If you’re looking to lose some weight but simply don’t know where to start or have a history of failed diet plans, this will be an essential read. Let's breaks down what is needed for fat loss, how you can set up your nutrition and he even shares some great hacks on how to easily cut out excess calories.
In this article, we will cover diet and nutrition basics and provide you with practical tools that you can implement in your day to day life to assist you in managing your body composition. There is no magic, and it will take time, effort and patience.
So how do fat loss diets really work?
Dieting for fat loss is straightforward. We can boil it down to our daily energy balance – energy in (consumption) versus energy out (expenditure). So why then can dieting be so challenging? The reason is also simple, we all live very different lives, with different needs, preferences, likes, dislikes, social environments etc.
Many of the popular diets fail to address individual needs and preferences, and in time become impractical as they impact (negative) our day to day lives too much.
Understanding the basic premise that each diet operates by is simply, energy in vs out.
Why do diets fail so often?
As mentioned above, diets often fail due to the interference in our daily lives and feeling restrictive so it becomes challenging to continue meeting the requirements of the diet protocol.
We try our best to stick to it, but the compromises required to stick to the plan come at other costs that we aren’t willing to make.
The unrealistic nature of such diets often result in feelings of frustration and sacrifice which will lead to not feeling like we can stick to the diet because if we did it would cost us more than we care to give up.
It’s a lose-lose. Frustrated, angry and with motivation at a low, we end the diet no closer to our health & fitness goal.
Let’s go through some ways that may help you stick with a balanced plan, ensuring you see you desired goal.
A simple, sustainable and successful approach to dieting
Keep things simple! You do not need to overcomplicate your diet, and you don’t need to overhaul your life to be successful in achieving your body composition goals.
For long term success in dietary simplicity is key - being something easy for you to understand which will not overwhelm and confuse you . The simplest diet with the fewest changes will be to take your current diet and make small and meaningful improvements that will allow you to sustainably and effectively control your calorie intake.
With this in mind, let’s go over a framework for you to build a simple diet for. Building on your current typical eating habits, behaviours, needs and preferences, make small and meaningful changes to improve your chances of sustained fat loss success.
Create a diet that is sustainable for you. One that fuels you to be active and is easy to stick to.
Create a diet you can adhere to
We have all heard the statistic “Over 90% of diets fail”. This stat makes us question why. Commitment is the biggest player for long term diet success but consistency has to also play the part.
If you are unable to adhere to your diet long term, sustained fat loss becomes nearly impossible. We need to work out the right balance of flexibility that works for your needs.
It is important that you critically evaluate what you can reasonably commit to before making any changes to your diet or lifestyle.
This includes considering what your individual needs, preferences, lifestyle requirements are, and what this looks like in practice.
For example, if part of your life involves socialising for dinners out with friends, avoiding eating out entirely may come be a large sacrifice you are not willing to let go of. A strict diet with no allowance for eating out is unreasonable and unrealistic and will be short-lived. Therefore, planning eating around and factoring in these times will be our best option to prioritise your commitment.
Being prepared is the number one diet tip out there. Have healthy foods on hand, meals prepared and don't leave the house hungry without a plan on what you're going to eat next.
Preparation & planning is key to dieting success
“If you fail to plan, you are planning for failure” Benjamin Franklin.
No matter what your goal is, staying committed to the task will be made all the more difficult if you fail to plan and prepare. Being well prepared is vital in implementing a successful diet. Doing so is a sure-fire way to facilitate success and will make actioning your diet a lot easier.
Let’s cover some common planning questions
“What time should I eat?” and “How many meals should I eat?”
When it comes to meal timing and frequency, there is no hard and fast rule for fat loss. As you know, for long term success, commitment is key.
With this in mind, think about what a typical day eating for you looks like in terms of meal frequency (how many times you are eating) and timing (what time you will eat each meal). Eating as many or few meals as you like, and at times that suit your schedule and needs will allow you to adhere over time and be less disruptive to your ordinary daily needs.
How much should I eat?
I would suggest you start by figuring out your goal — do you want to gain some weight or drop weight? Then, a simplistic caloric multiplier based on that multiplying your weight in pounds with 7 up to 21 times your body weight in pounds.
Eg. If you weigh 200 pounds and want to lose weight, you could multiply by 10 for a moderate weight loss, giving you 2,000 calories per day.
Adjust it as you go.
Make sure you get enough protein.
As an example, here is how you can calculate your protein intake.
Example
Your weight in kg. 95kg * 2.2gm of protein = 209 gym per day which is 836 calories of my daily intake.
Your weight in pounds 95kg * 2.2 = 209lbs
209 gym per day which is 836 calories of my daily intake
You can then get the remaining calories from carbohydrates and fats.
I have tried nearly every method over the years both in and out of completions to see what works best for me and have found this method is the most effective for me in my life.
I will adjust carbohydrates and fats according to the body composition and goals at the time but my protein consumption always remains up at at least 1gm of protein per 2.2-2.5kg of weight.
“What should I eat?” - Meal Composition (Macronutrients and micronutrients)
Now that we know how many meals we are planning to eat and how much we need to eat, we can address meal composition to ensure we are hitting any nutritional targets, be it calories or macros. A great starting point is to eat from a well-balanced and varied source of food.
Getting in your calories is one thing but having your meals from a variety of food groups
will be a great way to ensure daily requirements of macro and micro-nutrients are being met.
In instances where we consider cutting out whole food groups, we run the risk of creating deficiencies or deficits in various macro- or micro-nutrients. For example, a common issue vegan or vegetarians face is iron deficiency, and in such cases, iron supplementation may be necessary to maintain health markers.
By now you should have a basic framework and plan for your daily caloric intake. Having considered your needs, your goals, preferences, how many times and at what time you can or will eat per day, what your meals will look like.
Let’s go further…
Ways to reduce calorie consumption that works for you. These will be the tools in our tool box that can be readily implemented to make meaningful changes to your diet to facilitate fat loss for long-term success.
We are wanting changes that are easy and have minimal impact on our lives yet yield a large return from a dietary standpoint.
Dieting substitutions and semi-sacrifices
Substituting or swapping out one food for another is an easy way to reduce consumption.
For example, a person is wanting to lose body fat, they are drinking 1 litre of full-sugar soft drink each day. We can substitute that for the zero or low-calorie sugar alternative, and he was losing weight in no time.
Or
You love your chocolates every evening after dinner. An option that I have seen work very well is, make a chocolate mouse out of chocolate protein powder and Greek yoghurt to beat your craving with a healthy alternative with the chocolate taste you are craving.
You don’t need to give up all the foods and drinks you like but instead, focus on small changes that can go a long way. Where we aim to reduce consumption without needing to give the thing up completely.
Another example, every Saturday night is pizza or pasta night with your friends. Instead of skipping your weekly catch up and missing the occasion, why not just pull back your meal selection? A small change in the size of your meal. This way you still can be in your calorie range for the day, whilst still having the benefit of socialising and eating out. Win-win.
Making these small changes across all or most meals consistently over time will yield a very large impact down the track.
Set guidelines and rules for eating out
If you find you eat out several times per week or have several alcoholic drinks chances are you are consuming more calories than you realise at each outing. Instead of giving up eating out completely, set some basic rules and guidelines for yourself.
You can set a limit on the number of times you eat out per week. This is a great way to regain control over your diet, as it makes you more aware and deliberate when you decide you will eat out. There is no need to avoid eating out altogether as you will give up quite quickly if you feel you are missing out but eating out once per week seems a lot more manageable and reinstates sustainability which will allow you to commit for long term.
Another approach for eating out could be selecting restaurants that have “better” options that are more nutritious, and healthier overall which will line up with your goals.
Think of a steak or a nice piece of fish with veg/salad, we can clearly see what the ingredients are and there is minimal guesswork. Compare that to a creamy pasta where it is a lot harder to guess the ingredients and quantities, which means you could risk consuming more calories than you bargained for!
Skip the entrée’s or desert, or if you have a little spare calories to go, enjoy a small desert.
You control your environment and choices
If you have a goal in mind and want to achieve it, set yourself up for dietary success. Where possible, change and influence your surroundings in a way that will reduce negative influences or triggers, and facilitate positive behaviours and support your goals.
Example. Have your meal prepped and ready to grab, do not have any bad choice foods in your pantry or fridge, do not buy them at the shops, limit the alcohol etc.
This will mean access is harder, and in those instances where you may be triggered or wanting to eat it, it won’t be there or is harder to get to and you can have another healthy option to change that bad habit. This may prevent you from taking a backstep on your diet, and help you get closer to your long-term goals and success.
Don’t shop when you’re hungry and stick to your grocery list. This is simple yet effective and is a sure-fire way to control your environment at home.
Write down a list of the foods that you need to buy and stick to your list.
Each of these strategies will contribute to your ability to sustain your diet and facilitate long term dietary success.
Having a backup plan for meals can help in the case you need it in the run.
If things don’t work to your plan, it is important to have a backup plan. Life doesn’t always go as we intend, and when this happens (and it most likely will) let’s be prepared as beet we can.
Instead of giving up, make the best of a bad situation.
How many times have you forgotten to pack your lunch at work? Or you forgot to buy something at the shops? It happens, you are only human. Have a backup when you potentially forget your lunch or breakfast on the rare occasion.
Not sure how, measure and weigh your foods?
Nutrition tracking is one of the most popular methods of having control in your daily dietary intake. Like most things, there are several ways to approach tracking and measuring. Here are some tried and true methods that you can utilise to gain a more accurate picture of your diet:
- Food Diary – Written or visual food diaries can be extremely effective in making you more aware of what you are eating and drinking daily. They can increase accountability and aid you by giving you a record of what you eat, that you can inform decision making on.
- Tracking Calories or Macros with apps– These methods can be great way to assess the consumption of energy, by focusing on either calories or macronutrients.
- Weighing & Measuring - This approach functions by standardising the portions of the foods you eat. If you are consistently measuring and weighing the foods you eat, then you can manipulate the portion sizes to fit your goals and needs.
- Meal plans designed for you - can be an easy way to track your total daily intake and involves less tracking as you don’t have to try and fit your intake into your macro targets day by day when it’s already spelled out for you.
Don’t forget about alcohol & liquid calories
Liquid calories little to no benefit at all when it comes to getting results. With so many options of low-calorie alternatives on the market now trying to manipulate the consumer, you need to know the added ingredients that are added into them when it’s marketed to you as low to no alcohol wine or beer.
Remember, alcohol contains 7 calories per gram and thus can play a sizeable contribution to our daily intake if not planned for and taken into consideration.
This being the case, minimising or avoiding drinking empty calories and prioritising eating our calories is a great way to increase satiety and maintain your progression.
Seek help and guidance if you need it
Last but not least, you can always reach out to a professional for help and guidance. Help from an experienced coach can be extremely beneficial in providing you accountability and encouragement, whilst also giving you direction towards your goals.
A good coach or practitioner will educate you and teach you so that you do not need them long term. This is extremely empowering and well worth the investment. When you are ready, you will hopefully be well equipped to continue to progress and achieve results on your own.
Learning how to control your diet takes time and persistence
Start small and build on your habits.
Sustainable fat loss takes time. Strive for consistency and continue to put the work in each day. Be patient. It takes time. You will not lose the 10 kilos overnight that took 10 years to put on.
