2. Lifting weights is essential. If you don't lift while losing weight you lose muscle slowing your metabolism & making it hard to keep fat off. If you lift, you'll build muscle & improve your metabolism, this makes it EASIER to keep the fat off. 3-5 sessions per week is great.
3. 90% of the time eat nutrient dense, whole foods like potatoes, salmon, eggs, lean ground beef/turkey, chicken, greek yogurt, rice, sirloin steak, sardines, cottage cheese, etc. 10% of the time I'd eat "less clean" foods you enjoy for sustainability.
4. Food = fuel mindset. Stop viewing food as only a source of pleasure and focus on choosing meals & foods based on how they are going to make you feel. This will help improve your decision making.
5. Shift your identity to being the fit person. Believe you are fit and act as a fit person would before you are actually there. Believe it relentlessly until it becomes your reality. If you don't shift your identity, the results won't stick.
6. Master lifting technique before going heavy. Doing the opposite leads to injury.
7. Progressively overload your lifts. This means adding weight or reps as often as possible. If you don't increase the demands placed on your muscles over time, you won't grow.
8. Prioritize quality sleep. Poor sleep is the root of low motivation, injury, hunger, cravings, and other things that make the process difficult. Focus on getting 7-8 hours of quality sleep per night. (tips coming later)
9. Alcohol. Drink in moderation or not at all. I've coached for years now and I can tell you without a doubt those who drink more see slower progress than those who don't. It kills your sleep, recovery, fat loss, gut health, and more.
10. Creatine. 5-10g/daily will level up your performance in the gym, your cognition, your energy, and more. Everyone should be taking it, especially the elderly as it's been shown to reduce muscle & bone loss with age.
11. Cardio is great for your health, but alone it isn't great for fat loss. You can eat 300+ calories in 30 seconds from a slice of pizza but it will take 30 minutes of running to burn those calories off. It can also spike hunger causing you to over-eat & negate any fat loss.
12. Get an under-desk treadmill. It's winter time and it's tough to be motivated to get outside and walk. But there's no excuse when your treadmill is waiting for you every day. This also will allow you to work and walk which makes getting steps easy.
13. 50g protein cheat sheet: - 2 scoops whey protein - 2 cups egg whites - 8oz 93/7 ground beef - 6oz chicken breast - 2 cups Greek yogurt - 2 cups cottage cheese - 8oz sirloin steak - 8oz ground turkey - 13 shrimp Loading your meals with protein = fat loss on autopilot
14. 10,000 steps daily. This isn't hard, stop making excuses. Any day you absolutely can't get 10K do 45 minutes of zone 2 cardio such as incline walking.
15. Weigh yourself daily. Average it weekly. The average weekly weight is what matters, not day to day weigh ins.
16. Take your bodyweight x 10-12 (200lbs = 2000-2400 calories) and eat this many calories daily. This estimation will usually put the average person in a sustainable calorie deficit.
17. If you aren't losing 1-2lbs per week on average, you need to decrease your calorie intake or take more daily steps.
18. Be resilient. This is going to take longer than you want, but that's part of it. Accept this and keep pushing forward even when you make mistakes. The biggest reason people don't get in shape is because they aren't consistent and give up too soon.
19. Sleep tips. Make sure your room is cool (68 degrees or less) and comfortable. Get blackout curtains, go to bed and wake up at similar times daily, limit blue light for an hour before bed. Get sunlight at sunrise, wear blue light blockers at night, and take magnesium.
20. Training 101: Upper/Lower/Full Body split for 3x/wk. Upper/Lower/Rest/Upper/Lower split for 4x/wk. Do 5-15 sets per muscle group per week in the 6-12 rep range. Make your sets CHALLENGING if you want to stimulate growth efficiently.
21. Cut toxic habits. This includes late night binge snacking, eating fast food 4-5x/wk (unless you're making smart choices), drinking excessive amounts of sugar loaded soda, snacking on processed junk, etc.
22. Track everything, your calories, macros, steps, workouts, etc. Without data you can't make good decisions to break through plateaus and keep your progress rolling.
23. Learn to view mild hunger as progress. It is inevitable along the journey, especially if you're already lean and trying to get leaner.
24. Remember peanut butter is not a high protein food, it has a terrible calorie/protein ratio. Peanut butter powder is a much better choice.
25. You've got more fat to lose than you think. It's going to take time, so get started NOW. Keep pushing even when things get tough (they will).