The Best “Mind Hacks” For Fat Loss

by Tom Venuto 

I've always had mixed feelings about the word "hack" when used in the context of fitness and fat loss. Mainly that's because a hack is usually defined as a simple and easy trick, shortcut or novelty to improve productivity and get better results.  

Novelties are new and attention-getting, but short lived. Shortcuts are usually dead ends and you waste time retracing your steps back to the main route. No one wants to see another "1 weird trick to burn belly fat" ad again because we know those kinds of tricks are synonymous with gimmicks.

While getting fit and lean is usually not easy, every so often, you come across a tactic that fits the definition of hack. It's a thing you can do that really is both simple and easy and really does work. When I see them, and I know they're legit, I like to share them with my readers. 

Here's an example: 1). Track your calories and macros in a food journal (usually electronically). This one is often avoided because people perceive it as hard, not as a hack. The truth is, it couldn't be easier. I don't always keep a food journal, but when I have, it takes me about one minute to enter using software.  Call it two minutes for a complex meal or a recipe with a longer list of ingredients.

With just 5 or 6 minutes a day total for simple food tracking on the fly, and I can create a daily meal plan in advance and balance the macros with precision from scratch in as little as ten minutes. 

What do you get for this type of effort? In a famous 30-month study with almost 1700 participants, (the Weight Loss Management Trial), the people who kept food records lost twice as much fat as those who didn't. Double the fat loss with a few minutes of time invested a day (and scientifically proven). If that's not a legit "hack" I don't know what is. 

Another reliable hack is weighing yourself frequently (weekly and even daily) which research strongly associates with better fat loss. This one gets shunned or dismissed sometimes too because (along with food tracking), it has gotten some bad press.
The truth is, it's mainly only people with eating disorders and body image dysmorphia who have issues with tracking numbers like body weight and macros. For everyone else, these are simple ways to create accountability and awareness and increase fat loss with minimal effort.

There are many other types of "hacks" we could talk about. Perhaps some of the best are those which don't involve a focus on numbers such as body weight or calories and macros, like this one: 2). Eat slowly. In research, eating slowly consistently leads to lower calorie intake which in turn leads to greater weight loss. It's simple, it's easy, and it's productive.

Or this one: 3). When you eat, only eat--don't eat while distracted by a phone, TV or newspaper. Studies also show that eating distracted leads to greater calorie intake. Even if you don't eat more during the distracted meal, you'll tend to eat more later because of a strange mental quirk: since you weren't paying attention, your brain doesn't "remember" how much you ate in the last meal, so given the opportunity, you eat more at the next one to compensate. 

If "hacks" like these two get overlooked, it's not because of bad press. Maybe it's because they appear TOO easy and simple to work. People just shrug, brush them off, and look for something newer and sexier.

That's a shame, because this type of "hack" is getting increasing amounts of positive attention. Eating slowly and undistracted are "hacks" (maybe "habits" or "skills" are better words) that fall under the umbrella of a larger practice known as mindful eating. 

For the highest chances of fat loss success, it's important to use a multi-faceted approach that includes mindset training.
My formula has always been:
1. Nutrition, 2. Weight training, 3. Cardio Training, 4. Mental Training.

Other experts (both researchers and coaches) agree about how effective mental training is. Mindfulness has gotten a ton of good press for good reason: not only does research support it, but also it's a set of skills that can work for almost everyone, including people with disordered eating issues, because mindfulness doesn't require macro tracking or calorie counting.