You have tried to clean up your diet and train harder, yet the scale stutters and your belt hole never seems closer.

On the Diary of a CEO podcast, Alan Aragon cut through the noise with a set of ideas that feel almost boring at first glance. But they work because these ideas respect how bodies change in the real world.

Why Fat Loss Stalls

Most people chase tactics before they secure the handful of habits that move the needle.

Small calorie slips wipe out a modest deficit. Hunger and low energy knock training off track. Daily movement dips without you noticing. Weeks pass, then motivation fades.

Aragon’s core message is simple: anchor the day around protein, keep nonexercise movement high, pick a meal pattern you can repeat while leaving room for favorite foods and use planned maintenance weeks to protect consistency.

With those pieces in place, supplements become support acts, not saviors, and food quality shapes where fat tends to sit.

The Power of Protein

Protein is the quiet engine of sustainable fat loss. It makes meals more satisfying, helps preserve muscle while you are in a deficit and slightly raises the cost of digestion.

A workable target for most adults is 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight. If you weigh 75 kg, that is roughly 120 to 165 grams per day. Spread it across three or four eating occasions. Think Greek yogurt with berries in the morning, a chicken or tofu bowl at lunch and fish with vegetables and potatoes at dinner.

If afternoons are your danger zone, add a simple shake and move on.

Your Metabolism is Not Broken

When people diet, they tend to move less without trying. Fidgeting drops, stairs become an elevator, and the couch wins after dinner. That quiet slide can erase two or three hundred calories a day. The fix is dull and powerful.

Measure your steps for a week, take the average, then add two to three thousand on purpose. Most people land between eight and twelve thousand.

Put a ten-minute walk after lunch on your calendar. Stand during calls. Pace while you brainstorm. You will feel the difference long before your watch notices.

Meal Timings Matter Less

Three meals can deliver the same results as five when your calories and protein are on target. Pick a rhythm that fits your life.

Many people settle into three square meals and a protein snack. If you lift early, eat a protein-rich meal within a few hours of training and keep fluids up.

If evenings are where willpower cracks, save a bigger slice of calories for dinner and give yourself permission to sit down and enjoy it.

Flexibility is the Glue

Rigid plans break on contact with birthdays, travel and late meetings. Flexible plans bend and keep going.

Aragon’s framing is straightforward. Keep eighty to ninety percent of your intake nutrient dense, then spend ten to twenty percent on foods you simply enjoy. The trick is to plan the treat before the day runs away from you.

Pre-log the ice cream or the burger, hit your protein, fill the rest of your plate with plants, and stop when the planned serving is done. If a specific food lights up cravings, pick a different flex option and keep your streak alive.

Diet Breaks are Not a Detour

After every five to ten pounds lost, spend one to two weeks at maintenance calories. Keep protein high, keep lifting, and keep steps up.

That pause often restores training quality, mood and sleep. It also gives you a breather from white-knuckle dieting. When you return to a small deficit, progress tends to resume without the rebound that follows crash cuts.

How Creatine Helps

Creatine monohydrate earns its popularity. Five grams per day is enough. No loading. Mix it with a meal or your shake, drink water, and stay consistent.

Expect a small uptick on the scale from water inside muscle. That is not fat, and the strength you gain helps you protect muscle while you lean out. There is emerging research on memory and mood benefits as well, which is a useful bonus.

Belly Fat Cares About Fat Quality

Calories decide weight change, and the types of fats you eat influence blood lipids and where fat tends to settle. Diets higher in saturated fat from land animals often push LDL and ApoB upward, which is not what you want if you care about long-term heart health.

Shifting toward unsaturated fats changes the picture. Cook with olive oil, eat more nuts and avocados, rotate in fish and poultry, and choose leaner cuts of red meat. If your lipids are off, these swaps can help, especially when paired with fiber and consistent steps.

Let Data Lead the Adjustments

The plan above works best when you have a clear picture of what your body is doing behind the scenes.

Bloodwork closes the loop and stops you from guessing. For fat loss and long-term health, we pay close attention to fasting glucose, HbA1c, fasting insulin, ApoB, a full lipid panel, hs-CRP for inflammation, liver enzymes, thyroid function, ferritin, vitamin D, B12 and folate.

If a marker is off, the plan adjusts.

Elevated ApoB often responds to a shift toward unsaturated fats, more fiber and an extra serving of fatty fish each week. High fasting insulin often improves with a small calorie deficit, more steps, and steady lifting. Retesting every three to six months shows what is working so you can double down.

Resources

1. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stevenbartlett-123_what-if-everything-you-thought-you-knew-about-activity-7365639078421209088-YTgm