A 9-minute read.
One word describes weight loss and the world of information around it…
Overwhelming.
5 minutes Googling how to lose weight can leave your head reeling with questions and confusion.
Too good to be true fad diets and fat burning workouts…
Magical pills that are supposed to make the weight fly off…
And the impossibly large ocean of information and viewpoints online can leave us paralyzed and demotivated.
But it doesn’t have to be that way…
If you’ve been struggling to figure out where to start? I got you. (Believe me, I’ve been around the block, read my story here).
So, If you’re serious about losing weight, spend a few minutes reading this blog and you’ll have 5 SIMPLE steps you can implement TODAY.
These 5 steps aren’t everything, but they are the fundamentals that will launch you into the right direction toward the healthier, happier you.
Note: For my more advanced homies, these tips may not apply or may look different. This list is targeted at those near the start of their journey.
1. Start Tracking Calories
A tough pill to swallow is that you truly can’t master something you haven’t measured. If we all understand the idea of “eating in a calorie deficit to lose weight” then you need to understand how many calories come in, so you can control them.
Otherwise, it’s like walking around blind and hoping you reach your destination. GOOD LUCK with that!
Most tracking apps will ask you some basic information about yourself, set you a calorie budget, then you can log the food you eat throughout the day to make sure you stay under budget.
Here are a few tracking tactics. Try what fits your eating habits best:
-Track before or after each meal
-Track a few designated times per day (noon, before dinner)
Here are two free apps I recommend:
–MyFitnessPal (which I personally use & have recommended to my clients for years)
–Lose It! (A great alternative that some people prefer the layout of)
2. Pick YOUR Activity and be CONSISTENT!
There are two questions to consider when finding your activity:
Does It Help Me Reach My Goal?
If your goal is to build muscle and put on mass, in that case, marathon running isn’t exactly your best bet.
Instead, you would want to do something like weight lifting – i.e. powerlifting, bodybuilding, or a mix of the two. The key in this case is the progressive overload that creates hypertrophy in the muscles (that’s nerd for: makes your muscles grow 🤓 ).
Do I Enjoy It Enough to Be Consistent?
At the end of the day, the best activity is the one you will actually do. So try out different options until you settle on something that you like!
Here are some goal-based examples to get you started:
Goal:
Build Muscle: Bodybuilding, Powerlifting, Power-build, Crossfit
Pure Weight Loss: Long Distance Running (Build Up the Distance Slowly, pls), Cross Country, Swimming, Lifting Weights (The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns!)
Athleticism: Pick your sport!
Generally Staying Active: Lifting in the Gym (A hallmark I can’t recommend enough!), Instructor-led Fitness Classes: Martial Arts (Boxing!), Cycling, Dance, Yoga, Rowing
Having trouble deciding on your activity?
Drop a reply below with some details of your goal and current situation, and I’ll help recommend you something!
3. Incorporate More Protein Into Your Diet
“But I’m just trying to lose weight, not put on muscle”
Hear me out…
You really should eat more protein.
0.7-1g per pound of lean body weight is a good ballpark (Example: Jenny weighs 120 lbs, but only 90 lbs are lean mass, she should aim for 60-90g of protein a day.
Beyond the basics like needing protein to rebuild muscles after a workout, here are three more weight-loss-specific benefits to consider!
Prevention of Muscle Loss: Don’t lose those hard-earned gains! Studies show that when losing weight in a calorie deficit, those who ate more protein kept more of their muscle mass[1],[2].
*This is especially important for my OG’s as they continue to age[3]
Increased Satiation: To keep it simple, a meal higher in protein tends to leave you feeling more satisfied than one without. Being satisfied with your meal results in you consuming fewer calories, thus making it easier to eat less unnecessary food, and hit your weight loss goal[4],[5].
Dietary Induced Thermogenesis: Let me break it down. All this means is our body uses the most energy to digest protein compared to any other macronutrient[6]. This is a double whammy with “Increased Satiation”. So, eating more protein keeps you feeling more full AND aids you in the weight-loss process.
4. Rest as Hard as You Train
You! How many hours of sleep did you get last night?
If the answer is “not enough”, we got some work to do.
With all the hard work we put our minds and bodies through, we NEED to get the proper rest.
Here are a few reasons why:
Control Our Cortisol Levels: Simply put, cortisol is the stress hormone in the body.
If you live a life where you’re pushing for goals and challenging yourself, there is going to be stress!
Some stress is no problem and is natural and even has benefits[7],[8] The problem is when we have too much cortisol, too frequently.-
If you don’t take enough time to let your body heal with the proper food and rest, you will continually have higher levels of cortisol that will tell your body to stop losing weight. Our bodies go into ‘survival mode’, and try to keep all the calories they can (The exact opposite of weight loss.)
Muscle repair: No sleep = No gains. Simple.
If your body doesn’t have time to build back what you broke down in training. You won’t build that oh-so-valuable muscle that will help you shed fat.
Avoiding the Grehlin Gremlin: We’ve all done it. We stay up late for whatever reason we justified to ourselves and then, the next day…
Our minds are filled with a cloud of mental fogginess. And we start craving everything unhealthy.
Bad sleep or lack of sleep spikes a hormone called grehlin that tells your brain “I’m hungry”[9].
Your brain goes into “survival mode”, where now, you’re not thinking about “is this food good for me?” instead, you’re more likely to devour whatever is around (like a little gremlin).
5. Prep or Plan Your Meals (Or Hire me to cook for you! 😉)
Easily control the calories that you intake, ensure you get proper levels of protein, and avoid the Grehlin Gremlin when you’re hungry. Weekly meal planning/prep allows you to do this.
Planning meals takes the guesswork out of calories and protein, and gives you quick and easy meals, so you don’t start grazing on just anything, like we do when we’re hungry.
Cuz it’s true guys…failing to plan, is planning to fail.
You have two real choices when it comes to meal prep, if you want to do it right:
1. Do it yourself. Go spend hours every week doing the hard work. Researching recipes, waiting in line at the grocery store, preparing the cooking ingredients, assembling them into a meal, estimating the macros and calories, and cleaning the dishes.
With all those moving parts, meal prep can seem like a daunting task.
If you want to try it yourself, I encourage you to. You’ll learn a lot, and maybe get your cooking skills up.
But some people just don’t have the time, knowledge, or desire.
That’s where I come in…
2. Hire a Professional Service Like Meals of Dopeness. We’ll save you the untold hours and effort that you’d have to put in otherwise. We’ll send you fresh healthy meals with calculated macros, plus you won’t have to compromise on flavor.
Simply click the button below, pick the meals you want (or the bulk items – if you want flexibility, but still want some of the chef dopeness flavor),
And next week, your chef-prepared meals will arrive at your door, and all you’ll have to do is heat’em up and enjoy!
Imagine what you could do with those extra 3, 4, or even 5 hours that you’d add back to your hard-earned weekend.
And remember, Your best investment is YOU.
Bonus Tip: Be mindful of Drinking Calories
Liquid calories are so easy and quick to consume that they can become a runaway train that can totally stunt our weight loss progress.
The worst part: It doesn’t even help satisfy your hunger.
Cutting out the soda you have with dinner every night, or moderating the morning fruit juice, is an easy and quick way to reduce your calories immediately.
Start Today!
Dopefam, I’ve given you 6 things that you could take action on TODAY.
Now, It’s up to you to get started.
If you’re serious weight loss, start today.
And to make it even easier, today, focus on just one of these steps.
Pick which one seems the most attractive.
Then, over the next few days, you can gradually begin to implement the rest.
Look, It’s not going to be perfect, sometimes you may forget to track, skip the gym, stay up too late, or forget to plan your meals.
That’s life. What matters is that you are making the effort and learning from those mistakes so that you have more of those successful days.
The sooner you start implementing these steps, the sooner you will see results.
And in the end, the only regret you’ll have is that you didn’t start sooner!
If you have ANY questions, drop me a reply below.
You got this Dopefam!
Stay happy, stay healthy… Stay DOPE! <3
- Unfiltered: How Meals of Dopeness Went From Snapchat Meme to Fulfilling Entrepreneurial Dream
- How It’s Made: Meals of Dopeness Edition
- The Stupidly Simple 6-Step Method to Measure Progress and ENSURE You Hit Your Goals Quicker
- 10 Reasons to Never Give Up [+ Video Story Time]
- How to Eat More & Still Lose Weight [Infographic on Calorie-Dense Foods]
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