weight loss tips Archives Page 8 of 20

7 Tips to Burn Fat (WHILE BUILDING MUSCLE!)

by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 23, 2025 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

You want to build muscle and lose fat? Great!

Here are 7 steps to adjust your diet and workouts to focus on body recomposition…

Step 1: Determine your primary goal.

Yes, you can achieve changes in both your muscle mass and fat mass at the same time. And this ideally should be where your focus is if you want to look and feel your best.

But this is a slow process.

So stop searching for a fad diet or quick fix.

However, as much as we can do both at the same time, we need a singular primary focus.

Do you want to lose fat while retaining and building muscle? Or do you want to build muscle while not putting on fat or even losing it?

Distinguishing between the two is key to help you see the best results and strategically outline your calorie intake and macros.

To determine which is right for you…

If you are basically at your desired weight and near the leanness level you want? Then you want to focus on building muscle while losing fat.

However, if you have more weight to lose and want to look lean and defined while adding muscle to stay functionally fit as you get older, you may start with focusing on fat loss while building muscle.

The difference seems small but determining your primary focus will impact your calorie intake, the macros you use, and even how you include cardio in your routine.

But before you can make changes, you need to understand where you’re starting from to adjust off of.

Step 2: Start tracking.

If you’re already tracking, YAY!

You can jump to step 4 and 5 to adjust your protein and calories off of your current intake, although circle back to step 3 for your workouts.

If you aren’t yet tracking, you need to spend 7-14 days logging your current intake.

Not only is this eye opening as to the other changes we can make that will pay off but it also helps us get used to the habit of tracking.

Logging our food is a new habit for many of us and one we may even mentally be resistant to. It’s not exactly the most fun task ever.

But what gets measured gets managed.

We can also start to see the act of tracking not as restriction or judgement but just DATA off of which we can adjust.

The more we know our current lifestyle, the more we can evolve it vs trying to fit ourselves into a diet and exercise mold.

Because if we want recomp, we need to create habits we can be truly consistent with. And macros are going to matter.

But we need changes based off of what we are doing currently.

So just track. Get your average calories for a week or two. Look at your average protein, carbs and fats.

Understand the make up of your food and even how you feel with your current meals schedule and diet!

Step 3: Don’t go through the motions with your strength training.

Diet is key for fat loss, but your workouts are essential for building muscle.

No matter your primary focus, strength work should be your priority.

Too often we prioritize cardio or even turn our strength workouts into cardio sessions when we want to lean down.

While these can make us feel worked or burn more calories on our fitness trackers so that we feel like we’re working hard toward our goals, they can actually hinder our progress.

Stop cutting out rest between sets and instead focus on really maximizing and pushing with each rep you do.

Too little rest doesn’t allow you to truly challenge yourself with progression in moves and you’ll find your 100% intensity dips over the rounds.

Instead you want to feel ready to push the discomfort each round to the point you would have liked to stop a couple of reps before you did or used the weight right below what you used.

You need the rest you planned in not necessarily because you’re out of breath but because you’ve pushed your muscles and want to go just as heavy the next round or even heavier.

And if you’re always hitting the top of the rep range you’ve outlined, go heavier.

The more advanced you are, the longer you’ve been training, the harder it is to build muscle.

You’ve simply adapted to more.

So you need to push progression in different ways. Don’t get into a rut doing the same moves over and over and over again or only progress exercises in one way.

Use different training techniques and workout designs, vary postures and positions. Combine tools and change up tempos.

Combine compound and isolation moves in your routine.

Use isolation moves specifically for those stubborn areas to work muscles closer to failure and create more volume leading to better gains!

Step 4: Center your meals on protein.

After tracking your baseline, you now want to start by adjusting your protein.

If you want to lose fat as you gain muscle, your goal will be 40%-45% of your calories coming from protein.

Not only can this start to create that deficit because of the energy expended to digest protein, but it will also help protect your lean muscle as you do potentially create more of a deficit to lose fat as you progress.

And the more of a deficit we are in, the greater our protein demands become to protect our lean muscle mass.

Especially as we get older and are less able to utilize protein as efficiently and struggle more to build and retain lean muscle mass because our hormone levels aren’t as optimal, high protein is key!

But more protein isn’t always the answer as much as I’m a huge protein advocate.

If you want to build muscle as you lose fat, your protein will be lower than when you’re in a deficit.

It may be in that 30-40% range.

You may start toward the top of that range and drop it as you increase your calories from your current maintenance.

In that surplus 30-35% of our calories coming from protein can be more than enough.

As much as protein is key so are carbs.

Carbs provide immediate fuel for our workouts to push harder and create that progression for growth and are also protein sparring.

Carbs help us utilize protein more efficiently and create that anabolic environment for growth.

Because we aren’t depleted and are getting more than enough calories to support all bodily functions and tissue repair, our protein requirements are lower than when we are in a deficit.

But no matter your primary focus, first adjust your protein intake. Then if muscle building is your primary focus, pay attention to those carbs, keeping them above 30% of your calories.

Step 5: Set your calories.

Take a couple of weeks to settle in with your new protein intake.

If you’re maintaining your weight at this calorie intake and seeing inches either increase in areas you want to build muscle or be lost in areas you want to lose fat, don’t change your calories just yet.

The macros alone have had an impact.

But then create that small deficit or surplus.

Too often we cut our calories super low which backfires in muscle being lost or we add a huge increase and ultimately just gain more fat.

If you want to lose fat while gaining muscle, drop your calories by 100 to start. While you can go as big as 500 calories into a deficit, that 500 calorie drop is EXTREME.

If you do that, do that strategically as a mini cut for a very short time or you are going to fight against your body recomp goals.

If you want to build muscle while losing fat, add 100 calories, although if you are super active, 300-400 can be more aggressive.

The more you make small changes and allow your body to adjust, the better your results will be.

Make the 100 calorie change then maintain that for a few weeks before adjusting further.

This checkpoint or end date every 2-3 weeks can help you trust the process but also adjust as your body’s needs will shift or even you adjust workouts.

As you build muscle, you may find you need to eat more to continue progressing and what once was a small deficit has even become “too big,” but more on this in Step 7.

Step 6: Adjust your cardio.

Plain and simple, strength workouts are the priority.

Focus on building strength and muscle in your training and you’ll see results.

But that doesn’t mean cardio isn’t valuable for your health and can’t be used strategically to help expedite results.

It also doesn’t mean you can’t include it if you love your long rides or runs BUT you need to know the cost of everything to even adjust your nutrition to match.

Too often we turn to cardio to burn more calories which fights against our body composition goals. So if you don’t enjoy the cardio but think you need to do it to lose fat, you don’t.

When it comes to optimizing your cardio for body recomp, walking should be your main form of cardio.

It isn’t catabolic, allows you to recover for future sessions to lift heavy and build muscle, helps you keep your metabolic rate higher and can actually be a stress reliever to maintain better hormonal balance.

If you do it post workout, it can even help you better utilize the mobilized fatty acids from the areas around what you worked.

So if you have a stubborn area, like belly fat you really fighting, you may include your walks on workouts where you worked your core more intensively. While we can’t spot reduce an area with a bazillion crunches, we do mobilize more fatty acids from areas around the muscles we worked.

Walking just helps you then utilize them!

But focus your cardio on walking for that aerobic base and body recomp.

Very short sprint sessions can also be included to help with recovery and even promote optimal conditioning. Be conscious though that you aren’t creating too great a calorie deficit while including these or use them strategically when building muscle as your main focus.

And if you’re focused on building muscle, consider sprints that are short with 3-5 times the rest especially over more 20 on, 10 off type interval training protocols you may use when fat loss is the main focus.

Step 7: Ditch the scale.

Body recomp means often not seeing the scale change quickly or even seeing the opposite of what we think should be happening happen.

If you’ve used the scale in the past as your only measure of progress, it has probably prevented you from implementing these habits in the way that you needed.

Because the scale may not change and recomp can be happening.

The scale may increase, and you may be seeing true fat loss and muscle gains. And then you may even need to be eating more.

But if you were only judging based on the scale, when seeing “no progress” or “backward progress,” you may cut calories lower, even doing the opposite of what you actually need.

So if you’re serious about recomp, while you can still track on the scale, focus on measurements and progress photos. Those will tell you far more. And for 5 signs you’re burning fat not muscle, I’ve linked to another video in the video description!

Because how we track progress is key to us maintaining the habits we need long enough to truly see results snowball.

Remember body recomp is a slow process. Focus on your consistency in those habit change and give results time to build!

Ready to build your leanest, strongest body ever with a custom program and clear mentorship in what you need?

Shameless plug for my 1:1 Coaching!

–> Schedule A Consultation

10 Years Of Fat Loss Advice In Under 10 Minutes

by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 9, 2025 | Blog, Diet, Exercises

I wanted to lose fat and get ab definition for the longest time and struggled hard. I blamed it on willpower. My love of food. My genetics.

But I realized it was that I didn’t fully understand these 10 hard truths I’m going to share with you now.

Because I want to help you jump ahead using what I learned over more than a decade!

Starting with the fact that faster results mean CHOOSING to make more sacrifices.

Think of it this way, we all have a budget.

The more motivated we are, the more comfortable being uncomfortable with the changes we are, the greater our budget. The more “in pain” we are, the greater the cost we’ll pay to see results happen faster.

We’ll embrace harder changes. We’ll choke down that chicken and broccoli if you need. The COST is worth the reward.

But if we aren’t as motivated, the goal isn’t as important, other priorities are in the way and we really aren’t comfortable with the changes needed, our budget will be smaller.

The cost of some of the changes, working out 5 days a week, may not be worth it for you.

We need to recognize our budget when we determine how we want to make changes. We need to OWN that we choose how to spend it!

And owning we have a smaller budget isn’t a bad thing, it just helps us manage expectations.

This can help us recognize if we do want faster results, we may have to increase our budget!

And with habit change, what we like to do and need to do often aren’t one in the same.

We may LIKE follow along workouts. We may LIKE not eating protein at every meal. But your goals don’t truly care what you like.

I’m not saying to force yourself to constantly repeat habits you hate. Those won’t last.

But we need to recognize when we’re saying, “That won’t work” to a new habit, or “I don’t like this” and we’re not truly considering, “Is this what is needed to reach my goal?”

You’ve got to ask yourself, “Would I really care if I had to do (insert thing you don’t like here) if I reached my goal?”

Because many of the daily habits we do to have the life we want aren’t things we love. We just do them.

Give new habits TIME to really feel what they are like. Set a firm testing length to allow yourself to fully embrace them and see how they work.

To lose fat and maintain a new physique you can’t just eat and train in the way you always have.

Because your results are the sum of your habits.

That being said, we are creatures of comfort and convenience. The harder a new habit is, the less likely we are to embrace it. The easier an old habit is, the harder it is to break.

That’s why hard truth #3 is Adjust don’t eliminate.

The more we can ADJUST what we are doing over eliminating things, the easier and more sustainable the changes feel.

Instead of just cutting out foods you love, first start by seeing how you can…

Adjust portions of these foods at meals, maybe two oreos and greek yogurt over 4 oreos.

Or B. Making healthier swaps to the recipes or dishes, like baking sweet potato french fries instead of frying them. Or even making a pizza at home loaded down with veggies and protein.

Yes, there are more and less nutrient dense foods, but we need to own our lifestyle if we want to change our lifestyle. Change is a process that doesn’t happen overnight.

So if you enjoy pizza and french fries and ice cream, instead of just telling yourself these things are bad and that you can’t have them, find a balance working them in.

Same thing goes for macros. We need to stop demonizing any specific macro.

Fats will not make you fat. Carbs are not going to cause you to store belly fat.

Both of these macros are key and the exact amounts you need will vary based on your activity level, health concerns and age.

Even cycling macro breakdowns that are low carb or low fat may improve your fat loss results.

While fat is key for hormonal balance, and going lower carb can help us deplete glycogen stores to tap into our fat stores, we also want to note the more active we are, the more carbs we may need.

Carbs are protein sparring, improve our thyroid health and create that anabolic environment for muscle growth. They can be key to us getting that definition especially when training hard.

And by cycling higher carb after higher fat/lower carb ratios, you may benefit from what is deemed the “Whoosh Effect.”

If you’ve ever felt like you looked SOFTER while going lower carb, your fat cells may be holding on to water.

When we increase carbs after a lower carb period, your body can often release this water, helping you see the definition you want as your body feels it is then getting the immediate fuel it needs to stop basically protecting your fat stores.

So stop demonizing any macro. They are all key and should be cycled!

And while all macros matter, hard truth #5 is protein matters most for fat loss.

When we create that calorie deficit, we even want to think about 40% of our calories coming from protein.

This extra emphasis on protein when in a deficit not only helps you lose fat but keep your metabolic rate higher through protecting the lean muscle mass you have.

We need more protein when we’re in a deficit to not only fuel muscle mass growth and retention but also to rebuild and maintain the health of our other body tissues and processes.

If we don’t focus on protein, especially while training hard, our body is going to seek out those amino acids for repair from wherever it can. And our biggest and easiest to use reserves are our current muscle tissue, which we don’t want to lose!

So focus on protein!

This can also help you feel fuller and create a greater calorie burn even at rest as protein requires more energy to be digested!

And going hand in hand with increasing protein is focusing on our hydration!

As we increase our protein, we also want to increase our water intake to help our body process the protein efficiently.

Water is also required for many metabolic and hydrolysis reactions meaning that water helps our bodies burn fat and keeps our metabolic rate higher.

Lipolysis, the process by which our bodies break down fat to make it absorbable and usable, is also dependent on water.

So staying hydrated means better fat loss results. And with getting enough water, make sure you aren’t ignoring the importance of electrolytes to maintain that balance, especially if you are lower carb!

And if we want the best results possible, our diet and our workouts need to work together.

But often when we want to lose fat, we turn to doing more cardio because we often not only feel like we’re working harder, but we see that higher calorie burn on our tracker.

However, this desire to burn more calories in our workouts and out exercise our diet or even create a bigger deficit through our training holds us back.

You need to STOP trying to out exercise your diet.

Have you ever thought…“I workout so hard consistently but I’m not losing fat. I don’t get it…”

It’s your diet. No ifs ands or buts about it.

And you can say you eat well or eat clean all you want, but you can still overeat or eat portions not in line with your goals while eating quality fuel.

You can’t just rely on doing more in your training to burn more calories and make up for any deviations in your nutrition. You can’t just have a cheat day then hit the treadmill to make up for it. While this may have once worked, it’s what’s going to sabotage your metabolic health long term so you start to blame age for your weight gain.

You also have to recognize when you are creating an even greater deficit from your training and then NOT eating enough to fuel and repair. This can also prevent your fat loss results and lead to muscle being lost.

Training should be about moving well, staying functionally fit and healthy and even improve our muscle mass to keep our metabolic rate higher, not just be a time we try to burn as many calories as possible!

When we try to burn as many calories in our sessions as possible, we also often turn our strength workouts into purely cardio sessions. Stop doing this!

While this may make your workouts feel hard and you feel destroyed, this is preventing you from truly lifting heavy enough to promote those optimal muscle gains.

So if you’re feeling super out of breath from your lifting sessions while cutting out rest then complaining you aren’t building muscle, this may be part of the problem!

The cold hard truth is strength workouts are honestly more beneficial for fat loss than cardio especially if we want to truly look more defined and maintain our results long term.

When we build muscle, we help ourselves maintain metabolic health and improve our insulin sensitivity and so much more that only makes losing fat that much easier!

So while cardio has benefit, and shouldn’t be demonized, emphasize strength work for fat loss!

Now some of these truths may not sound fun and I do like to emphasize the hard so we recognize that change isn’t easy.

But if we don’t find ways to make our lifestyle changes FUN, we won’t stick with them long term.

While you may not enjoy doing a specific habit directly, try to connect it with other things you enjoy or allow it to lead into those things so you can change your mindsets about it.

If you like cooking, get yourself some new macro friendly cookbooks.

If you like listening to podcasts and hate meal prepping, get to listen to extra podcasts because you’re meal prepping as you do it.

Even get yourself new exciting tools to make what may feel like a boring habit more fun. Things like new leggings can make you want to workout. Or a fun water bottle can help you remember to hydrate!

But find ways to help yourself make habits more fun, if not at least tolerable!

And then…Fight the urge to do more.

When we want results faster, it’s tempting to do more in an attempt to try to speed things up.

This almost always backfires. It can not only physically but mentally burn us out. It can lead to us doing completely unsustainable habits.

The more you feel the mental resistance against a change, even one I’ve listed here, the more you need to break it down to find the smallest step forward you will embrace.

When I say increase protein to 40%, if you’re hitting like 15% of your calories from it, first shoot for 16%, maybe 20.

But realize that an ideal may be the goal…eventually, but you have to meet yourself where you are at now over always trying to do the maximum possible!

For a custom plan and guidance to help you rock those results and create LASTING changes, check out my 1:1 Online Coaching.

–> Apply and Schedule A Consultation Call

10 Ways to Progress Your Workouts (Without Adding Weight)

by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 26, 2025 | Blog, Exercises, Functional Fitness, Workouts

Weights are not the only way to progress your workouts and build strength and muscle.

And the more advanced an exerciser you are, the more you have to even turn to other forms of progression in our workouts to keep seeing results.

These tips are helpful too when training at home or traveling to help you create that challenge to build.

So whether you’re finding yourself stuck at the loads you’re currently using, don’t have heavier weights available or simply need to challenge yourself through the same but different, these 10 forms of progression will help.

#1: Combine Equipment.

Different forms of resistance work in different ways.

Combining two tools can not only help you add resistance when you don’t have a clearly heavier weight but also take advantage of the different ways tools challenge you.

Try combining a band with your dumbbell exercise.

This way you not only have the weight of the dumbbell, but the challenge of the band that increases as it is stretched and forces you to control and decelerate as it shortens.

You’ll be surprised by how even a light band exponentially increases the challenge.

You’ll even find this can emphasize or activate different muscles to a greater extent. Like on a single leg deadlift, you may be surprised by how much more you are able to engage that glute!

#2: Adjust The Range Of Motion.

Changing up the range of motion we are working through can help us challenge our body in different ways.

By shrinking the range of motion and doing more pulses with an exercise, we can spend more time under tension.

This can really isolate a muscle to work it to fatigue.

We can even work muscles under differing amounts of stretch to not only build muscle but address weaker links or areas in the movement.

And pulses can be combined with moves that work the same muscles through the full range of motion to take muscles closer to fatigue when we don’t have heavier weights.

We can also increase the range of motion for exercises to increase the difficulty of a move and load the muscle under greater stretch.

Loading a muscle through a greater stretch has been shown to not only improve muscle gains but also helps you really create stability and strength through a full range of motion so that you mobility work truly pays off!

#3: Create Instability.

When we think about making a move more unstable, we may go straight to adding in an unstable surface like doing a move on a balance board or bosu.

And while these are ways to create instability and force muscles to really activate more and work harder to stay balanced, instability can also be created through taking a bilateral, or two leg or arm movement and making it a unilateral or single leg or arm exercise.

Exercises can be included all along that continuum from two sided to one sided as well based on our exact needs and goals and even to use progression through the same but different.

For example, you could do a two legged deadlift variation, an 80/20 variation, a slider variation, a bench variation, a hand assisted variation and then a full single leg deadlift.

And even if you can do the full single leg, you may use these others to create more or less stability based on the loads you have. Even combining two forms of resistance as you vary the stability demands!

You’ll even notice how other tools besides just an unstable surface, like the sliders, can add instability.

So don’t be afraid to get creative even using things like the suspension trainer or bands to add a little stability challenge to moves!

#4: Adjust Load Placement.

Load placement, or how you hold the weights or resistance, can not only challenge different muscles to different extents, but can actually be another way to create instability as well.

An uneven or offset load, holding two different weights, or a weight on just one side, can really challenge your core especially to stabilize and work.

Where you hold the weight can help you progress moves to target different areas without necessarily going heavier too.

Consider the goblet position, holding a weight up at your chest to work your core more during a lunge over down at your sides.

Even load just one side to work those obliques and fight that rotation and lean.

And on lower body moves, like reverse lunges or step ups, holding the weight in the opposing hand can even help you focus on targeting those glutes more.

But varying where you are placing the weight can create a new challenge to help you build muscle and strength!

#5: Change Up The Tempo Of Moves.

This can mean pausing and holding in moves, it can mean slowing them down or even speeding them up based on your goal for the exercise.

But adjusting the pace at which you do moves can really have an impact on whether you’re even working to build power or strength.

And both improving your strength and your power can help you build muscle overall.

Don’t be afraid to even use different tempos throughout the move.

You may slow down the lower down in a pull up, but return to the top quickly. You may even add in pauses at different points in the move to work on weaker areas.

Slowing down the eccentric especially, or the part of the move where the prime mover muscle is lengthening, can not only lead to greater muscle gains but even allow you to do a move advanced variation of an exercise than you otherwise would be able to.

And this can help you further build strength. I love using it especially to build up moves like push ups or pull ups!

#6: Spend More Time Under Tension.

Tempos really have an impact on your time under tension, but I wanted to mention time under tension, and specifically more time under tension as its own form of progression for a reason…

Because you can also impact time under tension through range of motion and even workout design.

With time under tension, you are getting a muscle to spend more time working.

Slowing down the tempo of a move makes a muscle work for longer, but so can adjusting the range of motion, both increasing it but also shrinking it.

In moves like even the Get Up Lunge, you’re increasing the range of motion of a basic lunge to go all the way down to the ground, but you’re also shrinking it in that you’re not standing up at the top.

So your legs never completely get a break. They’re in that working range of motion the entire time. And this can create a great challenge without you adding heavier and heavier loads.

Even adjusting workout design to combine moves or use intervals of work, which I’ll go over more in tip 8 can have an impact!

But getting those muscles to work hard for longer can help you increase that challenge!

#7: Switch Up Postures and Positions.

Simply adjusting the posture or position you are doing an exercise from can dramatically change the challenge of it and even the extent to which you feel muscles working.

We don’t realize how much we can often use other muscles or even seek out mobility from other areas to assist.

So even changing up an overhead press from standing to seated may make us have to check our ego and even go lighter with weights.

Changes in our posture can even help us target different aspects of a muscle.

Like a glute bridge and curl is going to hit our hamstrings in a different way than a deadlift because we are working the muscles by moving at different joints.

So don’t be afraid to vary how you’re doing those same basic moves or even consider how to include different exercises to target the same muscles!

#8: Vary Your Workout Design.

We can often get very “married” to specific ways of programming.

I often see people wanting their body part splits over the weeks and workouts with one move done in isolation.

Or they need specific intervals or circuits.

But we need to realize that sometimes varying up our reps, sets, rest intervals and such can really impact how we’re challenging our bodies.

Especially when you don’t have heavier weights, consider timed intervals of work to help you push past failure and do those few extra reps.

Consider even back to back intervals working the same area but with one move that is compound and one that is isolation.

This combination of isolation and compound can even be key if you don’t use intervals but do count reps and sets.

While we may often do a superset when we have heavier weights to allow one area to rest as the other works, sometimes doing back to back moves for the same muscle group can help us work it closer to fatigue when we don’t have heavier weights to challenge ourselves.

Don’t be afraid too to use different rep ranges. If you can challenge yourself for 6 reps great, but if you then have another move that you need 15 or even 20 reps to feel add up, don’t be afraid to use both rep ranges even in the same series!

But realize that how you adjust exercise order and even use different rep and set designs can have a huge impact!

#9: Increase Training Density.

How we design our workouts can also have a huge impact on our training density. But I think it is key to note this as a form of progression on its own.

Because training density is the amount of work you can complete in a certain amount of time.

And often to try to do more volume of work (more reps and set), our workouts just get longer and longer.

But this doesn’t have to be the case.

While we don’t just want to cut out rest from our workouts and turn our strength training into cardio and we don’t want to just add more reps and sets when we don’t have weights to create more fatigue, we can use training density to our advantage to see results.

Because often when we are training with lighter loads, a greater volume of work is needed.

This is also why workout design is so important to consider. Doing even things like timed supersets, compound sets or circuits, or Density Training, can be key to helping you get in more work without increasing time.
Your goal is to use harder variations and basically move more weight but without increasing time and through this create progression.

So consider each week how you can do a harder variation or another rep but in the 10-15 minutes you’ve set for that series!

#10: Adjust Your Workout Schedule.

Many of us may have grown up seeing those body part split workout schedules where each day you work a different area.

But not only have studies shown that more frequently working an area, 2-3 times a week, can be beneficial, but the more you don’t have loads to challenge you, the more you do want to use volume of work, or even training density to your advantage.

And this isn’t just in a single workout, but even something to consider over an extended timeline of a week.

If you are training with limited tools or struggling to build an area, consider adjusting your workout weekly split.

Consider more full body workouts or even hemisphere, dividing routines into upper and lower workouts.

You can even do anterior/posterior splits focusing more on those frontside vs. backside muscles in routines.

But vary what you’re including in your workouts to create that progression, even down to using different tools, different moves, different tempos, all of these other forms of progression, over the week to see results!

Remember we can create a challenge and see better results through not just adding weights but using these other 10 forms of progression! Which will you include in your workouts for a new challenge?

Want amazing workouts you can do anywhere? Check out my Dynamic Strength program…

–> LEARN MORE

15 Habits To Level Up Your Health & Fitness

by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 19, 2025 | Blog, Diet, Exercises, Habit Change

We are what we repeatedly do. If we want to reach our goals, we need to implement new habits daily.

But creating new habits isn’t as simple as learning something new.

It’s first becoming CONSCIOUS of daily habits we’re doing that are so comfortable we don’t even realize we are doing them to unlearn AS we also learn the new routines.

This process is hard and it’s why so often we don’t make the changes we need or stick with the new habits for long.

It’s why I want to share 15 habit hacks I wish I’d learned sooner that have helped me now see fabulous and lasting results while continuing to grow and improve!

#1: Follow the one minute rule.

“I’ll just do one minute.”

Any time I don’t want to do something, I set a timer and just say I’ll do one minute.

I almost never stop at one minute.

I do more.

But this small commitment gets me going and it makes the change or habit feel manageable.

If you’re fighting doing something new and not feeling like it, focus on a change that only takes one minute or even set a timer and commit one minute to it.

You’ll be surprised by how much more you do!

#2: Make the habit EXCITING.

Don’t get me wrong, drinking more water isn’t exciting if you’re working on your hydration.

Trying to meal prep or workout at times isn’t always fun.

BUT getting a new and fun water bottle can make you want to use it.

Getting a new protein flavor or fancy lunchbox can make you want to meal prep.

New shoes or cool leggings? You’ll want to wear them to workout.

So find little fun things that can incentivize you to want to do the habits you’re trying to create!

#3: Do it FIRST.

New habits that aren’t comfortable, that aren’t yet a priority in our minds, easily don’t make the cut on a busy day.

“I’ll start tomorrow,” we may even think.

But when we won’t prioritize things when life gets in the way, we need to make sure they are done first.

By doing those habits first in the day before other priorities we know we will do no matter what, we make those new habits important.

And we make sure we make time for them before our energy or motivation slides!

#4: Share the love.

Ever notice you go back to a restaurant or place you thought was the best thing EVER only to realize it wasn’t that good?

When that happens it’s because the EXPERIENCE of that place got tied to other things in that day or event we loved.

We can use this love connection to our advantage and create good feelings surrounding the new habits based on what we connect them with.

Really love a TV show? Walk or do mobility work while watching it.

Love a podcast? Meal prep as you listen.

Connect new habits you aren’t crazy about to good feeling to find yourself mentally embracing them more!

And even recognize if you’re constantly connecting new habits to NEGATIVE emotions to create that push back too!

#5: Embrace the DIScomfortable.

Yes I know the word is uncomfortable but I say discomfortable because A….Discomfort is where growth lives but B. Because it makes you kind of chuckle and also lower that resistance against being uncomfortable.

It’s weird and that takes away some of the negative we often associate with hard new things.

But making yourself uncomfortable with something new every single day for a period of time really helps you create new habits.

Because the goal isn’t just the ultimate fat loss or performance goal you want. It isn’t just a long-term focus.

The goal is actually in the thing you do THAT DAY.

And the more comfortable you become being uncomfortable, the more bigger habit changes along the way don’t feel that bad.

So set a goal to do a new habit to be that beginner or learner and even feel awkward every single day even if the habit isn’t focused on your main goal.

Get discomfortable and see growth happen faster as you see your discipline with new habits improve because you’ve realized you can do hard things!

#6: Do as little as possible.

When we make habit changes, we try to do everything at once.

We want to do more because we want results yesterday. We want to be perfect.

And this is exactly why so many habit changes fail.

Instead we need to think of the overall habit we want and find the easiest, smallest part of it we could do almost immediately.

That guarantees action.

And feeling successful with that often allows us to do more and mentally resist the change less.

It makes it easier to become disciplined with each part as we build because it feels more natural to start!

#7: Think “How can I be lazy with this?”

The more we make things easy on ourselves, the more mentally we will resist the change and quickly embrace doing more.

And the simple fact is, we only have so much time, energy and willpower.

We do have other priorities. And if we don’t own them, they’ll become our excuses.

So any new habit I do, I like to think to myself not only “How can I make this easier?” but also “How can I be lazy with it?”

I buy frozen meal prep. I started with old workout plans I had that didn’t make me write something new.

I plan in meals I’ve already have made and frozen foods.

While sure, I wanted to cook more whole natural foods and create new routines that truly built, using these other things allowed me to be lazier and not have those excuses pop up.

So don’t be afraid to improve but find ways to make things easier on yourself and be a bit lazy.

Use those pre-packaged foods to start if you need.

Get a pre-planned workout routine even if you write your own eventually. But do something so you can move forward!

#8: Make the appointment.

When something is an appointment with a set date and time and even a reminder on it we can see we have to do, we are more likely to do it.

When we give ourselves wiggle room with vague goals of 3 days a week of workouts, it’s easy for us to say “I’ll do it tomorrow” until we run out of days.

So own your schedule, create the appointment and set a time and day with reminders!

#9: Let habits evolve.

Habits we create can and should change over time.

How we dial in our workouts or our diet during January when we’re motivated will be different than the balance we strike during the holidays or a busy time of year for us.

This isn’t a bad thing.

BUT we need to be open to evolution in how we implement things over getting focused on their being one perfect variation.

Always seek to assess where you are RIGHT NOW and let habits shift based on what you need to stay consistent at that time!

Sometimes less is more!

#10: Plan AHEAD.

Yup this hack is unsexy. Most of us know it. Yet few of us do it.

We try to track macros for the first time and don’t plan ahead then get frustrated when we haven’t met our numbers.

But change requires us to make changes and often the only way we can see the changes we need is to PLAN AHEAD.

Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by not preparing.

Break down new habits and actions into little pieces you can do so you are not only prepared physically but even mentally for the challenges that may be ahead too!

#11: Pause To Reflect.

When something works, we often just keep moving forward.

When something doesn’t work, we either get down about the setback and give up or we try to brush it aside.

We don’t try to learn from both of these experiences.

But we learn more in the reflection than even in the doing.

We see what works. And we see what doesn’t. This is the way we can adjust to keep improving.

So as you create new habits, set end dates at which you’ll reflect and even tweak based on what you’re seeing in your progress!

But don’t get caught up in the doing and never pause to learn from it!

#12: Shut off your brain.

We’ve all been guilty of it…getting caught up in researching and learning only to never actually take action on something.

It’s why we can even sometimes think, “But I know what to do. Why can’t I do it?”

Knowing isn’t doing.

And in trying to learn all the potential outcomes or flaws or find a perfect program…

We can ultimately freeze ourselves with inaction.

Instead sometimes if you want a goal, you just have to choose a habit action and take it.

Then as you go, assess how it is working.

But getting started is often the hardest part. Once you get that out of the way and build that momentum, you can then seek to even learn more and improve.

The more you do, the more you do so do something to get started because thinking about what you COULD do will never move you forward.

#13: Question And Learn More.

Of course, there is a flip side to the “just take action” hack I just shared.

We also can’t think we know everything and are above learning and constantly questioning our own habits and mindsets.

Because it isn’t even that we’re learning these big new “ah-ha” things.

It’s often that we’re learning to be reminded of something in a new way at a time we need to hear it.

We’re learning to get perspective on something we can’t see from that outside vantage point.

So while we need to sometimes just pause our brains and act, we also can’t ever be above wanting to question and learn more!

The more you know, the more you realize that you don’t know. Always more to learn!

#14: Ask WHY?

There are habits we will mentally resist even when we break them down.

And when this happens, we need to ask WHY?

Because so often there is an underlying reason we need to address or NO habit will truly stick and be successful.

Yet too often we just write the habit off as not right for us over trying to truly learn about our needs, mindsets and priorities.
But the more we build that self awareness the more we realize how we can make changes that match what we need.

And part of asking why isn’t just diving into our own mindsets and beliefs…

It’s also about understanding why the change is needed.

The more we see the value and reason for the change, the more we will prioritize making it. The more we will value taking the time and energy to do it.

So use this powerful question to help yourself really understand what you need and the value of the habits to help yourself embrace them!

#15: Love Your Failures.

No matter how much you make small changes…

No matter how much you tweak and adjust…

No matter how much you try to connect habits and set appointments and evolve…

You’re going to make mistakes.

Suffer setbacks.

FAIL at things.

Life will get in the way.

Learn to love these experiences and celebrate them for the learning you get out of them.

Learn to love them because they allow you to show yourself your own strength to overcome.

Success isn’t despite failures…it’s because of them.

So mentally prepare for them and plan to use the experiences to learn!

Which of these 15 hacks did you find most helpful?

Ready to create the habits and lifestyle to build your leanest, strongest body ever and feel your most fabulous?

Check out my 1:1 Online Coaching.

–> Apply Here

The Most Annoying Nutrition Tips ( 7 Things That Actually Work)

by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 12, 2025 | Blog, Diet

“It’s not my workouts. It’s my diet.”

I struggled to make the nutritional changes I needed to see the fat loss and muscle definition I wanted for the longest time.

I tried to out exercise my diet.

But you can’t. At least not for long.

And the more we try to, the more we sabotage our long-term success. Not to mention the more we make it harder and harder to lose the weight and stay lean as we get older.

So as much as we may try, there is no way around making changes to our diet if we want to see results.

That’s why I’m going to break down adjusting your diet into 7 steps to follow and follow IN ORDER to start.

These nutrition tips are going to be annoyingly simple and unsexy and things you probably don’t want to do.

You may even think you’re above them.

But guess what? You’re not.

No one is above the basics and too often we think we’re advanced and lose focus on them which is why we don’t see results.

So suck it up buttercup. Take things back to basics and embrace the changes.

What ultimately feels sustainable and like a lifestyle balance doesn’t always start out that way.

And these changes will help you lower that mental barrier against change to create habits you can actually be disciplined with and see results snowball!

But remember, nothing changes if nothing changes.

So step #1…Get to tracking.

I know some of you are about to click back because you don’t want to track.

You hate tracking.

It’s tedious. Boring and time consuming.

It’s restrictive.

But guess what?

Your desire to avoid this ESSENTIAL habit is why you’re stuck feeling like you’re working hard without seeing results ever build.

And the thing is…tracking isn’t restrictive…although I do agree…it’s not the most fun or exciting of habits.

What’s restrictive is how we’ve cut stuff out in the past when tracking. JUDGED our own diet.

That’s why when you first start tracking you’re not going to cut anything out.

You’re not going to restrict or judge.

You’re simply going to TRACK.

Because then you’ll know what your diet looks like.

You’ll see areas that could use improvement but also truly understand how you’re fueling and how that makes you feel.

Tracking is truly EYE OPENING.

Then based on what you’re during currently, you’ll make changes that match what YOU need.

Not changes based on some “perfect” figure competitors’ diets that are totally unrealistic for your lifestyle.

But changes that meet you where you’re at to move forward.

Tracking will help you make SMALL changes that build over sabotaging yourself by doing so much you ultimately fall off because the EFFORT doesn’t equal the OUTCOME.

Too often we try to out diet time and ultimately just make ourselves give up because results don’t happen faster or equal to the effort we feel we are putting in!

Then step 2….add 10 grams of protein to 3 meals.

When we “go on a diet,” we jump right to cutting things out, and often the things we cut out, are the things we truly love the most.

But we’re not going on a diet with these steps.

We’re ADJUSTING our diet.

Which is why we want to focus on nutrition by addition.

This not only helps us feel more successful with the changes to want to do more, but it lowers our mental resistance against making harder changes as we go.

So first, add in about 10 grams of protein to 3 meals.

And if you’re like “10 grams?! What does that look like?”

It can be two eggs at breakfast with your toast. Or ½ cup of greek yogurt added to your oatmeal.

At lunch it could be adding another ounce of chicken breast on your salad. Or 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast used as seasoning on your current protein source.

It could be ⅓ cup of cottage cheese with ranch seasoning blended into a dip instead of ranch dressing for carrots as a snack.

It could be a serving or 85 grams of edamame added to your stir fry at dinner…Or a cup of bone broth swapped in to your soup or stew.

The key is SMALL changes to meals you already enjoy.

These small changes add up to a 30 gram boost over the day and helps us build our protein to between 30-35% of our calories for the day, which will help us lose fat as we retain lean muscle.

This protein increase can also help us feel fuller and more fueled to see better results from our training.

This ADDITION too of protein can even help us start to create a calorie deficit without technically adjusting calories.

Because protein has a higher thermic effect, requiring our body to expend more calories to digest and use it.

So while we’re adding, we’re also adjusting our calories in a way to start losing fat!

Step 3…Fiber swap.

The health of our gut has a huge impact on our fat loss results.

And fiber is key to our gut health.

It feeds and maintains our gut microbiome, which has beneficial effects on metabolic health, such as improved glucose and insulin levels.

Not to mention it helps keep us feeling fuller as we create that small calorie deficit.

So your next step, is to swap a food at 2 meals for something higher in fiber than what you’re eating currently to help you boost your fiber intake by 5-10 grams to start per day.

This helps us adjust our food quality with a focus on adding over restricting or cutting out.

It empowers us to make healthier choices but in a way we don’t have to first jump to eliminating things we love and want to include.

And these changes can be super small and as simple as swapping lentil pasta for white pasta.

Quinoa for white rice.

It could be using raspberries or blackberries over bananas in your oatmeal.

It could be a whole grain bread over a white bread for your sandwich.

Or adding in chia seeds to your greek yogurt dessert or breakfast smoothie.

It could be cutting your portion of potatoes at dinner to add a small side of broccoli.

But it doesn’t have to mean us not still including the foods we love or recipes. It can just mean small adjustments in how we make those dishes or the exact portions we consume!

Step 4…Drink more water.

Proper hydration is essential as we increase protein and focus on fiber.

If we’re dehydrated we won’t see fat loss happen as fast as we’d like not to mention we can find ourselves actually feeling hungry when we aren’t.

Drinking at least 50% of your bodyweight (weighing in pounds) in ounces of water can help increase your metabolism and make sure you’re not suffering from cravings.

If you’re nowhere near this intake now after tracking it for a few days, focus on one habit shift you can make to get in an extra few ounces or two.

As a person that struggles to drink water at times, I’ve helped myself improve the habit by putting out a water bottle the night before by the coffee maker to remind me to drink as I get ready for the day!

I also find that infusing water or having Ultima always on hand and in my backpack, I have more of a desire to drink the water because it tastes good.

Ultima and things like Cucumbers or Oranges infused into your water can help you boost your electrolyte intake and improve your hydration as well!

Focus on increasing your water intake by connecting drinking water to even a routine you’re already doing and by even getting a fun water bottle you have out so you’re constantly having that visual reminder!

Step 5…Swap out ONE food that’s not serving your goals.

As you’re making these changes and seeing the daily implementation of these habits building, you want to push out of that comfort zone just a bit more to get results building a bit faster.

Swap out something that you know isn’t serving your goals to help you cut calories by 50-100 from your daily intake, increase your protein, and improve your food quality and micronutrient diversity.

This doesn’t mean jump to the food you love the most even if it isn’t the healthiest.

But it does mean pick something you won’t miss as much to swap it out or adjust the portion.

And start with ONE meal or food.

You want to focus on something that will start to create that small calorie deficit off of what you were doing when you just started tracking your natural diet.

So take a look though at your daily food intake.

What packs a bigger calorie punch? What’s a large portion you could cut back on?

And no you can’t say your protein source.

Although this COULD be a chance to swap in lower fat cuts of meat, moving from chicken thigh to chicken breast or 85% lean ground beef to 96%….

Also note healthy but calorie dense foods that you’re consuming over the day.

Things like nuts, while healthy, can pack a real calorie punch and may not be the best option for us as we are looking to lose fat. They are easy to overeat.

So swapping out nuts as a snack for a greek yogurt dip and veggies can help us lower our calories, increase protein and even feel fuller because we’re including a great food volume over the day.

Adjusting even things like your pasta dish from a full cup to ¾ cup of pasta while adding in veggies or another ounce of protein.

These little swaps can keep pushing us to create the balance we need, increasing protein and creating that small calorie deficit needed for fat loss.

But with this, more is NOT better!

Don’t get cut crazy and start eliminating more than 100 calories a day to start.

Eating too little can backfire and sabotage not only our adherence to the plan, which is so often why we feel like dietary changes aren’t sustainable or possible, but also result in us losing muscle, creating metabolic adaptations and not getting more muscle definition!

Start swapping things you know may not be ideal or adjusting portions to further prioritize protein and reduce your calorie intake by just 50-100 per day.

Step 6…Keep tweaking!

As you see progress build, keep adjusting and making improvements, going back through steps 2-5 to improve.

Where can you increase protein?

Where could you try adjusting carbs of fat to see how each macro impacts you?

Could you improve your hydration?

Even start to assess other aspects of your diet including your meal timing.

Focus on changes that even feel doable on the worst of worst days as you build.

And KEEP TRACKING.

Also own when your LIFESTYLE has changed.

What you do at one time of year when you’re motivated may not be the habits you need at another.

Allowing an ebb and flow to how you do the habits, focusing on even one of these steps more or less at times can be key.

At times we may be more motivated to really focus on those whole natural foods. At another, we may try to find ways to work in more foods we love because that is the only way we will stay consistent.

But we want to keep tracking and adjusting to meet ourselves where we are at.

Which brings me to Step 7…Don’t Excuse 1%.

Too often as we make changes and see results snowball, we get complacent. We start to self sabotage by excusing inconsistencies and deviations.

Or our priorities shift and we don’t use Step 6 to fully OWN them and adjust.

But there is nothing that can sabotage us more than saying, “Well I’m being good enough.”

Because often when we say that…we aren’t.

We’re ignoring all the little deviations that add up and slowly take us off course.

Instead keep focusing on tracking EVERYTHING to find a balance…

Track the good, the bad and the ugly.

This helps us avoid letting negative judgements creep in and truly helps us keep building.

It’s an acknowledgement of what is going on so we can see why our results are what they are.

Because so often we feel like we’re still working super hard with habits while things actually slide and this leads to us being frustrated when results don’t add up.

So don’t excuse deviations and keep tracking as you progress toward your goals.

Use these 7 steps to help yourself see the fat loss you deserve. And even spend a week really focused on each one before adding.

While this may feel painfully slow, it is key to creating that discipline and success mindset that makes us keep wanting to do more and feeling disciplined with the changes!

Because fat loss results and muscle definition happen from the daily habits we CONSISTENTLY do!

Success is never owned. It’s rented. And rent is due every single day!

Dial in your diet to match your workouts and build your leanest, strongest body ever with my Metabolic Shred…

–> LEARN MORE