 to 40 minutes, two or three times a week, can yield significant benefits.

For maximum strength and sport-specific power development, Fitzgerald suggests doing 8–10-second sprints up a steep hill once a week. These short, high-intensity sessions activate fast-twitch muscle fibers that usually don't get much use in regular running, improving muscle power and joint stability without the risk of weight gain.

The high-intensity intervals are a time-efficient way to stimulate fat loss¹. They're incredibly efficient for fat loss and muscle conditioning and are known to help increase fat burning post-workout by elevating resting metabolism. In addition, "you can get the strength, speed, power, and fat-loss benefits you seek from maximum-intensity running with less chance of injury if you sprint uphill". Following Fitzgerald's plan, I'm doing two sessions of high-intensity intervals: series of 30-second hill sprints once a week, bookended with 15 minutes of easy running; and series of 10-seconds hill sprints after an easy run.

Finally, I included one day of bike session to complement running. This session was also a high-intensity interval session consisting of series of 10 seconds at maximum effort, bookended with 15 minutes of easy cycling.

This programme has been good for getting back into the habit after a few months of losing the motivation to run. Decreasing the demands for a few weeks has helped me to get back in the mood. It has also helped me to include strength training gradually without overloading myself. Running at gentle paces I feel better than I did a few weeks ago, although I have yet to see how I respond to more demanding workouts. From a weight point of view, I have only lost about 1kg in weight and 1% body fat, but I have to say that I have not been very nutritionally aware (which should have been the aim of the book). I do think the book has some very useful things in it, such as tips on appetite control and the rough breakdowns of an athlete's diet. For me, it has helped me to regain my motivation and to have some basic notions about nutrition.