Alan Thrall, got a quick "tips to lose fat" video that resonated with me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB_ESE2XwOUThese tips are pretty grounded, and easy to stick to, and I've basically used all of them on my fat loss journey. You've probably heard them before, but I feel like this is a list of things that are easy to adhere to. To date I've done very little calorie counting and almost no food weighing and I've still managed to come in at a consistent calorie deficit.
1. Stop snacking. I was never a big snacker to begin with. But limiting myself to just my meals (lunch, dinner, before bed eats) and excluding all other extraneous calories has helped keep me in a deficit. That which we snack on is often calorie dense (nuts, breads, sweets) and, due to the nature of snacking, often isn't portion controlled. A single donut is portion controlled, as is that fun-size bag of chips. But a full bag of chips isn't portion controlled. A full bag of nuts isn't portion controlled. And even if it is portion controlled, a bag of skittles is still a few hundred calories. We often snack out of boredom and habit, not out of genuine hunger. Skip the snacking, and when meal time comes around, you will ACTUALLY be hungry and you'll want to EAT even if what's in front of you isn't pizza or burgers or something you crave.
2. Eat ONE carb and ONE protein per meal. This is one that I started doing within the last few years without realizing it. It's easiest to explain in terms of fast food.
A value meal from McDonalds is:
-The meat patty (protein)
-The bun (carbs)
-The fries (carbs)
-The toppings (usually veg)
-The soda (carbs)
That's a whole lot of carbs, easily a higher proportion of them than the rest of the meal. Or take your average sandwich meal.
-The meat (protein)
-The bread (carbs)
-Toppings (veg, and probably fat from mayo or dressing or cheese)
-Chips (carbs)
-The soda (carbs)
Or as in his example, a pasta meal
-The meat (protein)
-The pasta (carbs)
-The garlic bread (carbs)
-The toppings (fat, if you're talking Parmesan cheese)
-The soda or beer or wine (carbs)
So when I order a BIG sandwich with double meat on it, what I DON'T need anymore is a bag of chips. Could I cram them down along with everything else? Sure. Would I enjoy them? Absolutely. Do I NEED them? No, not at all. Just the bread from a 16" sandwich is honestly more carbs than I need. I could get a smaller sandwich, too, and eat even fewer carbs. But since it's 1 of 2 actual meals I'm going to eat, I need my carbs from somewhere so I make room for them.
3. Stop with the extras. When you're eating out, stop adding on extras to what's already there. Does your sandwich really need bacon in addition to the meat? Does it really need EXTRA mayo or cheese on top of what it already has? Does your movie popcorn really need EXTRA butter? Does a sundae really need EXTRA fudge? Food is already calorie dense enough, and then we add yet more calorie dense things that don't actually make the meal more filling.....but adds hundreds of extra calories we don't feel when we eat it. But your body knows it's there.
4. Just get 1 item when you eat out. I've been practicing this for a very long time now. You don't need "The meal." Just get the burger. Hell, make it a double. But you don't need the fries. You don't need the drink. You don't need a 6 piece chicken nugget to go with your hamburger. I'm the kind of guy that if I buy it, I gotta eat it so I don't feel like I've wasted my money. But not setting myself up for those extra calories in the first place is a lot easier if I just focus on one actual food item, and drink water with my meal.
5. Cut back on the liquid calories. This made the biggest difference for me starting out. Sugar is the primary culprit in most liquids that cause you to ingest way more calories than you're burning on a daily basis. It's EASY to drink 300cal worth of beverages in just one sitting, and to do that multiple times a day. Soda is the easiest one to identify because it's ubiquitous, and because we enjoy it for caffeine it easily slots in to our daily routine just like coffee does. Beer and wine both are calorie dense and we drink them not necessarily until we're "full" but until we're "satisfied" (I.e. as lit as we're looking for.) There's also milk which is calorie dense too and you gotta watch out for. (I'm talking regular plain milk. Chocolate or flavored milk is basically more calorie dense than soda even.) But IMO Milk is the best of the liquids to get your calories from if you're going to do it at all, because it has a lot of nutrients and vitamins that a physically active person wants, versus soda and alcohol which basically just have carbohydrates and that's it.
For me, what I've learned is that by doing all this stuff above, you can "make room" for things you like and want to enjoy. How much room you make will be based on how true to a nutrition lifestyle you're staying, and how fast you want to see results. It's ok to get fries as long as you're not drinking soda twice a day. It's ok to have a few beers a day as long as you're not eating two donuts every day. You can do all this without counting calories and without weighing out your food, as long as you're honest about what you're eating and you're willing and able to forgo SOMETHING SOMEWHERE.
In the final analysis, losing body fat comes down to eating less, pure and simple. But you need to adapt, mentally and emotionally, to eating less. To not always being "completely satisfied and full" at the end of every meal. Learning to separate the desire to not be bored from the actual need for sustenance, so that you can learn to tell the difference between them. Learning to enjoy real food without all the add-ons, extras, additional courses and menu items.
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Topic: The Fitness Thread - THE RE-SWOLLENING (Read 62947 times)