I’m going to show you how to Get Leaner Than 99% of People (Go From 25% Bodyfat to 8%)
I’ll get you from 25 to 8% body fat in 7 steps.
I’m Dr Christian Poulos, founder of Doctors Orders Coaching and your favorite lifting man for your fitness plan.
Listen, I’ve been picking up heavy stuff and putting it back down for over a decade.
I’ve gone from high bodyfat to ripped abs multiple times, and I’m here to show you how to do it.
This process wasn’t easy, but the more times I did it, the more I learned, and now, I’ve figured out the truth behind the science of getting lean.
And yes, I’ve slipped up sometimes: Cravings, nights out, stressful medical school exams, running a business.
But this is life, and I’m telling you you don’t need to sacrifice it to get shredded.
Realizing this…
I developed a simple system to bypass all of life’s annoying fat loss curveballs.
I’ve used my techniques with multiple clients like Bill and Michael who’ve sliced bodyfat and improved their health markers, all while having families and demanding careers.




If they can do it, you can do it.
Ask yourself: Why are you doing this? Is it worth it?
To me, the answer is always yes.
Sacrifice is required, but you ALWAYS become a better person after an experience like this.
Lifting weights and losing fat is great, but the real reward is the discipline and work ethic you strengthen that impacts the entirety of your life.
Average male bodyfat is around 25%, for women i’ts closer to 30%.
If you want visible abs, guys, you need to shoot for 13% and ladies, aim for 20%.
This is an attainable and worthwhile goal that I think is absolutely worth the effort.
You will feel better, look better, and live longer. Sound like something you want?
To lose fat, you will need a combination of fat loss and diet.
Thats the bottom line when it comes to making those abs pop, and getting that flat belly you always wanted.
So here you go: My 7-step framework. If you can pay attention I’ll show you how to execute it.
Step 1: Calorie Deficit
Ooooook step number one: the ultimate deficit plan to go from 25 percent to 8 percent body fat.
To do this, you must follow the mandatory god rule- be in a caloric deficit.
This means burning more calories each day than you consume, which involves exercise, non-exercise activity, and your metabolic rate.
The bigger the deficit, the more fat you’ll burn.
Now before you venture out into the world consuming only celery and oxygen to survive, listen, don’t go overboard and create a deficit that’s too massive.
You don’t want your diet to be hard to follow, and you certainly don’t want to starve yourself to the point where you start smelling your favorite pizza restaurant six miles away.
Now, if you’re starting off on the heavier side, aiming for a 500 to 1000-caloric deficit is a good target.
But if you’re leaner and want a more flexible lifestyle, desperately trying to reveal those hidden abs, a smaller deficit of 200 to 300 calories might be more sensible.
Trust me. Trust the doctor man with abs.
Ok SO: There are three ways to create this magical caloric deficit.
Option one: cut back on food intake.
Option two: ramp up your exercise.
Option three: take the genius route and rely on exercise AND diet to burn those extra calories, allowing you to enjoy a slightly more generous diet.
It’s like having your cake and…well, not eating it… kinda.
For example, if you want to achieve a 500-calorie deficit, you could burn off 200 calories through exercise and cut back 300 calories from your diet.
Or go for a 100-calorie workout and shave off 400 calories from what you eat.
It’s all about finding the right balance that suits your lifestyle, or as I like to call it, the “cake and crunches” ratio (copyright pending).
If you manage to maintain a 500-calorie deficit per day, that chops roughly 3500 calories each week, which conveniently translates to shedding one pound of body fat.
Quick maths.
So, if you need to lose 12 pounds of fat, buckle up for a 12-week journey to reaching your goal.
This may see daunting at first, I get it, double-digit time frames are scary.
But I promise you starting it sooner is ALWAYS better than starting it later.
The longer you wait, the more food you eat, and the more time your butt spends kissing the couch.
Just think of it as your very own “Abs Odyssey.”
A tale of epic proportions and battles won.
Or just think of it as getting shredded like a boss, whatever works dude.
Something that can help figure out your proper caloric intake is knowing your TDEE.
Your total daily energy expenditure.
I’ll give you a quick breakdown of what it is.


BMR is your basal metabolic rate.
This is the bare minimum caloric intake to remain alive and healthy.
You can use this as your floor when thinking about what to eat, or if you need to eat more, etc.
It’s a weird formula, I know.


TEF is the thermic effect for food.
This accounts for roughly 10% of your TDEE.
Very easy to get this number.
Multiply your BMR by .1.
This will give you the calories you burn daily just by eating.
Still with me?
Ok, NEAT stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (you really don’t need to remember that).
This is the number of calories you burn while pretty much just existing and not exercising.
This can vary a WHOLE lot.
Some people fidget up to 2000 calories a day.
We all know someone that eats whatever they want and they don’t gain weight.
They probably have a high NEAT.
Ok, last one: exercise.
This is calories burned as result of your workout.
It’s a bit weird to calculate, so I suggest using a fitness band that just tells you the calories burned, although that has a huge margin of error too.
Plug these all in, and boom.
You got your TDEE.
The total calories you burn in a day.
Now, when we diet, we sometimes get hungry. Sometimes very hungry.
So to be effective in our mission here we gotta get this under control.
The best way I know is probably by just practicing a sustainable diet.
Don’t go insane eating only three peas and sipping the morning dew from a single blade of grass.
We’re here to get in shape and STAY in shape.
That’s what this video is all about.
What about dialing in our food choices?
I’ll keep this real simple.
Stop eating processed and fast foods.
It sounds simple.
Every fitness person on youtube probably says it. All of us are right. Stop it. Start there. I promise it will pay off in spades.
Speaking of dialing in food choices: macros.
If you want to get suuuuper nerdy and serious with your diet, start tracking your macros.
Macros are your proteins, carbs, and fats.
Your *macronutrients.*
It’s a fairly easy calculation but please don’t become one of those people who makes it their entire personality.
Nobody likes that.
Look, there are a lot of different diets out there.
Carnivore, Keto, etc. And some really do work, while others are more of a fad.
These can get detailed, so if you’d like to know more, check out last weeks video/newsletter for an overview of all.
Step 2: Strength Training
Step number two I call the ripped with resistance training.
That sounds ridiculous… never mind.
Research has shown strength training is often the missing piece for taking your fat loss to the next level.
If you’re like me, you started your fitness journey as skinny fat.
You were skinny, had no muscle, and a layer of fat so I got double smacked with being small AND lacking definition.
This really isn’t a fat loss issue, its a no muscle having issue.
Everything is a no muscle having issue.
Muscles solve everything.
It’s science bro.
Muscle mass helps you look leaner at a higher weight.
Look at our favorite strongmen.
These guys are 400 lbs with visible abs.
Granted, they lift stuff heavier than my med school debt *only kinda joking* but hey, they are YOKED.
Why? Because muscle mass is metabolically active tissue, so your body burns a lil bit of extra calories to sustain and repair it.
That’s how Eddie Hall can eat like two family size cheesecakes a day and still have visible abs each the size of a softball.
You will look better as a result of lifting.
And no, it won’t make you bulky too quickly.
Your hormones will limit you gaining muscle too rapidly, and will influence the shape of your physique as well, so ladies, don’t worry about looking like a man when you start lifting.
It won’t happen.
You’re good.
Ok, how do you start this? At a minimum, 2 or 3 full body workouts per week will do it.
If you want a workout plan that takes out all of the guesswork, I’ve got several routines you can get for free if you DM me “ROUTINE”.
The biggest key is to hit around 10-20 sets per muscle per week, use proper technique (please don’t ego lift, we’re not friends if you ego lift), and focus on trying to get stronger per session.
And it doesn’t even have to be in the gym, you CAN do this at home too.
Just get some resistance bands or a pull up bar and medicine ball out and you’ve got everything you need. No excuses!
Step 3: Cardio
On to step 3, cardio.
Do I need to do cardio to lose fat?
Short answer is no, you don’t.
But should you?
Probably.
Will you complain about it?
Also probably.
Cardio helps the body create that deficit we talked about.
Could you create that deficit entirely with diet?
You could… but I promise you at some point after losing a substantial amount of weight from eating barely anything you will not be a happy camper, possibly crash and binge, and feel absolutely terrible after.
So is cardio helpful?
Yes.
You don’t want to get to the point where you are eating so few calories that you are limiting the nutrients and vitamins your body needs.
You still need proper fuel.
But what kind of cardio should you do?
There’s two major types of cardio: LISS (low intensity steady state) and HIIT (high intensity interval training).
Research shows that both fat and carbohydrates are burned during exercise, with the proportions varying based on exercise intensity.
As intensity increases, our bodies rely more on muscle glycogen (carbohydrate stores in muscle) for energy rather than fat.
Low-intensity activities like walking primarily tap into fat stores, while high-intensity sprints lean more heavily on glycogen.
Both moderate-intensity and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) are effective for fat loss, so it boils down to your personal preference.
When we exercise, our bodies draw fuel from three sources: fats, carbs, and protein.
With HIIT, you’ll burn more carbohydrates during your workout and more fat later in the day, and with LISS, you’ll burn more fat during the workout and more carbohydrates later in the day.
LISS you can do for longer, HIIT will have you tapped out pretty quick.
It evens out over time.
Burning fat does not necesarily mean losing fat.
How bout I just tell you what I do?
At the beginning of a fat loss diet, I do 2, 30 minute incline walking sessions and aim for 10,000 steps.
Eventually as my fat loss stalls, I increase the cardio sessions incrementally to 4 sessions.
Eventually up to 6 sessions.
Same goes with my step count.
I’ll eventually bump up to 12000 daily steps. 14,000, 16,000, even 20,000 if needed.
How do I get these steps? Simple. I have two big doggies. I live by a pretty park.
I get abs by walking my dogs by taking long walks by the pretty park.
I also have a desk treadmill. That might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you can do it if it means a lot to you.
Cardio doesn’t have to be the most boring thing of your life, contrary to popular belief.
Pair the activity with something you like.
Talk to your friends on the phone, watch Netflix on the treadmill, have it be your social media time, play a video game if you have equipment at home.
Want more intensity?
Go play basketball in the gym.
Volleyball, do long-distance cycling, boxing.
This is a two birds one stone where you can meet new people, develop another skill, have fun.
Cardio can be fun, pick what works for you.
Step 4: Tracking and Progression
Step 4: tracking and progression.
Simple.
Weigh yourself most days.
Write it down.
This is so small but it helps SO much.
Weigh your food, log it into an app like myfitnesspal or chronometer.
If you don’t wanna weigh it, learn to estimate.
I have an estimation guide too if you want that. More free stuff for everyone.
I’ll make this real simple.
The goal: lose as much weight as you can, doing as little cardio as possible, and eating as much as you can.
If you can milk 10 lbs of fat loss eating 3000 calories and doing no cardio,
MILK IT.
We are tying to optimize comfort and results here.
There’s no point in dropping to 2000 calories and stalling faster.
You want this to be sustainable.
If you are weighing yourself (again, please, please do this) and you see weight loss stalling, add another cardio session.
Drop 1-200 calories per day. Add another 2,000 daily steps.
If you start at 1400 calories, 1 hr of cardio daily, 20,000 steps, you might lose fat rapidly, but eventually your body will adjust and fat loss will stall.
And you will feel like shit because the weight isn’t coming off anymore.
Step 5: Sleep
Speaking of feeling like shit, you know why you might?
Your sleep sucks.
Listen to my favorite study.
They took two groups, they ate the same thing and did the same exercise for a span of several weeks.
The only difference is, one group slept 8.5 hours, the other slept 5.5 hours.
The difference was astonishing.
The group sleeping 5.5 hours lost 60% less bodyfat and 60% more lean mass compared to the 8.5 hour group.
Six. Zero. Big number.
If you don’t sleep well, your testosterone will be low.
Your main stress cortisol will be high.
Don’t waste your time in the gym and kitchen.
Go to sleep.
Stop those late-night Netflix binges.
I know it’s a habit.
Stop it.
Bad.
Also: be consistent.
Try and wake up and go to sleep around similar times, turn off the lights a few hours before bed, limit caffeine 8 hours before sleep.
I know that’s a tough one for most.
But that extra latte is not helping you.
Put it down.
You know this stuff.
Don’t make me fly over and yell at you.
I do however have some tips and tricks for better sleep.
I recommend magnesium glycinate at 2-400mg, as odds are you are deficient.
L-Theanine could help too.
This is one of the biggest factors to weight loss.
And all I’m telling you to do is literally lay down and do nothing for a few hours. I’m telling you to be LAZY to get SHREDDED.
Step 6: Supplements
Step number six revolves around the use of supplements, which can play a minor role in achieving your desired fat loss results.
Here’s the real truth: no supplements will make or break you, they are the cherry on top.
You won’t pop a pill and evolve into your final form.
But they do give you an edge on your path to becoming a super saiyan.
I’ll give you the good ones.
Right off the bat: whey protein.
Eat it.
Protein intake is highly beneficial as it provides satiety, making you feel full.
Protein shakes help, one of the few things bro science actually gets right.
It also has a thermic effect, meaning your body burns more calories while digesting it, and plays a crucial role in muscle building, so if you aren’t getting enough protein in your diet you should, like… eat more of it.
From personal experience, a supplement with caffeine, like a coffee or a pre-workout supplement helps a lot.
In short: something with a stimulant. When calories are low and activity levels are high, caffeine could be the missing piece to get that big boost in your sessions.
Now, I mentioned cortisol before.
This is the stress hormone.
More cortisol, more stress.
Enter Ashwaghanda, this herb helps lower said stressful cortisol.
Fat loss stresses the body, so mitigating some of that with ashwaghanda can accelerate fat loss, and help you relax a bit.
Lastly, creatine.
It’s a well researched and effective supplement that will improve performance and give your muscles some extra fullness.
Very simple with this one.
But again these are the cherry on top.
None of these will replace the other steps.
So no, you won’t cancel out your cardio by munching a whole bottle of ashwagandha gummies.
And no, you won’t get swole by snorting a tub of creatine (please don’t snort your creatine).
Step 7: Strategic Refeeds
My last key step, number 7.
This is the one that has always resulted in the most successful fat loss diets I’ve had.
But I need you to pay attention, because this can get a little bit more complex.
Strategic refeeds.
Diet Breaks.
As you lose fat, a hormone called ghrelin, in simpler terms, the hunger hormone will increase.
Ghrelin is your hunger gremlin.
Congrats, now that’s burned in your brain forever.
Conversely, leptin, the satiation and fat loss hormone, will decrease.
Your body is designed to resist fat loss, it wants to hold onto it for survival.
But we don’t need to survive.
Chipotle is down the street.
We’re gonna be fine.
We wanna get shredded.
After dieting for weeks, your willpower decreases, you’re tired, and it’s harder to make good decisions in your diet.
How do you bypass that?
The most effective ways are refeeds and diet breaks.
Ok, refeeds.
Refeeds involve 1-3 days of increasing your carbohydrate intake.
I’ll give you a clear example, and you’re welcome to rewatch this bit for it to make more sense.
Say your maintenance (the point where you won’t gain or lose weight) is 2500 calories.
You are eating 2000 calories for fat loss composed of 150 carbs, 200 protein, 66 fat.
Take 1-3 days where you eat back at 2500 calories.
But adjust your macros accordingly.
Try to minimize fat intake.
Keep under 30g if you can.
Keep protein close to what you normally have, you can get away with reducing it a little, say 175 grams.
Then fill the rest with carbs.
Not just any carbs, try to stick to starchy carbs.
Rice, potato, pasta, bread, cereals.
Foods with glucose as the primary nutrient.
With this ratio, you can eat close to 400g of carbs for those days.
Your body will soak this up and be so happy.
Your leptin will increase again.
Satiety achieved.
Ghrelin Gremlin conquered.
The cool thing about refeeds is that afterward, you may find yourself at an all-new low weigh-in.
You get to have a few days where you get to eat more, something that will help you stick to a diet for longer.
Here’s my refeed guide:
20% bodyfat should be once every two months or not at all, 15-20% every 2-4 weeks, 10-15% every 1-2 weeks, <10% every 5 days.
Or try a diet break, where you take 1-2 weeks off eating at maintenance to give your mind and body a bit of a break.
Fat loss is about being sustainable.
This is arguably one of the most important things about weight loss.
You don’t want to crash, go back to old habits, and make all the effort you put in pointless.
If you feel run down after a fat loss period, take some time to eat more normally, but still on track.
This is always better than going super strict and crashing.
Matter of fact you actually get to eat MORE of what you love if you follow a refeed protocol.
Now go get ripped.
I’ve done everything I mentioned with my clients, and they have proven to be sustainable and effective.
I highly recommend you utilize the tips I’ve given you if you want to reach your weight loss goal.
Let me know if you want to see a week-by-week breakdown of my fat loss phases, if there’s a topic you want to see happen, or if you just want to say Hi Christian I love your hair.
And lastly if you want to transform yourself from 25% to 8% bodyfat with my help, fill in the application below and i’ll see you in the next one.
CP