How To Win The Day For Faster Fat Loss

Getting in shape can be tough.

The hard part isn't knowing what to do, its doing it on a daily basis, whether you feel like it or not.

The challenge isn't knowing if you should exercise, its putting your gym clothes on and getting to the gym.
The challenge isn't knowing you should eat more whole foods, its having them readily available to eat.
The challenge isn't knowing you need to get more sleep, its putting your phone away and getting to bed.

If you are waiting for motivation then you've already lost.

Motivation will come and go, so the key is making the things you want to do as easy as possible.

Lets dissect this further and further until we have concrete, easy to do actions that will breed a healthy and fit lifestyle.

Long term goal: Losing 30 lbs.
What helps you do this? This will be made up of movement, food, exercise, and stress management.

Movement: Research shows that 6-10k steps per day supports metabolic health, longevity, body composition among other things. So 6k steps becomes the goal but you are only getting 3k steps now. The goal becomes adding an extra 3k steps per day. This could be adding a `1 or 2 mile walk at the end of your day after dinner.

Daily Goal: 1-2 mile walk at 7pm each day.

Food: A caloric deficit will be needed to achieve this fat loss goal. So the goal is to eat the appropriate amount of food each day to do this. After figuring out your caloric needs ( you can do so HERE) you then make up a food plan that will fit you calorie needs. From there your daily goal becomes to make, prep, or buy your meals each day.

Daily Goal: Make, prep, or buy meals each day.

Exercise: Resistance training will help preserve muscle as you lose fat which will help keep a healthy metabolism as you lose weight. Studies show that muscle loss can account for up to 30% of the weight loss people experience. Meaning if someone loses 60 lbs, 20 of those lbs could be from muscle loss. This is worse than it sounds for your metabolism. Another topic for another day perhaps. Anyway, lifting weights needs to be a primary factor here. Three days a week is sufficient for most people and full body workouts are generally a good idea. From here, what days of the week work best for you and then what times of the day.

The goal becomes the execution of this.

Daily Goal: Schedule exact times on allocated days for exercise.

Stress management: This is an often overlooked but important aspect of fat loss. Your body needs rest to recover. If it doesn't recover properly then all of the effort you put into your process will be slowed down by the lack of energy, rest, and wonky metabolic hormones. Proper sleep, hydration, breathwork, meditation, massage are all great forms of stress management. The key becomes prioritizing each to your level of interests and enjoyment.

Daily Goal: Schedule sleep and wake up times each day

So even though the goal is to lose weight, the actual goals each day are to get a 1-2 mile walk after dinner, schedule workout times each day, go to bed and wake up the same time each day, make/prep/buy appropriate meals each day.

Vague goals lead to overwhelm and inaction.

Not being specific like we have outlined here is one of the biggest reasons people lack motivation and never get anywhere.

If you have been struggling in your own journey, it may be useful to sit down and map out the specific day-to-day tasks and actions that need to be done so you can be successful.

Hope this was useful today.

Have a great week!