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Lose Weight And Keep It Off FOREVER! Try These 3 Tips

Lose Weight And Keep It Off FOREVER! Try These 3 Tips

by | Mar 6, 2022 | Blog, Diet

The faster we want to see results, often the more we set ourselves up for long term failure.

Because we ultimately implement habits and routines that simply aren’t sustainable.

And by trying to rush our results we also often create metabolic adaptations and hormonal changes that work against us or make rebounding back to what we started at even easier.

And while our lifestyle can, and should, change as our goals evolve, we have to stop going to extremes and instead focus on creating the healthiest version of our PERSONAL lifestyle.

In the end, this leads to not only the best results because we allow those results to compound and snowball, but also the most sustainable results.

Because we don’t want to look and feel our best for just a day! We want to maintain those results long term.

That’s why I wanted to share 3 tips to help you lose fat and create those habits that will help you KEEP the weight off!

But before I dive into the tips to help you make sustainable habit changes I do just want to point out that making any change to start may not feel easy, comfortable or even sustainable.

Often changes feel exactly the opposite no matter how much they may evolve into our new routines and habits.

It’s because what feels easy, what feels sustainable and instinctual is what we’ve always done.

And what we’ve always done hasn’t moved us forward.

If we want a new and better result, we have to make a change and that means we have to embrace being a bit uncomfortable.

We have to give those changes time to become our new normal.

And then to KEEP that result, we have to keep replicating those habits. You can’t just simply achieve your goal then go back to what you were doing.

And that’s why these 3 tips are really so key.

They help you implement changes in a way that helps you build while also staying focused on what is realistic for you to do LONG-TERM so that the foundation of the new lifestyle you want to create is there.

Tip #1: STOP Saying Food Is Just Fuel.

So often when we’re striving for fat loss, we try to see food as just fuel. We eat for function. We willing cut out things and restrict.

We even except super bland meals and tell ourselves to “suck it up” and eat things we don’t really enjoy.

And while food for sure is fuel, that isn’t truly all it is for most of us.

It’s consumed because it often tastes good and is part of our social gatherings and events.

It’s part of the fun of traveling and experiencing a new place.

And honestly there shouldn’t be guilt for eating food for enjoyment purposes.

The more we try to deny that food is more than just fuel in our modern society, the more we hold ourselves back from creating a true lifestyle balance.

And that’s why ultimately often our fat loss results are short-lived.

We don’t know how to balance eating to just fuel, eating for function, with actually living the life we enjoy.

So at some point, when we either…

A. Can’t stand it any longer or

B. Have reached our goal and want to go back to normal…

We end up indulging in foods that don’t fall on an arbitrary clean “approved list” and then can’t reign things back in.

We almost REBEL against the restriction we’d self-inflicted.

Instead we need to recognize and understand what role food plays in our life.

Do we like having that happy hour out with friends on Friday?

Do we enjoy cooking for our extended family as we get together and celebrate around the table?

Do we enjoy a date night out with our special someone?

We need to strike that balance between aesthetic goals and the lifestyle we ultimately want to lead if we not only want to lose fat but KEEP IT OFF.

And while your exact balance will shift as your goals shift, the key is not forcing restrictions on yourself that only lead to rebellion later.

We need to LEARN how to work in the things we love.

Sure we may find there are foods we can’t have just one of so don’t include those as often, or we may find more macro-friendly variations at times to work into our macros, but we’ve got to embrace a balance.

Instead of restricting, work in things you love FIRST to your macros to balance everything else out around it.

This can help you not feel deprived of the things you love while embracing the ratios and habit changes along the way.

It can help you learn to include your bread or dessert to actually build a lifestyle change you know you can maintain!

Tip #2: Build Off Of Your Current Lifestyle.

Stop searching for a fad diet. A quick fix.

Stop just cutting out foods because someone said to.

If you have an allergy or intolerance, sure, you may not include certain foods in your diet.

But too often we cut out foods in a desire to “eat clean” to ultimately only end up eating more of those things over the year after feeling so deprived of them and restricted.

We feel guilty because we aren’t hitting someone else’s standards of what a healthy diet should look like.

But we’ve got to stop caring what other people think.

One size doesn’t fit all. And while I hear a ton of people preach that, I see those same people trying to make people feel guilty for eating foods they enjoy that aren’t as healthy.

And all this does is hold people back from ever making any sort of change.

We have to meet ourselves where we are at.

If we’re eating fast food for every meal and pizza, we’re only going to set ourselves up for failure by trying a diet that cuts all of that out immediately and forces us to eat chicken and broccoli.

Instead we need to take a look at our current lifestyle and make small swaps and changes to that.

To get the best results and then keep the weight off we have to stay focused on creating the healthiest version of OUR personal lifestyle.

This is why I encourage clients to stop just cutting out whole food groups but instead embrace the learning process and count macros.

By tracking what we are currently eating to start, without even making changes, we can see things we can tweak and adjust.

And then, from there, instead of cutting out the thing you love the most first, think about adding in something good. Or swapping out something easy.

The easier the changes are to start, the more we can get that momentum building through feeling successful in our implementation of the changes.

When we feel successful in making changes, we then want to do more.

Because it really is a case of the more you do, the more you do. And this can be both in a positive and a negative direction.

If we instead just made sweeping arbitrary changes completely unrealistic for our lifestyle, we may ultimately end up doing nothing or failing at the thing we try to ultimately do more of nothing.

As silly as it can feel, start with small changes based on what you’re currently doing so you can slowly build.

This allows us to create routines that are realistic for us and that we aren’t just constantly forcing ourselves to maintain through willpower.

So consider your current lifestyle as you being to make tweaks!

Tip #3: Set End Dates And Evolve.

I dislike saying that my diet or exercise routine is a lifestyle.

Because I feel like so often that is interpreted as I’m going to do this same thing forever.

We feel this pressure to embrace a way of eating as the thing we’ll do forever.

But nothing in our lifestyle is ever standing still.

Our routines and habits should change just like our needs and goals do!

We also aren’t really motivated to take action by the idea of doing something FOREVER.

So as you work toward your fat loss goals, set progressions and macro ratios you plan to cycle. Set “end dates” at which you’re going to assess and adjust and maybe even slightly tweak your goals.

This can help us stay focused and give us motivation to start today.

It can also help us be more patient in waiting for results to build because we know we can change at a specific point anyway.

It’s also why having a goal for your workouts and understanding macros is so key.

When you have a goal for your workouts you have that focus to drive you forward. Especially when there is an end date at which you want to have hit that performance goal.

And as much as we know “abs are revealed by what we do in the kitchen” being motivated to train and push hard will only help us get better results, especially when focused on building muscle.

It also generally keeps us motivated to do other healthy habits that lead to fat loss, like being conscious of how we fuel.

And by taking the time to learn about macros, we can learn what we need even as our needs and goals change over time.

So while losing fat, we may cycle specific ratios based on even how our training evolves.

But then when we work to maintain, we can adjust ratios and calories again.

Macros, and how we adjust them, are truly at the heart of every diet out there.

And when you understand macros, you can implement low carb, low fat, high protein in any way YOU need to not only create a sustainable lifestyle but see the fat loss results you want and then maintain those results long term.

Because not only can different ratios help you work toward different goals, but you may find that with different types of training, you need to fuel differently to maintain your results.

Or as we get older, we need to adjust again because we become less able to utilize protein as efficiently and struggle more to build and retain lean muscle.

Or if you’re going through menopause you may even find you need to tweak things again because of those hormonal changes.

The point is, if we take time to really learn the foundation of nutrition and understand macros, we then have the power to evolve.

And being conscious that nothing works forever, is what can help us adapt over time so we can KEEP the fat loss results we worked hard to achieve!

SUMMARY:

We have to remember that we can never stop doing what made us “better” and that even maintaining our results is a process with ebbs and flows.

So if you want to lose fat and keep it off, remember one size doesn’t fit all.

Take time to build habits off of your current lifestyle and don’t be afraid to set end dates at which you assess your results and adapt and evolve your routines!

Need help getting started?

Learn more about my online coaching programs.

–> Schedule A Call

Why You’re Not Losing Weight (3 Mistakes You Might Be Making)

Why You’re Not Losing Weight (3 Mistakes You Might Be Making)

by | Mar 4, 2021 | Blog, Diet

“I’m eating so clean and training hard every day. Why am I not losing weight?”

There is nothing more frustrating than feeling like you’re working super hard and doing all of the “right” things but not getting the results you deserve.

It can make you feel like something is wrong with you.

But often it is very SIMPLE habit changes, those boring basics, that make the difference.

Too often we overcomplicate things in our search for a quick fix, instead of dialing in the fundamentals first.

We get focused on doing more and working HARDER over simply working smarter.

That’s why I want to share the 3 most common reasons people don’t see the weight loss results they want and how to correct them.

But first, I also want to discuss why you don’t want to let the scale dictate how you view your results.

The scale doesn’t tell us the full story.

It tells us how much we weigh on any given day at any given time.

But our weight isn’t just muscle and fat.

It’s glycogen and water storage.

It’s impacted by inflammation and food still left to be processed and disposed of.

The scale will fluctuate daily, not to mention even hourly.

While I know we can often want to see a specific number on the scale, we have to remember that the scale doesn’t really show us the full picture.

And often striving for faster weight loss on the scale will backfire.

The scale is a very poor indicator of body recomposition.

Your weight could stay the same while amazing body recomposition results are happening.

If you lose a pound of fat, but even gain 2lbs of muscle?

Guess what?

You could end up looking leaner BUT actually even see your weight increase.

Because as much as we say “I want to lose weight” what we really want is to lose fat.

And the scale as a data source for fat loss is very limited

So even if you are trying to lose weight, consider another form of measurement to help you truly track your body recomposition – whether it is a form of body fat testing, progress picture or even body measurements.

Now…What Are The 3 Most Common Reasons We Aren’t Seeing Results?

Often we need to focus on those BASICS and dial in those fundamentals first.

While they aren’t sexy or fun, they are often the reasons we succeed or fail!

Supplements, fancy moves may be the things we want to focus on, but we have to remember that what we measure, can be MANAGED!

If you don’t have a clear picture of what you’re doing, a clear plan in place? You can’t make accurate changes to your routine.

Reason #1: You’re Not Tracking And Measuring

I know I know…tracking sucks.

It’s boring and tedious and no one likes doing it.

But it gives us an unbiased picture of what we are truly doing so that we can adjust.

It’s a great learning tool to truly understand how to best fuel your body so your calories and macros are dialed in specifically to YOUR needs.

Because….

1. We are often very bad at estimating our own portion sizes, no matter how good we think we are at it.

And 2. You can still overeat healthy foods. It’s why you may be eating clean and NOT seeing results.

It’s easy when you’re hungry or simply even WANT the food to end up letting that portion size get a bit bigger.

I don’t know about you, but a tbsp of peanut butter gets exponentially bigger depending on how much I want it that day or even what I’m putting it on.

And with calorically dense foods like that, it’s easy for those calories to add up each day, not to mention over the week and throw us out of the deficit we need to see for results.

Not to mention, those calories can distort the macros we are actually hitting that day, which can dramatically impact our results.

And if you’re a snacker?

It’s easy to end up letting a snack or two here or there become 3 or 4 and add up to more calories throughout the day than we realize.

It’s why tracking not only holds us accountable, but measuring gives us an accurate picture of what is going on so we know what to change.

You may not do it long term. But why not set yourself up to truly understand your diet by having a clear picture of what you’re consuming so you CAN get better results without having to do more?

Reason #2: You’re Focused On Doing More

When we do more, we feel more in control of our progress.

We feel like we can speed up our results.

But doing more can often backfire.

It can lead to burn out.

Extra frustration because we are pushing so hard yet NOT seeing the results we want.

The simple fact is we simply can’t out exercise or out diet time.

And the more we try to? The more we often create habits that aren’t sustainable that we can’t be consistent with.

Too often we overestimate how much we can accomplish short term while underestimating what we can accomplish long term.

Not to mention, those fast fad results we sometimes do see happening?

Well those seemingly amazing results are often why we get caught in the same annoying weight loss cycle…losing and regaining the same weight over and over again.

We slash our calories ridiculously low as we add in extra cardio and spend hours in the gym.

We may then see a huge initial drop of 5lbs in those first few days or even the first week.

But guess what? That isn’t all fat that we lost.

It’s water weight. Glycogen depletion. Maybe a pound of fat.

BUT also a pound of muscle.

So while it may feel satisfying, it won’t keep up. Or we have to keep doing more and more in an attempt to keep the results rolling in as quickly.

And in our attempt to see those faster drops on the scale, we end up sacrificing muscle not to mention create metabolic adaptations and hormonal imbalances that hold us back.

We create issues that end up backfiring and we’ve built habits that are unsustainable.

So what happens?

All that doing more leads to us regaining the weight we worked so hard to lose. And often, we end up worse off because, when we regain the weight?

We aren’t regaining muscle.

So the next time we attempt to lose weight? The process may feel even more hopeless.

This is why we need to stop doing more and instead create a plan that is truly realistic for our lifestyle.

There is no perfect workout schedule. No one perfect diet.

The key is making small changes and doing something that truly fits the time we have.

If you only have 3 days a week to workout? Start with that schedule and design workouts that fit that routine.

If you’ve never tracked your food before? Just start by logging without other changes.

These small swaps allow you to build momentum and truly make lasting changes.

Reason #3: You’re Not Focusing On Strength Training

Yes, for weight loss diet is key.

I don’t think there is anyone at this time who hasn’t heard the phrase “Abs are made in the kitchen.”

But so often we don’t dial in our workouts in a way that truly complements our nutritional plan and works toward lasting results.

Most of the time when someone says they want to lose weight, they also say they plan to add in more cardio.

And this association between cardio and weight loss arose because often cardio workouts do burn more calories per session than strength workouts.

But thinking of our workouts only as a chance to burn more calories is really not utilizing them to maximize our results.

We also have to remember our body adapts.

It’s why we get stronger. Why we can run faster and ride further.

But because of these adaptions, we don’t continue to burn as many calories from our steady state cardio training sessions as we did to start.

It’s why we can feel like we just need to keep doing more.

It can also lead to us trying to out exercise our diet to create a great calorie deficit.

Instead we need to see our workouts as not only a chance to burn more calories but as an opportunity to keep our overall body healthy and avoid metabolic adaptations.

If you want to look leaner? You want to build muscle.

That’s why strength workouts are so key.

If you want to avoid more metabolic adaptations and burn more calories at rest?

You want to include strength workouts to build muscle.

So while you can and should include cardio training if you enjoy it, and for your overall wellness, we need to stop turning to cardio for weight loss.

Focus on lifting heavy and challenging your body through heavier loads and more advanced movements! Make more out of less time so you can even create a routine that is sustainable long term!

SUMMARY:

If we want to see amazing weight loss results, you can’t ignore the basics.

Stop spinning your wheels just trying to do more.

Instead think of how you can do less and get better results.

Start tracking and logging as you focus on creating a sustainable routine that includes strength training.

The BEST results happen when our diet and our workouts WORK TOGETHER!

Learn to eat and train according to YOUR needs and goals:

–> Macro Hacks 

How To Make Dieting Suck Less – 5 Tips and Tricks

How To Make Dieting Suck Less – 5 Tips and Tricks

by | Jul 23, 2018 | Blog, Diet, featured

We hear all the time…

“It’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle!”

But let’s face it…With anything where we can’t just do whatever we want, whenever we want, we are going to have some “slip ups.”

We are going to wake up late because we accidentally turned off our alarm.

We are going to skip our workout because we are stressed.

We’re going to buy that outfit we don’t need just because we really really want it!

There really are very few places in life where we can do exactly what we want all of the time.

YET somehow we expect that with our diet.

We think we can “go on a diet,” lose weight, then go back to eating what we were eating before and keep the weight off.

We have this delusion that we can eat whatever we want all of the time.

But it doesn’t work that way.

HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean that we need to continue this cycle of extreme calorie deprivation and cutting out all of the foods we love.

We need to instead realize that it is all about balance and finding something we can do consistently.

Dieting doesn’t have to suck; however, just like everything in life, there will be times we have to do things we don’t fully want to do!

AND I think it is important to recognize that there will be periods where we will be more diligent and times we will…well…”fall off.”

Everything goes in cycles. Here are 5 tips though to help you make dieting suck less!

5 Tips To Make Dieting Suck Less:

1. Find meals you love. Plan those in first.

Dieting has come to mean bland, boring foods. Chicken and broccoli. Bland white fish and asparagus.

But A. These things don’t have to be bland and boring. And B. There has to be a balance which includes foods you enjoy.

If you want to stick with a diet and make it something you actually ENJOY doing, you have to be able to make meals you love.

I always tell people starting my Macro Cycling programs that they should plan in meals with their family or meals they really love first. If you really crave salmon or steak, plan it in. And work your other meals around it.

Really crave chocolate or something sweet at the end of the night? Plan it in first. That way you can work everything else around it!

Remember it is 80/20 not perfection that gets results. Perfection might lead to faster results, but it generally also leads to incredibly short-term results!

2. Stop making it about perfection. Give yourself one focus.

We go in with this all or nothing attitude that often leads to us “falling off” before we really even start.

And if we do get in a routine, at the first sign of life getting in the way, aka work stresses, family pressures, the HOLIDAYS, our goals and diet go completely out the window.

We struggle to stay consistent because we’ve put so much pressure on ourselves to be “perfect.” To only eat whole natural foods. To be within a gram of our goal. To always be under our calories.

But it isn’t about perfection.

It’s about knowing our goals and being consistent.

Especially during those busy times, don’t worry about the details. Give yourself just ONE THING to focus on to keep you on track.

I always tell clients that if they can do just one thing, make protein your focus. If you make protein your focus, you’ll see results.

Or if they’ve even struggled with that, I’ll tell them to simply start by LOGGING. There is accountability in that AND it can help us then slowly make changes as we feel ready.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Those small tweaks, that consistency adds up!

3. Stop cutting out foods you love first.

Ok we all know certain foods are bad for us. But we love them anyway.

Those foods that we love are often also the first things we cut out. And then all we can think about is how much we want those foods.

So what happens?

We end up binging and then struggle to get back on track.

But what if we didn’t first cut out those foods we love the most?

What if instead we first focused on adding in other things? Or making tweaks to those foods we love so they fit our macros better?

What if we got rid of the other fluff so we could even still indulge in those foods we love?

A. Consistency is about balance. It isn’t all or nothing and even unhealthy foods can have a place in our lifestyle!

B. When we make those other changes FIRST, often making the bigger changes. aka sometimes reducing or even eliminating those unhealthy foods we feel we “need,” becomes EASIER because we aren’t then cutting out the things we love first. We don’t feel as DEPRIVED because we’ve made other changes that have created new habits.

So when you’re getting started, start with easy and small tweaks. And even consider how you can make meals more macro friendly!

4. Fuel your body instead. Less isn’t always more.

A big reason why we think diets suck is because we are ALWAYS hungry.

There is legitimately a term for this hunger, and the resulting ANGER from it…HANGER.

So of course feeling hungry and low energy all of the time isn’t going to make us want to stick with our eating plan.

Nope! But it may make you reach for the quickest and most unhealthy thing in sight!

And not only can this constant starvation cause us to fall off our diet, but it can also actually cause our results to stall or plateau. LESS ISN’T ALWAYS MORE!

Yes, a calorie deficit is key. But too little and you can’t workout hard and your body starts to try to conserve energy.

PLUS, it is NOT just about calories in vs. calories out. The quality of those calories matters! And that doesn’t just mean healthy vs. unhealthy foods but even the MACRO ratios that you consume.

Even though you may want to lose weight quickly, don’t starve yourself. Make sure to fuel your activity and it will not only make eating well more pleasant but help you stay consistent long term!

5. Plan for the worst.

It’s easy to eat well and stick to your goals when you aren’t stressed, have full control of your schedule and are 100% motivated and even getting results.

However, that all happens at the same time like maybe 5% of the time if we’re lucky.

Most of the time we are stressed, or tired, or have family obligations…Or heck…we just want to go out and have fun!

But most often we only PLAN for the times that it is easy. We don’t prepare for the times that we are going to have other things going on that may make it seem impossible to prep or stay on track.

That is why it is key that we consider and plan for the “worst.”

How can we provide ourselves with guidance to stay on track even when things aren’t easy? How can we create consistency and balance so we can keep ourselves moving forward or maintaining even when “dieting” isn’t our main focus?

Often I think this means giving ourselves one thing to focus on. One clear and easy goal that we know will keep us on track enough.

I also think it is about remembering it is about CONSISTENCY and not perfection that truly matters in the long run.

And I think it is important that we come up with ways that allow us to diet with balance. Find easy meals out. Plan around the things you love and enjoy.

Find quick snacks that, while maybe not perfect, are way better than the alternative and will keep you feeling fueled and on track.

Dieting may not always be fun but it shouldn’t detract from your life. There will be periods where you will want to be stricter and others you will do the bare minimum. The key is finding a way to make it “not suck” so you can remain consistent and find balance!

And it is also about remembering EVERYTHING goes in cycles. Don’t feel guilty or beat yourself up. Just make small little tweaks to always be getting better and preparing yourself to make the most out of what you can!

With these 5 tips you can get on track and make dieting…well…suck less!

Learn more about the 5 reasons why diets have failed you in the past!

Should You Weigh Every Day?

Should You Weigh Every Day?

by | Feb 1, 2018 | Blog, Diet, Mindset

“Don’t step on it! It will make you cry!”

This was the caption below a cartoon I saw of two little girls staring at a scale.

It made me both laugh and cringe all at once.

Weighing ourselves…

Some of us do it daily. It’s part of our “morning routine.” But it can also sometimes be a number that decides how we feel about ourselves that day…for better or for worse.

And for others of us…

Well…others of us won’t even walk close to one for fear of the dreaded number that may glare back at us.

But should you be weighing yourself? And, more importantly, should you be doing it daily?

I’ll tell you the answer right now and you’re not going to like it…

IT DEPENDS!

Isn’t that an infuriating answer?!

The thing is…that is 100% true.

Weighing yourself can be a HUGE accountability tool when used correctly, even doing it daily.

It can have a huge positive impact and help increase your dedication and consistency

HOWEVER…

There is a dark side to the scale…

One in which that number begins to dictate how you feel about yourself. One in which you start to obsess over the number you see there.

One in which your feelings of confidence and self-worth are dependent on what that stupid little piece of technology that sits on your bathroom floor says…

Then weighing every day is for sure not a good thing.

The only thing is…

That number on the scale can have that same impact even if you never weigh.

Having to AVOID the scale out of fear of what it would say is no better than weighing obsessively.

 

The point is…our WEIGHT can’t rule how we feel about our bodies.

It is simply another measuring tool we can use to keep track of progress or even use to guide us when we find a point we feel comfortable with.

But we have to remember our weight is just a NUMBER and doesn’t determine our worth.

And that goal number can, and even should, change over time. And it shouldn’t be our only determination of success.

However, all too often it doesn’t change and it becomes the most important measure of success.

Heck, some of us get so freaking stuck on a specific number we don’t appreciate when we have huge body composition shifts.

I’ve literally had clients tell me, “Well I lost inches but the scale didn’t budge!”

And they’ve said this as if they were UNHAPPY with this fact! (This is usually where I sit there looking dumbfounded, confused and shocked.)

But losing inches means they lost fat. Heck, it’s probably a BIGGER victory than weight lost on the scale.

Because that number on the scale can fluctuate for so many reasons.

I mean crap…that number can fluctuate from hour to hour based on eating food…or how much salt we eat or water we drink…or even if our workout broke down more muscle tissue the day before or we ate more carbs or heck, depleted our glycogen stores by NOT eating carbs…

The point is that number can fluctuate so easily. And it is just a NUMBER. It should just be another guide to help you track and see if something is working OR if changes need to be made.

It can be an accountability tool, but it can’t be something that is the be all and end all.

And I think it has become one for all too many of us as dieting has become know as deprivation…

STARVING yourself to hit a number on a scale….A number that really has been arbitrarily assigned by ourselves or something we read in a magazine….

Doesn’t lead to long-term results or long-term health.

And I don’t think this will change by weighing or not weighing. I think that is just a symptom of a bigger problem. Because as I mentioned we can be as obsessed with that number whether we obsessively weigh or obsessively AVOID weighing.

I think the real answer to changing our obsession with our weight and having to be a specific number to be happy comes from changing our relationship to how we view dieting – aka our relationship with FOOD.

It’s about changing our view of our diet from one of purely slashing calories and starving ourselves to hit a number on the scale, to one focused on FUELING OUR BODIES.

It’s why I put an emphasis on Macros over Caloric Intake. Dial in your macros. Think about getting your body the right foods and everything else will start to fall into place.

Stop dieting and depriving. Focus on giving your body what it needs and creating a balance so you can enjoy life!

To help you get started, find out what macros you need with the Macro Cycling Quiz.

–> Take the Quiz And Start FUELING Your Body!

How Many Calories Do I Need?

How Many Calories Do I Need?

by | Aug 6, 2017 | Blog, Diet

“How many calories do I need to eat?”

This is a question I get numerous times a day.

And it’s an interesting question with an answer that is based on, not only your goals, but a few basic things…

These three things are…

1. To lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit.

2. To gain weight, you’ve got to eat to support muscle growth.

3. Calories are not created equal. Quality and type matter.

These three things are KEY when figuring out how many calories you need.

They are often also why we get into trouble with our diets.

Too many people know #1 and therefore cut their calories way too low.

They end up starving themselves, which not only can slow their metabolism and cause them to store fat BUT also leaves them so hungry and angry they end up binging.

HOWEVER, on the flip side, so may people today use Fitbits and other fitness trackers and see they burned 300-500 calories and think that entitles them to eat even more.

I mean if you burn more, you get to eat more, right?

Yes BUT overtime our bodies become more efficient as we workout. They adapt to the stresses placed on them.

Are you accounting for that?

Are you sure your fitness tracker is accurate?

Also, what is your baseline based off of that you are ADDING IN extra calories you burned?

And on top of that, you then have to cycle UNDER on days off. If you’re cycling up on workouts, how often are you cycling UNDER on days you don’t move much?

All that cycling just makes for madness. And it’s freaking hard to track which leaves us guessing at what is working.

Ok so probably right now, all I’ve done is confuse you more.

I’ve said you can’t cut your calories too low. But then I’ve said too much is bad too and that adding in the calories you burned during workouts is a more challenging and complicated process than we account for.

So what do you do?

This right here is why #3 is so important. Quality and type of calories MATTER.

200 calories of meat, veggies and rice is way more filling than 200 calories of M&Ms. It also helps our body function correctly, sleep better and fuels our workouts more effectively.

This is why a 1,200 calorie diet with proper macros may be enough while 2,000 calories of crap may leave you hangry and starved. That doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the foods you love, it just means that getting quality foods will help you stay full, energized and get the results you want FASTER!

And I’m not saying everyone should be at 1,200.

I’m just saying there is a HUGE difference in how you’ll feel and how your body will operate eating the same number of quality vs. crap calories.

If you can dial in these ratios, you’ll be giving your body what it needs vs. empty calories that leave you hungry even when you’ve technically consumed enough calories.

Quality calories will make you feel fuller even on a calorie deficit and one of the benefits of high protein is that it is hard to gain weight even if you “eat too much.”

Eating these ratios, you can change your body composition WHILE fueling your muscle growth by giving it the building blocks it needs EVEN if in a slight calorie deficit.

And then instead of cycling, just set one calorie goal.

That way on recovery days you get your body what it needs and you fuel your workouts. You won’t have to cycle down or up.

So you’re probably still wondering…How many calories do I need?

But my point is the quality and type is even more key to determining that.

It’s why I’ll get people saying “Holy crap I thought 1,300 calories would be too little but I’m stuffed.”

But it’s also why people say “Holy crap I thought I’d gain weight eating 1,800 calories, but I’ve lost inches when I used to eat 800 and still not lose all of the time.”

All of this is why I recommend if you want to lose weight, you start with 11x goal bodyweight (in pounds) and if you want to change body composition or maintain your weight while looking leaner you start with 13x goal bodyweight (again in pounds).

Of course it still always DEPENDS and each of our metabolic rates are different, but I always tell people…

START HERE. There has to be a starting point. If you don’t give something a shot, you’ll never know if it works.

Focus on the ratios and from there you can add or reduce calories as you hit those ratios. But hitting those ratios and getting QUALITY CALORIES is key!

For more tips to help you calculate calories and macros as well as amazing recipes and even sample meal plans, whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, train for a marathon or deal with the dreaded weight gain often associated with menopause, check out my Macro Hacks!

Learn more about my Macro Hacks Challenge –>