Tips For Losing Weight
While losing weight isn't always easy, it is pretty simple. You just need to need to make sure you’re in a calorie deficit.
So how do you go about doing that?
So how do you go about doing that?
- Eat adequate protein
- Manipulate your fat and/or carb intake to achieve a calorie deficit
- Weight train 2-4 times a week
- Do a moderate amount of cardio for heart health and to help towards being in a calorie deficit.
Keep a Food Log
I often have people tell me they're eating well but can't lose weight no matter what they do. I then ask them how many calories they're eating and they haven't got a clue, but they're convinced that's not the problem.
Many people underestimate how much they are eating. You're just guessing if you're eating the fright amount of calories to lose weight if you're not tracking what you eat.
There are many phone apps that you can do this on and will keep track of the protein, fat, carbs and calories you’re eating. MyFitnessPal is the app I recommend. It's very easy and quick to use. Keep a food log for a week or two while eating how you normally would to find out how many calories you’re currently consuming to maintain your current weight.
After logging what you’ve been eating for a week or two and seeing how many calories you're currently eating, I can set you a target calories you should aim for in order to lose weight and where you can make improvements.
Just make sure that you track everything that you eat and drink and not just logging the good meals and days.
Many people underestimate how much they are eating. You're just guessing if you're eating the fright amount of calories to lose weight if you're not tracking what you eat.
There are many phone apps that you can do this on and will keep track of the protein, fat, carbs and calories you’re eating. MyFitnessPal is the app I recommend. It's very easy and quick to use. Keep a food log for a week or two while eating how you normally would to find out how many calories you’re currently consuming to maintain your current weight.
After logging what you’ve been eating for a week or two and seeing how many calories you're currently eating, I can set you a target calories you should aim for in order to lose weight and where you can make improvements.
Just make sure that you track everything that you eat and drink and not just logging the good meals and days.
Plan Your Meals In Advance
Planning all your meals in advance and writing a list of what you need before you go to the shop helps puts you control how many calories you consume, helps you make healthier choices and helps eliminate eating unplanned meals.
This might seem boring and even a bit over the top, but you’re much more likely to succeed if you do this as it’s hard to make good food choices if you haven’t got something ready when you’re tired, in a rush or have gone a long time without food.
Prepare your meals you're going to eat at work in advance as this can stop you grabbing whatever is available from the staff canteen, or local shops.
Making a large batch of something you’ve cooked and frozen the rest so you get several meals out of it can save a lot of time and ensure that you always have something that’s quick, easy and healthy to prepare.
Snacking is where a lot of people end up eating a lot of their calories. It's very easy to sit in front of the TV and eat 1000 calories without realising it. Plan ahead and keep some healthy snacks with you so you don't give in to temptation.
This might seem boring and even a bit over the top, but you’re much more likely to succeed if you do this as it’s hard to make good food choices if you haven’t got something ready when you’re tired, in a rush or have gone a long time without food.
Prepare your meals you're going to eat at work in advance as this can stop you grabbing whatever is available from the staff canteen, or local shops.
Making a large batch of something you’ve cooked and frozen the rest so you get several meals out of it can save a lot of time and ensure that you always have something that’s quick, easy and healthy to prepare.
Snacking is where a lot of people end up eating a lot of their calories. It's very easy to sit in front of the TV and eat 1000 calories without realising it. Plan ahead and keep some healthy snacks with you so you don't give in to temptation.
Don't Think of it as a Short Term Diet
You need to find a way you can do this for the long term so it's not just a short-term diet.
Ignore all the fad diets that promise quick results. Eat in a way that will help achieve your goals while fitting into your lifestyle.
It’s no good losing loads of weight in six weeks and then putting it all back on because you couldn’t stick to it.
Ignore all the fad diets that promise quick results. Eat in a way that will help achieve your goals while fitting into your lifestyle.
It’s no good losing loads of weight in six weeks and then putting it all back on because you couldn’t stick to it.
Talk to Your Family and Friends
Talk to your friends and family and get them to help support you, or at least not put pressure to break your diet. Having people around you to encourage you when you’re struggling can be a big help. However, there will likely be times where people will try and encourage you to eat badly or to have another alcoholic drink. This still happens to me after all these years, but you can reduce how often it happens by making sure people close to you understand how important it is to you.
Don't Try to Out Train a Bad Diet
While exercise is important and it will help put you in a calorie deficit, trying to out train a poor diet is a bad idea. In other words, don't think that because you go to the gym six days a week that you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight.
If you're eating too much to put you in a calorie deficit, you won't lose weight no matter how often you train.
You can eat a 1000 calorie cheeseburger in 5 minutes, but it would only take an hour or more of intense exercise to burn that many calories.
When it comes to weight loss, your nutritional habits have a much bigger impact than your training.
If you're eating too much to put you in a calorie deficit, you won't lose weight no matter how often you train.
You can eat a 1000 calorie cheeseburger in 5 minutes, but it would only take an hour or more of intense exercise to burn that many calories.
When it comes to weight loss, your nutritional habits have a much bigger impact than your training.
Use Other Methods to Measure Progress Other than the Scales
It can help with motivation to use other methods to record progress other than just using scales. I recommend taking before and after photos and measuring yourself. Sometimes the scales not might show that you've lost the weight that you've wanted, but you can see a massive difference in photos and measurements.
I've had clients not lose much weight on the scale, but lose inches from their waist and look much better than they did before.
I've had clients not lose much weight on the scale, but lose inches from their waist and look much better than they did before.
Don't overcomplicate how to lose weight, and don't look to gimmicks and fad diets.
Most of it will just be a case of being organised, planning in advance and being disciplined.
Get in touch if you need any help, or have any questions.