Good ol weight loss, the topic that invariably pops up the moment the words “fitness goals”
are uttered.
And for beginners, it might be extremely overwhelming trying to understand exactly HOW to lose any
amount of weight, given the mixed bag of information we have on the internet.
In reality, weight loss, although not easy, is pretty straightforward and the issue is
understanding exactly how you personally approach it.
To do so, there’s a few steps we can apply.
In this video, we’ll go over five fundamental steps you and other beginners should take
to better understand how to lose weight… for you.
You know, I actually want to start with a step ZERO.
Before deciding anything, you need to answer this: “Do you ACTUALLY wanna lose weight,
or are you just trying to shed a bit of fat and build muscle?”
If you’re, say, around the average body fat of about 20% for men and 28% for women,
then your WEIGHT doesn’t really matter much at all.
Your goal is to simply change your body composition, something known as recomposition, burning
fat while building muscle without huge changes to the scale.
Now I don’t wanna completely jump into the topic of body recomposition in this specific
video, but feel free to check out some of my other similar videos and I’ll approach
this topic more in the future.
For now, let’s assume that you’re not looking for recomposition but generally, do
want to lose weight.
First step is to change up your grocery list.
This shouldn’t be too surprising.
The first thing to tackle is the thing that got you needing to lose weight in the first
place, and that’s the type of food you eat.
And there’s no secret here: You gotta bring down those junk foods, the
highly processed, sugary and fatty foods that are calorie dense but low in important nutrients
like vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber.
In its place, you’re gonna want some good ol’ whole foods, whole meats, fruits, vegetables,
and so on.
Not much overthinking needed.
Switching to whole foods generally provide more nutrients while getting you fuller with
fewer calories.
It doesn’t sound fun, getting rid of your delicious treats.
But there has to be some sort of change.
You can still have the occasional processed goodness as long as you don’t overeat and
overindulge.
Moderation is key here, so don’t think that I’m trying to ruin your dietary lives forever,
just building some form of conscious responsibility to your food choices.
Step 2, now that you’re making better food choices, let’s actually track it.
Research has shown that consistently tracking your food will improve one’s chances of
successful weight loss.
And when you consider that people often UNDERREPORT the amount of food they eat, according to
surveys, measuring your food intake will keep you honest.
The goal is to ultimately help you understand how to be in a calorie deficit, which is the
KEY to weight loss: eating fewer calories than you normally burn throughout the day
Figuring out your calorie deficit first requires calculating your total daily energy expenditure,
or TDEE.
Then you estimate the amount of calories needed to sustain a deficit, which is eating below
your TDEE.
Typical safe range is eating below that by 300 to 500 calories.
Luckily, most tracking apps will calculate all this for you.
However, it will only provide an estimate so you’ll have to adjust your calorie intake
over time to get a more accurate measure.
Once you get a solid understanding of the food you eat, its calories and macro content,
then you don’t have to continue tracking so diligently.
Just jump back on whenever you feel the need to.
I’ll link to some tracking options, both apps and websites, in the description.
Now, step 3, and perhaps my personal favorite step: Up your protein intake!
As you make your grocery list, try to tack on larger portions of protein wherever possible.
Followers of my stuff already know how much I preach the gospel of protein.
Simply put, when it comes to ANY goal, having more protein is almost always a good idea.
For weight loss, eating more protein will actually burn more calories through something
known as thermic effect of food.
Essentially, protein takes more energy to digest and absorb, thus burn more calories
compared to carbs and fats.
Protein can also help you feel full quicker AND for longer.
One study even found subjects spontaneously reduced their food intake by 440 calories
just by eating more protein first!
Tack on the benefit of preserving and building lean mass, and you can see the absolute amazingness
of more protein.
As for how much, typical recommendation for a healthy individual is to eat about 1.6 grams
of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day.
Now on to Step 4: Do your cardio… and your lifting!
Cardio has always been touted as THE “weight loss” tool, but it’s sorely lacking one
key factor that only resistance training can provide: building muscle.
Of course, when people think of losing weight, muscle often is not a key priority.
Worse yet, some have a sort of expectation that you’ll end up looking quote “toned”
after you shed away the layer of fat by doing cardio.
Unfortunately, cardio, the steady-state kind, will only help with fat and weight loss and
you’re actually at risk of LOSING muscle.
This whole “toned” thing isn’t gonna happen.
That’s where resistance training comes in.
Although not a great option for burning fat, we know lifting weights can at least preserve,
and for beginners, even build muscle during a calorie deficit.
And luckily, when we do BOTH, we essentially get both of its benefits.
Research has even shown that fat loss is ACCELERATED even further, while preserving or building
muscle, when both are done concurrently.
So, again, do both!
It’s gonna be worth it.
If you need help figuring out a good training program for yourself, then I implore you to
check out our PictureFit discord community.
We have lots of great individuals in there ready and willing to help you out in any goal
you have, even if it’s not about weight loss.
Come check it out at discord.gg/picturefit or click the link in the description.
It’s absolutely free.
And finally, step number five, be consistent and PATIENT.
There really couldn’t be anything else here.
The previous steps are pretty much the top fundamental factors for successful weight
loss.
Now, it’s time for the hard part: being consistent with the steps.
Your goal here is to take the steps and formulate a strategy in which you can best adhere to
in the long haul.
Fortunately, these steps allow for some wiggle room to adjust for your personal preference.
You have options in types of whole foods you want to eat, how long you want to track your
food, how much of a deficit you want to sustain, what type of protein to eat, and the cardio
and resistance training program you want to use.
Tinker around with your options until find something you can regularly sustain.
Once you do, be patient with your expectations.
Remember, you’re trying to undo years and years of weight gain and poor habits.
That’s gonna take time and won’t be something you can see on a day-to-day basis.
Give it months, a whole year even, to see the results that you want.
And also, be patient and understanding of yourself.
Although changing habits is a difficult task, there will be days that are just more difficult
to be consistent than others.
A little bit of indulgence is fine.
No one’s perfect 24/7.
If you just want to enjoy some chocolate, then go for it, just not too much.
If you have a vacation you want to enjoy, then enjoy it, just make make up for it when
you get back.
Or, just accept it and understand it’ll just take a bit longer to get to where you
want to be.
Again, consistency, for most days, and patience, apply that to your steps, and you’ll be
well on your way.
There we have it, folks.
The five steps, in my opinion, that will help YOU on your weight loss goals.
Again, I do wanna plug the discord community once more because quite honestly, I feel that
we’ve been able to create one of the best and supportive, and completely free, online
communities surrounding the topic of health and fitness.
I’m personally in there virtually everyday and I also do regular voice chat Q&As to help
out as well.
So please, come check it out at discord.gg/picturefit or click the link the description.
See you there.
Other than that, please let me know what you think about the five weight loss steps in
the comments below.
Maybe you have your steps that you’d like to share.
Please let me know.
If you enjoyed this video, don’t forget to give it a consistent thumbs up and share
it with your patient loving friends.
As always, thank you for watching and GET YOUR PROTEIN!