fat loss tips Archives Page 4 of 8

How To Get Abs (For the First Time)

by Cori Lefkowith | Jun 6, 2023 | Blog, Diet

So you want to see your abs…Here’s what you need to know.

I’m going to tell you right now that often the first time you attempt to get leanlean
the process is often more difficult than you’d expect.

There are going to be mistakes, frustrations and it’s going to take a lot longer than you’d like because your body will fight against you.

Our body, just like our minds, doesn’t like change and will resist it.

Sounds fabulous, right?!

But honestly, as much as we like to try not to focus on the negative,

I think it is key we face the obstacles and struggles going in so we are prepared for them.

Too often we try to ignore that there will be challenges and that ultimately sets us up for failure.

So I want to share 5 things to be aware of in the process of trying to reach a new level of leanness you’ve never achieved before so you can be prepared to stick with the process!

But before I dive into those tips, I just want to remind you of the importance of MACROS for body recomp.

Macros matter most when we are really trying to lose that last little bit and do everything we can to preserve our lean muscle mass while losing fat.

You need to focus on increasing your protein, but you also can’t fear carbs the more active you are.

Your body will need the instant fuel.

And by cycling macros every couple of weeks, you can also help give yourself a wider diversity of foods, maintain a better hormonal balance and even MENTALLY feel more in control and motivated to keep moving forward because you have little mini “end dates” and points at which you know you get a little shift!

Now, here are 5 things you need to know about getting abs for the first time…

#1: Realize you may feel like you look worse before you look better.

Often the areas we most want to change are the LAST to go.

And often in the process of even losing off of other areas, the areas we want to change that haven’t look BIGGER and worse.

Not to mention, fat loss and body recomp are a slow process. Especially toward the end, results can feel like they aren’t happening when things are building and changing.

This is why it is key we use more than the scale.

Use pictures of a ton of different angles NOT just the areas you want to lose so you can see fat coming off of other places.

Use measurements to track changes.

And then even focus on tracking your consistency so you can trust in the process.

But realize that things will be coming off at a snails pace and you may even at times look SOFTER in the process.

You may have times where the scale doesn’t change…doesn’t change…doesn’t change…then BAM! It drops dramatically.

It wasn’t just the eating right around it that did it.

You’d probably been losing fat slowly over time.

However, you didn’t lose until you dropped the water weight being stored in your fat cells.

Which may have even been why you looked SOFTER for a bit!

One common time you can look softer is if you have been slightly lower carb.

YUP!

So often we fear carbs BUT you can sometimes need to add them in to lose water weight.

This phenomenon is known as the Whoosh Effect. And while the science on it is limited, it is something we’ve seen happen time and time again.

The hypothesis as to why this happens goes back to our body not liking to lose weight.

We each have fat cells and the size of these fat cells change as we gain weight, increasing in size, or lose weight, shrinking in size.

Fat cells are filled with triglycerides, which will be used as energy for the rest of your body.

Working out, being in a calorie deficit, all make your body need to call on these stores to fuel.

You’d think this would mean steady decreases as you draw from these stores during your diet.

But instead, water is often stored in these fat cells as your body tries to maintain your current weight and avoid depletion of its energy stores.

They store water to anticipate more fat filling them soon.

So because of this water storage, your weight plateaus even though you are technically losing fat.

And often it’s why we can feel like we look extra soft and squishy during the fat loss process at times. We will see this especially around our middle or thighs. It’s why you can hit dead zones where you feel you look WORSE even.

Then BAM! We get that Whoosh Effect and you wake up the next day and your body has let go of the stored water!

And often the cause of this water release comes from kicking our body out of the deficit temporarily so it no longer feels like it is “starving” and in need of holding on to the water weight to keep those fat stores ready to be filled!

It’s why we may see this release after a cheat meal or day or even a carb refeed where our energy stores are “refilled” even if we still keep ourselves in the overall deficit for the week.

But it’s why sticking with the process despite not seeing results immediately is so key!

#2: Know your whyS and set a motivational deadline.

The closer you get to your goal, the more cravings will probably have increased and your mind will work against you.

You’ll want to eat. You’ve been in a long, consistent deficit and there are probably foods you’ve cut out for a period of time because they weren’t easy to work into your macros.

As much as you may think you want abs, well, just getting abs for the sake of…well…getting abs won’t keep you truly motivated for long.

Especially when your friends ask you to go out for happy hour after a long and stressful week.

But precision is key.

And especially if you’re pushing yourself to a level of leanness you’ve never been able to achieve before, you’re going to have to be ready to sacrifice.

That’s why you need not only a why but WHYS and a deadline to keep you motivated.

I’d wanted to achieve a six pack for years before I did.

What finally got me to actually commit was setting a photoshoot, announcing it to all of my clients and wanting to be able to create a nutritional program to help clients no matter their goals. But I felt I couldn’t talk about getting lean if I didn’t personally know the struggles.

So having that hard photoshoot deadline, public “pressure” and accountability and even a big investment of money in the process, helped me stay consistent when I 100% wanted to quit.

Thankfully I’ve now learned a ton to make the process easier for myself and clients and even know how to maintain so my set point is lower, BUT that outside accountability and motivation beyond just wanting abs made all the difference.

So give yourself no way to wiggle out of your goal if you want to succeed!

#3: Plan ahead…With EVERYTHING.

You can’t be guesstimating. You can’t not track a bite of food.

You can’t be skipping random workouts or randomly stringing routines together based on how you’re feeling that day.

You need to have everything planned out. Planning .

A clear plan of action gives us added accountability and motivation to stay the course. It also allows us to make more accurate adjustments based on how we are progressing.

It let us see what truly works, and what doesn’t.

Planning ahead also removes a lot of the stress involved in the precision required.

It’s hard in the moment, when you’re hungry or tired or stressed from a long day to figure out what workout to do or what to eat.

Because, often you don’t want to do what you know you should in those situations.

It’s why planning ahead, having meal prep frozen or having fast restaurant go-to options is so key. It takes the thought and guesswork out of it.

It even takes the stress and emotion and CRAVINGS out of it.

The food is there. You know what you have to eat.

Even already logging it in your food tracker adds accountability and makes things easier so you aren’t just having to track as you go!

And by having your workout pre-planned, you are making sure you’re progressing. You’re not just doing what you feel like, as your energy at times may dip as you adjust and tweak ratios and calories.

It’s easy when we are tired to slack. But everything in your programming needs to work as a cohesive system. Your macros are based on your training and visa versa. So both need to go together.

You can also see if your performance is truly decline because you have that clear progression you repeat to compare and track numbers against.

Data is key to helping you achieve results as efficiently as possible as well!

#4: Find ways to move more.

By being in an extended deficit to lose that last little bit of stubborn fat, your body is going to find ways to conserve energy.

That means you’re going to naturally fidget less and want to move less.

You want to be conscious of this and do little things to keep your NEAT or non-exercise activity thermogenesis higher.

You want to burn more calories during your normal day.

This does NOT mean making your gym sessions longer. It does NOT mean even doing 2-a days.

It just means being conscious to move more.

Too often we try to train harder or length out our training sessions which actually leads to less results and more metabolic adaptations.

Plus, the quality of these training sessions often decreases and we end up doing a lot of wasted volume we can’t recover from. This actually ends up diminishing our returns.

Plus when we train harder as we try to cut calories lower, the deficit we are in grows.

And our body fights that weight loss for survival purposes.

This trying to do more in our training could actually lead to more metabolic adaptations and muscle loss instead of aiding our weight loss process.

And I know we often think, well I won’t lift more, I’ll just add in even a quick HIIT training session.

But just recognize, these intense sessions can deplete our glycogen stores and actually sometimes even make us hungrier. Plus they can add more to our fatigue.

This is why walking can be such a great thing to add in.

It doesn’t detract from our energy for future training sessions. And it is low intensity so we can do more of it without causing further cravings.

It can also really assist in fat loss, especially when included after workouts that have targeted our stubborn areas to increase blood flow to those areas and mobilize more fatty acids to be utilized.

So be conscious of when you start to feel like doing less to not fall into the couch but still include some fun activities over the week to move more!

#5: Progress will feel slow. Your body will fight you.

I know I slightly mentioned this already, but I think it’s key we oversell the negative to ourselves so we stick with things when we want to quit and challenges arise.

We’re almost ready for them if we do make ourselves aware early on.

PLUS, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the same reason progress is slow…

The longer you’ve been above the weight or leanness level you want to be at, the harder it will be to reach that new point.

Your body doesn’t like change. It wants to maintain balance and balance to it is where you’ve currently been at, especially if you’ve been at that weight for awhile.

Your body will do what it can to stay there.

The positive part of this is that, once you get lean and start to transition into maintenance practices, it becomes easier and easier over time to maintain a leaner physique.

But the initial getting there is often not easy.

Progress will be slow. And this is actually a good thing.

When we try to see dramatic results, often we aren’t really losing more fat.

Often we are simply losing water weight and glycogen that’s been stored.

Plus, the faster we attempt to lose weight, the more we often lose muscle and not just fat.

Muscle is metabolically more costly to maintain.

So when our body is in a deficit and looking to conserve energy, it will use muscle as fuel.

That not only provides the energy it thinks it needs, but it also helps it conserve energy overall.

So embrace the slow process.

The easiest way to do this is by focusing on those daily habits as goals themselves.

Put your focus on doing what you know will lead to results. Celebrate the consistency in those habits as wins.

That will help you stay focused on the actions that will build toward results.

SUMMARY:

These 5 things are key to be aware when you commit to a program to get abs for the first time.

The process will be slower than you’d like, and your mind and body will fight against you as you seek to achieve something you’ve never done before.

But remember, maintaining gets EASIER!

Just focus on those daily habits and don’t freak out and do more when results are slow!

Ready to see the results you deserve? Learn more about my 1:1 Coaching:

–> Redefining Strength’s 1:1 Online Coaching

How To Get Lean & STAY Lean For Life (6 Tips)

by Cori Lefkowith | May 28, 2023 | Blog, Diet

Let’s be real here….

You want to be lean and strong to perform your best for the rest of your life.

Falling into old habits is the quickest way to lose your progress.

You need to create a lifestyle built off of habits you can maintain.

That’s why these 6 nutrition rules are key to staying lean and strong for life!

Rule #1: Don’t Ignore Your Gut Health.

Very rarely is gut health the first thing that comes to mind when you think about staying lean.

But if our gut microbiome is healthy, the rest of our body will function optimally.

It helps reduce inflammation, keeps our metabolic rate higher to burn more fat, and helps reduce cravings.

An increase in “bad” bacteria has been shown to trigger an overproduction of insulin, leading to insulin resistance, which causes your body to stop burning fat and start storing it.

The more insulin sensitive you are, the more likely it is that you’ll have a leaner body due to insulin’s anabolic properties — replenishing fuel stores while reducing the rate of protein degradation or breakdown.

Taking care of our gut health can actually help us feel fuller and balance our appetite.

When the bacteria in our gut ferments fiber, it releases leptin which can help suppress appetite and help us feel more satisfied.

Aim to consume 25-30 grams of fiber per day and consume foods rich in probiotics and prebiotics, like yogurt, fermented foods, garlic, potatoes, bananas, and legumes.

Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is also important, as research shows that consuming at least 30 different types of plants per week can lead to a stronger and more diverse gut microbiome.

So have some fun with that meal prep over the week for great tasting dishes and a lean, strong body!

Rule #2: Don’t Diet Forever.

If you’re still thinking of your dietary changes as something you’re doing until x date, you’re never going to actually create lifestyle changes you can maintain long-term.

You can’t maintain habits you hate for long.

If you feel restricted and hungry and deprived, at some point your willpower is going to run out.

Find new ways to do the minimum if you want to create baseline habits that keep you consistent.

This is how you maintain the results you’ve built.

An easy way to do this is to pick a calorie range and a protein minimum.

By having these clear guidelines, we can make sure we are allowing 012 – guidelines ourselves to enjoy the foods we love with guidelines to keep us in check!

Life is unpredictable and there may be times when our priorities change.

It’s okay to reassess and adjust your approach.

Whether you’re juggling a busy work schedule or taking care of a new family, you can still make changes to your nutrition by constantly assessing your priorities and setting boundaries with tracking.

Rule #3: Fuel Your Training.

Too often we sabotage our long-term success by NOT focusing on our performance while adjusting our nutrition.

We just accept low energy levels and sucky workouts.

Because let’s face it…if we feel crappy, it impacts our nutrition choices.

Feeling strong and powerful and fast…well… it ROCKS.

If you want to maintain your aesthetic results, you need to make sure you’re fueling to be able to train the way you’d like.

Properly fueling our training makes it so much easier to maintain our results long term!

Fueling to build lean muscle is really the secret to being able to look leaner for the rest of our lives!

You can’t stay in a deficit forever.

Focus on fueling your workouts to make sure you have full energy stores to perform at your best!

And if you’re doing any endurance training do NOT fear carbs!

They are key even if you went lower carb to initially lose the weight!

Rule #4: Set Meal Prep Staples.

You need flexibility to enjoy any of the foods you love or go out to eat if you’re in this for the long haul.

The more restricted we feel, the harder it is to stay consistent.

It’s key we have flexibility but If you want to maintain your physique for life, you need to have those meal prep staples always on hand.

Find delicious recipes you love to prep in bulk and freeze.

Find easy canned goods or frozen foods you can always have to prep in a pinch.

Create some go-to meals you can eat consistently that are always there for you in a pinch.

Create a few different variations of those meals like a higher and lower carb option so you can make adjustments based on other things you had that day.

Went out to an unplanned lunch and had more carbs?

Use version B of your taco bowl and make it a taco salad instead!

Have some simple staples you always know you have on hand to make life EASY while keeping you consistent.

Rule #5: Embrace Change

Your priorities in life will shift. Your body is going to change with age

Even your lifestyle and activity level may shift season to season.

Your routine during the holidays will be different than over the summer.

Nothing will work forever.

So staying lean and strong for life will mean being open to constantly learning and adjusting.

You wouldn’t do the same workouts forever…so you can’t approach your diet as you’ll do the exact same thing forever either.

Don’t be afraid to adjust your macros or portions over time.

Try new foods and recipes.

Experiment with including different supplements to help you work toward other goals or even make your lifestyle more convenient during busy days.

Embrace that you can constantly make changes to find a balance.

Maintaining doesn’t mean you won’t fluctuate or that you won’t set goals to focus on.

It just means you have those boundaries to keep yourself in check and doing the minimum to maintain the hard work you put in to get these results in the first place!

Rule #6: Put Protein First.

The simpler we keep things, the more sustainable the habits are.

Too many things to focus on splits our attention and with more balls up in the air, it is much easier to drop one when life does it’s best to get in the way.

Maintaining your results is about finding out the minimum you can do.

I like to think of it as a challenge to see how lazy I can get away with being.

Give yourself one focus.

Getting about 30% of your daily calories from protein will keep you dialed in enough to maintain your results.

This puts your focus on whole, natural foods and keeps your metabolism humming.

Paired with a calorie range this makes sure that you’re never getting too far off track even as you work in other foods or travel or enjoy cocktails out with friends.

It also allows for more flexibility so you don’t constantly feel restricted or like you have too many habits to focus on repeating!

Focus on these 6 simple nutrition rules to stay lean and strong for life and don’t sabotage yourself in constantly overcomplicating things!

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Weight Training To LOSE FAT Faster (5 Proven Methods)

by Cori Lefkowith | Apr 23, 2023 | Blog, Exercises

“My weight loss results are so slow! I should probably just do more cardio!”

Many of us have turned to cardio in the past to try to see better results faster.

But not only may this additional cardio actually be SABOTAGING our fat loss results, we may see better results by simply adjusting our weight training routine.

And if you’re about to say that diet is key, yes it matters most for fat loss.

However, the most efficient results, and most lasting, happen when our diet and workouts work together.

And when it comes to amazing body recomposition, weight training wins out over cardio in terms of the biggest benefits!

Better fat loss happens when we see our training as a chance to build muscle!

So how is cardio sabotaging your fat loss and what are 5 ways to see better results?

First let’s ask Why do we turn to cardio in the first place?

We turn to cardio in an attempt to burn more calories.

And it does…At least to start.

But not only do we adapt to not actually burn as many calories over time as we get used to the distance and pace, but we can also end up creating too extreme a deficit to start between our training and calorie intake, which can result in metabolic adaptations.

We can lose muscle mass through this overtraining and underfueling.

Not to mention we can send our body into survival mode, which means we will actually find ways to expend less calories during the course of our day.

This ultimately NEGATES the increased calorie burn from our training.

Now if you’re a runner or cyclist or endurance athlete, I’m not telling you to stop doing what you love.

I’m just saying that if your goal is fat loss, don’t jump to doing more cardio just to try to burn more calories.

What we also don’t realize is that doing more, training for longer and harder, especially if we are in a calorie deficit, can simply make sticking to our diet even harder.

Ever notice you’re HUNGRIER when you start adding in more training sessions, especially more cardio?

Another big thing we don’t consider when we add in cardio is how much HUNGRIER it can make us, especially if we are already in a deficit to lose.

So while the under eating while overtraining itself can create metabolic adaptations and hormonal imbalances, it can double sabotage us by making us feel like our body is fighting the deficit even more.

And ultimately, often we not only give in and eat more, but we end up overeating. And overeating for awhile.

This quickly leads to us falling off our new healthy routine and makes us feel like we’ll never have the willpower to make a change.

Plus we end up gaining the weight back and usually more…and let’s face it, it’s not muscle we are regaining. It’s fat.

When we repeat this yo-yo dieting cycle, each and every time it becomes harder and harder to lose.

While we start to blame getting older or hormonal changes, often it is simply these previous attempts to out exercise our diet or time that have added up!

So how can you stop this cycle and dial in your STRENGTH workouts to see the results you deserve?

Tip #1: Address all of a muscle’s functions!

When you think about a specific muscle group, you have a “go-to” move. And often, they are go-to moves for a reason.

They work!

However, the more experienced a lifter you are, the more you want to consider including a variety of movements to work specific muscles to challenge yourself.

This can lead to better muscular development and definition because you’re addressing all of the actions a muscle performs.

We need to focus on retaining and building muscle if we want to look leaner and lose fat. You aren’t going to become the hulk lifting heavy.

So if you want to see the best results, consider implementing different moves for the same muscle group over the course of the week.

If you want to work your hamstrings, maybe you include an Romanian Deadlift, but also a seated hamstring curl or a glute bridge and curl.

Not only do these moves then address the fact that your hamstrings work during hip extension , but you also address their ability to flex or bend your knee.

And then even while addressing the hamstrings ability to flex your knee, you are putting your hips in two different positions (extended with the bridge and flexed when seated) to again work the hamstrings in different ways.

Use those different postures and positions, not to mention even single leg vs two legged movements, to progress exercises and challenge your muscles!

Tip #2: Extend rest periods.

Now this doesn’t mean standing around on your phone for 3-5 minutes looking at instagram between sets.

But it does mean realizing that if we want to keep working at a true 100% intensity, we need to give ourselves TIME to recover between rounds.

Often when we are short on time or want to make workouts FEEL harder, we cut out rest.

But this also causes our intensity to dip.

If you want to really challenge yourself to really work muscles, you’ve got to be able to push each and every round.

So use that rest between sets!

But this doesn’t have to mean full rest.

You can even make sure a muscle group is given time to recover by alternating areas worked in supersets or trisets.

This can help you work more areas efficiently, resting one area while working another, especially if you need a quicker training session.

And by working more muscle groups in a session, while being able to push hard, you will even increase your calorie expenditure during your training session.

Tip #3: Push to failure.

If you’ve ever just thought to yourself, “I’ll do 10 reps” and stopped at 10 because it felt hard enough, you need to push harder.

Now this doesn’t have to mean you literally can’t lift the weight or you faceplant in a push up.

But you need to push to that point where you wanted to stop 2 reps ago but could complete the round while still engaging the correct muscles.

You need to push closer to that point of failure.

Don’t be afraid, if your workout says 8-12 reps, to even have to put the weights down at 6, rest for 15-30 seconds then finish even 2 more reps to push slightly past what you could have done in a row.

This push almost past failure will help you see really efficient muscle gains and will help you challenge your body.

If you want to lose fat, increasing your lean muscle mass is the best way to boost your metabolism and see lasting results!

Tip #4: Use a variety of rep ranges.

How many reps and sets? What rep range is best?

The simplest and best answer is, use a variety.

Focus on building strength and working with those big heavy lifts in the 3-5 rep range.

Focus more on muscle gains with compound movements that make you max out in the 6-12 rep range.

Or focus on that strength endurance by working up toward 20 reps even!

All of these rep ranges benefit each other, allowing you to lift more to drive muscle growth or even have better endurance to recover faster while lifting heavier!

The key is making sure you challenge yourself for the reps you do.

No load should ever feel “light.”

And what reps you assign may even be impacted by the muscle group and type of exercise you’re including.

For isolation moves, like bicep curls, you may do slightly more reps, working in the 10-15 rep range, over attempting a 5 rep max.

For a heavy compound lift like the Barbell Row, you may try to hit failure at 5 reps when including it first in your workout.

Both moves and rep ranges could be included in the same workout as you go from heavier more compound movements to more isolation exercises to target stubborn areas!

Tip #5: Focus on intensity over doing more. Quality not quantity.

Too often we think we don’t have time to get in the workouts we need to see results.

And sure, having a bit more time for training can have benefits.

But if you design for the time you have and focus on the QUALITY of your training sessions and giving your 100% effort, you are going to see results.

So stop making that excuse. And stop wasting your training sessions just going through the motions!

Too often we increase the number of rounds or res to increase the difficulty of the workout, instead of focusing on maximizing the intensity of each round.

Rather than feeling like you have the capacity to do more, figure out how can you push yourself to make the existing rounds feel more challenging.

Be intentional and get the most out of each rep. Don’t just go through the motions.

This will help you build that lean muscle!

And because diet is key, I want you to check out this video with tips to adjust your nutrition and a full day of eating next.

–> Meal Plan To Lose Fat

And guess what? One of those tips WILL be about one specific macro.

Because if you want to gain muscle while being in a deficit, macros, and specifically this macro, matters most…

Check out that video to learn why! (I know you want to know now ;-P )

Why You’re Not LOSING FAT (5 Things No One Tells You About Losing Weight)

by Cori Lefkowith | Apr 9, 2023 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

You tried on those pants that wouldn’t button…

You stepped on the scale that showed you a number that made you want to hurl it at the wall…

So now…you’ve decided you want to lose weight.

In this video I want to share 5 things no one tells you about losing weight, but I also want to ask you one very important question first…

Is weight loss what you really want?

I ask this question because it’s key we realize that losing weight as fast as possible on the scale may actually be holding us back from seeing the fat loss results we want.

Losing weight faster doesn’t mean losing fat faster.

It actually often means the opposite.

In our desire to see quicker changes on the scale, we go to extremes which are unsustainable and only truly deplete our glycogen stores, causing us to also lose water weight.

It’s why we may see immediate big drops in our weight.

It’s not fat being lost though.

If we do manage to maintain the extreme measures, we often then also start to lose as much muscle as we do fat.

And while some muscle loss will occur at points in your weight loss journey, you want to do everything possible to maintain as much lean muscle mass as you can!

Which actually brings me to the first thing no one tells you about losing weight…

Macros matter most.

I can feel the angry mob of calorie counters approaching who won’t listen a step further in this video…but hear me out….

Often people say it’s only about calories in vs calories out while saying you can’t build muscle and lose weight at the same time…

Which actually you can do.

But it is this calorie only focus that creates this issue and belief.

Adjusting your macros is key if you want to lose fat and not only retain lean muscle mass but BUILD it.

Focusing solely on a calorie deficit won’t do this and could lead to more muscle being lost in the weight loss process.

Macros are so key because higher protein diets are the only ones shown to help you not only retain but even GAIN muscle while in a deficit.

By keeping on more lean muscle as you slim down, you’ll promote more optimal hormone levels and even help keep your metabolic rate higher.

Muscle requires more energy to be maintained.

And this higher energy expenditure daily will make it easier to ultimately lose more fat!

This focus on retaining lean muscle while trying to lose fat is even more key as we get older because it becomes harder to build and retain lean muscle, which leads to more metabolic adaptations with age.

And creating an extreme deficit to lose weight quicker as we get older only puts us at greater risk to lose even more muscle!

So if you want to see the best results, you want to focus on those macros to fuel your training and even help yourself gain muscle as you lose fat.

Focusing on hitting that high protein tipping point, consuming 30% of your calories from protein, can help you see better fat loss results while even building muscle through a strategically created deficit based on your macro breakdown.

The second thing no one tells you about losing weight is something none of us really want to admit…because it stinks.

I mean, who wants to be PATIENT!?

But we need to realize that results will take longer the longer we’ve been at our current weight.

Think about how long it took for you to get into your current position.

Think about how long you haven’t been at your goal…

Often when we are considering how quickly results happen, we think about the diet we are using or the workouts we are doing.

But we never consider how much our body will fight us to maintain the balance of where it is at currently.

Our body doesn’t like change.

It feels threatened with change. It’s part of how it protects us to survive.

So the longer you’ve had the weight on, the farther you are from your goal, the longer it will probably take for you to get there.

Especially if it means hitting a new level of leanness you’ve never achieved before.

So while you may look at your friend who gained 15 pounds just like you and want your results to happen just as fast, if you’ve had the weight on for a year and they just gained it during the holidays, it is probably going to come off much more quickly for them!

When mapping out your plan, realize that gaining the weight took 10 months so you’re probably not going to see it just all melt off in 10 weeks.

Recognizing this helps give us perspective when we feel like changes aren’t happening fast enough!

The third thing no one tells you is that repeatable habits should be your focus over doing more.

When we want to lose weight, we do turn to making habit changes…but often we make massive overhauls to our current lifestyle and habits.

Our focus is on what will get us results FASTEST.

Not what habits can I actually REPEAT day in and day out.

Now this doesn’t mean every habit change will feel easy. Most won’t actually feel sustainable to start.

And they won’t be fun.

Tracking your food is not fun.

Doing the mobility work when you’re in a rush and just want to get to the meat of your workout isn’t fun.

BUT it can be repeatable if you break things down to meet yourself where you are at.

When making changes to lose weight, start with easy to repeat habits.

Focus on those small daily changes over doing more.

This allows you to build instead of overwhelming yourself so that you give up when you just simply run out of willpower and self control.

These repeatable habits are what lead to DISCIPLINE.

So as much as these may feel small, they may feel even less than “ideal” they will allow you to get consistent.

And what we do consistently we get good at.

If we consistently do habits that make us gain weight, we will.

If we consistently do habits that help us lose, we will.

So focus on repeatable habits that can help you build a lifestyle and see those results snowball.

The fourth thing no one tells you, that it is key we recognize to avoid sabotaging ourselves and giving up when results are snowballing…

Is that you’ll often feel like the areas you want to change are the LAST to change.

And even at points as you’ve made progress losing weight, they look WORSE!

Stubborn areas are stubborn for a reason.

They often contain more of the stubborn type of fat cell and have less blood flow.

They are often the places we gain first so will be the LAST we will lose from.

We may see all of these other areas trimming down, but not see any changes really to start from the places we care about.

Not only is this frustrating but slimming down in some places and not others can make the areas we want to change stand out even more.

But don’t give up.

Giving up is what keeps you from finally losing from those stubborn body parts.

Often it is pushing through and just sticking with those same old boring habits, not jumping ship in favor of some fad diet, that will finally add up.

And if you are struggling with those stubborn areas and want to learn more about what makes stubborn areas so stubborn, check out my How To Lose Stubborn Fat Video with 3 tips.

Now…The 5th and final thing no one tells you about losing weight is…

What you did to lose the weight will NOT be what you do to maintain it.

Honestly because the dieting industry is built off of us regaining the weight we’ve lost…

A new fast fix is easier to sell you than maintenance

Maintenance isn’t sexy so it’s never discussed

But maintaining your weight loss is a learned process with its own unique challenges.

And one of those challenges is actually being ok with a very small increase on the scale as you shift your body and habits from weight loss mode to maintaining mode.

You can’t just keep repeating what you did to lose and stay in a deficit forever, yet you also can’t go back to old habits.

You’ve got to slowly make adjustments to your macros and calories to increase them to a maintenance level while potentially returning to a more even macro split.

We have to remember our body, needs and goals are constantly evolving which means our diet and workout habits can’t just stay stagnant.

(At the end I’ve linked out to more free resources!)

If you’ve been only focused on losing weight fast, it’s time to change your approach. Losing weight quickly doesn’t always mean losing fat, and extreme approaches can be harmful.

By focusing on healthy habits, you can achieve lasting results that don’t have to feel overly restrictive.

More Free Resources:

–> 5 Tips To Maintain Your Results

–> 3 Step Fat loss Recipe

100 Calorie Hacks To Lose Fat Faster (Try these 10 Tips!)

by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 20, 2023 | Blog, Diet

You want to cut your calories a bit to lose some weight…

But you’re sick of feeling miserable and like you’re constantly giving up the foods you love to see results.

In this video I’m going to show you 10 ways to easily cut 100 calories or more from your diet without feeling like you’re missing out on the foods you love!

Hey guys! It’s Cori from Redefining Strength where we help you create sustainable lifestyle changes to move, feel and look your best!

I know trying to create that calorie deficit can make us feel like we can’t enjoy the foods we love, or that our meals have to be bland and boring, but this restriction is often what also sabotages true lifestyle habit changes.

That’s why I wanted to share 10 ways you can easily cut 100 calories from your day without having to restrict foods you enjoy or choke down ones you can’t stand.

And the 10th tip is the perfect way to include ALL of the foods you love while seeing better results faster!

Tip #1 to help you cut back on calories is to make small swaps to recipes and ingredients.

I see this tip shared frequently to help people reduce their calorie intake…which is why I want to make you aware of a common trap we fall into…

We make swaps that make meals taste…disgusting.

They FEEL like diet meals and aren’t like the originals at all!

And that’s basically as bad as cutting out the food completely…if not worse!

Now what swaps you enjoy or dislike is very personal.

For me, as much as I even like cauliflower, cauliflower rice is NOT the same as rice in my burrito bowl.

On the other hand, I have no problem using egg whites over real eggs on my breakfast sandwich.

I have no problem feeling satisfied with a bowl of popcorn instead of chips.

Or I’m fine to use oil spray or even chicken or vegetable broth to cook in over adding tablespoons of oil to the pan.

The key is finding your balance to make meals more calorie friendly while still being enjoyable.

Try adding in greek yogurt over cream to a sauce. Or in baked goods, swap in applesauce for oil!

But find swaps that don’t make you feel like you’re choking down “diet food.”

Tip #2: Is to get pre-portioned snacks or individually wrapped treats.

Think about having that whole pan of rice krispie treats on your counter

Once it has been cut into, it’s there. And you can cut any size you want.

It’s easy to end up eating more than we wanted and more than we should at that time.

That’s why buying pre-portioned snacks and treats can be helpful to start.

It gives us a cut off and a premeasured portion to help us stay on track.

Consider even getting cereals, individual oatmeal packs and snacks in the 100 calorie or individual serving bags!

If you can’t find what you need already portioned out, you can make your own dishes and portion them out immediately so there is that set amount only available.

Tip #3: Make your favorite meals and snacks at home!

If you love going out, don’t avoid restaurants when trying to make changes. There are plenty of healthy options out.

However, if there are calorie dense foods you love that you CAN make at home, you’re going to cut out a ton of calories just through those homemade variations.

You can choose what swaps to make, adjust the portion of ingredients or even completely remove things that won’t impact the taste for you but may add to the calories!

Try baking chips or french fries.

Even make them in the air fryer. Little to no oil will cut back on calories and you can season them to your liking and make only the portion you want to eat.

Try a homemade sundae with halo top and adjust the toppings based on what you like, maybe even swapping in some fresh fruit for a sugary fruit sauce.

But have fun even testing out how you can make variations at home that pack less of a calorie punch!

Tip #4: Don’t wait to eat till you’re starving!

The hungrier we get, the more our portions tend to expand at our next meal.

Not to mention we even tend to eat things we aren’t craving or snack on whatever is available.

We end up consuming more calories than we need simply because we got too hungry before we ate.

Whether you fast and eat one big meal or choose to eat 6 small meals a day, make sure you aren’t going into your meal so hungry you end up eating a bigger portion than you really need.

Consider even drinking some water BEFORE you eat if you have unintentionally gotten to the point of feeling like you could eat anything in sight!

Even if it is just a handful more to tide us over for a bit longer, those calories we munch on when we’re too hungry to care add up!

Tip #5: Pay attention to the cut of protein you consume.

Many of us have heard that we should increase our protein intake when we want to lose weight.

And we should.

HOWEVER, if we aren’t careful, increasing protein can also dramatically increase our calorie intake.

That’s why we want to pay attention to the cuts of meat or types of protein we’re including.

Now that doesn’t mean you have to cut out your red meat if you love it.

But on your burger, try swapping 85% ground beef for 90 or 93% lean ground beef.

Or if you’re plant based, maybe swap in some tofu for tempeh to cut back on those calories.

Little swaps to the cut or type of protein add up!

But be aware that something being advertised as “healthy” or lower calorie, it’s always what it seems!

Note the portion for those calories as you may end up buying turkey bacon only to realize that the portion is smaller than real bacon which is the only reason for the difference!

Tip #6: Pack in the spices!

No one wants to choke down bland and boring food.

If we’re cutting fat we want our food to taste amazing

So as you’re adjusting your nutrition, don’t slack on the flavor.

Pack in those spices to dishes so they taste amazing and you don’t feel like you’re missing out as you make swaps and tweaks to recipes.

You may even find you can eliminate adding more sauce and therefore more calories from meals by packing in more of a flavor punch with seasoning.

You may find a simple dollop of greek yogurt with ranch seasoning replaces your high calorie dressing.

Or that extra garlic cooked in the air fryer with your crispy brussel sprouts makes them a dish the entire family loves!

Tip #7: Avoid eating on the go.

It’s inevitable that sometimes we WILL need to eat on the go.

But the more we can avoid it, the more we can make sure we’re not mindlessly eating or only consuming very calorically dense, easy to carry bars and snacks that don’t help us feel full or satisfied.

Protein bars and even nuts, while convenient and not bad to include, are calorically very dense and NOT very filling.

So you just want to be aware of this when you are trying to cut out calories.

Instead try to pause for a meal when you can and consume something with more bites.

Or if you do need to eat on the go, think about nutrient-dense smoothies that you can keep lower in calories. Adding in low calorie fruits and veggies along with even a protein powder for that boost!

Tip #8: Adjust your portion by just a little.

A little goes a long way.

Small changes add up and give us the ability to slowly adjust our lifestyle without feeling like we’re missing out.

Yet so often we just cut out anything we know isn’t “good.”

Which ultimately leads to us wanting it even more and eventually giving in to the cravings.

Instead of cutting things out, adjust the portion.

Love your morning oatmeal? Try ½ a cup over ¾ of a cup.

Want your after dinner chocolate? Try getting a mini individually wrapped smaller size!

You may find there are adjustments you can more easily make and those that aren’t as satisfying so focus on the smaller tweaks that don’t make you crave more to start!

Tip #9: Simply READ LABELS.

Many of the same foods have different nutritional breakdowns. Some of which vary more than others.

For instance, you can find greek yogurts that range from 80 calories to 170 for about the same individual serving size.

Even breads and sauces that seem like the exact same thing can vary enough to add up over the day.

Even the same types of FRUIT vary with Fuji being more calories than McIntosh.

So don’t be afraid to compare labels or nutritional breakdowns of foods!

It goes back to those small swaps!

Plus, you may find an ingredient that you like even better that fits your macros and your calories even more.

And finally Tip #10…the secret to cutting back on your calories while eating all of the foods you love…

Measure your food! So often we can simply cut out a few calories by actually measuring portions over eyeballing them!

It is easy to allow those portion sizes to become bigger and bigger, especially the hungrier we are or the more we want something.

Not to mention, by measuring out things, we become more conscious of, and even avoid, mindless snacking.

Those bites, licks and nibbles add up!

So measure and track your food.

It is not only accountability and eye opening, but it can help you make those other little changes to easily cut back on calories without restricting the foods you love or missing out!

Often making changes to see results is about making the smallest change we can so we can keep replicating the habits consistently without continually draining our willpower.

Focus on starting with just 1 of these tips today!

And if you’re struggling to lose fat, check out these 2 tips next…

–> 2 Tips For Faster Fat Loss