TAKE ACTION
a
M
TAKE ACTION
The 3 Phases Of Fat Loss (And How to DO IT RIGHT!)

The 3 Phases Of Fat Loss (And How to DO IT RIGHT!)

by | Nov 24, 2024 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

To lose fat you don’t just do one thing the whole time. There are phases and cycles.

Your diet and your workouts should EVOLVE.

That’s why I want to go over 3 different phases you can cycle through during your fat loss journey to see amazing results that LAST and know you’re progressing over time.

Because we have to trust the process…but that is easier said than done.

Not to mention our body needs and goals evolve over time and we have to meet them where they are at, which means at times what was working may not work based on what we need right now and we need to adjust.

That’s also why these 3 phases aren’t just a step 1, 2, 3 kind of thing.

You may go in and out of these phases based on YOUR progress and even desire for faster results at times over more of a lifestyle balance.

And you may return to even phase 2 at points as you even maintain your new lean, strong look!

So the 3 phases I’m going to go over are….

The Lifestyle Build

The Mini Cut

The Diet Break

Let’s start with the main Fat Loss Phase where you’ll find you spend most of your time…what I call the Lifestyle Build.

I just want to be clear about one thing…

What you do to reach your fat loss goal is not what you will do to MAINTAIN your results.

There is a transition to maintenance which I’ll go over more with Diet Breaks.

But you DO want to be creating sustainable habit changes as you lose fat because you can’t just do one thing to lose then go back to what you were doing prior.

And so often our desire to lose faster leads us to doing practices that also ultimately backfire in metabolic adaptations and mental burnout.

This is so often why we end up just losing weight to regain it and even more right after.

That’s why I recommend you most often START with this phase and spend most of your time in the Lifestyle Build.

With this phase, you’re slowly tweaking your nutrition and workouts in a way that truly meets you where they are at in a way that is based off of 1% improvements.

You’ll often track your current diet and workouts first.

You’ll focus on what feels like a realistic schedule to train based on what you easily can do right now.

You’ll take a hard look at your current habits and truly OWN what you’re doing now to adjust.

Then select a small change that feels like it is so silly simple you could do it on the worst of worst days even.

Too often we base changes off what we can do when life is perfect.

But because life often is NOT perfect, we create habits we can’t maintain over ones that we can get disciplined with quickly because they are just only slightly pushing our comfort zone over completely outside it.

This then builds momentum to do MORE and see results snowball faster and faster.

But it helps us ease in over overwhelming ourselves with habits we’re willpowering our way through.

Because too often we do so much we overload ourselves and mentally rebel.

We feel restricted. We feel like nothing will work for us because it’s too much.

The excuses pop up because we have other priorities fighting the changes.

In this phase, you’ll want to start even with a minimalist macros approach and a very small calorie deficit.

Once you see what calories you’re maintaining, or gaining weight with by tracking your current diet, you will cut out 100-200 calories and focus on nutrition by addition and adding protein.

You want to work to get your protein to 30-35% of your calorie intake to start.

This focus only on calories and protein simplifies with a clear focus.

It also helps us find our balance including foods we love while also fueling our body in the way it needs.

It’s about true changes to our lifestyle over forcing ourselves into a mold and demonizing foods.

From here you may begin to cycle macros and even adjust carbs and fat.

You want to adjust macros over cutting calories further, using those changes in energy source and even higher protein, up to 40%, to help you continue to see fat loss happen.

However, if you find your current calorie intake, while you aren’t losing and even gaining, is 1200 or below, you may want to start with phase 3, a diet break first!

And with these diet changes, you will also focus your workouts on a balance of strength and cardio.

We can’t out exercise our diet, but both need to work together to help us lose fat while not losing muscle and avoid metabolic adaptations.

Cardio especially with this deficit may be more focused on sprint intervals and walking while we focus on still lifting heavy.

We don’t want to turn to cardio only!

During this phase, you will also want to continue to push and challenge yourself with weights in the gym. Doing everything you can to build muscle while in a small deficit will help you better maintain your results.

Workouts may be slightly more metabolic strength though with things like circuits or even some interval strength training.

Now how can you know things are going well…

I will tell you the scale is NOT necessarily going to be your friend.

Because you’re after fat loss, not just weight loss. And slow progress on the scale doesn’t mean you aren’t losing fat – it means you’re not losing muscle too and creating unsustainable changes.

So often when we start our fat loss journey, we do so much we deplete our body completely, leading to fast scale results, only to see every little deviation from our diet or workouts lead to massive gains.

And of course, we regain the weight…which is what has brought you to this video to finally see the fat loss results you deserve.
So with seeing true fat loss results you can expect to see these signs during the Lifestyle Build…

#1: You will see inches being lost while the scale will be SLOW to change.

#2: You may lose up to 1lbs per week but no more.

#3: Your energy can dip then level off as you adjust to changes in your macros and that initial little deficit. Your calorie deficit will be small so you shouldn’t be starving if you do this right! You may even feel FULLER with the change in macros!

#4: Workout numbers should still consistently improve.

But you shouldn’t see massive swings in how you feel or like you’re starving. So often we try to lose fat, end up hangry and just then binge on whatever we can find when we can’t stand the restriction any longer.

That won’t happen if you do this right because you’re creating that very small calorie deficit!

Just note…tracking is key! And one day off plan, the “I was good all week” to fall off on the weekends, can have a massive impact because you’re creating that smaller calorie deficit over the week.

So be aware of those patterns to make small adjustments!

But also note, results are consistent but fat loss isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight.

If you do know that you need that initial bigger change to stay motivated, while you will spend most of your journey in this phase to prevent metabolic adaptations especially through a higher calorie intake and balanced training, you may start with phase 2…

The Mini Cut.

The Mini Cut is an intensive fat loss protocol…

And not fun.

It is more restrictive, going to be tougher macros and a bigger calorie deficit.

It is a kickstart or plateau buster.

It is a short term, quick fat loss sprint to be used strategically.

While I prefer to start with the Lifestyle Build to ease in to change and create more motivation to do more, sometimes we need that extra little push to see results happen then dial things back to embrace the process.

We need the motivation of that quicker result to help us want to keep going.

That’s where Mini Cuts come in.

Generally done for 7-14 days, these kickstarts will put you in a 500 calorie deficit off what you’re maintaining your weight at.

They will also mean tracking EVERYTHING PRECISELY and adjusting your protein, carb and fat with a full macro breakdown.

They are not fun ratios either. Your protein is going to be 40% at minimum and often up to 45-50%.

Your fat and carbs will often be in that 20-30% range.

And food quality matters. This isn’t the time to work in foods you love. Or to include your alcohol or lifestyle balance.

This is a CUT.

Your energy may take a hit.

This won’t be the time to focus on performance goals.

Mentally this will be harder. BUT you know it is short term.

And unlike fad diets, this is still based off the fundamentals of macros and a training progression and you have an EXIT STRATEGY.

Your workouts should also shift away from cardio during this time aside from walking.

The big deficit puts you at risk for losing muscle, which is why protein goes up and intensive cardio goes down.

Workouts should be very focused on strength!

And rest between rounds will be key. Don’t cut it out.

Then after your Mini Cut 7-14 days, you will slowly increase calories over the weeks, 100-200 at a time to get back to either your maintenance or small Lifestyle Build calorie deficit as you drop your macros back to something more sustainable.

Mini Cuts are a great way too as you reach your fat loss goals to maintain the level of leanness you want year around.

Because even as you maintain, you can throw one in if you’re going to travel or have been a little lax around the holidays.

They can be that push for balance with the ebb and flow of life.

If you do a Mini Cut…some signs you’re doing it right…

#1: The scale may change up to 5 pounds during this quick protocol.

#2: Bloat will go down fast.

#3: Energy may dip.

#4: Workout numbers may not improve.

#5: Some hanger and cravings may pop up but remember it is a short sprint!

While Mini Cuts can be satisfying in the faster progress you see on the scale, doing MORE of them will backfire and not lead to faster fat loss and even potentially metabolic adaptations where you see weight creep on as you eat less and less.

So be conscious not to extend them out past 21 days and to slowly increase out of them.

And do not do them if you’re currently eating 1200 calories or in a big deficit already.

If you are in a deficit already of 100-200 calories, consider cutting no more than 300 off and even consider a Diet Break before or after!

Which brings me to Phase 3…Diet Breaks.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is do less to achieve more.

Slow down to speed up.

Sometimes our body, and mind needs a break!

This is where Diet Breaks can be key.

After an extended time in a deficit, our body adjusts.

And too often we cut calories lower when this happens. But then we adjust again. And unless we end up eating nothing, we can’t keep cutting calories lower and lower.

Not to mention if we cut calories too low, our body will actually find ways to reduce our energy expenditure to match which is why we can stop losing and even start gaining as we eat less and less.

This is why I recommend cycling macros.

But if you’re finding that isn’t kickstarting progress and you’ve been in a deficit for 3-6 months, consider a Diet Break.

Especially before or after a Mini Cut.

A Diet Break is like a mini maintenance period.

You’re focus is on maintaining your current results while eating more and training harder.

It is not only a break for your body, but even mind.

Because while you’re trying to create sustainable changes in the Lifestyle Build, you’re still in a deficit.

You’re still pushing to lose and tracking and often doing workouts when you’d sometimes like to be lazy.

Achieving results is hard.

So sometimes we need the break to care less, even if just because life priorities have shifted so we’re feeling burned out.

But during this phase, you want to slowly try to bump calories up even by 200-500 from where you are. This may be done all at once, or you may do it slowly over a few weeks.

A diet break will range from 7-21 days.

You will often also return to the minimalist macros approach, working in foods you love and focusing even just on protein hitting 30% of your calories.

You want to work in foods you maybe haven’t.
You want to also cycle carbs and fats up if one has been lower.

And in your workouts, you want to combine strength and cardio, even using some steady state cardio especially if you enjoy it.

You want to focus on pushing in your workouts and you should really set performance goals during this time.

You’ll know you’re doing a diet break right because you’ll…

#1: See your energy increase and feel extra fueled.

#2: Feel like performance goes up and you’re lifting heavier and setting PRs.

#3: You may feel bloated to start as you increase those calories especially if you choose to do it in one go.

#4: You will first see the scale jump but even by the end see your measurements go down.

#5: You may see the scale fluctuate LESS daily.

Your body won’t be depleted of anything in this phase, that’s why you may see a jump in the scale to start especially the quicker you up calories.

But this will level off. And you may end up losing, but don’t be surprised if you do stay up in weight just slightly.

Take measurements during this phase as you may be surprised to see inches come off even while on a break. Gaining muscle as you lose fat during this phase often happens.

This is a great little muscle gaining phase even to help with avoiding metabolic adaptations and even help you LOOK LEANER as you lose.

Just eating at this level of maintenance or slight surplus can be the muscle boost you need and help you learn what maintenance will even look like for you after!

But embrace the balance to get remotivated and kickstart things when you go back to that Lifestyle Build even.

And if you’re thinking, “But I’m so far from my goals!”

We still will often need a diet break and even all the more because we will need longer deficits.

This also recharges us to keep moving forward!

Remember these phases aren’t steps to do in one order, but phases you will cycle through even many times over your fat loss journey.

Where are you on your fat loss journey? Which phase are you in or will you be moving to next?

Want guidance and support to navigate these phases and see the LASTING fat loss results and muscle definition that you want?

Learn more about my Private Online Coaching!

–> Schedule Your Consultation

5 Tricks To LOSE FAT (That Actually Work)

5 Tricks To LOSE FAT (That Actually Work)

by | Nov 17, 2024 | Blog, Diet, Workouts

Stop believing that losing weight and maintaining your results has to be a full time job.

Because it doesn’t.

And the more we act like it has to be, the more we’re ultimately sabotaging ourselves.

We’re just creating unsustainable habits that, while they may yield some fast initial results, also lead to a quick plateau and us just regaining the weight and even more.

To help you stop this extreme dieting cycle I’d found myself also caught in for years, I want to share 5 weird but extremely effective weight loss tips to help you build your leanest, strongest body ever.

And I’m going to start by telling you the oddest sounding weight loss tip ever…

Stop focusing on losing weight!

That goal weight you have in mind, that you’ve tried countless times to get back to, is actually stopping you from losing weight.

It’s causing you to try to out exercise and out diet time.

It’s causing you to eat less as you train harder, which doesn’t make you actually lose fat any faster.

Our singular focus on the scale and that number changing leads to burn out and metabolic adaptations that make each weight loss attempt harder and harder.

Instead we need to focus on multiple ways of measuring success and even step away from the scale for a bit.

Because it isn’t that number on the scale we are truly after – it’s how we FELT at that weight that we want back.

And that FEELING isn’t truly attached to the number. It’s how energized we felt. The PRs we could set.

It’s how we looked in that dress or bathing suit or in those vacation photos.

We want to look toned and leaner and feel fabulous and strong and youthful.

That number just represents that time and FEELING for us.

But focusing only on that number being our only measure of progress often leads to us giving up on habits that are working…habits that would yield the results we want if we gave them time.

Because the scale doesn’t really show us true fat loss happening, especially as we retain and even gain muscle.

And the better our body recomp results, often the slower the scale will shift.

Because there is no rushing fat loss.

The scale only changes faster because we’re losing water weight or depleting our glycogen stores or even losing as much fat as muscle.

So if you want to truly FEEL the way you felt at your goal weight, step off the scale.

Start taking progress pictures and measurements.

Use an article of clothing you felt fabulous in to track progress based on how it fits.

But stop sabotaging yourself and giving up on the habits you need because the scale isn’t changing quick enough.

Results will NEVER happen fast enough.

But we need to celebrate the other signs of success, such as improved energy, better sleep, crushing our workouts and inches being lost, that show us the habits are working so we stick with them and results can snowball!

The next weird tip, and it’s more a way of thinking about how to make diet changes is to…

Build your diet based on meals you love.

When we think about adjusting our diet, we go to all the foods we “can’t” have and then find diet meals we now need to make.

This makes us honestly often feel deprived and really not enjoy our lifestyle. It makes us dream of going back to what we were doing.

And this is why the changes don’t stick.

We’ve got to evolve our diet to match our needs and goals.

So instead of focusing on diet meals, take meals you already eat and love and find ways to adjust them to match your goals.

Love pizza?

How can you add a bit of protein to your pizza? How can you adjust the portion with maybe a side of veggies to lower calories and increase your micronutrient intake?

Love pasta?

Can you add in an extra ounce of protein? Can you swap the type of pasta to a chickpea or lentil that may boost protein?

Take the dishes you ultimately want to enjoy and find ways to tweak them so you aren’t feeling like everything you love is being cut out or that your meal prep and cooking habits all of the sudden have to shift so dramatically you’re miserable!

But stop making yourself extra miserable trying to completely overhaul your diet!

The third tip is something some of you may hate to hear and others may love…

Cut back on steady-state cardio!

So there is a lot to this tip…And first I want to address those of you who love endurance cardio sessions and want to mentally do everything you can to fight against this tip…

First, if you love running or cycling, I’m not telling you not to do it.

But if you’ve been struggling to lose weight and see the muscle definition you want, you may want to cut back on your mileage for a bit or really acknowledge the cost of doing this cardio and make massive changes to your strength workouts and diet to account for this activity.

For those of you who refuse to cut back on the cardio…

Slow down your other strength workouts and lift heavier with lower reps and longer rest periods while increasing your protein more than you want to and even de-prioritizing your endurance sports to focus on your lifting when you’re fresher.

Now for those of you who are thinking, “I don’t like cardio but it’s always helped me lose weight in the past.”

Think about that statement…you’re here because you need to lose weight AGAIN.

So as a long-term strategy, cardio didn’t work.

And part of the reason why is we’ve often used it to try to out exercise our diet instead of making dietary changes.

But also because we haven’t really built muscle and have even lost it in the process of eating less as we try to burn more. This negatively impacts our metabolic rate and how many calories we burn not only in our workouts but at rest.

And the more calories we burn at rest, the more muscle we have, the more toned we will look and the easier our results will be to maintain.

So instead of turning to cardio, focus on strength workouts. Whether you challenge yourself with bodyweight sessions or hit the gym to lift, focus on building muscle!

This next tip was one of the weirder realizations for me but also why I feel I’m able to stay leaner all year around…

Stop acting like the person always on a diet.

When we’re working to lose weight, we can feel like the friend who can never eat out. We can feel weird at parties or celebrations.

We can feel like we have to avoid the baked goods at work or office lunches.

We can feel a bit like we have to isolate ourselves and not really have fun.

No wonder most of us dread making diet changes and ultimately fall off the healthy habits we are trying to build.

But we often do this because we feel this need to be perfect. To eat clean based on what someone told us a healthy diet should look like.

We also don’t own who we are, our current lifestyle and what we want our lifestyle to look like.

We approach habit changes as being these very set things we have to do in one rigid form instead of finding ways to implement them to match what we need.

If your friend invites you out to dinner at your favorite restaurant, instead of saying no, instead of trying to deprive yourself of a meal you love, plan it in.

Maybe you go lower calorie and higher protein earlier in the day to then have flexibility at that meal.

Instead of feeling like you’ve ruined the day, just focus on that portion control and getting right back into your healthy habits the day after too.

Don’t let the dinner become multiple meals.

If you loved the baked goods someone surprised you with at work, maybe you have one.

But instead of feeling guilty for it so that you end up eating 10 or forgetting about your healthy meals the rest of the day, just enjoy it and even adjust your other meals to create a balance.

So often we try to force this perfection on ourselves over realizing that some LIFE being included in our habit changes is what allows us to actually create new healthy sustainable habits that allow progress to truly build.

And not only can we work in those things we love, but we can change how we spend time with family and friends.

Not every celebration has to revolve around food. Quality time with friends and family can be active as well.

Think about new things you want to try and explore other opportunities to spend time with loved ones that even supports the new healthy habits you want to create! You may be surprised by how much they enjoy exploring new activities too!

And the final tip I’ve found to be super key in not only achieving amazing body recomp but sustaining it over the course of the year is to take more movement snacks.

I think so often we put this emphasis on working out and working out intensely over just moving more.

But the more we are active, the more we want to be active. And the more active we want to be often the more we want to do other healthy habits to support the fact that we feel good!

The more we do, the more we do.

So throughout the day, include movement snacks.

Get up and do something if even just for a minute or two. Listen to a song or quick podcast and walk around your office.

Get up and stretch to reverse sitting hunched over.

Get up between episodes of your nightly TV shows and go roll out or even wash dishes quickly.

Do a quick post dinner walk.

But get up and move around.

The less we’re just seated, bored, lazing around doing nothing, the less likely we are to just indulge in mindless eating.

And often a big habit we have to break, on top of the benefits alone of moving more, is that mindless eating and especially the desire to eat later at night while watching TV.

But just trying to willpower our way through this desire can often lead to losing the battle when stressed because we haven’t shifted our patterns or environment.

That’s why these movement snacks can be key.

We aren’t focusing on what we shouldn’t be doing. We’re focusing on something good we want to do.

This mindset shift and focus helps as it feels positive over us feeling like we’re FIGHTING something.

Plus, moving more does mean we burn more calories at rest, helping keep our metabolic rate overall higher.

And while no, we don’t want to just focus on doing more to burn more calories, being more active does help our health and weight loss results!

But use these 5 tips to help meet yourself where you are at and make sustainable habit changes that build.

Stop trying to just force some cookie cutter plan on yourself and instead truly focus on how you can adjust your lifestyle and shift your mindsets around the habits that lead to you seeing the results you want!

And if you’re ready to build your leanest, strongest body at ANY age…yup NEVER too old!…schedule a coaching consultation call below. I’d love to help you see the results you deserve!

–> Apply To 1:1 Coaching And Schedule Your Call TODAY

FIX 93% Of Your Problems With 4 Diet Changes

FIX 93% Of Your Problems With 4 Diet Changes

by | Oct 13, 2024 | Blog, Diet

The changes we least want to make are the ones we need the most.

And often we already know the answer to the question of “What diet changes do I need to make to see results?”…we just need to be REMINDED of what to do.

We need to be reminded to take our ego out of the equation and go back to basics.

We need to be reminded to Suck It Up Buttercup and do the hard habits that lead to results.

That’s why I’m going to start by telling you the change you need to make the most but will most want to avoid, and probably have even listed out tons reasons not to do like…

It’s restrictive
I don’t want to be obsessive
It’s too time consuming
It’s too hard
I can’t because I cook fresh
I can’t because I eat out and travel
I can’t because I have a family
I can’t because…

You can probably come up with 100s of reasons why you don’t need to do this and shouldn’t have to…

But guess what?

All of those reasons haven’t moved you forward toward your goals.

They’ve held you back from making the change you need the most to see your hard work in the gym and your “healthy” diet paying off in the fat loss and muscle gains you want…

And that change is…

Tracking what you’re eating.

Tracking gets a bad rap for being restrictive and obsessive.

But guess what?

It’s not.

We may have a restrictive or obsessive mindset when tracking, but we can have that mindset without doing either.

Eliminating whole food goods while not tracking is restriction.

Fearing foods and believing you can’t eat “unclean” foods or that foods are bad for you can become an obsession.

Neither of these revolves around tracking and can happen even if you aren’t.

And the more we recognize that it is our mindset and how we’ve used the TOOL of tracking in the past, like to cut out foods and make ourselves feel guilty, not tracking itself that is restrictive, the more we can take back control and use this tool to our advantage.

That being said, one form of tracking isn’t right for everyone, BUT we’ve got to see the opportunity in the options.

Because what gets measured gets managed.

If you don’t accurately know what you are consuming and the portions you’re consuming those foods in, you can’t make an accurate change.

And this is where we can get frustrated FEELING like we’re doing everything right when actually our calories and macros aren’t in line with what our body needs right now.

This can be over eating or even undereating.

But we don’t know unless we track.

And while yes, measuring out everything and recording it isn’t fun, it truly helps us create a repeatable recipe for results and ultimately NOT over restrict.

So if you’ve been frustrated by your lack of results while trying to eat clean, while trying to increase protein or lower your calories…

Stop wondering what is and isn’t working.

Record your food and see the opportunity in small changes you can make off of what you’re currently doing.

It can often help us actually stop cutting out foods we love as much and even see small portion size changes or swaps that can pay off so we can build a lifestyle we enjoy!

It can even help us fuel to feel more energized and address food intolerances we may have, leading to other symptoms such as bloating or hormonal imbalances!

Which brings me to the second change we often need to make…

And that’s to stop demonizing foods and whole macronutrients.

Too often when we think about making changes to our diet to “fix” problems, we think there are magic foods to include and magic foods to cut out.

We start to DEMONIZE foods even, which ultimately just leads to a whole bunch of food guilt and self sabotage.

Are there foods that are healthier and less healthy?

Are there macro ratios, such as lower carb or lower fat, that work better or worse for certain people?

Are there foods that people can have intolerances to so we need to eliminate them?

Yes and yes and yes.

But one size doesn’t fit all.

And even what may be bad for someone else may be GOOD for you.

No, I’m not arguing that doritos chips are healthy for anyone…

BUT they may be part of your 80/20 balance so that you are actually consuming more nutrient rich food overall.

Having a little of something less nutrient dense actually allows you to stay more consistent overall and WANT to eat more fruits and veggies.

It helps you avoid feeling guilty for foods because they are “bad,” which only leads to one off plan indulgence completely derailing your healthy changes.

That guilt we create for eating specific foods or macros that have been demonized is what keeps us stuck in this horrible yo-yo dieting cycle where we feel we just don’t have the willpower to maintain the habits we “should.”

But a lifestyle balance looks unique to each person.

And our activity level, previous dieting history, age, goal and genetics, among so many other factors, can have a huge impact on what is right for us and right for us even just RIGHT NOW.

For example, low carb may be better for someone, especially if they are less active or going through menopause, while holding you back if you are super active and working on building more muscle as you lean down.

Going low carb may sabotage your body recomp efforts and even lead to thyroid issues and hormonal imbalances because your body isn’t getting the fuel it needs.

Yet carbs are so often demonized.

They are just simply labeled as evil and blamed for belly fat especially.

But that simply isn’t the case.

Macros must match our needs even as our needs shift.

We need to stop this all or nothing attitude toward foods and instead learn the upsides and downsides to things to strike our own balance.

Because even healthy foods can be “bad” for some with food intolerances too them.

Need a low FODMAP diet? You may find there are lots of supposed “healthy” fruits and veggies you even can not eat!

Another change most of us avoid that everyone needs to make, even though one size doesn’t fit all…

Is to focus on PROTEIN.

Many of us know this. But we still fight against it.

And while increasing and focusing on protein will look different for each person, this focus on quality protein is key.

That’s why I’m giving you this reminder…

Because often we need to be reminded more than we need to be taught.

The more we know the basics, the more we get distracted from them thinking we are above them and need some other 1% improvement.

When really, we just need to make small adjustments to those basics as our body, needs and goals change.

Especially as we get older, a focus on protein becomes even more key.

And if you aren’t focusing on protein and finding your healthy diet isn’t yielding the recomp you want?

Time to start tracking your protein.

Honestly, if you just track your protein and your calories, letting carbs and fats fall where they will, you’re probably going to see steady and sustainable results.

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by all of the changes you COULD make, start by just focusing on tracking protein.

You’re already hitting all three things on this list…

Tracking.

Not demonizing foods as anything can fit and your carbs and fat can fall where is enjoyable.

And focusing on protein.

And when I say, focus on protein, make it the star of every meal.

Map in that portion of protein first and diversify what you’re eating. Check out different cuts of chicken to see the fat to protein content.

Embrace learning about plant-based options for seitan to tofu to tempeh.

Look at the diversity of seafood, and dairy and cuts of beef and pork and even vegetable amino acid profiles out there.

Have some fun finding new recipes and tweaking them to add just an ounce more protein when you make them.

But realize that your body is LITERALLY made up of proteins and increasing protein, especially as we get older and are less able to utilize it as efficiently, is not only key to amazing body recomp results but even more important for our brain, bone, immune and even cardiovascular health!

Now, how you go about increasing protein, how you go about finding your balance, how you go about tracking…
That will all depend.

Yet all too often we don’t consider what we need to reach our goal and where we are at currently.

We just search for a perfect macro ratio. A perfect workout. A perfect plan to get us there.

We force a mold.

And this prevents us from ever creating LASTING changes.

Because we can’t just constantly willpower our way through changes that really don’t meet us where we are at.

Think about the things you are most likely to push through the hard with?

They are things that are either somewhat enjoyable? That you truly see the value in to prioritize…

Things that somehow FIT the pain you are willing to embrace.

They are changes that you are comfortable being uncomfortable with.

Which is why, as weird as this sounds, change number 4 I recommend is a mindset one in how you approach dietary adjustments…

I call it Grit is Fit.

We are more willing to embrace the hard of something that somehow “fits” us and our lifestyle.

Want to increase protein as a vegetarian? You’ll never make that change if I tell you that you have to eat meat.

But to have you add nutritional yeast to things? Increase your portion of tofu or tempeh?

Those changes you may be more willing to embrace even if you find it uncomfortable to adjust your portions overall and would rather eat more fruit or rice or potatoes.

Same thing goes for tracking.

Full tracking and measuring and weighing may be something you just can’t sustain…that doesn’t feel doable.

But maybe it is the way you are tracking.
Instead of just writing off the tool and principle, what’s a way you could embrace and use tracking that you’d be willing to do even if not your favorite thing?

Could you write down what you’re eating on a piece of paper and use a visual portion guide such as sections on your plate?

Could you take pictures of everything you eat for the record to give you perspective and accountability?

What is something you can embrace the discomfort of to push your comfort zone and start making changes that add up?

But we need to be open to exploring the versions of habits that are the best fit for us.

Because when we find habits that “fit” we often have the ability to have more “grit” and push through with them to make changes that snowball.

We need to realize the power our diet has in building our leanest, strongest body at any and every age.

Because we can’t out exercise our diet and as our body changes, needs and goals change, our diet needs to adjust as well.

What you do to reach one goal, isn’t what you’ll do to reach another or maintain your results.

So be open to constant evolution and realize the power these 4 diet changes have to make sure you’re meeting yourself where you are at no matter what!

Ready to build your leanest, strongest body and create your lifestyle balance?

—> Learn more about my Metabolic Shred

15 Years Of NO BS Fitness Advice (In Under 15 Minutes)

15 Years Of NO BS Fitness Advice (In Under 15 Minutes)

by | Sep 22, 2024 | Blog, Diet, Exercises, Pain Relief, Workouts

I’m going to give it to you straight. 15 tips from about 15 years in the industry in under 15 minutes. Good thing I talk fast.

Tips that not only worked for me but I’ve seen work for people around the world to help YOU rock those results no matter your age.

So to not waste any time, Tip #1 and one of the most important keys to results…

Don’t Quit.

We most often don’t see results build because we never stick with anything long enough.

We give up at the first FEELING that something isn’t working…

That results aren’t happening fast enough.

And we jump to something new.

This constant jumping from thing to thing never lets us get GOOD at anything or be consistent enough with it for true changes to snowball.

Results are built off of those basic, boring habits repeated daily over not only weeks, but months and years.

But not quitting and trusting the process is hard, which is why Tip #2 is…

What gets measured gets managed.

If you want to bake a cookie and make sure it turns out, you follow a recipe.

This clear plan with everything tracked and measured, helps you guarantee a result.

If you randomly just throw things in a bowl, you won’t know why the cookies didn’t turn out or why they were the best gooey deliciousness ever.

Same principle applies to our health and fitness goals.

If we have that clear recipe and measure out everything, we can help ourselves make sure we’re working toward a focused outcome and more easily ADJUST if something goes wrong.

When we have that clear picture of what we’re doing, we don’t have to feel frustrated or like we are guessing at what works.

We also give ourselves true DATA off of which to make changes so we can trust the process more and not let feelings that sabotage us make us want to quit.

But even embracing tracking, whether it is your food or workouts or ideally both, is a hard thing at times for us to accept.

Which is why Tip #3 isn’t just to track but to jump into the changes you least want to make as soon as you can!

Yup. The changes you least want to make are the ones you probably need to make the most.

One of the most important things I harp on is increasing protein.

Guess what change most of us don’t want to make, researching even reasons why we shouldn’t increase it?

But also guess what changewe most often INSTANTLY see progress from and wonder why we didn’t make it sooner?

You guessed it…increasing protein.

Change requires change.

And the changes we least want to make are the ones that are often the hardest, most uncomfortable or furthest from our comfort zone.

But they are also often what is needed to reach a goal we haven’t achieved before and bust us out of the yo-yo dieting cycle.

So if you’ve been fighting a change, pause, ask yourself why, and then embrace an experiment where you track and see the true outcome!

It may surprise you!

And while embracing discomfort is part of achieving results, we can also sabotage ourselves with the “No pain, no gain” mindset!

Which is why Tip #4 is to ditch the all or nothing, work harder, no pain, no gain attitude.

This attitude keeps us stuck expecting perfection of ourselves, doing more and more until…well…

We ultimately run out of willpower, get injured and fall back into old habits.

We’re human and flawesome.

And when we make changes too hard on ourselves, we’re often just making our excuses grow too.

It’s Newton’s Third Law of Motion that says, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Keep trying to do more, and you’re going to get a push back against the changes equally as strong.

And the harder we work, the more we do, the more we EXPECT an outcome…when in reality we can’t out exercise or out diet time.

So ultimately we just make ourselves give up in frustration.

Instead we need to focus on small changes that build and that make change seem DOABLE.

Which is actually why Tip #5 is to stop the eat clean pressure.

There is no official definition of clean eating and trust me, no one agrees.

Vegans and Carnivores have vastly different opinions.

And trying to hit someone else’s arbitrary standards of clean can make you feel like you can’t even eat air.

It can make us feel guilty for enjoying food and even make us feel like it’s impossible to even make a change that will pay off.

But we can and should include foods we simply LOVE.

We just need to strike an 80/20 balance.

80% of the time focus on those whole natural foods. 20% include just foods you love with NO guilt.

This will allow you to create a sustainable lifestyle and truly build consistent habit changes that do snowball over leaving you feeling restricted and deprived so you ultimately fall off any plan you start.

And with embracing your balance, don’t just include foods you love, truly PLAN around them, even planning them in first.

Tip #6 is the secret that led to me ultimately finally achieving the body recomp I wanted.

Planning in the foods I wanted first and focusing on nutrition by addition.

Often the things we love most are the things we cut out first. They are the things that don’t make that “eat clean” list.

They are also the things we add back in as soon as we can, which lead to us ending up back where we started.

Basically we’re repeating a cycle of restriction we can never maintain.

And you can’t do one thing to reach your goal then go back to what you were doing before and expect to maintain your results.

Plus the second you tell yourself you can’t have something, you want it even more!

Instead, plan in the dessert you want, that snack you love, FIRST to your day and work your other meals around it.

Start by making small changes to your diet, adding in more veggies or protein or something you know is beneficial.

This focus on small changes that feel easy often is just what we need to lower our defenses against more changes and see the momentum build.

However, in including foods you love, this doesn’t mean you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want in any quantity you want.

Which is why Tip #7 is to recognize your trigger foods.

No foods have to be off limits. But there are foods we will CHOOSE to include or not include.

We need to recognize those foods we can’t consume in moderation that only lead to us falling back into old patterns.

I know I can have just one peanut butter protein ball, but I know I can’t have just one Reese’s peanut butter cup.

I own this fact and include the protein ball on a regular basis but the peanut butter cup only when I’m ok with having more than 1..or like 10.

And if I do have peanut butter cups around and don’t want to eat them, I put them in the freezer.

For me, this shifts my mindset to be ok with waiting to have more.

While this is odd because technically they taste even more delicious frozen, this freezing of them helps me feel like they’ll be there when I want them in the future.

It’s the shift in environment and mindset.

For you this shift may come from not having the food in the house, or putting it into single serving bags so you can only easily eat one serving or even hiding it on a higher shelf.

The key is I recognize the foods I can work in and those I can’t to then determine a balance and even environment right for me and my goals at this time.

So CHOOSE to include foods you love but also understand the foods that may not fit your goals right now and find ways to address that!

The more we own who we are and what has and hasn’t worked for us in the past with our diet and workouts, the more we can meet ourselves where we are at and create the perfect plan for ourselves right now to rock those results.

That’s why Tip #8 is to assess and address your schedule shifts.

I most often talk about assessing your schedule when it comes to designing your workout, but you want to also assess your schedule to make dietary changes as well.

Not only in terms of determining how you meal prep and the meal timing best for you but also in how you handle WEEKEND EATING!

Too often we don’t see results and think, “But I was good all week!”

It’s that weekend eating that gets us. It changes our macros for the week and can easily throw us out of our deficit.

Some of us even recognize how hard it is to eat well over the weekend, but then we never really address that fact.

We force weekday habits on weekends that just aren’t the same.

Instead we need to own that often habits and schedules DO change over Friday, Saturday and Sunday and we need to PLAN for that.

That we do enjoy happy hour or are at home more lazing on the couch!

So instead of a strict macro ratio, maybe we just set a calorie cap and protein minimum.

Maybe we plan in restaurant dishes or cocktails to hold ourselves accountable but have a bit more food freedom on the weekend with boundaries.

The key is assessing why the same habits don’t work over the weekend and finding ways to address the changes in schedule and even routines to work with them instead of trying to willpower your way against them!

So many of these tips are about shifting the mindsets controlling our actions.

And Tip #9 addresses a hard mindset to often change but one that is so key for us seeing better results from our training….

We need to stop seeking to be sore.

Soreness is not an indicator you worked hard enough or you’re going to see better muscle gains.

I know it can feel satisfying and some of us sickly like it….

But honestly, it is really often a sign we don’t have a clear program in place that we’re strategically progressing or that our recovery and fueling isn’t ideal.

And constantly seeking to be sore may be why we feel like we’re working really hard yet not seeing progress.

Instead everything we include in our workouts should be designed with a purpose and repeated to progress.

But just because a clear progression or weekly schedule we repeat is key, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t include diversity.

Actually diversity of movement is ESSENTIAL and that’s why it is Tip #10….

Exercise diversity helps us see better results faster.

Diversity of movements done over the weekly schedule can help us create progression through the same but different and target different aspects of muscles to different extents.

We can diversify the moves we use through different types of resistances…

Through adding instability, whether an unstable surface or even by making a move more unilateral, such as an 80/20 deadlift or single leg deadlift over a bilateral one.

Or even through slightly different postures, positions or ranges of motion.

We also have to remember that different muscles in a muscle group may have different joints they impact and control movement of and therefore will be worked by different joint actions.

For example, if you want to make sure you hit your entire hamstring muscle group, you can’t just include a deadlift, which is a hip hinge.

You also need to include a knee flexion movement like a lying leg curl.

So over the weekly schedule you create, don’t just reuse the same moves. Think about including a diversity to target the same muscles in different ways!

And guess what? Some of these moves you may not like and they may feel awkward. GOOD!

Tip #11 is to do awkward moves you don’t like.

Those moves we don’t like, that feel awkward, are often also moves that address our weak links.

They often improve our balance, stability and our mind-body connection so we ultimately get stronger, can run faster and see better muscle gains.

They are the moves that test our coordination. That make us check our egos with loads.

They keep us young and able to react quickly in every day life while recruiting the correct muscles efficiently in the right order to perform those lifts we may want to beast mode out.

So stop skipping them! They truly are the key to being functionally stronger and often even lifting more with our big heavy lifts.

And not only should you stop skipping these awkward moves, you need to stop skipping your warm up.

Yup Tip #12 is the oh so unsexy tip of – Don’t skip your warm up.

Feel like you’re getting older and just have to accept aches and pains?

You don’t. You just have to stop trying to get away with skipping your prehab work and warm up.

Honestly, this is something we shouldn’t have tried to get away with skipping in the first place and the fact that we did is why more aches and pains add up as we get older.

But we can change that by including a proper warm up now.

A proper warm up makes sure our muscles and joints are ready to work through a full range of motion from the first rep we do with weights.

Our warm up isn’t us wasting time before we get to the good stuff. It is what helps us get results from all the hard work we put in.

If you want to lift more, run faster, cycle further, a proper warm up with foam rolling, stretching and activation is what will help you do just that.

And I know this sucks to hear…I know a lot of what I’ve mentioned goes against some of what you’ve done in the past, but…

You can’t expect to see a new and better result doing what you’ve always done.

That’s why Tip #13 is to embrace being uncomfortable.

Stop fearing something different.

That different thing you’re resisting is probably what you need to get to a new goal.

Because if what you’ve always done worked, you’d have achieved results already.

But we have to step outside our comfort zone and risk being bad at something to learn and grow.

Don’t hold yourself back sticking with what you just feel comfortable with. Build off of that.

Now that being said, you also have to recognize that the more changes you make at once, the more of a cost you’ll feel before the reward.

That’s why I like clients to embrace being uncomfortable but also avoid the all or nothing attitude.

It’s why Tip #14 is to evolve YOUR lifestyle.

Meet yourself where you’re at to build small changes off of that and slowly push your comfort zone.

Because one size doesn’t fit all and there is no perfect plan.

Even what used to work for us will change as WE are constantly changing.

Your lifestyle, body and needs are not the same now as they were years ago.

Not to mention even our schedule shifts over the year as well as our priorities, impacting the habits that are actually realistic for us now.

That’s why we always need to assess where we are currently first to move forward.

When you set that GPS to get you to a new location, you don’t just enter your destination…

You enter your current location. We need that same starting point to map out our roadmap to results.

Which brings me to the boring but essential 15th tip…Plan ahead.

We wouldn’t just get in a car and drive around aimlessly hoping to get to our destination, yet that’s what we so often do with our fitness goals.

We say what we want then just start doing random moves and diets.

Without a plan, we have no direction.

We have no process we can trust.

And we don’t know what is and isn’t working.

So ultimately we get no where.

Failing to plan is planning to fail…cliche and oh so true.

Don’t repeat the same mistakes. Use these tips and plan our your program to achieve your goals. Which 1 tip will you focus on first?

Ready to build your leanest, strongest body EVER no matter your age?

Learn more about my 1:1 Online Coaching!

–> Learn More

Exercise and Fat Loss (5 Things You Need To Know)

Exercise and Fat Loss (5 Things You Need To Know)

by | Sep 2, 2024 | Blog, Diet

You can’t out-exercise your diet.

Boom. Mic drop. That’s it.

And yet we’ve all thought…

“I’m training so hard, why can’t I lose weight?!”

The simple fact is…our diet needs to be dialed in to match our training if we want body recomp to happen.

Now…you may be thinking, “But I HAVE lost weight before by just adding on to my training.”

But this attempt to out exercise our diet ultimately SABOTAGES our long-term success.

And it can be why we start even blaming our AGE for our lack of results.

I want to break down why you aren’t losing weight despite exercising longer and harder

and then how you can adjust your diet to lose fat while gaining muscle even if it has felt impossible in the past!

These 5 tips I’ll go over to adjust your diet are what helped me personally because honestly

…I tried to out exercise my diet for the longest time

I literally felt like I could do anything I needed in the gym to see results, but adjusting my diet felt impossible.

I even told myself I simply couldn’t adjust my diet because I liked food too much.

But I realized that was just an excuse.

That I was simply more comfortable being uncomfortable in the gym than I was with adjusting my diet.

However, once I got out of my own way and started adjusting my portions of protein, carbs and fats,

not only did I lose weight but I gained muscle and felt more energized in my training sessions and all around every day life!

But first…why trying to out exercise your diet fails.

And this all comes back to why it works initially…

We’re creating that calorie deficit by adding in more movement.

If you don’t eat more to compensate, by simply adding in extra movement, you’re going to burn more calories and create that calorie deficit.

But the exact same reason we can lift more, run or cycle further faster, is the reason why we ultimately DON’T keep burning more calories over time.

We grow stronger and our body becomes more efficient.

This means that unless we keep doing more, adding on more to our training, we won’t keep burning more.

And we will even start needing LESS energy to repeat the same activities.

Again this is a GOOD thing as it is why we get fitter.

But it is also why our weight loss will often plateau over time.

If we try to keep adding in more to our workouts, making them longer even, we often may see another little drop in weight but then can even see weight start to creep back on.

Not to mention suffer from burnout and injury, which can completely throw us out of any healthy habits we’ve built and lead to us not being able to train at all.

But we may see our weight go up despite trying to increase our activity level to burn more calories because our body will start to find ways to conserve energy.

The more extreme the calorie deficit we try to create through our training, the more our body will rebel.

Our body wants to maintain essential bodily functions which take energy.

And the more you push that calorie deficit to extremes through exercising more, the more our body finds ways to fidget and move less as well as down regulate other energy usage through the day.

It’s why we can even see muscle loss, or our muscle building efforts be sabotaged while working harder in the gym.

This is why if you really want all of your hard work in the gym to pay off, and to create a calorie deficit that leads to fat loss as you even build lean muscle, while keeping you feeling fueled and energized, you can’t avoid the hard of adjusting your diet!

And it isn’t just about cutting calories through how you adjust your nutrition.

While calories in vs. calories out matter for weight loss, macros matter most for body recomp.

The types of foods you consume can not only have an impact on your body recomp results but even how FUELED you feel and the energy you have to be active and alert throughout the day.

Your macros can even impact your recovery and sleep.

And the exact portions of proteins, carbs and fats may vary based on your activity level, needs and goals.

But for most of us, even knowing this…the process of adjusting our diet can feel impossible.

That’s why I want to go over 5 key things to help you embrace adjusting your nutrition to help you lose weight and keep it off!

Number 1 being something that truly was the biggest game changer for me…

Don’t cut out the foods you love first.

I love dessert. And every time I would try to adjust my diet to lose weight, I would cut out dessert.

I knew it wasn’t “healthy” and very calorie dense.

So it seemed like the “easiest” thing to remove.

The thing was…it was also the thing I loved the most and the hardest change MENTALLY to make.

Ultimately I always would have willpower run out at some point and end up overindulging in all of the foods I’d tried to restrict and resist.

Once I started planning in a dessert FIRST and working my other meals around it, I finally created something more sustainable.

Because often it is just the fact we’ve told ourselves we “can’t” have something that makes us want it even more.

There are even nights now where I don’t have dessert and I don’t feel deprived because I know that A. I can work it in if I want and B. I’ve recognized what I include or don’t include is my CHOICE.

But to start, making sure I wasn’t feeling like I couldn’t have things I loved helped make the changes easier and built that momentum to achieve results!

Which brings me to the next tip I feel is so essential to creating true nutritional changes…

Keep those adjustments SMALL.

Too often with our diet, we also make these sweeping changes that make us miserable and often leave us very hungry.

Our body doesn’t like change. So dramatic calorie adjustments or changes in our macros, going from high carb to low carb, can make us feel low energy, hungry, deprived and just off.

It makes us not want to stick with the changes for long.

So instead, we want to make small changes, meeting our body where it is at.

The more we focus on just one small tweak, the more we allow our body to quickly adjust so we want to add on more.

This process of small swaps and changes is less mentally uncomfortable and overwhelming, which can lead to us feeling more motivated to keep building!

It can be exactly what we need to ease into being more comfortable being uncomfortable with dietary changes and stop us from feeling like we just can’t adjust our diet.

Because one size doesn’t fit all. Just because a fitness competitor is eating only chicken and broccoli doesn’t mean you need to, especially to start!

Now…I mentioned earlier…macros really matter.

And specifically protein is key. But it is also something many of us struggle to increase, which is why tip #3 is to map in protein first to every meal.

I started to realize that protein was an afterthought in many of my meals instead of something I mapped in first and worked other foods around to create delicious dishes.

I also realized how many meals barely had any protein in them.

I’ve seen this same trend with clients.

We think we’re eating a lot of protein. But when we actually look at our meals, we realize how many don’t really have a main protein source.

So instead of focusing on cutting anything out, work to first add protein in!

Make sure every meal has a protein source and even add just one ounce of protein to meals that do contain a protein already.

This addition of protein can create satiety, and while you’re technically adding in more calories, often it leads to us eating less of other things, including snacking less,

and it can even help us burn more calories at rest because protein requires more energy to be used by our body to digest it.

And as odd as it sounds to add in something that could make you consume more calories, studies have actually shown that a high protein diet is the only diet to not cause unwanted fat gain while in a slight calorie surplus.

Not to mention, often in eating more protein, we will make it easier on ourselves to create a small calorie deficit without feeling super hungry and lower energy.

Which brings me to the 4th key tip…

Stop slashing your calories super low!

Often we feel we can’t stick with dietary changes because the first change we make is to cut our calories down and create as big a calorie deficit as we can.

If weight loss is about eating less than you burn, eating as little as possible should be better, right?

WRONG!

Not only does this lead to us losing muscle, creating metabolic adaptations and hormonal imbalances that fight against our weight loss goals, but we also feel miserable and often run out of willpower to keep restricting as intensely.

And when our willpower runs out, we can end up overeating which can lead to us regaining not only any weight we lost but even more.

In this process of regaining the weight, we also aren’t regaining any muscle we lost. Just fat. And this ultimately will only make any future dieting attempts even harder.

So instead of slashing your calories super low, focus on adjusting your macros, increasing that protein first.

Just by adjusting your macros, you may see body recomp start to happen.

From here, you may find that even just cutting 100 calories from your maintenance level can lead to amazing results where you still feel energized.

We just have to remember that super big calorie deficits mentally derail us and also don’t lead to true fat loss any faster!

The final tip I’ve found to be so key in helping clients make dietary changes is to stop saying that any change we make is a lifestyle.

While we want things to be sustainable so we embrace change, the simply fact is not everything we do that is new will feel comfortable.

And what you do to reach a goal is NOT what you will do to maintain it.

We don’t do ANYTHING in one form exactly for the rest of our life.

There are constantly changes and tweaks and adjustments we are making.

And we need to embrace that.

The more we recognize that evolution will happen over time, the more we also make it easier to embrace some short term sacrifices knowing things will evolve as we go.

We may choose to cut out cocktails for a bit to see better results,

while adding them back in as we reach our goals and transition to maintenance.

While we can’t go back to simply what we did prior to losing the weight, there is constant evolution in our diet to match our body where it is at.

And there will be a different balance we strike over time as we create that new weight set point.

Remind yourself that not everything will feel fully sustainable to start, like a “lifestyle,” but that over you can tweak and adjust to create your balance!

If we want to reach our goals, our diet and our workouts need to evolve to work together and we need to find a balance!

We can’t out exercise our nutrition and our nutrition can really help us feel, move and look our best!

If you’re ready to dial in your diet and your workouts to see fabulous results at any and EVERY age, check out my Private Online Coaching.

–> Learn more and schedule your consultation