Part 1: I’m Eating Healthy but I’m Not Losing Weight

Honestly track your food intake for 7 days. This means everything you eat. This includes the food you eat off your friend’s plate and the cheese you put on your pasta. The more honest you are the easier it will be to make an informed decision.

·         Tracking your food will also give you a good idea if you’re eating a lot of extra/unplanned snacks and treats

·         If you’re drinking a lot of your calories

·         If you’re consuming enough protein and fat or if your diet is mostly made up of carbs

·         You may also notice inconsistencies between how many calories you eat on weekdays vs. weekends

·         You may even realize you simply aren’t eating enough, and this is actually a problem!

Please note that tracking your food is not necessarily easy, especially if you are constantly eating different things. However, if you are in healthy frame of mind this exercise can be quite useful and often eye opening.

Ex. After 7 days of tracking Jane add up the total number of calories consumed each day. Ex. Monday 1800, Tuesday 2000, Wednesday 1900, Thursday 1200, Friday 2500, Saturday 2500, Sunday 1800. Add all these up and you get 13,700 calories. Divide this number by 7 (total days).

13,700 ÷ 7 = 1957

On average, Jane consumed around 1957 per day.

Most people don’t actually consider every single meals, snacks, drink and alcoholic beverages they consume every week. We think about the healthy choices we made and the things we resisted without recalling all those little things that add up!

Based on the example above:

·         If Jane’s goal is to maintain your weight she should aim to continue eating around 1957 calories a day.

·         If Jane’s goal is to lose weight she can start by cutting her calories by 100-150 calories a day. More is not better, I’ll explain why later.

·         If Jane’s goal is to gain weight she can increase her calories by 200-250 calories.

If your goal is fat loss I also recommend using the fat loss equation to give you a bit more info/perspective.

Your body weight in pounds x 12

(ex. 150 pounds x 12 = 1800)

Based on this formula 150 pounds individual should be able to eat 1800 and lose weight.

Nevertheless, the calorie calculated by this formula are NOT guaranteed. Every individual is different. Your activity level, training, how long you’ve dieted, current calories, age, body fat %, etc. will all have an effect on this number. This is why cookie cutter diets don’t work.

1800 calories could be a great starting point for a 150 lbs individual to lose weight. However, if after tracking your food for 7 days you learned you are actually eating 2200 calories a day on average, it doesn’t make sense to drop from 2200 to 1800.

This is also why even though based on my weight I should have started by cut around 1900 calories I started it at 2500. I was eating far more calories and reducing them so drastically would have had a very negative effect on my energy, training and would have caused me to reduce my calories even more. Instead I never went below 1900 calories during my cut because I was able to get results I was happy with while training hard and eating 1900 calories.

You are far better off dropping your calories slowly and in a controlled manner. Your body will adjust to lower calories. This is a fact. This is also why low-calorie diets may get you great results initially but it is also the reason why your weight loss will plateau and you’ll have to cut even more calories to see more progress. This is why slow and controlled fat loss will always be more sustainable than starving yourself for a week or doing a juice cleanse for 5 days. A study on 14 contestants from “The Biggest Loser” where they lost an average of 64% of their body fat, or an average of 127 lbs., showed that 13 out of the 14 contestants gained 66% of the weight back. Several of them were actually heavier than before the show!

Starting with a minimal calorie deficit may feel frustrating and not give you jaw dropping results right away, but you will have a far greater chance of keeping the weight off if you do it slowly.  Ideally you want to start your weight loss eating the most calories possible. This way when your weight loss plateaus, which it will, you can reduce your calories and still have food to eat.

·         Before you even start cutting your calories take some “before” photos, record your current measurements and weigh yourself. All 3 of these things are important because the scale fluctuates, photos can take a while to show progress but are great for seeing change and measurements, while tedious to take, don’t lie.

·         Start with a calorie deficit and commit to it for a week or 2 if you aren’t seeing change double check you are actually sticking to it…that means make sure you track everything you eat! We can easily get carried away or not realize that single slice of cake was actually 400 calories which meant you weren’t even in a calorie deficit that day.

·         If you are 95% compliant with your calories/macros and not seeing results, reduce your calories by another 100-150. I only recommend reducing your calories when your progress had plateaued for a week or two.

·         How do you know if progress plateaus? Remember all those things you did to see where you were at when you started, you should be tracking them regularly. I normally take photos once a week while on a cut, weight myself every 2 weeks and take measurements if I’m not sure if I should further reduce my calories (I should do it more often in theory, but I can be lazy too!)

·         You can theoretically continue to reduce your calories several times in order to further your weight loss. Please remember though that it is important to eat enough to sustain your activity levels. Personally, I prefer to add a small amount of cardio as opposed to cutting my calories more aggressively.

This weekend’s newsletter will talk about:

·         Macro splits

·         I’m having a hard time eating enough

·         How to make sure you’re being realistic about your goals

·         How long does it take to see change?

·         Diet sustainability

Next week’s newsletter will talk about:

·         Weight loss plateaus

·         How to track what you’re eating without counting calories or macros

·         What to do when you don’t want to decrease your calories during a diet

The following newsletter will talk about:

·         I’m exercising lots and not seeing progress

·          “No, no, I swear my metabolism is slow”

·         What’s a reverse diet

·         How to do a reverse diet

These tips are absolutely not intended for anyone struggling with any kind of eating disorder or chronic diseases. If you’re struggling with any of these seeking a medical professional is extremely important.