RUBEN SIM’S ULTIMATE

WEIGHT LOSS GUIDE

INTRODUCTION
This guide is for people looking to lose body fat while retaining as much muscle as
possible. If you have heart problems, or you’re already extremely lean, this guide is not
for you. Having an extremely low body fat percentage can lead to cardiovascular issues
as your body runs out of fat to use as fuel. Use common sense and understand your
limits. Consult with your doctor if you’re unsure about anything you read here.
1. How do I lose weight?
Your body is a machine that burns fuel to expend energy. Everything from the
beating of your heart, to the digestion of your food, to the neurons firing in your
brain requires energy. Your body is extremely efficient at turning food into fuel,
but when the amount of fuel needed exceeds the amount of fuel you consume,
your body turns to its own flesh to keep the lights on.

Your body fat is the largest and most energy-dense form of fuel you have. The
more energy you expend and the less energy you consume, the more fat your
body will break down to meet its energy needs. However, while simply eating
nothing and working as hard as you can will absolutely burn fat, you’ll eventually
run into nutrient deficiencies. Go far enough and your body will start to break
down significant muscle tissue as a last resort. This guide is designed to prevent
these issues while still allowing you to lose fat as quickly as possible.

For reference, one pound of fat contains 3,500 calories of energy, so if you can
maintain a caloric deficit of 1,000 calories a day, in theory you’ll lose 2lbs of fat
per week, or roughly 8.5lbs per month. You can cut harder than this if you’re
willing and able, but given that this is the high-end for a healthy weight loss rate,
try not to go too far overboard. Throughout this process you’ll likely lose lean
mass as well, but with proper exercise and nutrition this can be minimized.

2. I can’t just diet without exercising?

You can, but this is the difference between being skinny and being lean. Not only
will daily resistance training burn more calories faster, meaning you won’t have to
diet as long, but the muscle you retain will be much more visible without
subdermal body fat covering it up.

Besides, our ancestors avoided extinction by burning thousands of calories every

day through persistence hunting and fighting. The human body is made to work,
and living a sedentary lifestyle comes with its own set of complications.

3. What am I in for if I follow this guide?

You WILL lose significant body fat. You WILL retain muscle. You WILL feel 10x
better physically and mentally without unhealthy slop churning through your
blood. You WILL learn to cook and meal prep so your food is as inexpensive,
satiating and healthy as possible.
 DIET
You can’t outrun a bad diet. Getting a grip on your nutrition is the most essential part of cutting
weight. The first step to setting up a good diet is determining your base metabolic rate, which
you can do with an online calculator such as this one:
https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html

Your BMR is how much energy your body uses to keep itself alive. Moving, exercising, even
eating requires more energy, so adjust this number based on your activity level. If you work a
desk job, you probably burn less calories day-to-day than someone who works in a shipping
department, so keep this in mind as you determine your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
Ask Chat-GPT if you’re unsure how many calories you burn with your given lifestyle.
(WARNING: I shill really hard for AI assistance in this guide. Beware of AI hallucinations
https://archive.is/Cr0nQ)

Once you’ve estimated your TDEE, subtract 400. This will be your daily calorie limit. If your
TDEE is 1,900, you’ll be eating 1,500 calories. If your TDEE is only 1,400, I’m sorry to say but
you’ll only be allotted 1,000 calories a day. Exercising more will allow you to increase this
number. This will be covered more in the exercise section.

MACROS
The three macronutrients are carbs, fats and proteins. I recommend a balance of 40% protein,
40% carbs and 20% fat for a weight cut.

Carbs are the main source of energy for your body. You can quickly convert these to glucose,
your body’s version of gasoline. Not all carbs are created equal, however. Simpler carbs from
certain fruits and refined sugars are broken down into glucose faster than more complex carbs
like whole grains and legumes. Since elevated blood sugar gives your muscles more short term
fuel, you’ll want to eat at least 25g of carbs prior to a workout, starting with complex carbs about
an hour before leaving, and topping off with simpler carbs as you head out the door. Ask
Chat-GPT if you’re uncertain of a food’s glycemic index.

Proteins help build and repair tissue (like muscle), form antibodies for the immune system and
facilitate important biochemical reactions. Adequate protein intake is NECESSARY for retaining
muscle mass. Ideally you should be eating close to 1g of protein per pound of body weight per
day.

Fats are the most energy dense form of macronutrient. While carbs and protein are roughly 4
calories per gram, fat is 9. However, it shouldn’t be avoided. Fat is essential for absorbing fat
soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K), hormone production, and cell structure. There’s good fats,
which run smoothly through your blood, and bad fats that don’t. This diet focuses primarily on
healthy fat sources like olive oil and chia seeds.
NUTRIENTS
Balancing macros is not enough on its own. You need to make sure you’re getting the right
amount of nutrients or your body will start to crave other foods and you’ll feel physically worse.

USING A FOOD LOG APP WILL MAKE TRACKING YOUR MACROS AND NUTRIENTS
1,000,000x EASIER. I pay for a MyFitnessPal membership, but there’s plenty of other apps to
choose from that can scan barcodes and automatically enter nutrition info (double check for
accuracy.) You’ll also need a food scale to properly measure your portions.

You can use Chat-GPT to tailor a diet that meets all of your nutritional requirements, or you can
copy what’s worked for me. Ideally you should be eating a wide variety of healthy food, but I’ve
found that eating the same thing every day is hard to get sick of when it has everything you
need. If you’re looking for a diet like this, I’ve included mine diet below for you to try.

BREAKFAST
Eating three meals a day with the occasional evening snack is the simplest and easiest way to
stick to a strict diet. Starting with a low-fat, high-protein, high carb breakfast is the perfect way to
get ready each day.

My favorite is protein fortified cereal with skim milk. Special K Zero provides the highest ratio of
protein to calories out of any widely available cereal and tastes great, but it’s expensive. Premier
Protein sells cheaper cereal with similar macros if you’re on a budget. Skim milk is a great
source of complete animal protein and has no fat, making it very filling with few calories.

For most of my cut diet I’ve had 2 servings of cereal with 1 serving of milk, which comes out to
roughly 460 calories, 25g carbs, 18g fat, and 54g of protein. If this is too many calories for you,
you can adjust your portion size or even replace skim milk with unsweetened cashew milk to
save an extra 55 calories per serving.

Other great breakfast foods are egg whites (go easy on the salt), protein oats, triple zero greek
yogurt, fresh/frozen berries, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon. I usually eat breakfast as soon
as I wake up, shower, then eat a serving of fruit with my pre-workout before leaving for the gym.

LUNCH
After coming home from my first workout, I go straight to lunch. This is my largest and most
nutrient dense meal, consisting of a massive fruit smoothie with protein powder and
supplements. I use 3 ingredients from the fridge, 3 from the freezer, and 6 from the pantry. The
entire smoothie takes about 5 minutes to make, including the time spent blending.
Smoothie recipe:
-2 cups unsweetened cashew milk (use skim milk if you can afford more calories)
-30g spinach (relax, you won’t be able to taste it)
-170g Triple Zero greek yogurt (or a similar fat/sugar free yogurt)
-1.5 scoops strawberry protein powder (add more/less depending on your protein needs)
-15g chia seeds (healthy fats)
-1 scoop creatine monohydrate powder (helps workout performance)
-2 packets stevia (optional for taste)
-1 serving psyllium husk powder (adjust based on fiber needs and digestive tolerance)
-1 serving hydrolyzed collagen (strengthens connective tissue, great for skin and hair)
-1 frozen banana
-100g frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries can usually be purchased in one
bag)
-2-3 handfuls of ice

PROTIP: Put your blender glass in the freezer before leaving for your workout to save ice.

By the time this is all blended up, you should have nearly filled your blender to its capacity. This
smoothie might be too much to drink in one sitting, so start by pouring half of it into a large glass
and putting the rest in the fridge. Come back to it when you’re hungry again, or go beast mode
and drink all of it at once.

This smoothie has ~630 calories, 10g of healthy fats, 48g carbs, 74g of protein, 22g of fiber,
and meets most of your micronutrient needs for the day. The ingredients are flexible, allowing
you to add, remove and replace components based on your nutritional needs.

I usually give my stomach a few minutes to settle after finishing it before going back to the gym
for my daily walk.

DINNER
Unlike breakfast and lunch, my dinner recommendation requires you to cook. This recipe takes
about 40 minutes of work, but only has to be done once every 4 days. That’s only 10 minutes
per day.

Ingredients
-1lb of 99% raw ground turkey
-400g of sweet potatoes
-olive oil
-cumin
-garlic powder
-smoked paprika
-cinnamon
-nutmeg
 1. Set your oven to 430F and start rinsing, peeling and dicing your sweet potatoes. The
smaller you dice them the crispier they come out. Half inch chunks work the best for me.

2. Transfer the diced potatoes to a foil lined cookie sheet and pour 1 tbsp of olive oil in the
center. Make sure to weigh your oil, as it’s very dense in calories. Use your hands to toss
the potatoes in the oil until they’re evenly coated.

3. Rinse the oil off your hands and coat the potatoes in cinnamon, nutmeg and smoked
paprika (No salt is used in this recipe so I recommend going heavy with the seasoning.)
Leave them in the oven for 35-50 minutes depending on how crispy you want them. 35 is
like a baked potato, 50 is well done.

4. While the potatoes cook, lay out your ground turkey on the same cutting board you
made your sweet potatoes on and cut it into 16 evenly sized chunks. I try to avoid
touching the turkey with my hands during this step so I don’t get germs all over my
seasoning and cookware.

5. Add lots of cumin, garlic powder and smoked paprika to each chunk, then put a large
skillet on the stove on medium high heat.

6. Once each piece of turkey is seasoned, use your hands to fold the seasoning in on itself
to prevent it from being lost to the pan during cooking. Shape the turkey chunks into
balls and gently press them against the cutting board to form little 2 inch turkey nuggets.
Wash your hands and set out 3 tupperware containers lined with half sheets of foil.

7. With the pan heated (roughly 450F), add 1 tbsp of olive oil and give it a second to warm
up. Use tongs to transfer the turkey nuggets to the pan, making sure to tilt/swirl the pan
so the turkey lands on oil, and not a dry spot. Sear for 2 minutes, add another tbsp of
olive oil, then flip and sear the other side for another 2 minutes.

8. Lower the heat by 10% and cook another minute on each side as needed. Use an
electronic meat thermometer to make sure the centers reach at least 160F. If you have a
poor quality pan, or your nuggets aren’t evenly sized, some will take longer to cook than
others. Make sure to test multiple nuggets if this is the case. Getting food poisoning will
interfere with your ability to eat and exercise so don’t skip this step.

Once the turkey is fully cooked, transfer it to a plate. Put 4 nuggets in each container and wrap
them with foil. You can eat the remainder immediately with your preferred sauce (I like A1’s
Thick and Hearty™) or if you’d like to wait until the potatoes are done, wrap them in foil and a
thick dish towel so they retain their heat and juiciness.

By now you should have 10-25 minutes left on the sweet potatoes so use this time to clean up,
wash your cookware and rewatch your favorite Ruben Sim video. Once the potatoes are done,
take them out of the oven and let them cool off for a few minutes. Zero out a plate on your scale
and use a rubber spatula to unstick any potatoes stuck to the foil before lifting them by the sheet
and pouring them onto your plate. Evenly portion them by weight into your food containers next
to the foil-wrapped turkey and refrigerate.

I prefer my potatoes chilled. When eating leftovers, I usually eat them first, then unwrap and
microwave the turkey for 1 minute and give each nugget ¼ tbsp of A1. This meal is 20g of
carbs, 22g of fat and 27g of protein.

SNACKS
If by the end of the day you find yourself physically incapable of going to sleep due to hunger, a
low calorie, minimally processed snack is permitted. My favorites are limeade (25ml lime juice, 2
packets of stevia, ice water, 6cal) mandarin oranges (40 cal each), cucumber slices with lemon
juice (35 cal). Try to avoid snacks high in sodium. A high-sodium diet makes you bloated as
your body retains more water. This also impacts your accuracy when weighing yourself.

GUT HEALTH
Your intestines are home to an entire ecosystem consisting of thousands of species of bacteria
that aid in digestion. The populations of these different species change based on what nutrients
you provide them. Eating the same thing every day can build an ecosystem that’s sensitive to
new foods, so I try to drink a probiotic at least once a week to avoid indigestion every time I try a
new food. You can buy low calorie probiotic “shots” at most grocery stores for a couple bucks
each. Just don’t overuse these as they can disrupt your gut flora.

CHEATING
When you cheat your diet, you only cheat yourself. Never do cheat days. You can ruin an entire
week of dieting with a single day of overeating. It’s okay to have a cheat meal every few weeks
as long as you realize every extra calorie you consume is another calorie you’ll have to burn off.
If it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, or your birthday, enjoy yourself. Just be mindful and resist the
urge to pig out.

Protip: Every time you give in to the temptation of gluttony, it becomes stronger. Every time you
resist it, you become stronger.

SUPPLEMENTS
Even with a diet as nutritious as this, you’ll still run into deficiencies if it’s all you eat. This can be
supplemented with a simple daily multivitamin. Omega-3 fish oil is also great for brain health,
though you’re better off getting this from natural sources like fatty fish. Over reliance on
supplements can be problematic, so getting nutrients from natural sources is always preferred.
For vitamin D try to get at least 10-15 minutes of sunscreen-free sun exposure, and take
magnesium if you struggle with sleep, which brings us to the final component of a healthy diet.
SLEEP
You need at least 7 hours of sleep every night. This is non-negotiable. Sleep is critical for
regulating hormones, appetite control, stress management, and recovering from workouts. If I
get less than 6 hours of sleep I’ll skip the gym until I’ve taken a nap. Being sleep deprived
makes you grouchy, impulsive and more prone to food cravings.

Practice good sleep hygiene, like having a consistent sleep schedule and eating less carbs and
reducing screen time late at night. DO NOT stay up doom scrolling in bed. Plug your phone in
across the room if you’re too tempted to do this. If necessary, use sleeping pills (don’t exceed
the recommended dose, don’t mix conflicting medications) and if you’re groggy in the morning
use caffeine and cold water.

CONCLUSION
You don’t need to follow my diet exactly, but you should find something similar that suits your
tastes and nutritional needs. Remember to stay at least 400 calories below your TDEE, get as
close as you can to 1g of protein per lb of body weight, and eat most of your carbs before
workouts. If you’re worried about nutritional deficiencies for whatever diet you come up with, ask
Chat-GPT to review your food.

EXERCISE

FOR THE SEDENTARY

If you’re athletic or already have a workout routine, you can probably skip this subsection.
Otherwise, jumping into a full exercise routine is a quick way to get fatigued and burnt out to the
point where you lose motivation to continue. Workout routines should be adopted gradually.

It takes time for your body and mind to adapt to daily exercise. Start with light weights and easy
movements. Stay hydrated and use caffeine if you’re lacking motivation to get in the gym. Don’t
worry about putting your heart and soul into every rep until you can consistently work out every
day. Some soreness is normal, but listen to your body and skip the gym if you’re in too much
pain.

LEAN MASS
All muscle mass is lean mass, but not all lean mass is muscle mass. You’re bound to lose some
lean mass anytime you go on a caloric deficit, but with proper resistance training you can retain
muscle far longer than fat. A good hypertrophy routine will work out every muscle group in your
body. Anything left out is going to atrophy as your body looks for fuel sources. Never skip leg
day.
An easy way to hit all of your muscle groups is to use a “split” where you alternate muscle
groups each day. Personally I enjoy the Push/Pull/Legs “bro split”. There’s endless YouTube
content on how to set these days up and what exercises to choose. Pick one that you enjoy, and
don’t worry too much about “science based lifting”. Science based anything is useless if you
can’t commit yourself to it every day. (This logic also applies to your diet.)

Once you’ve chosen a solid hypertrophy routine, focus on improving your form. Form is critical
to properly activate muscles and prevent injuries. Time spent injured is time wasted. Once your
form is perfect, start increasing weight until you begin to fail on your last set. A wise man once
said “failure in the gym is a good thing.” This is absolutely true. When your muscles become
fatigued, micro-tears form in the muscle fibers, prompting your body to use the protein from your
diet to repair and rebuild them bigger and stronger. If you’re not experiencing fatigue, your body
will have no inclination to improve itself. This is true whether you’re cutting or bulking.

As you start to rack up more hours in the gym, the mental connection between your brain and
muscles will strengthen until you plateau at your physical limit. This usually takes months, and
can be bypassed by adjusting your diet to a caloric surplus, kickstarting muscle growth.

FAT MASS
A good resistance workout will burn anywhere between 200-400 calories. For most people, this
is enough when combined with a 400 calorie deficit, but you’re not trying to be like most people.
You’re trying to be better.

One hour of walking can double, even triple the amount of calories you burn through exercise,
and can be done anytime, anywhere. This should be approached gradually, though. If you’re
sedentary, start with 10 minutes of walking and increase by 10 minutes each day. If you’re
heavily overweight, start with cycling as it’s easier on your knees. Remember, you should be
able to do this every day. If your legs are intensely sore, consider skipping a day to recover.

You should also avoid doing fat-loss workouts before hypertrophy, as the energy expenditure
will cut into your lifting performance. I always do weightlifting first, head home for lunch, then
come back for my walk. If this conflicts with your work schedule, try lifting before work and
walking after you get off.

As your cardio improves, you’ll be able to burn more calories by increasing your
incline/resistance/pace, letting you add more calories to your diet. Be careful with this, though.
Too much heavy cardio can cause heart problems. Properly hydrate first thing in the morning,
and if you follow the diet instructions, your nutrition should be helping you recover as well. To
optimize my recovery I like to eat dinner as soon as I get home from walking. Sometimes this
means eating my last meal of the day at 3pm. Space out your snacks as needed.
Whether you choose to walk outside or on a treadmill is up to you. I prefer the treadmill as I live
in Southern Arizona and the climate here is inhospitable for most of the year. A good treadmill
will have a shock absorbing deck to reduce fatigue on your legs and an incline setting to
increase the difficulty as your cardio improves. Good running shoes go a long way too.

If walking and cycling are too boring for your fried attention span, consider picking up a sport
that burns a similar amount of energy, like hiking, swimming, soccer, tennis, or martial arts.

GYM ACCESS
I’ve made great lifting progress through a home gym setup, but eventually your needs will
outgrow your equipment and you’ll need to buy more weights, more bars, and more
accessories. There’s second hand workout equipment stores where you can find these things
for cheap, letting you save money on a gym membership, but if you don’t have one of these
where you live it may be more economic to just get a Planet Fitness membership and sound the
Lunk Alarm until you get kicked out.

Jokes aside, having access to a gym will give you significantly more options when choosing a
workout routine. Most gyms are fully stocked with weights, equipment and machines for every
muscle group. They also commonly have high end treadmills, stationary bikes, stairmasters, and
other great cardio equipment for fat loss.

Furthermore, I find it’s easier to talk myself out of finishing my home workouts when I can simply
leave the room and go back to my sedentary lifestyle, whereas if I take the time to commute to a
gym I’m more likely to complete my workout to avoid wasting my investment.

TIME MANAGEMENT
When you’re a YouTuber who works from home and chooses your own working hours, finding
time to exercise is easy. When you work a 9-5 and come home exhausted every weekday,
finding an hour where you can consistently be at your peak physical performance is much more
difficult, but not impossible.

Most gyms are open in the early morning and include showers so you can go straight from your
workout to your office job without having to run home and wash the stink off your body. Working
out in the morning is far better than in the evening, as exercise late at night can interfere with
your sleep, and your body naturally caffeinates in the hours immediately after waking up.

If you work at 9am, you can get up at 6, eat breakfast, shower, shove your belongings into a
gym bag and get a workout in with enough time to rinse off, apply deodorant, and commute to
work. As you fall into a routine, you’ll find ways to speed up the process and manage time more
efficiently, letting you sleep in later. Just remember to get all 7 hours and go to bed earlier if
needed. Caffeine and sleep aids go a long way.
STRETCHING
Given that you’ll be using your legs more than any other muscle group, it’s essential that you
develop a lower body stretch routine before AND after your walk. I spend 18 minutes a day
stretching my legs. If I forget a stretch, I’ll know as soon as I get out of bed the next day. This is
another non-negotiable part of my routine.

Stretching should be a mental exercise as much as a physical one. While I stretch I try to
meditate on my goals, my progress, and how I feel about my performance. Take this time to
motivate yourself to keep going. Remember, we’re all gonna make it.

BEYOND THE CUT

Once you reach your target weight, you may be lost as to what to do next. Since you’ve spent
the past few weeks developing better eating and exercise habits, my recommendation would be
to start a clean bulk and focus on building muscle. This means you can stop walking every day
and eat more, but try your best to include healthier food sources like fruits, nuts, whole grains
and lean meat.

If you’ve plateaued with your lifts by this point, you should start reaching breakthroughs your
first week of being in a caloric surplus, but your improved performance will be slowed down if
you start eating junk food since your body will recover slower. You’ve made it this far. Keep the
momentum going and don’t dive back into an unhealthy lifestyle or you’ll end up back at square
one.

CONCLUSION
Losing weight is more than just calories in, calories out. It’s important to come up with a plan
that’s not only healthy, but sustainable for several months at a time. You ARE capable of losing
fat. You might fall off the wagon and miss a week of workouts, pig out at an office party or get
injured in the gym, but no matter how far you go down the wrong path you can always turn back.

Sculpting yourself into who you’ve always wanted to be shouldn’t seem impossible. With
enough discipline and determination you can and will reach your goals. If you have a question
related to anything in this guide, I’ll be checking emails submitted through the form on my merch
website and updating this document as needed. https://www.rubensim.com/contact

Thanks for reading, and good luck.

176.6lbs - 155.8lbs