Five kettlebell sessions per week, anchored by two heavy strength days and three high-density conditioning days. Daily walking provides the cardio base. Caloric deficit drives the loss; training preserves muscle and accelerates recomposition.
Sessions are capped at 45 minutes. In a deficit, more volume is counterproductive — recovery is the bottleneck.
Walking is the single most fat-loss-efficient activity per minute spent. It drives daily energy expenditure without creating the recovery debt that running, cycling intervals, or extra lifting would. In a deficit, recovery is the constraint.
Stack short walks throughout the day — 10 min after each meal moves blood glucose dramatically and reinforces the eat-then-move habit.
One 60–90 min walk weekly. Outdoors if possible. Phone on do-not-disturb. This is the cardiovascular base-builder and the mental decompression of the week — both matter.
Cut volume in half. Same days, same exercises, half the sets and reps. Hold calories steady. The deload exists to absorb the previous five weeks of work — skipping it is how the program stalls in week 8.
If two consecutive weeks show no scale movement and measurements unchanged and sleep/protein/steps were on point — drop calories by 150 (cut from carbs first, never protein).
If energy crashes during heavy lifts, the answer is not raising calories — it's adding 50g carbs in the 90 min pre-session window. Same daily total, better timing.