Do These 7 Things For Effortless Weight Loss

Here are the 7 things you need to do for effortless weight loss because…

Look, I get it.

Losing weight is hard.

If it were easy, you wouldn’t be struggling and well on your way to reaching your goals, right?

But it’s not easy.

Not even in the slightest.

This is why is about 40% of the world is classified as “obese” and that number continues to climb.

Combine that with the stresses of everyday life, all of the conflicting misinformation on the internet to sift through, and the delicious and hyper-palatability of modern foods and it feels like the entire world is working against you.

However, luckily for you, part of my job as a fitness coach is to make fitness as simple as possible for you so that you can succeed without having to feel overwhelmed and be second-guessing yourself.

In this article, we’re going to be covering exactly 7 ways to make weight loss seem effortless.

Before we get into it, I want to drive home that weight loss is very simple. Simple, but not easy. Small detail but big difference.

Now, let’s dive in.

The One Thing You Need Any Effortless Weight Loss To Occur

Before we talk about the 7 ways, we need to establish just one ground rule.

This one rule is non-negotiable and without this, none of the other 7 ways will work.

A calorie deficit is required to lose weight.

What is a calorie deficit?

In simplest terms, a calorie deficit is eating fewer calories than your body burns on a consistent basis (over the course of days, weeks, months).

Now, of course, there are a few ways to go about it, but that’s it. Seriously.

This means that regardless of what you eat, as long as you’re in a calorie deficit you will lose weight.

And then of course I get someone that asks, “so you’re saying I can just eat chocolate, ice cream, and chips and still lose weight?”

Yes, but it likely won’t be enjoyable nor sustainable.

One of the reasons is that you won’t stay very full and satiated.

This is why it makes sense to choose certain foods over others when trying to lose weight (which will be discussed later).

If we think about weight loss the same way we think about “budgeting” all of this will make a lot more sense.

Sure, you can spend all of your money on impulsive buys and eating out, but you won’t get as much “bang for your buck” as if you were to spend your money on necessities such as rent, groceries, gas, etc.

The same goes for weight loss and dieting.

There are certainly going to be foods you would want to choose over others because they provide more “bang for your buck (calories)” in terms of satiation and nutritional value.

But I won’t go too much into detail here.

If you want a full step-by-step guide on how to stay full in a calorie deficit, then check out my other article here.

Ultimately, the main determinant of weight loss will be whether you are in a calorie deficit or not.

7 Ways To Be Successful With Effortless Weight Loss

1. Eat 3 Meals A Day

As you’ve probably heard countless times, “you should be eating 3 square meals a day.”

No one really knows where it came from, but there is a bit of truth and reliability behind the saying.

In my coaching experience, here’s the most common reason why people say “they aren’t really hungry” and end up not being able to 3 meals a day.

They have a light breakfast with only a coffee and some sort of pastry or pure carb source.

Soon after, lunchtime comes around and they’ll have something else pretty light like a sandwich.

And then by the time dinner comes around, they are done with the stressors of daily life and are ravenous from having barely eaten anything substantial throughout the day.

Oh, and to add on, they are snacking profusely on random high-calorie, low nutritional value foods like chips, candy, and basically most things you’d find in the snack aisle at the grocery store.

Which leads to an evening feast filled with boatloads of highly palatable and ultra-processed foods worth thousands of calories.

It’s no wonder why these people aren’t hungry the next morning.

However, there’s a simple (but not easy to do) fix.

Start eating a substantial breakfast.

Yes, I know. It’s hard to break the cycle because you’re not hungry in the morning after a huge dinner the night before.

Start with having more protein at breakfast. No…not just eating a couple of eggs and slices of bacon.

Start actually eating at least 20-30g of protein at breakfast.

Protein is extremely filling and helps kickstart muscle protein synthesis in the morning which is important in helping you build muscle as explained in my other article here.

It’s going to be the hardest at the very beginning because it will feel like you’re force-feeding yourself, but as you start eating more at the beginning of the day, you’ll find yourself feeling fuller and more satiated and won’t want to eat as much later on in the day.

As for how much to eat for each meal, in the ideal situation, you would eat 3 meals and try your best to have your calories and protein intake relatively equally distributed between the 3 meals.

However, most of us don’t live in ideal circumstances so try your best to eat 3 relatively similar-sized meals, but if you can’t at least get in your serving of protein with eating “meal” to get the benefits.

2. What To Eat

Then, of course, the next question I get is, “what and how much should I be eating??”

To address how much you should be eating:

This method is going to come straight out Jordan Syatt‘s brilliant mind.

It is called the 3 plates/2 snacks rule (also discussed in my other article How To Lose Weight Without Counting Calories).

The 3 plates represent the 3 meals you’ll be having throughout the day.

Each meal fits onto a standard-sized plate. Not one of those massive Thanksgiving plates and also not a dessert plate.

Also, just one because we’re trying to portion control for weight loss, remember?

Each plate/meal should look like this:

• 1/2 of the plate consists of vegetables
• 1/4 of the plate consists of protein
• 1/4 of the plate consists of carbs + fats

I did also want to touch on a few points in addition to this.

Firstly, it might feel weird eating vegetables for breakfast (although my personal breakfast staple lately has been an egg white omelette with some spinach and bell peppers *chef’s kiss*).

But if this doesn’t sound like it’s for you then you can swap your serving of veggies with fruits.

Secondly, to answer what exactly you should be eating, the term “healthy” is such a subjective concept that there really is no definitive answer to when people ask me “what should I eat that’s healthy?”

Healthy foods can vary from person to person.

However, here are just a few examples of nutrient-dense protein, carb, and vegetables sources:

As long as you stick to this meal structure within the guidelines I’ve provided, I guarantee you will be able to keep your calories in check and see progress.

Lastly, here’s a hack of sorts. Making one of your meals a BAS can greatly improve your overall adherence to your diet.

“Wait, what’s a BAS?”

It’s a Big. Ass. Salad.

This allows you to really fill up on a lot of low-calorie veggies so that you can stay in your deficit without feeling like you’re starving.

You can also top it off with protein like chicken, fish, steak, or any other protein that goes with salad.

Even though this is a given…you shouldn’t be dousing your salad with dressing like an asshole.

Make sure you use a reasonable amount so that you’re still able to keep your calories in check.

Now that we have your meals covered, let’s talk snacks.

3. What About Snacks?

Now I know in the first point I said snacking is one of the major reasons why people overeat and gain unwanted weight.

And yes, I still stand by that.

This is because people end up snacking way too much.

It might not seem like much…you have a snack that’s maybe a few hundred calories.

But when you mindlessly do that multiple times a day this can quickly add up to well over a thousand calories.

This is one of the biggest “wake-up calls” my clients have when they start tracking calories for the first time.

They realize that the “snacks” they have been having

When that calorie amount could be better repurposed to eating a more substantial and satiating meal.

However, this doesn’t mean that you have to cut out snacking entirely.

You just have to be smart about it. 😉

So here are a few rules that have been extremely successful with my clients.

1. Limit snacking to 2-3 times a day. Again, we’re trying to portion control in order to stay in a calorie deficit. Also, you’ll find that you probably won’t need to snack as much if you follow the rest of the rules below.
2. The snack should fit into the palm of your hand. There’s nothing special about the palm of your hand. It’s just a good reference point that everyone can use. Let’s be honest, you’re probably good with just a handful of chips rather than downing the entire party-sized bag of Lay’s, right?
3. Follow the previous point about having more protein and veggies with your meals. 9.9 times out of 10, when people snack a lot, it’s because their meals is just a light, empty carb source which leaves them hungry and wanting to snack. When you start to fill up during your regular meals, you won’t get the feeling to snack because you’re actually full and satiated.
4. For your snacks, you get bonus points if it is a fruit, veggie, or protein. You could snack on candy, chips, or pretzels…or…you could snack on something more nutritious and satiating like some fruit, veggie, and protein. While yes, it makes sense to be flexible and include foods you really want from time to time, it also makes sense to know that there are going to be times when you need to do what needs to be done rather than what you want to be done.
5. Calories are king, food choices are queen. Look, at the end of the day, as long as you hit your calories, you’ll get closer to your desired results. However, making certain food choices over others will allow you adhere to your calories better and probably make you feel better. So choose accordingly.

4. Limit Liquid Calories

Liquid calories are definitely tied for first place along with snacking for “things that stop people from losing weight.”

The main reason is that liquid calories are basically “empty calories.”

This means that the number of calories you get from liquid calories such as soda, juice, and alcohol to name a few provide little to no nutritional value along with little satiation.

And when we think about weight loss, recall that we want food/drinks that give us the most “bang for our calories” right?

As we can see, liquid calories are definitely not very high on that list.

Same with snacking, most of the clients I work with who start tracking calories for the first time have a shocking realization as to how much liquid calories they were consuming.

A few craft beers or glasses of wine doesn’t sound like much, but when you realize each serving is 100-300 calories, they add up and man do they add up quick.

Along with this, alcohol and good judgment don’t tend to mix very well.

This is why they say you shouldn’t drink and drive (or text your ex for that matter) while you’re inebriated.

So what happens when you start feeling its effects?

Your nutritional judgments probably go right out the window as well.

And after a few beers and glasses of wine, you start downing some delicious pizza, burgers, wings, and basically everything else you find at a bar.

Instead, I recommend swapping your soda and juices for sugar-free versions to save on the calories.

(No, they don’t cause cancer as repeatedly shown by many studies.)

And if you are going to be drinking alcohol? Make sure to track it, fit it within your calories, and have it in sparingly.

Because even if you can fit alcohol into your budget every day, it doesn’t provide many benefits in terms of fullness and nutritional value.

Now, what else could replace liquid calories with?

5. Drink 3 Bottles Of Water A Day

Again, there is absolutely nothing special about drinking 3 bottles of water a day.

Just because you drink 2 bottles or 4 bottles doesn’t mean you’ll end up destroying all of your progress.

A lot of people I know drink bottled water so it’s just a good number to shoot for.

Also, you along with many other people likely don’t drink enough water and need a reminder to drink more.

Staying properly hydrated is never a bad thing.

Along with this, being dehydrated can sometimes be confused with hunger.

So when you drink more water, you stay hydrated, you are less hungry, and you end up eating fewer calories?

That’s a…

6. Walking 5-10k Step A Day

Yes, this probably sounds like a broken record on repeat, but hear me out it’s important.

Keeping track of your step count is extremely important.

One of the main reasons people “plateau” when they’re trying to lose weight is because “metabolic adaptation” causes their NEAT to go down.

So by keeping track of your daily steps, it helps you maintain your NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis) which is the total number of calories you burn daily through non-structured exercise (things like walking, fidgeting, chores, etc.).

Also, weight loss benefits aside, this recent study done showed that keeping a step count of at least 8,000 steps a day was associated with lower all-cause mortality.

This means that simply walking more can help you live longer with less disease!!

Honestly, I know. Walking doesn’t sound like much, but if it really didn’t work, I wouldn’t be telling you this.

In fact, every single one of my online coaching clients is prescribed walking 5-10k steps as a part of their exercise routine because it is just that effective.

Now, you can do other forms of cardio, but walking is my preferred method as explained in my other linked article here.

The bottom line here is to just start walking more and watch your health and body composition improve.

7. Stay Consistent

This is by far the most important one.

So important in fact that I have an entire article written about this.

And yes, I know this is another one of those “broken record” sayings that you hear all the time.

It’s repeated so much because it matters.

In fact, consistency is the biggest predictor of success. In all areas of life.

Because truthfully, you could have the best diet plan, the best training routine, and everything else dialed in.

But if you’re lacking consistency?

You won’t see any meaningful progress or results.

Conversely, if you had an okay diet plan and training routine, but you were relentlessly consistent?

You would see phenomenal progress and results.

In fact, so many clients I’ve worked with are perfect examples of this.

Every single of one them who have been successful have this one thing in common.

They were consistent day in and day out.

Which is not an easy feat by any means.

Because there are going to be days where your ability to stay consistent is tested.

You will question whether this is all worth it and if you should keep going.

It’s going to feel like an uphill battle.

But luckily, you’ve got me by your side with some of my best tips on how to help you stay consistent.

1. Stop throwing in the towel because you went off track. Just because you went “messed up” on your diet or missed one workout doesn’t mean you failed. It doesn’t mean that all of your progress is ruined. It just means that you got a bit off track and are always able to get back on track. You are always one decision away to getting back at it.
2. Stop expecting yourself to be perfect. This is main reason behind why people do #1. It’s because they only expect themselves to be “perfect” with their diet and training. And the moment they aren’t perfect, they tell themselves that they messed up and give up because they think “if I can’t be perfect then why bother?” Rather than expecting yourself to be perfect, give yourself a consistency goal. This way, you’re giving yourself built in room to be flexible rather than thinking you messed up the moment you do something different from your routine.
3. Consistency > Perfection. This is so important that I had to talk about twice. So pay attention. For most people, setting a consistency goal of around 80-90% is solid because when you expect yourself to be 80-90% consistent, you actually allow yourself that 10-20% of time to be flexible and enjoy life. Not waiting around to fall off the wagon and beat yourself up. And yes, as long as you hit that 80-90% consistency, you will be successful.

In fact, here’s a simple tool developed by Jordan Syatt, the consistency calendar.

So here’s how it works, and what you’ll need:

• You will need:
  • A calendar
  • A black pen
  • A red pen
• Here’s how it works:
  • For every day that you hit calories, protein, and other nutrition goals AND get your workout in (if you planned a workout that day), mark that day with a black circle
  • For every day that you went under/over your nutrition goals AND/OR missed your scheduled workout, mark that day with a red X
  • And then at the end of the month, tally up your black circles and red X’s and see how you did. Were you at least 80% consistent?
    • If you were…then that’s great! You were pretty consistent and should be seeing results if your plan was on point. If not, check out my other article for some possible reasons why.
    • If you weren’t…then you have some work to do. You probably weren’t as consistent as you thought you were. Therefore, you have no right to complain about your lack of results. A C-level of effort and consistency won’t lead to A-level results.

Final Thoughts On Effortless Weight Loss

Again, to reiterate, weight loss is hard.

Even if you applied everything on this list, as I said, there are going to be days where you will be tested.

But it’s ultimately up to you to tell yourself to keep going and stay consistent.

Because truthfully, you owe it to yourself to see your goals through.

You need to be the one to tell yourself that enough is enough.

You will not give up again and tell yourself that “you’ll just try again next year.”

This is going to be the final time you try this because you’re actually going to stay consistent and succeed this time.

You got this. ❤️

Until next time,

Aus

Coaching Opportunity

I am currently taking on new clients for online coaching.

A few benefits of this program include:

• Customized nutrition plan tailored to your individual needs and goals
• Customized training plan to help you build muscle, lose fat, and feel better
• Daily accountability and support to ensure that you never feel “alone” or “stuck” on your journey to bettering yourself.

The best part: you can do this from anywhere in the world.

You can apply here for more info.