By Robert A. Schinetsky

Many of you are familiar with the concept of the “Freshman 15.” It is a colloquialism referring to the weight gained by most college students their first year abroad in college. For some the “freshman 15” is less, and others it’s more. Research indicates that while most college freshmen do gain weight, it’s much less than 15 pounds (somewhere between 2.7-3.86lbs).[1,2]

Recently, the freshman 15 has been replaced by the appropriately named “quarantine 15.”

As you’ve experienced for yourself, COVID-19 has upended normalcy on an order of magnitude few would have believed possible in today's modern era. But alas, the situation is what it is, and many individuals around the world are finding themselves stuck at home.

In line with this homebound nature, many individuals are exercising less than they typically have while simultaneously consuming more high-calorie fare (whether this be related to stress-eating, boredom, or just a general disregard for staying on track with their diet).

WebMD recently released data from a poll in which they surveyed 1,012 US readers.[3]

47% of women and 22% of men responded they have gained weight “due to COVID restrictions.”[3]

Now, this might sound alarming, but most individuals reported that their “quarantine 15” wasn’t that egregious (yet). The vast majority reported gaining between 1 and 9 pounds. Only 4% of those polled said they had gained more than 21 pounds, and 21% said they’d gained between 10 and 20 pounds.

WebMD also conducted a separate poll of 900 international readers. In that poll, 34% of women and 55% of men reported weight gain in quarantine.

Domestically, 59% of those who have gained weight during quarantine attributed it to a combination of stress eating and lack of exercise. 21% of respondents said their weight gain was due to drinking more alcohol.

It should be noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that drinking alcohol is an “unhelpful coping strategy” since heavy drinking can directly impair immune function.[4,5]

Internationally, individuals reported that a lack of exercise was the leading cause of weight gain, followed by stress eating, and then increased alcohol intake only accounting  for 17% of people responding to the poll.

As you can see, there is no singular cause for the quarantine 15 (though you could make the argument that the quarantine itself is the reason for the weight gain). But, moving past that, the underlying causes of why people are gaining weight is multifactorial. It boils down to a combination of lack of physical activity (be it dedicated exercise or non-exercise activity during the day) and increased calorie intake.

Regardless of the reason(s) and whether you’ve gained 5 pounds or 15 pounds during this quarantine, we’ve got a comprehensive plan to help you blast fat by July 4th!

How to Lose the Quarantine 15

When quarantine ends remains unclear, but the path to healthy, sustainable weight loss isn’t.

Here’s how to regain control of your lifestyle amidst these confusing times and kick unwanted body fat to the curb.

It all begins with your diet

When it comes to gaining or losing weight, calories are king.

Now, we don’t just want to lose “weight” (which could include water, muscle, and/or body fat), we want to lose fat and retain lean muscle. 

In order to facilitate that, there are a few things you need to do when structuring your weight loss diet. 

Namely:

• Use a moderately aggressive calorie deficit
• Consume enough dietary protein
• Perform resistance training 3-4 times per week
• Perform cardio as needed to support your energy deficit
• Use the right supplements to support fat loss (which we’ll cover in a moment)

Setting Up a Quarantine 15 Fat Loss Diet

Current evidence-based recommendations for maximizing fat loss while preserving as much lean muscle as possible is roughly 0.5 to 1% of your body weight per week.[6]

This comes out to roughly 0.5-2 pounds per week for most individuals. 

To achieve/maintain this rate of weight loss, research indicates you adhere to a 20-25% calorie deficit.

This is an “aggressive” enough calorie deficit to maximize fat loss without risking muscle loss.[7,8,9]

In other words, you should eat roughly 75-80% of your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).

For instance, if your TDEE was 2500 calories, and you wanted to burn body fat as quickly as possibly while avoiding muscle breakdown, you would consume 80% of 2500 calories which is:

2500 calories * 0.8 = 2000

Now, not only is consuming the right amount of calories important to maximizing fat loss, but you also need to be cognizant of the composition of those calories (i.e. carbs, fat, and protein).

When it comes to building or maintaining muscle tissue, protein is the most important macronutrient, carbohydrates and fats are secondary. 

The reason for this is that multiple studies have noted that diets higher in dietary protein confer a number of beneficial effects related to body composition, both in terms of fat loss and muscle gain.[10,11,12]

More specifically, high protein diets have been found to:

• Boost 24-hour energy expenditure and sleep energy expenditure
• Result in greater preservation of lean muscle mass while dieting
• Yield greater appetite suppression

The estimated amount of protein an individual needs to consume daily to maintain lean muscle during a caloric deficit is 2.3-3.1 g/kg/day.

For those of you who would prefer to not deal with the metric system, this equates to roughly 1.04-1.4 grams per pound of body weight.

Perform Resistance Training 3-4 Times Per Week

After ensuring your protein and calorie intakes are set up to facilitate fat loss, the next piece of the puzzle is getting your exercise routine in order.

When it comes to maximizing fat loss and minimizing muscle breakdown during dieting, the importance of resistance training cannot be emphasized enough.

You see, whenever you are in an energy deficit, the body will seek to conserve resources, and being that muscle is very metabolically expensive for the body to maintain, it will be more willing to break muscle tissue down for energy than maintain it in the midst of an energy deficit. 

Resistance training provides a powerful reminder to your body that it needs to maintain its lean mass. Consuming enough protein also goes part in parcel with resistance training to ward off protein breakdown when dieting.

Perform Cardio as Needed

We’ll start this off by saying that you do not “need” to do any cardio in order to lose fat. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do it either.
Cardio serves two purposes primarily -- to improve overall cardiovascular health and increase overall energy expenditure during the day.

Where many individuals get into trouble with cardio is using that as the primary driver of fat loss, which it will never be.

It is there to improve your conditioning and help burn a few hundred extra calories each day. This may also allow you to eat more during the day while still maintaining your calorie deficit.

Ultimately, the decision is up to you whether to do cardio or not for fat loss. Some people enjoy doing it and the fact that it lets them eat more during the day while still losing weight. Others don’t enjoy it as much and would rather just eat less overall calories.

Use the Right Supplements

The weight loss industry is plagued by ineffective diets, exercise programs, and supplements that are really only good for draining your bank account,

Advanced Molecular Labs is committed to formulating premium-quality supplements rooted in science, using only those ingredients that are backed by research to support the weight loss process.

To help those looking to get in shape over the next 4 weeks, we’ve created the ThermoHeat Fat Burning Stack.

We’ve discussed this mammoth fat burning stack before on the blog (click here to read more in-depth), but to recap the many benefits of this comprehensive lineup of weight loss support supplements…

Thermo Heat capsules

Thermo Heat capsules are the flagship product of the Advanced Molecular Labs weight loss family of products. It’s extensive ingredient line up is centered on one key concept -- brown fat activation.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a more metabolically active type of fat in the body than white adipose tissue (WAT) that generates body heat by burning fat via non-shivering thermogenesis.

 BAT activation typically occurs in response to cold temperature exposure to help the body to maintain its normal body temperature.

Not only does Thermo Heat include nutrients like capsaicin and ginger root extract to activate BAT thermogenesis, it also includes compounds that boost brown fat concentrations in the body, such as ursolic acid.

Interestingly, ursolic acid also upregulates the expression of uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1), which enhances thermogenesis.

We also understand that energy and motivation to exercise are low when dieting, which is part of the reason we’ve included caffeine in every serving of Thermo Heat.

But, caffeine isn’t included just for its CNS-stimulating properties.

Caffeine also helps suppress appetite, increase energy expenditure, and boost dopamine release. In case you weren’t aware, dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is also involved in the regulation of brown fat thermogenesis.[13]

Now, this is just a brief overview of the many intricacies and complementary actions of the ingredients in Thermo Heat capsules. For an extensive explanation of how Thermo Heat enhances brown fat thermogenesis and fat loss, click here.

Thermo Heat Nighttime

The importance of sleep cannot be emphasized heavily enough when it improving anything in life, including fat loss..

Without sufficient sleep progress in the gym stalls as does weight loss.

 Sleep deprivation alters energy metabolism and nutrient partitioning. It also depresses physical activity and motivation to exercise, which directly affects energy expenditure during the day.

And, to make matters that much worse, sleep deprivation also increases concentrations of the “hunger hormone” ghrelin (making us feel more hungry) and have a penchant for unhealthy foods.[14,15]

Due to the importance that sleep plays in weight loss, Advanced Molecular Labs developed the ideal dual-action sleep aid/nighttime thermogenic in Thermo Heat Nighttime.

Thermo Heat® Nighttime contains a complementary blend of nutrients that help attack unwanted body fat while encouraging better, deeper sleep.

At the heart of Thermo Heat Nighttime is melatonin.

Most of you already know that melatonin regulates the sleep/wake cycle, but you might not know that melatonin also plays an important role in energy metabolism and body weight control.

Research has shown that melatonin helps the body decrease body weight and abdominal fat without reducing calorie intake or increasing physical activity levels. Melatonin does this by increasing brown adipose tissue levels and stimulating BAT activity, which boosts overall energy expenditure and fat burning.[16,17,18]

Thermo Heat Nighttime also contains relaxation promoting ingredients, including L-theanine, GABA, and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) which help support a more restful night’s sleep.

5-HTP also increases levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which has been noted to stimulate BAT sympathetic nerve activity and thermogenesis.

Additionally, serotonin also has been found to help curb cravings and reduce appetite.

Similar to the original Thermo Heat, Thermo Heat Nighttime also includes several ingredients that stimulate TRPV1 receptors to ramp up thermogenic energy expenditure and increase calorie burning, namely capsaicin, piperine, cinnamaldehyde, and gingerol.

Thermo Heat Fat Burning Protein

We’ve already touched on why protein intake is so important when dieting -- it provides the essential amino acids needed to preserve lean muscle mass amidst a calorie deficit. It also helps increase satiety at meal time too!

In recent times though, low carb and ketogenic diets have become increasingly popular as the de facto “best” fat loss diets. However, these diets oftentimes are not set up to maximize muscle retention.

Thermo Heat Fat Burning Protein was created to help individuals hit their protein needs for the day while remaining cognizant of the dietary desires of those following low-carb or ketogenic diets.

Each serving of Thermo Heat Fat Burning Protein contains 6.25 grams of whey protein plus an additional 5 grams of L-leucine, which has been shown in research to boost muscle protein synthesis equal to 25 grams of whey protein.[19]

Thermo Heat Fat Burning Protein also includes several noteworthy BAT activators including L-Citrulline, MCT oil, Paradoxine, grapeskin polyphenols, and folic acid.

For more information on how these compounds boost BAT activity in the body, click here.

One other interesting point worth noting is that MCT oil (in addition to providing immediate energy for cells akin to glucose), is that it can also stimulate ketone production in the liver as well as increase the release of leptin and peptide YY -- two hormones that increase satiety by enhancing feelings of fullness.[20,21]

As you likely noticed, Thermo Heat Fat Burning Protein includes several ingredients known to support nitric oxide production in the body, including L-Citrulline and Grape Skin polyphenols.

The reason for this is that nitric oxide stimulates BAT activity and thermogenesis.[22,23]

Thermo Heat Multi

The final piece of the Thermo Heat fat burning stack is Thermo Heat Multi.

Most of you reading this are familiar with multivitamins and probably use one already.

But, don’t make the mistake of thinking Thermo Heat Multi is your average bargain bin multivitamin you’d find for $5 at the grocery store -- it’s not even close.

For starters, Thermo Heat Multi contains NO calcium, iron, copper, or manganese which most big box multivitamins do.

The reason for this is that numerous studies have noted an association between these minerals and an increased risk of[24,25,26,27]:

• Neurotoxicity
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular disease
• Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases.

Moreover, these minerals have also been found to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammation, which is linked to obesity![28,29]

Additionally, calcium supplements are also linked to an increased risk of kidney stone formation, something which low-carb and ketogenic dieters are already at risk for.

Note, this is why AML Thermo Heat Fat Burning Protein also includes potassium citrate, which may help prevent kidney stones in those who adopt a low-carb or ketogenic diet.

Thermo Heat Multi does contain the research-backed dose of Vitamin D3 at 4,000IU per serving as well as an extensive array of thermogenic compounds (many of which are also contained in the original Thermo Heat).

Notable inclusions are capsaicin, kaempferol, ginger root extract, and Bioperine (black pepper extract) which support increased fat burning and help bolster the effects of the other supplements included in the AML Thermo Heat Fat Burning Stack.

Takeaway

You might be stuck at home, and even if you aren’t, your normal diet and fitness routine likely isn’t what it used to be pre-COVID.

But, that doesn’t mean you have to pack on unwanted pounds.

We’ve laid out a comprehensive lifestyle plan to help you correct course and burn unwanted body fat so that when July 4th rolls around, you’re ready to rock!

Sustainable weight loss entails making small, long-lasting changes to your diet and exercise routine. When that is combined with a top-tier weight loss stack like the AML Thermo Heat Fat Burning Stack, you’ll be able to experience less hunger, greater energy, and better results from your hard work!

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