Macro Tracking For Beginners – 7 Tips To Make It EASY

Macro Tracking For Beginners – 7 Tips To Make It EASY

In this video blog, I’ll cover 7 common macro tracking struggles and how to overcome them.

Check out the full video or transcript below.

And if you’re just wanting to learn to track macros, and even feeling overwhelmed by the idea of logging and measuring everything, check out my Metabolic Shred!

I include 3 different macros methods to help you start adjusting those portions, even if visual tracking methods work better for you to start!

–> Learn More About The Metabolic Shred

 

Transcript (please excuse any typos!):

I know I should be tracking macros, but it’s just so overwhelming, so tedious. 

I mean, how do I log family meals? 

How do I log meals out? 

Tracking macros can seem very overwhelming to start, and I have lots of clients that rebel against ever doing it because there are so many details it seems like there are to learn.

 And I get it; it was one thing that I avoided for the longest time. 

However, I realized I was keeping myself stuck falling for fat diet after fat diet because I was falling for the oversimplifications that were actually making things overly complicated. 

Let me say that again because I know that’s really weird, but the oversimplification that was making things more complicated. 

Because with all these diets with a label that are restricting specific foods, they make it very simple to do, right? 

You just cut out this one food, and you’re going to see results. 

However, in cutting out that one food, we might see progress for a little bit, but we don’t know why. 

And then when we don’t want to cut out that food any longer, we don’t know how to make the changes that will actually pay off. 

So that’s why tracking macros is so key. 

It’s hard to start; it can be overwhelming; there is a learning curve. 

But ultimately, what gets measured gets managed. 

The more that you learn to track macros, the more control you get over your diet to be able to adjust as your needs and goals change over time.

So I’m going to go over 7 things that might be a little confusing to track and log and show you how you can actually do this to see results.

Number one, should we count net carbs or all carbs? 

This is an interesting debate, and if you have specific health concerns, you may only track net carbs. 

But if you are looking to lose fat, see body recomposition happening, you need to track all carbs. 

Your calorie deficit or surplus is based on the fact that you are consuming whole natural foods, which would have fiber in them. 

So by only tracking net carbs to be able to eat more carbs, you’re ultimately potentially throwing yourself out of a calorie deficit, which would be key if you want to see that fat loss occurring. 

Net carbs also really isn’t a regulated term, so it’s very much used to market specific products nowadays. 

And I love some of the products that are net carbs, but these tortillas say they have 70 calories, and that’s based off of the fact that they can do that based off the net carbs actually listed. 

But they truly have 123 calories, and I bring this up because if we’re subtracting those calories, we might be eating out of the deficit we’ve created because again, we’ve set that deficit assuming that we’re eating whole natural foods which do contain fiber to them. 

So you’re not going to be subtracting that necessarily with your apples or other things that aren’t with labels. 

So you want to make sure that any product with a label that is subtracting that net carbs, you’re conscious that the calories are being impacted by this. 

Same thing goes with this bar, not as bad, but it says 200 calories, it’s actually 22 something that’s going to potentially lead to us throwing ourselves out of a deficit, especially the more net carb type products that we’re consuming. 

So it’s really key that we don’t fall for the net carb marketing term but realize that this is allowing them to list lower calorie counts and that our calorie deficit is truly set based on the fact that we’re consuming whole natural foods, which would have fiber. 

If you’ve set your deficit not accounting for net carbs, you do not want to just only count net carbs, as that can throw you out of the deficit which is so necessary for fat loss. 

Be aware that this is a marketing term that is used. 

All carbs count. 

I know that’s not what you want to hear sometimes because you want to be able to eat more carbs, which tastes really good. 

But if we want to see results, we have to make sure that everything is dialed in correctly.

Number two, to make macro tracking a little bit easier…

Should you weigh your food, your produce, everything cooked or raw? 

The short answer is it doesn’t matter, and that’s great for us because it means that we can make a lot of different things work. 

Ideally, yes, you are potentially weighing your stuff raw; that gives the most accurate measurement, is very easy to do. 

But sometimes we’ve cooked a meal and we’re having leftovers. 

Sometimes we’re bulk prepping, and we can’t necessarily weigh out each portion ahead of time. 

And the great part is we can easily still weigh out and be accurate with cooked foods. We just need to make sure that whatever ingredients we select in our food tracker match up to what’s used. 

So if you select a raw ingredient because you use raw, that’s perfect. 

If you select a cooked ingredient, you want to make sure that you select baked, grilled, whatever it is and make sure that it’s the same cooked ingredient because if you select raw when cooked, there is a change in what is going on there. 

It’s really key that you select the correct ingredient to complement because 4 oz raw chicken is going to be 3 oz cooked, and that change is going to impact the macros and the weight that you’re going to need to hit your macros. 

So just make sure that whether you’re weighing it cooked or raw, you’re selecting the correct ingredient in your tracker, but really you can make either work based on what you need. 

If you’ve cooked meal prep, and now you’re pulling chicken out of the fridge and you’re putting it on your salad, that’s easy to just do the cooked meat. 

If you’re cooking raw, you can easily divide up the portions and even meal prep those into different containers so you already have it weighed out. 

But don’t stress; you can do either one.

Number three, let’s talk about alcohol. 

So if you drink and you want to include your glass of wine, your cocktail on occasion, this is how you can log alcohol into your food tracker. 

I do just want to make a note that even though you include it and it logs the calories, and I’m going to show you how to log the grams of the macros, it still can impact the rate at which you see results if you’re really striving for the best weight loss, fat loss, even body recomposition. 

You may want to consider eliminating alcohol for a period of time because it does slow the process even when you’re logging it, taking it into account. 

So alcohol comes with a certain amount of calories. 

Let’s just say 100 calories. 

But because it is its own macro at 7 calories per gram, it will show as empty calories in your food tracker. 

That means what you need to do if you’re tracking macros is decide how you’re going to allocate those calories. 

So if you’re logging alcohol, you’d ideally like to take it out of protein because we usually want to eat less protein and more carbs and fat, especially when we’re drinking. But you can’t take it out of your protein. 

Ideally, you’re going to take it out of your fat grams for the day or your carb grams for the day, depending on what your ratio is. 

I say fat because it slows the digestion of fat specifically, and it really inhibits fat loss. 

Ideally, we’re going to be taking it from our fat calories from the day. However, if you are on a lower-fat ratio, you might subtract it from carbs. 

So when you have those calories from that drink that you’re including, the 100 calories that aren’t logging as anything specifically, you’re going to take those 100 calories and divide it by either nine for fat or four for carbs. 

That’s going to give you the grams of each macro that you have to add in. 

You then will want to create a food with the calories and allotting those calories to the specific fat or carb that you’re putting them towards. 

That will help you track macros and still take away from your carb intake or your fat intake for the day so you hit those ratios very nicely.

The next thing I’m going to go over is meals out.

And this is not only meals out at restaurants but also parties, different family events where you might be eating where someone else’s cook. 

It seems overwhelming to log these things because sometimes you can’t be exact; you don’t know exactly what recipe they use, how they cooked it. 

But the great part about a lot of restaurants is they have nutritional information online, and if they don’t, a restaurant similar does. 

So you can always create a food off of that. I also like to Google common recipes because if I know someone’s cooking, I know they’re going to be using something that’s probably a recipe I can slightly find online, and off of that, I can use hand portion guides and get pretty close in terms of my tracking. 

But you can always create a food off of a recipe that you find there, and that way you have macros that are close enough to hold you accountable because part of logging restaurant meals and meals out is that it helps us know that we deviated and had something that was potentially different than what we usually have. 

And if you’re traveling for work, finding healthy restaurant options at places like Chipotle or Chick-fil-A or different things like that may not be the quality we usually want, but it can be really helpful because it can keep us on track hitting those macros. 

Anyway, we can’t always use the thing, “Well, I’m traveling, so, you know, whatever, I’m going to throw my macros out the window,” because if we constantly do that, we’re never going to see results build. 

So if you are traveling for work, make sure to get some go-to options and even log them ahead of time to see how they can fit in. 

But if you can’t find the exact nutritional information for a restaurant, make sure that you’re looking up a similar recipe, entering that just to hold yourself accountable, even naming it the restaurant if you go there more often so that you have that already pre-planned so you can sort of plan the rest of your week around it based on how you respond to it.

So just got done with the Starbucks drive-thru. 

Now, if you’re going to Starbucks, the great part is they do have nutritional information, and Starbucks really wants this on their website. However, if you can’t find something at your local coffee shop or cafe that’s similar, this could be a great option in terms of what you log because it’s probably not as healthy as what you make at home. 

Generally, they use extra oils, different things like that. But I could sort of look at this and be like, okay, what’s on this? I know it’s cheese, bacon, it’s double bacon, it’s the egg, and then it’s sort of a croissant-like sandwich. 

So I know that if I go to a local cafe using the nutritional information from Starbucks could be a really great way to go.

I often get asked, should I log sauces, especially ones that have very few calories? 

And the simple answer is yes. 

Those five calories might not seem like a lot in your mustard, but they add up over time, and often our portions aren’t that single serving that we think they are. 

And if we’re trying to create a smaller calorie deficit, these things can really impact the deficit we’re actually in, especially if we are including alcohol or meals out. 

But I wanted to highlight some portions and how many calories are actually in the sauces we’re including. 

This serving of ranch dressing right here is 150 calories. And maybe this says something about how much I dislike salads and feel like the rabbit food at times, but that would not be the only amount that I would put on my salad. I would load it down. 

So I’m going to be easily packing in more than 150 calories with the salad using that dressing. And yes, I can get lighter dressings, which might be a swap that you make. 

But you want to log that because 150 calories, especially if you’re doing that multiple times over the week, it’s really going to impact the results that you’re getting. 

And by measuring and weighing it out, you might even realize, hey, I’m not eating that entire 150 calories so I can be spending those calories elsewhere.

Now, ketchup, 20 calories for the serving. 

I don’t know about you, but if I have fries, if I have potatoes, I use a lot more ketchup than that. So maybe my portions are distorted. 

Maybe yours are finding yours are too. 

But that’s 20 calories for not that much. Even this amount of mustard, that’s five calories, and you’re like, oh, five calories is easy. 

But I don’t know about you, but again, I don’t think I use that little mustard when I’m making my sandwich. 

And even if you are, if you’re making that sandwich every single day, and then you’re adding some salad dressing onto your salad every single day, and you’re using that ketchup multiple times a week, all these little calorie amounts add up. 

And I also bring this up because I think our portions can easily get distorted on things like peanut butter. 

Anybody else have a problem with just that one serving, and a serving gets a whole heck of a lot bigger when they want it? 

That tends to happen. 

So by making sure that we’re measuring and weighing everything, we’re not going to let those little calorie amounts add up in a way that can really sabotage and derail us because 5, 10 calories over the week can throw us out of that calorie deficit, especially when we are doing other things. 

So make sure you’re logging and measuring everything to get the correct portions to really see an accurate picture of what you’re doing because too often we just say, oh, the macro ratio isn’t working, oh, the calories aren’t working, but really it’s things that are off in our diet that aren’t allowing us to hit the numbers consistently, and those inconsistencies are what are adding out. 

Log all those sauces even if it says it only has 5 calories.

So now let’s talk about the impact that cooking has on those protein sources and whether or not you should count the fats and marinades that you’re using cooking oils. 

Marinades, the fat that cooks out of meat – do we have to log all of that? 

The simple answer and the easiest answer is yes. 

Often when we don’t want to log something, it’s because we want extra calories and extra macros to use elsewhere, and I totally get it. I try and cheat wherever I can. 

But the more accurately we measure everything, the more we log everything, the better our results are going to be, and the more we’re going to have the power to make adjustments where we need.

Because the thing is, with olive oil, even though it’s being spread over the entire pan, a lot of it isn’t being cooked in; it is being cooked over the entire portion of meat. 

This is 120 calories, and that is a lot of calories that can add up over the course of a week, especially if we’re constantly cooking with it. Now you might think, “Okay, well, I’m going to use a spray instead.” 

A spray for zero calories is 1/4 of a second. 

I don’t know about you, but my spray is not that precise. 

That doesn’t even get anything in there. I’m pretty sure that was like 1/4 of a second. 

My spray is probably like 10 seconds, just kidding, but it’s a lot more than we think. 

So that is not fully going to save you, and we want to be conscious that even though it lists zero calories, it’s going to potentially add up. So we want to be conscious of that even if we’re not logging it, but we want to note that the oil we are cooking with is going to add calories, and we want to track it.

Marinades are the same way. 

Even though all of it is not going to be cooked in, you might not use all of it. 

You want to log it if you want to be extra super precise, and I can tell you that I have not found the need to be. I will just count all the marinade and just log all of it. 

But if you really want to make sure that you’re only getting the portion you’re eating, if you weigh the marinade beforehand and then you weigh the marinade after you’ve marinated the meat and then you include that, you can find what was truly used in the recipe. 

But you want to make sure that you are logging everything, and yes, some fat is going to cook out of the meat that you are including, but do not try and subtract it. 

The more you just take everything and make it as easy as possible to and don’t overcomplicate things. 

And again, we often overcomplicate things that we want to cheat on to get more calories and macros to use elsewhere. 

The more we’re going to create deviations and inconsistencies in our log. So cooking oils, marinades, the fat that cooked out – just log all of it. It makes it a lot simpler and helps you be more accurate.

Let’s talk about casseroles, family meals, soups – those dishes that you might be sharing with the family. 

So it might seem a lot easier to track if you’re a single person making a single meal, and when we have those casseroles or family dishes that we’re sharing, it can be a little overwhelming to know how to create a portion size.

What you want to do is set yourself up for success by entering the full recipe into your tracker and saving that, because then you don’t have to enter it every time. 

But let’s just say you’re making a casserole. 

If you’re making a soup, this works as well. 

But if you have your casserole dish, you can weigh it beforehand and get the weight. 

Find out the weight of it, and then make sure it’s tared, that’s great, or I can take it off and then find the weight. 

Or if you don’t tare before and you can put it on – okay, so I know the weight of this, which is great. 

So when I put this back on after I’ve made something, so let’s pretend I’ve actually put this in the oven, made a nice casserole, and it looks really delicious and filling. 

Then I would get the weight of the casserole now with this in there. 

So I know the weight of the casserole. 

I might have to subtract out the dish itself if I wasn’t able to tear it because I wasn’t pouring it into something. 

So if the dish is 477, I would now know that this is the total dish. 

I would then take that number and divide it by six. 

That would give me the size of the portion. 

So then what I could do is tare it right here and then even just cut out my portion and then start to weigh out what a sixth of this dish was. 

Once I had that, I would make sure that I entered the recipe into my tracker and then I would enter how many portions to divide it by so that I could get the macros for each serving. 

Make sure when you enter your ingredients that they’re correct. 

The great part about this is it saves it for future use. So every time you make this recipe, you can easily reuse it.

Now, if you have something that’s a little bit more based on people choosing their own portions and you can’t divide it as evenly, what you can do is instead of dividing it by the six servings, you can actually make a serving just a single gram or ounce, and that way you know what the macros are for each gram or ounce to be able to take a portion at a time and even vary your portion size more easily. 

So if you have hungry kids at home or other family members who are just taking their own scoops and you know you now have 50 grams left, you know the exact macros on it. 

But you don’t have to overcomplicate these things or get stressed out when you have family dishes. 

Just weigh the entire recipe, divide that weight so you get your weight of your serving, and then you can measure that out.

I hope those tips really helped. 

I know that it can feel overwhelming to start to track macros, but the more you even just start by logging the average day, don’t even worry about making adjustments, but just start to weigh and measure everything, get that accurate picture, the better off you’re going to be at making adjustments because you’re going to be able to meet yourself where you’re at. 

Just remember, it’s really easy to get caught in that fat diet cycle, falling for something that’s oversimplified. 

But ultimately, that overcomplicates getting lasting results because we’re not truly learning what we need. 

So embrace the learning process of macros, reach out if you need any help, and comment if you have any questions about these seven tips.

 

If You’re Not Building Muscle, Try These 5 Training Techniques

If You’re Not Building Muscle, Try These 5 Training Techniques

We can’t out exercise our diet.

HOWEVER, while many of us have heard that diet is more important, I’d actually argue they both matter equally especially in that both need to work together.

And so often we don’t place enough importance on proper training because we’ve only seen our workouts as a chance to burn more calories.

But our training shouldn’t be about the calorie burn.

It should be about building muscle.

When we focus on better movement and building strength and muscle in our training, we create true muscle growth.

Without proper stimulus, no matter how you eat, you won’t build muscle.

So while our diet is especially important to lose fat, and important to make sure we fuel our training sessions to gain…

Our workouts have to be designed strategically if we want to improve our body composition.

And this honestly means going against what most of us have always done to lose weight…

Instead of more cardio, we often need less.

And we need to stop turning our lifting sessions into simply cardio workouts – cutting out more rest and adding a ton of volume.

Now note…I’m not telling you that cardio isn’t important to your health and that you can’t do it if you enjoy it…

I do want to make it clear that to build muscle so we can lose fat faster, we can’t default back into this cardio, calories, do more training mindset.

That’s why I want to share 5 training techniques to help you build muscle, which in turn will boost your metabolic rate and help you look leaner faster…

Training Technique #1: Focus on double progression.

If it challenges you, it will change you.

But just because your workout feels hard doesn’t mean you’re creating a consistent progression so your muscles have to adapt and grow stronger week after week.

That’s why it’s key we not only progress the movement, adding weight, slowing down the tempo, doing a harder variation, but also adjust our exact reps to create that week over week progression.

Using these two forms of progression to complement we can ultimately move more loads over our training sessions, resulting in faster and better gains.

Often when we have a workout there will be 8-12 reps listed.

Let’s say right now you’re doing 12 reps of front lunges with 20lbs dumbbells and you manage that for all 4 sets you have assigned.

It feels hard.

Good.

But you’re at the top of the rep range so next week, GO UP in weight or progress the move in some way.

If you can still do 12 reps that first round, go up in weight for that next step until you can’t do 12 reps.

Let’s say on your 3rd round, you hit 8 reps with 35lbs dumbbells. Maybe you stick there for the final round.

The next week instead of going up in weight, you try to get out 9 or 10 reps. Once you can again do 12 reps, you again want to go up.

This double form of progression is the perfect way to max out the loads you can lift with volume and truly make sure you’re challenging yourself to create that muscle growth!

Training Technique #2: Train areas more frequently with the same but different.

Studies have shown that training an area 2-3 times a week can be optimal for muscle growth.

This doesn’t mean do 1000s of reps multiple times a week. It means definitely dropping volume a bit per session to increase the frequency and spread it out.

This allows for often more QUALITY volume as you may notice you are fresher for all the exercises and sets spread out over more days over doing that same volume in one.

This also allows you to use a diversity of movements and tools to work the same muscles.

And this can be key because changes in posture and position alone can impact even what aspects of a muscle are worked.

For instance a Romanian deadlift works the hamstrings through hinging at the hips. A seated leg curl works the hamstrings with knee flexion with flexed hips while a bridge and curl works the hamstrings with knee flexion with extended hips.

All three are different postures that address different aspects of that hamstring muscle group. And including three different moves over the 3 days can be key for optimal gains.

So don’t repeat just the same move 3 times a week. Consider different types of movements, ranges of motion and even different tools!

Training Technique #3: Combine rep ranges in a single workout.

If you want to gain muscle, you want to use a variety of rep ranges combined.

This can not only help you build strength and improve your strength and endurance and recovery, but even target stubborn muscles and push them past failure to see better results.

Some of you may have seen my 6-12-25 workout progressions in previous YouTube videos and podcasts, but this design is so fabulous because it does include maximal strength, hypertrophy and strength endurance rep ranges in a single series – moving from compound to more isolation exercises.

This helps you get in that quality of movement while isolating those more stubborn areas.

So don’t fear higher reps. Don’t fear lower reps.

Include a diversity in a single session even.

But be conscious of the types of moves you use with each.

Often in our workouts we want to go more compound to more isolated, with heavier lower rep work first and the higher rep, more isolated work later to work a muscle fully to fatigue.

However, like in the 6-12-25 and even compound burners, you can use 2 or even 3 rep ranges combined to lift heavy for lower reps then right after isolate that muscle that is already fatigued to recruit more muscle fibers with higher rep work.

And note, while you will go “lighter” with higher rep work, you aren’t going light.

Especially when you are working with higher reps, to push yourself, consider using a weight or variation you have to pause to get out 5 more and hit in the middle or top of the range.

That need to pause and do 5 more past failure is so key to those amazing gains!

Training Technique #4: Do more timed workouts.

Too often when we want to lose weight, our workouts get longer and longer as we add in more and more.

But this often just burns us out and leads to a lot of wasted volume.

By doing intervals or work or even timed sets, we can increase our training density without our workouts getting longer.

We can focus on that quality work and create that density by just trying to do MORE in the time set out.

I find that often when I use intervals over having do count a certain amount of reps, I eek out reps I wouldn’t have done had I been able to stop at 6. I end up doing 8 because I have the time and have to work through it…even if I have to pause for a second.

I also find I’m focused and more intentional over just rushing through because I can’t finish any faster.

And when it comes to timed sets or circuits, like Density Sets, you can lower the reps and increase the weight and keep moving the entire time to actually lift more quality loads without your workouts getting longer.

So consider timed intervals of work or timed sets to help yourself really push with each rep over simply doing MORE.

Especially since so many of us complain we don’t have enough time, why not plan for what you have and really be intentional and focus on quality with every rep!

Honestly the only reason our workouts should ever get longers is because we have the time and do more mobility work OR have increased rest periods to lift heavier with lower reps or to do more high intensity true sprint work.

Workouts become longer because of recovery not because we’re doing more work!

Training Technique #5: Vary intensity of workouts and type of drivers.

For the best results, some workouts should feel easy. Not every workout should slaughter you.

Because if you don’t recover, you can’t train at a true 100% intensity.

Not to mention, if you’re tearing down muscles constantly, they can’t regrow stronger.

It’s a cut. If you’re constantly working and picking off the scab, it’s not going to heal back!

You’ve got to give it time to heal…although unlike a cut we do want to reopen the wound to make our muscle feel pushed to adapt more and more!

So over the course of your week, vary what areas you are working. Give muscles time to recover.

And vary the intensity of your workouts. This helps areas recover while still driving growth. And it also helps you MENTALLY stay focused and push hard when you need.

We can’t mentally make ourselves extremely uncomfortable every session or we will burn out. So having a workout or two each week that isn’t taxing, especially programmed on busy days, can actually help you get more quality work done overall for the week.

And those recovery sessions can help you move better in future workouts.

So vary intensity!

And this doesn’t just mean easy or hard workouts. It also means varying the types of movements and what driver of muscle growth you use as some create more muscle tissue damage and take longer to recover from.

For example, maybe one day you do a deadlift, another a hip thruster and the 3rd day you include only mini band work for your glutes.

These all use different drivers of muscle growth and allow you to train your glutes 3 times that week and go hard in each session without just constantly beating your body down!

So consider the types of movements you’re using and even the tools!

WARNING: Stop seeking to be sore.

I mean this because if you vary intensity and use different drivers or muscle growth, you won’t be sore all of the time.

GOOD!

Soreness is not an indicator you worked hard enough.

And while it can feel good and satisfying at times to know you pushed, not being sore doesn’t mean you didn’t work hard.

Honestly, you shouldn’t constantly be sore if you’re truly creating progression to build.

Over the weeks of your workout progression, you should feel like you can even do more, more easily without getting sore.

Because soreness is often just an indicator we did something new or different.

That we didn’t give ourselves enough recovery.

That we focused only on the eccentric and mechanical tension as a driver of muscle growth.

That we aren’t eating enough.

Or hydrating well.

Constant soreness actually means we’re probably not doing something we need to see results.

So focus on that clearly mapped out progression you repeat and track those numbers to see progress instead of just pushing to be sore!

If You’re Not Losing Fat, This is Why

If You’re Not Losing Fat, This is Why

I’ve literally made all of the dieting mistakes possible.

I’ve tried to out exercise my diet.

I’ve tried to cut out foods I love.

I’ve tried to out willpower and out work time.

I’ve tried to hit someone else’s arbitrary standards of clean eating…

And none of it worked.

I literally got to a point where I wanted to give up and thought that I was a failure as a coach because I couldn’t change my nutrition.

I claimed I just loved food too much.

I thought maybe it was my genetics…I just stored fat around my middle no matter what.

I literally had the thought, “No program will ever work for me!”

But I then realized one thing that completely shifted my mindset toward my training and nutrition…

This one perspective is why I’m now able to continually improve upon my results and strike a better and better balance…

I realized that I was trying to force myself into a mold…

I was trying to find a perfect program just laid out…

Instead of recognizing where I was at and what I needed to move forward and creating the perfect plan for ME.

We hear all the time the statement, “One size doesn’t fit all.”

As we start yet another program where we force ourselves into a mold.

As we believe our lifestyle needs to meet certain expectations.

And this is exactly what keeps us stuck.

Instead we need to shift our mindset from one of seeking a perfect program to CREATING a perfect plan based on what WE need and what we need RIGHT NOW.

Because our needs and goals will change over time.

By constantly seeking to learn about ourselves and focusing on fundamental principles and strategies…the what and why BEHIND the programs that are pushed on us, we can learn how to adjust our lifestyle to move forward.

So if you truly want to see amazing body recomposition results, you first have to assess where you are at currently and what YOU need to succeed.

Only then can you use the TACTICS, the macros, the specific foods, the meal timings, the moves, the tempos, the variables…in a way that move you forward based on your body, needs and goals at the time!

So before I go over 2 fundamental essentials you need to focus on if you want to see results…

I want you to assess…

What does your current diet and workout routine look like?

How are your workouts mapped out? What moves, reps, sets are you using? How hard are you pushing?

How are is your diet? What is your meal timing? Do you know your portions? Are you hungry all the time? How’s your energy?

Really assess what you’re doing currently and how you feel with your lifestyle.

Then off of knowing your current lifestyle, find ways you can make small changes!

What are the smallest of small changes you could make that even feel easy to start moving forward using these tips based on where you are right now?

This mindset will get you truly creating lifestyle changes that snowball.

This is how DISCIPLINE is built!

And…

KEEP THINGS SIMPLE.

Focus on the basics first.

So often we try to optimize for the details when we don’t a solid lifestyle foundation built first.

That’s why if you’re looking to achieve amazing results I want you to focus on these two fundamentals that will lead to amazing body recomp first…

Increasing your protein intake
Focusing your workout routine on strength training

As “simple” as these two things are, that doesn’t mean they are always easy.

This is where having assessed our current lifestyle is so key.

This helps us make changes based on our starting point.

This may mean increasing your current protein intake by just 10 grams to start, even if your ideal goal is 50 or 100 grams more.

Too often we try to make these huge jumps and then don’t create sustainable habits.

We have to remember that change is hard and our body and mind will rebel.

So start with something small.

And even try to do the new habit early in the day.

Increase your protein at that first meal you eat.

By doing the new habit FIRST, we make sure we’re making a change before we get tired or stressed or life gets in the way.

Too often when we leave a new habit till later in the day, it falls by the wayside.

So if you’re seeking to increase your protein, focus on even that small addition of a protein source to your breakfast.

Now you may be thinking, “Ok I can do that to increase my protein, but I can’t put my workout first in the day as much as I’d like to.”

Remember you can also hold yourself accountable and help yourself make those habit changes by having a plan mapped out ahead of time.

Having a clear plan in place, that clear workout progression, gives us that accountability,

So map out those strength workouts ahead of time and focus on designing for the time you have.

Don’t try to force 6 days a week if 3 is realistic for you.

When we design for the time we have, we allow ourselves to get consistent and see those results build.

And the more you do, the more you do.

When you feel successful completing your routines, you’ll often want to do more of the habits that help you see results.

So instead of making yourself feel like you failed because you can’t maintain a workout schedule that isn’t realistic for you, make it something you know is doable.

And then remember, if it challenges you, it will change you!

Design those workouts to challenge those muscles but in a way that meets you where you are at.

Strength training doesn’t have to mean deadlift your 1 rep max. Regress to progress even so you can get more out of every exercise.

Start with bodyweight training even if you need.

But challenge yourself and be intentional with building so your muscles have to adapt and grow stronger!

Remember results happen because we create those new habits and routines in line with our goals.

But creating those sustainable habits all starts by knowing where we are currently so we can make adjustments that are realistic for us to move forward!

For more workouts, diet tips and motivation, join my free daily newsletter!

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STOP Sabotaging Your Results…How To Create Lasting Habits

STOP Sabotaging Your Results…How To Create Lasting Habits

You want to lose weight. Gain muscle. Adjust your diet to really feel better…

But creating new habits is HARD.

So many of us have thought…

“I just don’t have the willpower.”

“I don’t have the self control or discipline!”

But what if it isn’t that you don’t have enough willpower or self control?

What if it is that you’ve been approaching how you make workout and diet changes all wrong?

What if you need to embrace that discipline is BUILT?

Because so often we are sabotaging our own results in how we go about making healthy habit changes, I wanted to highlight 6 mistakes I often see clients making and how you can avoid these same issues!

The first mistake most of us make when looking to work toward a new goal is not first pausing to assess where we are at CURRENTLY.

So often when we want to lose weight or gain muscle we look for what we “should” be doing.

But searching for some ideal workout routine or diet is often what keeps us stuck in this yo-yo dieting cycle, never really seeing results build.

Because often we aren’t considering whether those ideals are actually even doable right for us right now or even sustainable.

And while we do need to embrace change if we want a new and better result, the more these changes are far from what we are doing currently, or what we feel capable of doing, the less likely we are to even do them or stick with them.

Often in trying to make these massive changes far outside our comfort zone all at once, we also just ultimately overwhelm ourselves and stop ourselves from even starting!
Instead approach making changes like you would approach driving to a new destination.

You not only enter your destination into your GPS. You put in your current location.

This gives you the fastest, most accurate route.

So before you start to make any changes and create a plan, really understand where you are starting from.

What does your lifestyle look like? What is a schedule that is realistic for you?

What are easy changes you could easily make today based on your routine and habits?

When you truly take a look at your lifestyle, you can make the changes YOU.

One size doesn’t fit all and by knowing ourselves we can find the things that will yield the biggest impact for us personally over wasting energy making changes that really don’t matter for our situation!

And then start with something SMALL first to get that momentum building.

Because that is often the second mistake I see clients making…and one I’ve made myself a ton…

We don’t start small.

I don’t know about you, but when I want a goal, I want it yesterday.

So often in my attempts to get results as fast as possible, I try to do everything at once.

But this can not only lead to me overwhelming myself, but also burning myself out on all the new things I have to do.

This is often what causes me to feel like I just don’t have the willpower or self control to keep implementing all the new habits.

But really it is just too many big things all at once.

By breaking down habits and even starting with the smallest changes that meet me where I’m at currently, I find results more easily snowball without me falling off my plan or feeling constantly stressed out.

So today write out all of the things you “could” do to make a change and circle the easiest one.

Do that.

Don’t worry about the other changes that you should or will eventually have to make.

Focus on one you can do right now.

The success of getting started, of moving past that first hurdle, will lead to you even WANTING to do more.

And this focus on small changes can even help us embrace the fact that often something is better than nothing.
I mean how often do you just simply skip a workout because you can’t get to the gym for a full session and think, “What’s the point of just doing 5 minutes?”

But if instead we had the view of one small thing adds up, we may do that 5 minutes anyway.

And not only may that 5 minutes lead to a 30 minute workout, it is also still 5 more minutes done that week than we would have done otherwise.

And 5 minutes more, week after week, adds up!

So focus on small changes.

Especially changes that don’t mean restricting the things you love most first!

Because that is a BIG mistake many of us make…

We cut out all of the things we love first.

We often do this because the things we generally like the most are lifestyle habits that are the least healthy for us or the most in opposition to our goals.

For me…dessert was always what sabotaged me.

I loved dessert.

But I also knew those high calorie, carb and fat loaded foods, were probably working against my body recomp efforts.

So because it was the most obvious thing to cut out, I would always restrict that first.

But the second I cut out dessert, I found myself wanting even more.

I would look at dessert food porn constantly on Instagram. It took over my feed.

And eventually, I would give in and not only eat the dessert I was craving…I would eat until I had food twins and couldn’t sleep I was so full.

Then I would struggle to make any diet changes again for awhile and end up not only regaining any weight I lost but even more.

It was only once I stopped that cycle and planned in my dessert FIRST that I was able to make changes that snowballed.

I first focused on ADDING in more protein over cutting things out.

I focused on small swaps to foods I didn’t care about as much, using a lower carb tortilla over a regular.

Swapping in greek yogurt with more protein for a regular yogurt.

Changing up berries for mangos in a smoothie.

Little things to hit my macros that didn’t make me feel like I couldn’t have something.

And on top of deciding to make those changes, I realized how much I could work in whenever I wanted which made when I DID cut something out really feel like a CHOICE.

Because often when we are looking to lose weight or make a change, we feel like we are being FORCED to do things we don’t want to do.

But…who’s forcing you?

Often NO ONE is technically making us do those things.

We are CHOOSING to.

But we don’t see it that way as it feels like we HAVE to do certain things to see results. We’ve been conditioned to believe that dieting means deprivation.

And this is a big part of what hinders us from making lasting changes…OUR MINDSET.

We need to recognize that mindset matters most.

As odd as that sounds, this is mistake that holds us back from seeing results…

We put this emphasis on new tactics, macros, workouts, meal timing, best moves…

But we never consider our mindset behind the changes.

And I can tell you, you can have a less than perfect plan and see results if your mindset is in the right place.

Or you can have the perfect plan and never move forward because mentally you hold yourself back.

As cliche as it is….

Whether we believe we can or we can’t, we’re right.

We can doom ourselves with doubt or help ourselves achieve amazing results because we trust in the process.

But just blindly believing in something is hard to do. What if it doesn’t work?

So often nothing really HAS worked, so why should this?

This is why we need to realize that we can create motivation through actions.

We can MAKE ourselves feel successful by how we approach change.

This means boiling things down into easy to manage bite-sized actions that allow us to get moving forward and feel successful right away.

Instead of overwhelming yourself with a ton of changes you feel bad at so you don’t want to do them any more, take one action that would make you feel successful and start with that.

Because when we feel successful with what we are doing, we want to do more. And we become open to bigger and harder changes.

We build confidence in our ability to even overcome.

So start small with actions you know you can do…even easily…

Maybe it’s 2 10 minute workouts.

Just writing down your food.

Just eating one more serving of veggies.

But realize you can create that motivation by allowing yourself to make those small changes that meet you where you are at.

And this motivation will allow you to BUILD.

Because so often we jump to trying to do everything we “should” be doing over trying to stack behaviors.

This is what leads to us falling off and feeling like we’re constantly not strong enough…like we just don’t have the willpower or self control to make the changes we need to see results.

But instead…

We need to focus on that habit build.

What’s one small habit you can do right now?

Can you go drink a glass of water to improve your hydration?

Now once you add in that glass of extra water every day this week, how can you build off of that habit?

Can you add in another?

Can you now move to adding in 1 more ounce of protein to your lunch?

Can you then make a swap to another food in a meal to lower carbs or increase them?

The more you make habits that allow you to stack more off of them, the more you will prepare yourself to make bigger and bigger changes.

And 1% improvements add up the more you make.

So while it may not yield the immediate sexy results you want, it creates a snowball that ultimately leads to better results long term and ones that truly last.

Now…just because you’re making small changes and avoiding cutting out the things you love most first…

This doesn’t mean that everything will always feel easy or fun.

Too often we try to oversell changes to ourselves.

We tell ourselves this program will be soooo easy or fun.

That this is the best lifestyle EVER.

Instead of recognizing that there is a downside to every upside.

Not embracing the negative is a BIG mistake.

This is often why we feel like there must be something wrong with us when we can’t make changes other people have made.

But the only thing wrong is that we didn’t recognize that doing something different than what we’ve always done WON’T always be easy or fun!

I mean…why should something feel easy to start?

It is new…

It is awkward…

We’re probably bad at it…

It isn’t what you’ve always done.

Things outside our comfort zone, many habits we do to get a great result, simply aren’t sexy or cool.

I mean who wants to wake up with an alarm?
No one. But who wants to miss their 4 am flight to their beach vacation?!

That’s a downside to the upside.

And there are lots of those.

But the more you do those habits, the more you don’t even think of them in a negative way.

They are just the downside to the upside.

The cost to get the reward.

So if a change right now feels unsustainable, don’t just give up on it.

Assess the benefit it is providing. Consider if it COULD be worth it enough to give it a chance.

Then realize that just because it is awkward now, doesn’t mean at some point it won’t feel good or at least be tolerable and WORTH IT.

We need to recognize that what feels sustainable right now is simply what you’ve always done until you’ve given the new habits and behaviors time.

Because often if we embrace that things can stink a bit to start and we push through that immediate mental barrier, we’ll see results snowball and find ourselves thinking…

“Why didn’t I make these changes sooner?” as the habits become normal and even enjoyable!

Changing habits is hard.

And often we are our own worst enemy.

We sabotage ourselves in how we approach making changes.

But by understanding these 6 mistakes, you can help yourself avoid them and see results snowball!

Apply to my Online 1:1 Coaching if you need that kickstart to see the results you deserve and avoid these mistakes!

–> Apply Today

How to Lose Fat AND Gain Muscle At The Same Time (Step By Step)

How to Lose Fat AND Gain Muscle At The Same Time (Step By Step)

What should I do first…I want to build muscle and lose fat?

The great thing is…

You CAN do both at the same time!

But how you do that may depend on where you are currently in your fitness and body composition journey.

While you can achieve both goals, you do need to set a primary focus as that will impact how you adjust your diet to start.

That’s why in this video I want to break down two different nutritional approaches to body recomp whether you want to lose fat as you retain and gain lean muscle or you want to gain muscle as you maintain your level of leanness while potentially getting even leaner!

And then I want to share a bonus workout tip to help you make sure your diet and workouts are working together.

Now if you’re thinking, “But I heard this wasn’t possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.”

I’m going to let you in on a little secret…

It is possible.

It just takes embracing something that so many of us want to run from…

A habit so many of us have labeled boring and tedious and hard…

Tracking macros! 

Now before you just write this off and click back saying tracking macros isn’t for you, I want to explain why it is so key and a SIMPLIFIED approach that can yield amazing results…

So that person that has said to you…“You can’t lose fat and gain muscle at the same time?”

It’s probably because they’ve always dieted by just cutting their calories super low. 

They lost weight, but probably often have also lost muscle in the process.

They may have even gotten skinny without really looking more toned. 

So they decide they want to build muscle to get more defined, so they eat in a surplus. 

They end up, yes, putting on muscle. But also gaining fat. 

So they then go back in a calorie deficit, repeating the same rollercoaster over and over again. 

They may try a bigger deficit to lose faster or a bigger surplus to gain.

More is better right?

WRONG.

These bigger extremes may actually lead to their body composition becoming WORSE.

It is because while we can lose or gain weight simply by creating a calorie deficit or surplus, we aren’t controlling for what we are losing or gaining. 

We aren’t controlling for fat loss or muscle mass retention.

This is something we CAN control by adjusting our macros.

And one macro in particular – our protein intake. 

Increasing our protein intake is key.

High protein diets have been the only diets shown to not only help us retain lean muscle but even GAIN lean muscle mass while in a deficit. 

And increasing your protein intake while in a surplus, due to the thermic effect of this macro, can help you avoid gaining unwanted fat while making it easier to build muscle due to the extra energy consumption.

So if you’ve struggled to embrace tracking macros in the past but really want to see those defined abs and arms…

It’s time to start tracking…at least your protein intake!

While in a calorie surplus, you may get away with slightly lower protein intakes than in a deficit as long as you are consuming enough carbs as well as instant fuel, going even higher while in a deficit due to the fact that you’re not really consuming enough of anything is key. 

While you may consume about 30-35% of your calories from protein in a surplus, you will want to bump that to more like 40% of your calories from protein while in a deficit. 

Starting out don’t worry where your carbs or fat fall.

Just first only focus on that protein intake.

Doing this alone will lead to amazing results and you’ll be surprised by how much you see those inches being lost and the definition popping through in your progress photos.

But that high protein really is what yields that body recomp magic. 

So even if you’ve been resisting tracking macros, set that percentage to hit of your calories from protein and adjust the current foods you eat through small tweaks to see results.

Here’s a video that has 7 tips to help you easily bump protein!

But before you decide on exactly what protein percentage to use, you have to determine your calories.

Which should you be in – a calorie deficit or a surplus? 

And that depends on your main focus.

While the goal is to lose fat as you gain muscle or gain muscle as you lose fat, you have to have a primary target.

What is your main focus?

This will be based on your current leanness level. 

Are you currently basically as lean as you’d like and would like to add more muscle while just staying lean? 

Or do you have more weight to lose but really want that muscle definition especially to stay strong as you get older?

If you’re already lean, consider a calorie surplus to focus a bit more on gaining muscle without any fluff. 

If you’re not yet at your weight loss goal, consider a calorie deficit to start to help you lose fat without losing muscle. 

Exactly how great a calorie surplus or deficit you create can also impact the results you get and be based on where you are in your fitness journey. 

If you have more weight to lose, 500 calories is the most extreme you want to go with a deficit below your maintenance. But this is really aggressive and best only done if you have more than 50lbs to lose and aren’t as active.

Otherwise to help focus on losing fat without also costing you muscle, consider a deficit of only 100-300 calories at max. Think closer to 300 if you have over 15 pounds to lose and more like 100-200 if you have less than 15 pounds are are super active!

If you are already basically as lean as you’d like or even as thin as you’d like although you wouldn’t mind more definition, you will want to consider a small surplus. 

Since you don’t really have energy stores to tap into, and you want to be able to push hard in your training to create that progression and stimulus for muscle growth, the extra calories will help you make sure you’re retaining that lean muscle. 

Think 100-200 calories above maintenance unless you’re truly as lean as you’d like and really increasing your activity level – then go 300-400 calories.

Especially if you are just coming out of a deficit, slowly increase those calories only 100 at a time! 

As essential as your diet is to losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, the best results happen when our diet and workouts work together. 

And without that stimulus for muscle growth in our training, we won’t see our nutritional changes fully pay off. 

That’s why I wanted to share a bonus tip with you about what workouts are best to see body recomp.

Bonus Tip: 

Now you may be thinking, do I need workouts for fat loss or for gaining muscle.

And I had a client even email me recently, “How do I know if a workout is for fat loss or building muscle?”

My email back said, “A good fat loss workout should be focused on building muscle.”

Muscle is metabolism magic. 

Our training shouldn’t be about burning calories in our sessions and feeling destroyed.

It should be focused on building lean muscle. 

We need that training stimulus for growth if our diet is going to have an impact. 

And the more muscle we have, the more calories we will burn during the day, making it easier to lose fat.

Muscle stokes our metabolic fire and helps us avoid metabolic adaptations as we lean down. 

So your training should be focused on building lean muscle no matter your aesthetic goal focus.

Sure if you love endurance sports, you don’t have to ditch them. 

But even then strength training will only help you get stronger at what you love.

So focus on building strength in your training no matter what.

And for a great workout design to help you see those strength gains, check out my 6-12-25 protocol.

–> 6-12-25 Workout Technique 

This is an amazing way to build muscle and strength no matter you age!

Using these tips you can build muscle and lose fat…or lose fat as you gain muscle. 

You can see the body recomp you deserve but you need to TRACK.

What gets measured gets managed so we can adjust and see better results faster!

Ready to achieve amazing body recomp, losing that stubborn fat?

Join my Metabolic Shred!

18 Underrated Core Exercises

18 Underrated Core Exercises

Often we fall back into using the same old moves, forgetting all of the options and variations out there. But having different variations of exercises to target the same area can help us create progression through the same but different.

It can help us even activate different muscles to different extents!

That’s why I want to throw back to the origins of my YouTube channel and share a Core Exercise Variations video with all of you.

These exercises work your entire core, frontside and backside.

Because sometimes we just need that library of move options to help remind us of all of the tools out there we have to meet our needs and goals and design the workouts that help us rock those results!

18 Underrated Core Moves

Balance Toe Touches 00:37
Cross Body Knees 00:54
Twist And Pivot 01:13
Wall Push 01:26
Side Balance Oblique Twists 01:35
Side Plank Clams 01:56
Plank with Reach Back and Out 02:12
Bulldog Reaches 02:34
Plank Snow Angels 02:55
Sit Thrus 03:39
3-Way Sit Up And Reach 03:59
Seated Hinges 04:24
C-Sit With Knees 04:42
Bridge to Boat 04:57
Banana Rolls 05:17
Butterfly Crunches 05:41
Frog Kickouts 05:57
Leg Wipers 06:12

BONUS!

15-Minute Core Burner

Complete 2-3 rounds through each circuit without resting. Rest no more than 30 seconds between circuits if possible. 

CIRCUIT #1:
30 seconds Twist And Pivot
30 seconds per side Plank With Reach Back And Out
30 seconds C-Sit With Knees
30 seconds Frog Kickouts

CIRCUIT #2:
30 seconds per side Cross Body Knees
30 seconds Plank Snow Angels
30 seconds 3-Way Sit Up And Reach
30 seconds Bridge To Boat

For more amazing workouts to match your needs, goals and schedule, check out Dynamic Strength!

–> LEARN MORE