If you've been living under a rock and refuse to engage with society, you'll know we’re well and truly in the final stretch of the year.

And for most people, this is where their sh*t begins to fall apart, not so quietly.

The evenings get darker, the diary fills with food and drink, and somewhere in the back of your mind a familiar promise starts to form.

You know the one 👀

“I’ll sort it all out in January.”

So the last couple of months of the year become a write-off. A slow drift of skipped workouts, fewer steps, a calorie surplus, and one too many glasses of red undo a chunk of the progress you built throughout the year.

Then January arrives, and the work is no longer about moving forward. It’s about repairing the damage done in the months before.

Unfortunately, this is the life for the majority of people I speak to, and they all share two common feelings:

Exhaustion and frustration.

But I want to offer you a different approach.

What if you finished the year in the best shape of your life, so January was about maintaining, not rescuing?

Doesn't that sound delightful, eh?

Now, before I go on, I need to be very clear about something, and if you've been following me for any length of time, you'll know this already. ⤵

I’m not a fan of extreme diets or punishing exercise regimes.

They’re rarely worth it and almost never last. And on top of that, they can lead to physical and mental damage that is hard to overcome.

It's why you'll meet your fair share of bodybuilders who have gone through extreme dieting phases and ended up with eating disorders.

But if you want a focused push before the year closes out, we can use a few things in our favour.

What follows is a short, aggressive, four-week fat-loss phase. It is not meant to be sustainable forever, and it shouldn’t be treated that way. It’s a sprint, not a way of life, and done properly for a short window, it’s genuinely effective.

A quick word of caution before we start: the calorie targets here are low, and this isn’t right for everyone. If you’re new to training, have a medical condition, or have any history of disordered eating, this isn’t your starting point. Please go and speak to a professional first. This is general information, not personal medical advice. You could also reach out to me if you need an expert voice in your corner... just saying.

Ok, so with that said, let’s get into it. This plan has seven parts, and each one earns its place.

1. A protein-sparing modified fast (slightly modified)

As no one would be surprised, protein is the first hurdle and the foundation of the whole thing.

The classic version keeps carbs below 50g a day, but I’m happy taking that up to around 100g because I want enough fuel for proper strength sessions.

Carbohydrates next. Rather than dropping those delicious carbs all the way to the floor, we're going to opt for a much higher step count instead (more on that next).

How to run it:

• Eat a minimum of 1 to 1.5g of protein per kg of lean body weight.
• Prioritise quality, lean protein sources.
• Keep daily calories low, often in the 800-1,200 range, depending on your size and lean mass.
• Split your food across at least three meals a day.

It’s demanding, and that’s the point, but the structure keeps you from falling apart.

2. A very high step count

Most people reach for more gym time when they want to lose fat faster, but there's a more efficient lever to pull, and it’s gentler on your body.

One of the undefeated champs of fat loss...

The humble walk!

Walking lets you burn meaningful energy without hammering your nervous system the way extra-hard, sometimes reckless training would. In a deep deficit, when your energy and recovery are already stretched, that matters.

Yes, that's a lot, and you might be sat there thinking, "f*ck me, I'm quitting before I even start", but hear me out first.

It sounds like a lot until you break it into chunks: a morning walk, one after lunch, one after dinner, plus the odd meeting or phone call while you pace up and down your house (my personal favourite).

Suddenly, when you spread this big step target across the entire day, it becomes more than doable.

A treadmill under your desk or in your sitting room is one of the easiest ways to rack up steps without carving out extra hours. As a bonus, all that walking supports digestion, blood sugar control, and sleep.

If you want to drop fat fast without adding gym sessions, this one is non-negotiable.

3. Strength training, 3 to 4 times a week

Aggressive fat loss comes with a real risk, and it’s one most crash diets ignore completely. When you cut calories this hard, you don’t only lose fat. You can lose a worrying amount of muscle, and that is NOT what you want!

That muscle is exactly what you don’t want to give up. It’s what keeps you strong, keeps your metabolism ticking, and keeps you looking lean rather than simply smaller.

The good news is you can hold onto it, and the research is compelling.

In a 2016 trial published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Thomas Longland and colleagues at McMaster University put young men through four weeks of a steep 40% calorie deficit paired with intense training (1).

Despite that aggressive deficit, the higher-protein group didn’t just cling to their muscle; they gained 1.2kg of lean mass while losing 4.8kg of fat in a month.

That's hard to ignore, and the takeaway is simple.

Eat enough protein, train hard, and your body will defend its muscle even while shedding fat fast.

So in this phase, focus on the big compound lifts:

• Squats, deadlifts, presses, rows, pull-ups.
• Don’t chase a specific rep range. Anywhere from 6 to 15+ reps is fine.
• Stick to 2 to 4 working sets per exercise.
• Short sessions, high quality, no junk volume.
• Rest properly between sessions.

Your energy won’t be at its peak, so the goal isn’t to set records. The goal is to hold onto as much strength as you can. Think of your muscle as insurance for your results.

4. Genuinely good sleep

When life gets busy, people usually sacrifice sleep first, but in a fat loss phase, that’s one of the worst mistakes you can make.

Sleep is where you recover, and it’s where your hunger and stress hormones get regulated. Skimp on it and you'll find that your cravings climb, your recovery suffers, and your progress slows right down to a snail's pace.

A 2010 study by Arlet Nedeltcheva and colleagues, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, showed how much this matters (2).

They took a group of dieters and put them through the same calorie deficit twice: once sleeping 8.5 hours a night, and once sleeping only 5.5.

Both times, the scales showed almost the same weight loss. What changed was what that weight was made of.

When the dieters were well rested, most of the weight they lost came from fat. Exactly what you want.

When they cut their sleep short, it flipped. Far more of what they lost was muscle, and only a small part of it was actual fat.

So the same diet, run on too little sleep, quietly turned a fat-loss phase into a muscle-loss phase.

In other words, poor sleep can quietly turn a fat-loss phase into a muscle-loss phase.

So you need to protect your sleep like I protect the protein yoghurts in my fridge 🤨

• Keep your room cool and dark.
• Put screens away an hour before bed.
• Aim for a consistent 7 to 8 hours.
• Keep your sleep and wake times within a 30-minute window.

In a plan like this, good sleep does as much heavy lifting as the diet itself.

5. Targeted carbs around training

We’ve kept carbs low throughout the day, but cutting them everywhere would leave your training flat; flat sessions mean less muscle protected, and less protected muscle means a physique that looks like a flat balloon. You know, they're one that's not quite flat, but it's got those wrinkly bits on it, and it won't be flat anymore. Not a great look for a balloon or a body.

The fix is to put the carbs you do eat where they actually count: around your workouts.

Include slow-digesting carbs like oats or rice before or after training. Aim for roughly 30 to 50g depending on how hard the session is. Then outside of those training windows, keep your carbs very low.

This keeps your energy up for the work that preserves your muscle, while keeping carbs minimal the rest of the time.

6. Plenty of fibre

On a diet this lean, two things tend to suffer:

How full you feel, and, to put it politely, how well your digestion runs.

Going to the potty can be a little tricky 🫠

Fibre solves both. It helps you feel fuller, keeps cravings in check, supports your gut, and keeps everything moving smoothly.

Lean on low-carb, high-fibre foods like leafy greens and broccoli, and aim for 25- 35 g of fibre a day. If you struggle with fibre, I suggest supplementing with psyllium husk.

Even on an aggressive diet, digestion has to stay in good working order. Literally.

7. A sensible supplement stack

When calories are this low, your diet will have gaps, but a few well-chosen supplements can fill those gaps and support your energy, performance, and recovery through a demanding few weeks.

To be clear, supplements won’t make or break your results. Though “the six points above do the real work, but these can give you an edge” is slightly awkward sitting inside point 7 itself. A cleaner option:

Electrolytes for hydration.

Creatine to support strength.

Caffeine for pre-training energy.

Omega-3s to support recovery.

Magnesium for sleep and recovery.

Greens powder to help cover micronutrients (though I'm not a fan of these anymore).

Useful support, but not a magic pill.

To sum it up

If you want to finish the year sharp and cut 10 to 20lbs in the process:

• Run a structured protein-sparing modified fast
• Hit 13,000-plus steps a day
• Strength train 3 to 4 times a week
• Sleep 7 to 8 hours every night
• Keep carbs around training only
• Load up on fibre and protein
• Add a few sensible supplements to support you

One last thing, and it really matters...

Please remember what this is.

→ It is NOT a long-term solution.

→ It’s a short, surgical fat loss sprint with a clear finish line.

Once the four weeks are up, the job isn’t to drift straight back to old habits, or to keep starving yourself.

It’s to step carefully back up to a normal, sustainable way of eating, through something called a reverse diet, so you keep what you’ve gained.

Get that part right, and you don’t just end the year leaner. You walk into January already ahead, with no damage to repair.

That beats another “I’ll start on the 1st” every single time!

Right, I'm off to crush a workout and earn the locals' respect. The video below was from my first attempt at gaining some 😜

Have a cracking week, and I'll catch you next time,

Mark ✌️

Sancho De Avila 19, 13, 3, Barcelona, Catalonia 08018

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