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5 Tips To Lose Stubborn Fat Faster

5 Tips To Lose Stubborn Fat Faster

by | Nov 27, 2022 | Blog, Diet, Workouts

There is nothing worse than grabbing those cute pants out of the closet to put them on…and…

AH! Not have them button!

You so desperately wanted to wear them for your holiday party. Your reunion. That big birthday.

Lucky for you, you have a bit of time to trim down and tone up…

What do you do?

How can you avoid gaining more weight and even lose the weight you’ve already gained?

If you’re thinking, “I’m doomed.

I’m too old…

I’m going through menopause…

I’m too busy…

Heck, maybe you even want to blame the pants not fitting on the dryer or dry cleaner… 

Stop blaming and start controlling what you can control!

Because there are 5 strategies you can use today to help you feel and look fabulous in those pants.

Right now, as you’re watching this, take a piece of paper or open your phone notepad write down what you’ve eaten or plan to eat today.

Write down the workouts you’re going to be using this week.

Write out your current lifestyle!

Because the best changes to see the weight loss we want are based off of what we are doing currently.

Too often we search for a perfect plan. A perfect time to start.

But there is no perfect time.

The key is taking action NOW.

That doesn’t mean though cutting out the foods you love, starving yourself or starting to train for hours a day.

I know most of us want to go all or nothing. This is what dooms us to not only fall off our plan or even worse…gain more weight!

To fit into those pants we need to make a change that is sustainable.

It might be cutting out a snack.

Walking 15 minutes extra

Drinking more water.

Far too many of us think we’re doomed to fail because we don’t have the time, energy or willpower that someone else has.

When in reality we’re trying to do too much too fast

The first key to avoiding that weight gain is to understand where you are actually starting from to make small adjustments that add up!

Then own your priorities!

If we don’t take ownership of our priorities they will become our excuses.

“I don’t have time because of my job to workout 6 days a week.”

“I can’t eat healthy because of my family.”

“I can’t lose the weight because I travel”

There are certain things in our lives we value most – like our family or our job.

And we should care about those things.

But instead of letting these things in our lives become our excuses, we need to own our priorities, recognize them and then PLAN AROUND THEM!

Design for the time you have!

If 6 days a week isn’t realistic to train don’t plan for that.

Plan for 3 days if that fits your schedule.

Maybe that means you use metabolic strength workouts over separate cardio and strength sessions. Or even full body workouts.

By designing for the time you have you’ll stay consistent and see results build.

Same goes for your nutrition.

I get not wanting to have to prep a separate meal for yourself and then one for your family.

Don’t do it!

Instead plan that meal in first to work around it.

Do you travel a ton?

Set “minimums” to keep you consistent even if they aren’t what you’d do at home.

Maybe it’s a 5 minute hotel room bodyweight workout.

Or maybe it’s trying to finding a local restaurant with healthy options

You can even avoid buying the bulk snacks so you aren’t tempted to eat extra while sitting around!

But realize that there are certain priorities in your life that won’t change and find ways to work around them instead of letting them sabotage your weight loss!

And then…STOP trying to out exercise your diet!

This saves you time and effort and you’ll see results faster.

I know it’s a mental challenge to embrace this/

You can feel so GUILTY for missing a workout or not moving every day.

I know there’s temptation to do DO MORE to lose more weight because training more can create that deficit…

But all this extra working out kept us stuck just having to do more and more to even see near the same result.

It’s even why those skinny jeans we’ve got stuffed in our closet have stayed there for..well…a bit longer than we’d like to admit.

We can’t bear to throw them out, but we feel like no amount of training is going to get us back into them. And it seems to get harder and harder to see the weight budge at all with each year.

It’s because while training burns calories our nutrition alone can make the difference

But most of us don’t want to give up our cake…or chips…

We’re comfortable being uncomfortable when it comes to training but not with our diet

That’s why it’s key we focus on using our workouts to build muscle to keep our metabolism healthy but not to burn calories.

Focus on ADDING IN more whole, natural foods. Focus on ADDING IN more protein.

Sure we know the pizza night with family or cocktail night with friends isn’t the “healthiest,” but it is also something we enjoy the most

The more we restrict those things first, the more unsustainable the changes will be.

We get good at what we do consistently so we need to find ways to create the healthiest version of our personal lifestyle.

That’s why taking the mindset of adding in to start can be so key.

When you have that pizza night, Eat one slice and ADD IN a side salad.

The nutrient dense foods can help you feel fuller while you’re enjoying your pizza.

This can help you adjust your calorie intake to create that deficit without feeling restricted.

And it can help you feel fuller while improving your vitamin and mineral intake.

Then focus on increasing your protein portions at meals.

Especially as we get older we are less able to utilize protein as efficiently to recover from our training and build lean muscle, making it even more key we increase our protein intake.

If you want to look more toned and even keep your skin, and even hair, looking healthy and young, protein is essential as it is the building blocks of all of our tissues!

Consider adding protein powder to your morning fruit smoothie or iced coffee.

Add one more ounce of chicken or steak or tofu or tempeh to your burrito bowl or pasta dish.

If you enjoy dessert, a meal traditional very low in protein, consider a tofu chocolate mousse or protein mug cake.

But focus on small changes based on your current lifestyle rather than elimination.

And while I know it is tempting to feel like these changes are too small to see results, we have to remember that we can’t out exercise or out diet time.

So often we just want to do MORE to feel more in control.

But less is truly so often more.

Losing weight isn’t just about our diet or our workout routine.

It boils down to STRESSORS.

Too much stress on our bodies and we won’t see the weight loss we want.

And I don’t just mean like stress hitting a deadline at work or stress trying to run for your flight or stress trying to make a holiday meal for 12 people coming over that night…

Our workouts and even a calorie deficit are stressors on our body. While they can be good stressors, they’re still stressors.

And trying to do too much – train longer, cut our calories lower – will ultimately backfire and those stressors will become a negative.

They can lead to hormonal imbalances, metabolic adaptations and poor sleep…all things that hold you back from losing weight while you’re working super hard to do just that.

Same thing goes for trying to cut out even “unhealthy” foods to hit some arbitrary standard of clean.

Sure we know that chocolate chip cookies aren’t rich in vitamins and minerals, but often the stress of restriction can be just as bad if it leads to overeating.

The more you can’t have something the more you want it.

Stress sabotages our consistency more than planning in a cookie to our day would have.

We have to realize that healthy habits and doing more can’t come at a cost to our balance or the stressors scale will tip the wrong way.

So, now I want you to go to your closet, pull out those pants, dress, swim suit….you know the clothing I’m talking about…that one you’re worried won’t fit…YET…

And try it on.

If the button doesn’t close, if there’s just that one spot you don’t like how it fits, don’t worry.

Because you’re going to start today, implementing these tips and see those changes adding up so you can rock this outfit!

Ready to take action?

Book a 15-Minute Action Call so we can help!

–> Book Your Call

 

How To Lose STUBBORN Fat (3 TIPS)

How To Lose STUBBORN Fat (3 TIPS)

by | Aug 28, 2022 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

Have you felt like you are just DOOMED to always have those stubborn areas of fat that will never go away?

The simple answer is YOU AREN’T!

But by no means is the fat loss process easy.

However, I’m going to share with you 3 tweaks you can make to your workouts and diet to finally lose that last frustrating bit of fat from YOUR abs and hips.

But first I want to discuss why certain areas are harder to lose from and how our body fight against the fat loss process so you fully know why the struggle is real and you aren’t alone!
 

Why Are Certain Areas Just More Stubborn?

It isn’t your imagination, there are areas that are harder to lose from.

And these areas are often the ones we want to change first that end up being the LAST to go!

Fat loss from these areas, like specifically our love handles, belly and hips, thighs and butt, can be harder partly due to our genetic predisposition, so where we genetically tend to store more fat, but also because there is generally less blood flow to these specific regions.

Less blood flow makes it harder to mobilize and utilize fatty acids from these areas.

And not only that, but there are different types of fat cells in our body – alpha and beta – and both respond differently to the fat loss process.

Alpha cells respond better to lipolysis, or fat loss, and accelerate the process while beta cells don’t respond as well and make it harder to lose the fat.

And guess what areas generally have greater numbers of those beta cells?

Those stubborn areas like our belly, hips and thighs!

A greater concentration of beta fat cells in these areas is why they are so hard to lose fat from!

So not only do the different types of fat cells make it easier or harder to lose from certain areas BUT especially as we get leaner and leaner our body is going to fight back against the weight loss process more and more.

Why Does Our Body Fight Back?

Simply put, our body fights weight loss in general out of our survival instinct.

Our body perceives a calorie deficit as a threat to survival. We have less energy coming in than we are expending and our body doesn’t know when our next meal is coming.

Of course we have our fat stores our body can tap into for energy, but, even when we have more than enough fat for survival, our body doesn’t want to do this. It wants to store that energy as much as possible for later.

So our body does things to try to conserve energy and even get us to eat!

And as we get leaner and leaner, and have less and less stored energy to draw from, not to mention we may have been in a deficit for longer and longer, our body is going to resist losing more and more – triggering us to crave salty and sweet foods even more.

When our body is continually under fed, ghrelin (grel-lin) increases, which is the hormone that triggers hunger, particularly for sweet and fatty foods while leptin decreases, which is the hormone that regulates energy intake by telling the brain to stop eating.

Basically, your cravings are going to increase and try to fight against you staying in that consistent deficit.

And not only are your cravings increasing, BUT your daily energy expenditure often decreases.

Because you have less energy coming in, and your body isn’t sure of when it will get more fuel, it will find ways to expend less of your stored energy.

This may be why you see a decrease in your workout performance or you even find you’re less motivated to move and fidget throughout the day.

It’s also why metabolic adaptations occur. Your body is finding ways to maintain energy for survival over everything else.

It is why it is so key we are conscious of not just trying to do MORE and out exercise or out diet time.

When we turn to more cardio, a bigger calorie deficit, we can actually make these metabolic adaptations WORSE and further slow down our fat loss process from these stubborn areas.

This happens because it causes our body to try to conserve energy even more or find energy from other sources, like our muscle mass.

Muscle is metabolically costly, making it super valuable if we want to get lean.

More muscle means more calories burned at rest.

But because muscle requires more energy to maintain, it is something our body will catabolize when low on fuel.

It’s why we want to avoid doing more activities that put us at risk for losing muscle.

It’s also why we need to avoid creating too big a calorie deficit and focus on our macros to try to prevent as much muscle loss as possible as we seek to lose that last bit of stubborn fat!

Now what are the three key tips to help us lose that stubborn fat?

3 Key Tips To Finally Lose That Stubborn Fat:

I’ll tell you first what is NOT a tip to get better results faster…and it’s often the thing we WANT to do most…

We want to do this because it makes us feel more in control…

We want to do MORE.

We cut out more types of foods. We cut our calories way lower. We train longer and add in more reps, sets and rounds…heck even a second or third session in a day.

But all of this so often is what truly backfires.

The annoying answer is you can’t out exercise or out diet time.

It’s why these 3 tips are so key to help you build something that you can do to allow TIME to actually create the results you want!

Tip #1: Track Macros NOT Just Calories. And Track PRECISELY.

I’m all for a focus on what is sustainable. I’m all for finding a balance and focusing on progress over perfection.

I think we need to remember that one size doesn’t fit all and to build off of our currently lifestyle to create a balance.

BUT I also don’t want to lie to you.

To lose from stubborn areas, to get that last little bit off and reach a level of leanness you’ve never achieved before, you have to get ready to embrace being SUPER precise in your tracking.

And often you do need to implement more aggressive tactics in your macros and calories.

You also can’t be lax in your tracking.

Precision is truly key.

No bites, licks or nibbles can not be logged.

Everything must be tracked so you can truly move forward.

And focusing on that protein will be key.

High protein ratios have been shown to help us build and retain lean muscle while in a deficit and even help us avoid unwanted fat gain while in a surplus.

So increasing your protein gives you a bit more wiggle room in your calorie intake while helping you prevent and avoid metabolic adaptations.

We want to do everything we can to keep burning more calories even at rest.

Think ratios where you’re even keeping protein over 40%, playing around with carbs and fats based on your activity level and even what you function best off of.

And avoid those extreme calorie deficits. Start with even just a small deficit of 200 calories.

If you do hit a plateau, instead of just dropping your calories more too, switch macro breakdowns! Sometimes a slight switch in your source of energy can get things moving!

The more we can use those macros to adjust, the more we can not only allow a greater diversity of foods to prevent ourselves from feeling restricted and avoid more cravings, but we can also mentally help ourselves not just feel more and more deprived from having to drop calories lower and lower!

Tip #2: Stop Doing Too Much In Your Training!

Too often we just view our training as a chance to burn more calories.

And I know it’s tempting to try to burn more calories to create that greater deficit through your training, but ultimately all that does is cause us to be hungrier and lose muscle mass.

It can actually even lead to greater metabolic adaptations as our body finds ways to conserve energy over the course of the rest of the day DUE to the fact that we trained extra.

Not to mention it can just make us hungrier, which mentally only makes repeating our healthy habits and eating the way we need harder!

So ultimately that extra hard work may simply be backfiring and causing us to exert a lot more effort that is sort of just wasted.

It can ultimately make us feel like we’re doing so much work to only GAIN weight while even being in a calorie deficit.

It’s why, if fat loss is our goal, we need to focus on doing what we can to build muscle over just burn calories in our training.

By focusing on strength work, we can create the stimulus to even BUILD muscle while in that calorie deficit, especially if we’re focusing on higher protein macro ratios.

And more muscle means a higher resting metabolic rate and more calories burned even at rest!

One key thing to note though too is, we don’t just want to turn our strength workouts into cardio so that we feel more worked in our sessions.

Don’t cut out rest. Don’t add in a ton of wasted volume.

Focus on lifting heavy weights or doing movement variations that challenge you.

Think about quality over quantity.

And then add in small tweaks to use every tool in your tool box.

No we can’t spot reduce an area by doing 1000 crunches to lose fat from our abs.

But as we get leaner, and once we have our diet and strength work dialed in, we can focus on ways to utilize more of the mobilized fatty acids from those stubborn areas.

Because areas like our belly, hips and thighs have less blood flow, we can help mobilize more fatty acids from those areas by working the muscles near the fat tissue.

So by including isolation exercises to target those areas in our strength work, even say as a finisher at the end, followed by some low intensity steady state cardio like walking, we can help improve the fat loss from those regions.

We used the isolation moves to mobilize more fatty acids and then utilized those mobilized fatty acids with that low intensity cardio.

And that low intensity cardio is helpful because it burns a higher portion of calories from fat while also not really fatiguing us further!

More movement but in a way that doesn’t detract from future training sessions or put us at risk of losing more muscle!

Tip #3: Embrace The Suck.

Mindset matters most when it comes to achieving any goal we have.

And while it is way more “fun” trying to search for another action or habit to do, ultimately our mindset is what dictates our success.

To give ourselves the best chance of succeeding, I think it is key we go into any goal knowing the positives and negatives.

And the more we even OVERSELL the negative and recognize the challenges we’ll encounter, the more we set ourselves up to succeed.

Because then when we do encounter something hard, we are mentally, and physically prepared over being caught off guard and feeling like we’re the only one that struggles.

So I just want to remind you to embrace the suck.

It isn’t easy reaching a level of leanness you’ve never achieved before.

It will take you embracing being hungry at times. Embracing not necessarily indulging when you’ve had a stressful day or are out with friends.

It may take you training on a day when all you want to do is curl up with the pups on the couch.

The key is reminding yourself of why this goal truly matters to you and even having enough of an incentive to keep going at that time instead of just pushing things off!

So get ready to embrace the challenges and be willing to push through.

Set a strong why, or WHYS, and set a firm end date that really keeps you invested in the process so that you can’t just say “I’ll start tomorrow.” Or “One this one bite, skipped workout, won’t hurt.”

SUMMARY:

So if you want to lose that stubborn fat and achieve your leanest physique, remember you can’t out exercise or out diet time.

You’ve got to embrace the process and realize your body will fight against you at points.

Be ready to embrace the suck as you dial in those macros and calories with precision while focusing on that strength work!

Ready to create the right “recipe” for results so you can achieve your leanest, strongest body WITHOUT creating metabolic adaptations that sabotage you long term?

–> Learn More

 

Meal Plan To Lose Stubborn Belly Fat (3 TIPS PLUS MEALS)

Meal Plan To Lose Stubborn Belly Fat (3 TIPS PLUS MEALS)

by | Mar 27, 2022 | Blog, Diet

I’d always wanted defined abs.

I would diet. Be super restrictive. Lose weight. Get skinny.

And ultimately rebound.

I came to the conclusion I just would never truly get definition.

I had muscle, but just felt abs were never going to be possible for me.

That’s when I finally stopped making excuses and embraced tracking macros.

Through tracking macros, I learned exactly what I needed to get defined abs.

If you’ve ever tried to get your abs to show I think you’ll agree that the struggle is real! It took consistency past the point where you want to quit.

In this video I’m going to show you 3 tips you can implement to see YOUR abs.

But first first things first you might need a mindset shift. You’ve got to get over the mindset that you can’t track. That it’s too tedious and boring and overwhelming and simply impossible to do every day.

I get the whole mindset against it. It’s a big change. And it is annoying to track everything you eat.

But it’s data you NEED to achieve something you’ve never achieved before.

Plain and simple.

Think about it this way, if you’ve never made a cookie recipe and aren’t a baker, you wouldn’t just randomly throw things into a bowl hoping cookies come out of the mess.

You wouldn’t even eyeball portions of ingredients on the list.

Nope.

You’d weigh and measure everything if you wanted to guarantee the cookies turned out.

Same thing goes for creating a recipe for aesthetic results.

As annoying as it is, tracking helps us have the data we need to get the results we want.

So embrace the suck of tracking so you don’t have to suffer through the frustration of never achieving your goal!

Now what are 3 tips to help you lose that stubborn belly fat and how do I implement these into a full day of eating?

 

3 Tips To Dial In Your Macros For Stubborn Belly Fat Loss:

With clients I like to cycle ratios, and ultimately the ratios and calories they use will vary based on their metabolic rates, their activity levels, their needs and even their previous dieting histories.

BUT, no matter what, I implement these 3 tips when they’re struggling to overcome that hurdle and lose that last bit of stubborn belly fat to reveal abs.

Tip #1: Go High Protein.

If you want to get super lean and achieve ab definition you’ve never seen before, get ready to increase your protein.

High protein helps us build and retain lean muscle while in a deficit. Because it preserves lean muscle mass, which is metabolically costly to maintain, aka you need more energy to maintain your muscle mass, you will tend to burn more calories even at rest and your metabolic rate will stay higher.

Protein also keep us feeling fuller for longer, which is key when we’re eating in a deficit.

And protein has a higher thermic effect than carbs or fat.

The thermic effect of food is the calories you expend to digest and process different macros.

Protein takes the most energy to digest with about 20-30% of the total calories in protein eaten going to digesting it. Then carbs take about 5-10% while fats take 0-3%.

Studies have shown protein to have a thermogenic effect 5 times greater than carbs or fat!

And unlike carbs or fat, protein’s thermic effect is much more constant regardless of your current body composition. While fat’s thermic effect may be LOWER in obese individuals, protein’s is not.

It is also important to note that consuming more protein can increase levels of glucagon, a hormone in your body that can help control body fat.

When glucagon is released, the liver breaks down stored glycogen into glucose for the body to use.

It can also help liberate free fatty acids from fat tissues aka provide fuel for cells and make that body fat do something useful instead of hiding our six pack.

And the final reason you’ll want to use macro ratios that really favor protein is simply because your calories have to come from somewhere.

While that sounds weird, it’s the simple fact. You need enough calories to not start catabolizing your muscle tissue, and protein helps prevent this. But because of the thermic effect of protein, you are also keeping your daily energy expenditure higher while getting to eat more.

So basically, since your calories need to come from somewhere, protein is a “safe” somewhere to have them come from to promote better fat loss results so you tap into those fat stores!

Tip #2: Embrace The Deficit. Realize Your Mind Will Try To “Trick” You.

Your body doesn’t like change. And you’re going to feel hungry, not only due to the changing source of energy with the macro ratio change, but also because you DO need to be in a deficit to really cause your body to tap into those fat stores.

Now you want to be conscious to increase this deficit slowly and not then try to out exercise your diet further or you’ll create metabolic adaptations that work against you.

But because your body adjusts to the fuel it’s given, over time you will have to adjust your calories.

Do this slowly and even find that balance of occasionally lowering your calorie intake from food, but also at times by making sure you’re moving more in general as we do tend to fidget and move less as our energy intake goes down.

Our body adapts and becomes more efficient and that can mean moving less to conserve energy.

But however we are doing it, we do have to embrace that deficit and know that hunger will be a part of it especially as our body adapts to a new energy intake and even macro breakdown.

And the leaner you get and get closer you do tread toward that essential body fat line, not to mention the longer you’ve been in a deficit, the more your body and mind will start to work against you.

Your body wants to survive and you’re taking it to a leanness level it has NEVER been at.

You’re going to get more cravings for things and be tempted to overeat even when you don’t truly need as much as you’re craving.

I think it is key to recognize this and have strategies in place to help you handle it.

Whether it is knowing it may be time to back off the deficit and do a diet break, include the occasional cheat or drink extra water and push through, you need to recognize that there will be points you will be hungry and have cravings to start.

Focus on finding a balance though too in your ratios, including very nutrient dense foods that give you a lot of volume, but also macro-friendly variations of treats or dishes you crave so you don’t add to those cravings!

Tip #3: Precision Is Key.

As much as I’m a big believer in creating something sustainable and balance and focusing on progress over perfection, if you want to see abs for the first time, you need to be precise.

This is NOT the time to focus on the lifestyle balance but work toward your goal, knowing that using macros you can transition into maintaining your results in a healthy and sustainable way.

But if you have this goal, you need to be precise and consistent past the point you want to quit.

You need to weigh and measure everything. No bites, licks or nibbles can go unlogged. You want that tedious perfection and precision to make sure you have 100% accurate data.

You want to be able to know you’re doing everything right not only to achieve results but to stay mentally focused on those things when you feel like results aren’t building.

Because there WILL be a dead zone where you even feel like things look worse because you’ve lost off of areas you don’t care about or don’t see and the areas you want to change haven’t yet.

So often we simply don’t see the results we want because we give up before they’ve had time to snowball.

That’s why you need to track everything to KNOW you’re being precise for results to build.

So What Does A Full Day Of Eating For Fat Loss Look Like?

I’m going to share with you a ratio that I’ve found works best in these situations. It’s extreme and not fun but what’s often needed to get rid of that belly fat that just won’t let go.

And that ratio is 50% protein, 30% carbs and 20% fat. Depending on the client I may switch the carbs and fat, and I will cycle this every 1-2 weeks with other ratios to maintain hormonal balance and even prevent more than necessary mental drain. But this ratio is almost always in that 6-pack cycle for clients no matter what at some point.

Now I want to show you what a meal plan for that may look like.

For calories you need to consider your activity level, previous dieting history, genetics, age and so much else. Too often we say a calorie intake is too low or too high judging what someone else is using without realizing that some of us are metabolically more or less efficient or may have even created metabolic adaptations from previous dieting practices.

So stop the judgment and figure out what you need! Often for cutting I will do 10-12x goal bodyweight for a client. If they don’t have a “goal” we may start with current weight even.

I will show a full day of eating for 50/30/20 at 1400 calories, which is over 12 x my weight.

For me, perfection in hitting those macros is no lower than 49% protein with 2-3% deviation from the ratio.

I shoot for 175 grams of protein, 105 grams of carbs and 31 grams of fat.

BREAKFAST:

While I love fasting, I will often break my fast prior to my workout when on this ratio to make sure I have that little boost in energy and get some protein in prior to my training for fuel.

I love having a pre-workout, or breakfast, Coffee Protein Shake. The extra boost of caffeine never hurts and the whey is quickly and easily digested to fuel muscle repair and growth from my lifting session.

I’ll combine water with whey and shake to make sure it’s fully combined. I’ll add ice then two shots of espresso or coffee from the Keurig with even a little sugar free flavoring. I’m about creating meals that taste good and strike that 80/20 balance. I don’t want to restrict myself focusing on someone else’s arbitrary standards of eating clean!

SIDE NOTE – During My Workout:

During my workouts when I’m cutting, I’ll often also include BCAAs in my water. I’ll be 100% honest here…I love the taste of my personal ones and it encourages me to drink more water which is key with high protein and part of why I do it.

But I find it also valuable to improve my recovery because I’m more aggressive with my calorie deficit.

And while some feel that BCAAs aren’t beneficial if eating high protein already, when you’re in a deficit instead of a surplus, often you aren’t getting too much of anything. So bumping up your amino acid content to only aid in recovery and repair is never a bad thing!

Muscle is metabolically costly and helps us avoid metabolic adaptions so I want to use every tool I can to maintain and build it!

LUNCH:

Post workout I may have a shake, but often because I train late morning or mid-day I’ll simply eat lunch right after.

I try to include more carbs post workout with higher protein and lower fat in that meal. This allows me to replenish my glycogen stores post workout and aid in better recovery. And the lower fat helps allows for faster digestion and absorption of nutrients.

I love having fish or seafood whenever possible so I’ll do something like halibut with rice and a veggies like broccoli or Brussel sprouts. I try to include a diversity of protein options, and actually carb sources and veggies as well for a better micronutrient diversity.

I love mapping in a meal of 8 ounces of halibut, 5 ounces of white rice and about 200g of broccoli because when I’m feeling lazy I can easily get this same plate at a local fish spot and actually sit out looking at the ocean! Not a bad mid-day break!

DINNER:

For dinner I love a slightly fattier protein source since I generally fast and skip breakfast. I may use steak or ground beef even. Sometimes making a quesadilla using a low carb tortilla or even a dish in the air fryer with veggies and potatoes.

I’ll usually do about a 6-10 ounce portion of protein, in this case steak. In the air fryer I may also do sweet potato and a veggie like asparagus.

I even like pre-cooking and prepping these things at times to just then reheat in the air fryer when I’m short on time!

DESSERT:

Often I will plan in the thing I want most first. Because I love dessert, this is often dessert. Although I now have a few go-tos I like to cycle and pick one based on even other meals I really want that day.

While a staple has always been my greek yogurt with granola, I’ve fallen in love with the MegaFit protein snacks. Today because I wanted a bigger portion of rice at lunch and potatoes at dinner, I went with 2 protein balls for dessert. Just a nice little balanced way to end the day!

SUMMARY:

This puts my total for the day at….

TOTAL:
1405 172p 105c 30f (51/30/19)

The key thing to remember is we need to work in things we enjoy while focusing on those nutrient dense, high volume foods that keep us feeling full and satisfied. There is something to be said for meals that have more bites when really trying to cut that body fat!

But just remember, if you’re going to push your body to achieve a level of leanness you’ve never achieved before, there is going to be some sacrifice. You need that precision in tracking your macros while focusing on protein to get rid of that stubborn belly fat for those of us who tend to carry our weight around our middles!

My 3-Step Fat Loss Formula…

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