I can guarantee within 3 minutes of meeting someone for the first time they’ll ask me what I do.

I never know how to answer this. Personal trainer, healthy lifestyle architect, body transformation specialist. Or I could get cute and say coffee connoisseur, whisky enthusiast, closet Gossip Girl fan.

Recently, I started telling people I help busy professionals build a body and life that they’re proud of.

Then they sort of look at me like this.

So I revert to, I’m a personal trainer and nutrition coach.

The next words out of their mouth are, “So what should I do if I want to lose fat?” Sometimes shaking a part of their body at me to emphasize a particular area they’d like to work on.

If I’ve got my smart ass cap on that day I say eat less.

But I usually leave that cap at home and instead laugh a little and say, “that’s sort of a loaded question. There are a lot of things that could influence the best answer for you.”

After they hear me say this they usually look really sad. So I take a deep breath and sigh a little. They want me to tell them what to do.

But for the most part, most people know exactly what they’re supposed to do.

The problem is they aren’t doing it.

And this is for a few reasons.

They’re not willing to accept the tradeoffs that come with trying to lose fat.
They’re making it too complicated
They’re trying to be too perfect
Their “diet” that is too restrictive

Today’s article will help you overcome some of those reasons. It also is how I answer the question, “what should I do to lose weight?”

DON’T BE AN ASKHOLE

Like I said, most people already know what they need to do to lose fat. The problem is they aren’t doing it.

Fat loss and better health and fitness in general is pretty easy in theory. But can be difficult in application.

Our greatest obstacles in life usually are not what to do. Instead they’re things like fear, insecurity, self-loathing, guilt, a bad attitude, and complaining.

What if you work hard to change you’re body and your health and you don’t get the results you want? Are you afraid to act without a guaranteed outcome?

Are you insecure about being the weird one when you go out for dinner and drinks? Ordering the healthier option when everyone else doesn’t? Stopping at 1 glass of wine when everyone else is 3 sheets to the wind. Dancing on table tops and throwing their hands in the air like they just don’t care?

Do you throw yourself a pity party every time you make small mistake?

Take action: I’d like for you to spend 15-minutes thinking about why you don’t do what you should be doing. Take full responsibility for this. Avoid blaming anyone or anything else.

TELL ME WHAT TO DO TO LOSE WEIGHT

Eat less and move your body in ways you enjoy.

The moving your body in ways you enjoy part is easy. The eat less is the hard part. You can follow a diet. You can count your macros. You can follow a habit based approach. All of these will work.

Below is a 4 step system to help you whether you choose a specific system or not.

STEP 1 – CREATE A HEALTHIER ENVIRONMENT

Planning and knowledge don’t always work. I’ve laid out detailed nutrition plans for myself and for others, outlining exactly what to eat and when to eat it. But, they only ever work if the environment was changed.

Lets say you’re stoked about trying to eat healthier and improve your fitness. You’re motivated and committed to making some big changes. But have you made these changes easier to do?

Make the good things easier to do and the not so good things harder to do.

I have a rule. If there is a food in my house, desk/work, etc… it will be eaten. Remove temptation by performing a kitchen makeover. If you know the break room is where all the donuts and candy is steer clear – or throw it away. If you’re often tempted by the vending machine don’t keep dollar bills or change on you.

Try these things instead:

Perform a kitchen makeover.
Perform a workplace makeover
Hide junk food in hard to reach places like the garage or the top shelf. A friend of mine once froze her credit card in a block of ice in her freezer so she wouldn’t spend mindlessly.

You can also start using smaller plates or Tupperware. Research has shown that we will eat what’s put in front of us.

In his book Mindless Eating, Brian Wansik addresses this exact issue. It’s scary to see how small cues can impact our behavior

If you use a big spoon, you’ll eat more. If you serve yourself on a big plate, you’ll eat more. If you move the small bowl of chocolates on your desk six feet away you’ll eat half as much. If you eat chicken wings and remove the bones from the table, you’ll forget how much you ate and you’ll eat more.

Use services like this or this to get healthy foods sent to you.

Take action: Complete a kitchen makeover or re-design once per week. If your budget allows for it sign-up for a meal planning service.

STEP 2 – EAT SLOWER

Studies are showing that by slowing down when you eat you’ll consume fewer calories. Enough to lose 20 pounds a year without making any other changes.

In a University of Rhode Island study. Researchers took a group of people and served them a giant plate of Pasta with red sauce and cheese. All the participants were told to eat until they felt full. Half of the group was told to eat as quick as possible. The other half was told to eat slow and to put utensils down between bites.

What they found was this:

Fast eaters consumed 646 calories in 9 minutes
Slow eaters consumed 579 calories in 29 minutes

Say whaaaaa!?

That’s right. Slow eaters ate 67 less calories in 20 more minutes of eating. This may not seem like much. But extend those 67 calories from one meal over the course of a year. That comes out to 24,445 fewer calories consumed.

Because a pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories, that comes out to about 7 pounds lost in a year from eating slow. How would you feel if you lost 7 pounds and didn’t have to change the food that you ate?

Now imagine if you ate slow at all your meals? Yeah, that’s too much math for me too but you get the idea.

Take action: For the next week time your meals. Try and space out the meal so that it takes you 20-minutes to eat it.

Bonus action: When 20-minutes is up make it a goal to have 20% of your meal still left on your plate. Then ask yourself how much hunger you still have on a scale of 1 to 10. If you’re lower then an 8 take a few more bits. If you’re at an 8 or higher stop eating.

STEP 3 – USE A SIMPLE MEAL TEMPLATE

When most people create a meal plan for themselves it looks something like this.

Breakfast:

1/4 cup oats
3 strawberries
1 egg +3 eggs whites
1 tablespoon of almond butter
16 ounce water with lemon
Multivitamin

Lunch:

5 ounces of chicken
1 cup of lettuce
1/4 cup of cucumber
1/4 cup of chopped carrots
10 almonds
Unsweetened tea

Dinner:

6 ounce of salmon
1 teaspoon of olive oil
10 asparagus spears
1 small sweet potato
16 ounce water with lemon

Snack:

10 almonds
3 celery sticks
1/2 cup of cottage cheese

This looks good at first. But there’s a glaring problem here. Excuse my language but nobody fucking eats like this long-term nor do they want to eat like this long-term. Because it’s a pain in the ass to measure your food out like this all the time – and this is coming from a guy who did it for 8 years.

If you want to compete in a body building competition, are trying to achieve 5% bodyfat, or are a competitive athlete – then it may be necessary. But for most trying to look better naked, fit into a pair of jeans, and have more energy to play with their kids it’s not.

You’ll have weeks you’re traveling, eating out at restaurants, or need to shuffle priorities. When this happens grocery shopping and cooking fall down the priority list a little. Instead of trying to follow a strict meal plan you can follow a meal template.

A HEALTHY MEAL TEMPLATE

Women:

1 palm sized portion of protein
1 to 2 fist sized servings of vegetables
1 cupped handful of smart carbohydrates
1 thumb of healthy fat

Eat like this 3 times per day and try not to snack. Make adjustments every 2-weeks. Base this on the feedback you’re getting from your body measurements.

Men:

2 palm sized portions of protein
2 to 3 fist sized servings of vegetables
2 cupped handfuls of smart carbs
2 thumbs of healthy fats

Eat like this 3 times per day and try not to snack. Make adjustments every 2-weeks. Base this on the feedback you’re getting from your body measurements.

Take action: Once per week create a simple meal plan for yourself using the template above. Eat the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner all week and switch it up the following week.

Bonus tip: If making that many meals scares the shit out of you make 1. Prepare 7 dinners for the week.

STEP 4 – CREATE A FOOD JOURNAL EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE

If I asked most of you what you ate yesterday you’d have to think about it wouldn’t you? If I asked you what you ate two or three days ago, you can forget about it.

That’s exactly why this step is important. I want you to create awareness around what you’re eating everyday.

Step 1: Write down the date and day of the week.

Seems obvious right but don’t skip this step. You may end up noticing a pattern of making poor food choices on a particular day of the week.

Step 2: Commit to writing down what you’re eating right away.

I know you’re positive you’ll remember to write EXACTLY what you ate for breakfast later tonight. But this doesn’t mean you actually will.

Pull out that notebook and jot down exactly what you’re eating as you’re eating it.

Step 3: List everything that you’re eating and drinking.

If you grab a single M&M, take a sip of OJ, or even pick your nose and eat that – write it down!

Big tip: People often forget to write what they drink every day. For some reason we tend to forget about these calories. Also, don’t forget to include anything you add to those drink. Creamer in your coffee? Sugar in your tea? Drizzles of honey?

Step 4: Get specific and as detailed as possible.

This doesn’t mean you need to record exact calories, protein, carbs, and fat. Although, you can if you want to.

I’m talking about portions and ingredients.

I’ve made the mistake of not being clear with clients on this before. I’ll end up getting back a food log that says something like this.

Breakfast: Omelette
Lunch: Turkey Sandwich
Dinner: Lasagana
Snack: Nuts, cheese, and apple

I have no idea how much they ate, how many eggs they used in the omelet, or if anything else was in it.

A better example would be something like this:

Breakfast, 7:21am:

3 eggs
About a fist of mixed veggies (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower),
1 slice of swiss cheese
A glass of water

Lunch, 12:45pm:

2 slices of Ezekiel bread
1 hand sized serving of smoked turkey
4 tomato slices and a large handful of romaine lettuce.
One unsweetened iced tea.

Dinner, 6:49pm:

2 pieces of lasagna about the size of 2 decks of cards stacked up.
1 cup of steamed broccoli with salt and pepper dashed on top.

Snack, 3:02pm:

1 apple the size of my hand
2 slices of pepper jack cheese the size of my thumb
A handful of almonds

Take action: For one week create a food journal for yourself. Use myfitnesspal, a notebook, or take pictures. Whatever method you’re most likely to use.

At the end of the week take a look at your log and ask yourself what you did well this week and where is 1 area you can improve?

A WEEKLY CHECKLIST TO HELP YOU

I want you to actually use this article to help yourself. Here’s a weekly checklist you can use to make better choices.

Every Sunday do the following:

Complete a kitchen makeover
To remind you to take 20-minutes to eat your meals and leave a little on your plate set an alert on your phone.
Cook at least 1 healthy meal for each day of the week using the healthy meal template.
Record everything you eat and drink for a week (do this once per month)

Well, that’s it for today. Take action because knowing is only half the battle. #gijoe

Live limitless,

Justin

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Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

4 STEPS TO HELP YOU LOSE BODY FAT AND NOT BE AN ASKHOLE