This blog covers the beginning actions you should take to be successful during your fat loss journey.
1.Have all items checked off on The Fat Loss Ready Checklist (See Checklist Below).
Know your “why”
Develop a growth mindset
Stress Management
Learn how to accurately track calories
Consistently eating whole foods
Create your goals and determine your trade-offs
The Fat Loss Ready Checklist may be new to you but it is just as important as any other step listed in this blog.
Let’s dive into the logic behind each :
Know your “why”.Change is hard. Our body strives to maintain homeostasis and will fight against change. Finding your “deep reason” helps you to keep going when things get tough. You want to lose fat. Why? You want to look better. Why? You want to become a healthier version of yourself. Why?
Develop a growth mindset. You will mess up along the way, and that’s okay! Accept it and keep moving. Don’t allow small ‘hiccups’ to deter you from your ultimate goal.
Stress management. Stress can interfere with fat loss in ways you may least expect. First and foremost, stress makes it harder to focus. While it’s not impossible, it is significantly harder to focus on your fat loss journey stressed. Stress may lead to snacking and overeating. When you’re stressed, your body sends out cortisol, which is the stress hormone. Cortisol may make you crave salty and sugary foods. Stress can also lead to a lack of sleep and a decrease in thyroid production. Surprising, huh?
Learn how to accurately track calories. This one is so important. It is possible to consistently track calories and do everything else you’re supposed to do and still not get results because you are tracking inaccurately.
Consistently eating whole foods. Make this a habit before the diet. Eating whole foods 80% of the time will make it much easier to achieve your fat loss goals.
Create your goals and determine your trade-offs. Determine how fast you want to lose fat and then determine the things you will have to eliminate or decrease to achieve your goal . This is important so that you can truly maximize fat loss while having realistic expectations. Unrealistic expectations often lead to disappointment.
2. Be in a caloric deficit. A caloric deficit is burning more calories than you’re consuming There are many online calculators to calculate your total daily expenditure (AKA:maintenance calories). Online calculators will not be 100% accurate because they only consider gender, height, age, weight, and goals. This is an okay place to start.
You will be in a much better place hiring a coach. Coaches will consider lifestyle, hormones, past dieting history, personality, dietary preferences, goals, sleep, stress, weight, gender, age, and much more.
After you learn how many calories you should consume daily to reach your goals, you should start tracking calories. Most of my clients use the app myfitnesspal to track calories.
“Why is tracking calories so important?” Example: If you have a budget and you do not track how much you spend, you will more than likely spend too much money and go over that amount.
Of course, a coach would also be able to hold you accountable.
2.Get a decent amount of steps in. It will be different for everyone but for fat loss steps should not be lower than 8,000. Working out 5-6 days a week will not outweigh sitting down all day long. An average weight lifting workout may burn between 200-400 kcal. Whereas 10,000 steps equals about an hour and 40 minute brisk walk.
3.Follow a periodized resistance training program that stimulates muscle growth . Muscle is a metabolically active tissue so the more muscle you build the more calories you will burn throughout the day. Not to mention, more muscle will enhance your overall body composition and help you to achieve the figure you so badly want.
4. Measure your progress. It is important to measure your progress in various ways.(1) Weigh yourself in the morning, after voiding, and before eating or drinking anything. Weigh yourself a minimum of 3x weekly to get a weekly average. Your weekly average will be your “true” weight because day to day fluctuations are completely normal. (2) Take measurements weekly and pictures every 4 weeks. Measurements and pictures are another great way to measure progress because the scale does not always reflect progress. Example: If a client is building muscle and losing body fat, the scale may not move.
5. Most importantly, be consistent. Fat loss is not a linear process. You will more than likely see many fluctuations on the scale before actually reaching your goal weight. That’s normal, you’re human and nothing is static about human beings.
That’s it! It is honestly a simple process but not an easy process.
If you’re finally ready to start your fat loss journey, click on the apply for coaching button below! During this call I will learn more about you and your goals. I will also walk you through the process step by step on how I will help you to reach your goals!
This is great information. Thank you so much for sharing.