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While this list is not comprehensive or exhaustive, here are ten reasons you may have trouble consistently adhering to your diet:

1.Your Deficit Is Too Aggressive. Let’s assume that your body needs 2000 calories a day to maintain current weight. Theoretically, anything you consume that totals less than 2000 calories, done consistently, will result in fat loss (I’m not taking into consideration calories expended which will be another topic). You may be very motivated to drop fat quickly so you aim for an aggressive deficit (let’s say 30%) to achieve results faster. That takes you from 2000 calories of intake to 1400. While the scale does reward your efforts, you also may find that you are more irritable, your workouts aren’t as effective as normal, your recovery from workouts is not what it used to be, your sleep quality is suffering, and you can only manage to hit 1400 calories a day during the work week. By time the weekend rolls around, you’re consuming close to 3000 calories on Friday and Saturday because you feel like you need a break from the diet train. These are some indicators that perhaps 1400 calories is too low and you need to push the number higher. In doing so, it may slow down your rate of fat loss but it’s easier to adhere to in scope of your current lifestyle demands.

2. Your Deficit Is Too Conservative. On the flip side, a similar individual also needs 2000 calories a day to maintain current weight. This person has tried aggressive dieting and was unhappy with how the plan went (see above). They elect to go for a smaller deficit (let’s say 10%) and that has them shooting for 1800 calories a day. While they don’t have any of the negative effects of the aggressive diet approach, the scale is moving at a snail’s pace and they need a bit more instant gratification to make the journey seem “worth it”. A small reduction below the 1800 calories may be enough to do the trick.

3. You’re Not Getting In Enough Protein. It is arguably the most satiating macronutrient plus it has the added benefit of helping you build, recover and maintain muscle after working out. If you’d like some very loose ranges, smaller indviduals may benefit from a range of 100-120g per day and those in larger bodies may benefit from a range of 130-150g per day. If you can’t quite reach the lower end, just aim for “close enough”. As you’re dieting, hunger tends to be the factor that can make or break dietary adherence. Consuming adequate protein may help. Bear in mind that sources do matter. In other words, you may find consuming 30g of protein from a grilled chicken breast more satisfying than 30g of a premixed protein drink. Both give you quality protein but one may help reduce hunger pangs better than another.

4. You’re Not Getting In Enough Fiber. Similar to protein intake, improving your fiber consumption can also help with reducing feelings of hunger and improving feelings of satiety. Also, like protein, sources do matter. The goal with fiber is to not only to get enough of it (think 10-15g for every 1000 calories you consume on a daily basis), but to keep the sources diverse. That can mean fibrous vegetables (leafy greens and cruciferous veggies) and fruits (berries are a good choice) as well as legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains. If your current fiber intake is low, go slowly with increasing it to minimize GI distress. Drinking enough water to move waste through the system can help.

5. Your Sleep Quality Is Suffering. There is a strong correlation to a poor night’s sleep and increased food cravings the next day. If you’re struggling to stick to your diet plan, improving your sleep quality, sleep habits and overall sleep hygiene can be a big help. This may include reducing caffeine intake and reducing alcohol intake to help the process. Women in the menopause transition may struggle with sleep quality due to night sweats so if you’re one of these women, talk to your endocrinologist or trusted OB/GYN to see if they can make recommendations to help.

6. You’re Training With Too Much Intensity. While not everyone has the same reaction to exercise, for many, an increase in expenditure may also be met with an increase in hunger. As you turn up the intensity of your training, you may also find yourself ravenous after workouts. This may play into the fact that your deficit is too aggressive (see point 1) and can be a recipe for dietary disaster. Try reducing the intensity of your training and see if that makes a difference in hitting your intake for the day.

7. You’re Not Being Patient Enough. No one has a perfect diet and if you play the numbers as closely as you can, you stand to lose one pound of fat per week “IF” you create a deficit of 500 calories per day. Not everyone can do that. As a result, fat loss may occur at a slower rate than you’d like and that can be discouraging for many people. Remember to listen to your body, to the best of your ability, and manage your intake based on the demands of your life. If you have a higher stress lifestyle, a more conservative approach to diet and exercise (see points 2 and 6) may be a more strategic route.

8. You’re Comparing Your Results To Someone Else’s. Your neighbor Karen stops over and tells you she’s lost 20 pounds in 3 months by following such and such diet. You like Karen, and you’re somewhat envious of her results so you try the same diet to find that you only lost 6 pounds in 3 months because the diet was either a) too restrictive b) contained too many options that you don’t like to eat c) didn’t make you feel great during the process. As a result, you abandoned the diet because you couldn’t replicate Karen’s results. The fact is, we are all very different and different approaches to eating food affect each person in very different ways. My wife can’t eat dairy or gluten but I can. If we were both trying to lose fat, our diets would likely be very different in appearance (not to mention serving size). Focus on what works for YOU and not how diets affect others.

9. Your Expectations Are Not Aligned With Your Efforts. Every person I know who wants to lose some degree of fat wants the weight off yesterday. They know what to do, they know how to do it, they just don’t do it. This can be for a host of reasons, many of which are listed above, but the fact remains that for a lot of individuals they are either not consistently eating in a way that complements their goals or they are not training consistently in a way that complements their goals. Just showing up at the gym doesn’t mean you’re doing the right things and just switching from pizza to salads doesn’t mean you’re consuming fewer calories.

10.You Have Too Many Competing Interests. Consider that you may have a full-time job, you may be a parent, you may have challenges in your marriage/long term relationship, and/or you may be a caregiver for an ailing family member. Fat loss may be more of a stressor than you can handle right at this moment. On the flipside, some people use those stressful situations as motivation to focus on what they can: diet and exercise being a couple of those scenarios. As always, know thyself. You know what you can manage and what you can’t. You have to determine when/if it’s appropriate to put your foot on the gas or to pump the brakes.

(Photo courtesy of Michaela Baum)

If you’re trying to make steps towards polishing up your diet to either A) feel/perform better or B) change your physique, here are five simple-ish things you can do immediately to help.

1-Aim for 20-30g of protein in each meal. Protein is not only the macronutrient that helps you build and recover your muscles but it tends to be the most satiating macronutrient as well. It can help reduce feelings of hunger throughout the day regardless of whether you’re mostly sedentary or you have a more active lifestyle. If you’re not sure what that amount of protein looks like, consider that the average Greek or Icelandic yogurt in those 5oz cups has approximately 15g of protein in them. Some brands boast even more per serving. If you open up the palm of your hand, that’s also a relatively close approximation of 25-30g of protein when looking at meat products such as chicken breast or steak. If you need more exact numbers, a food scale can be helpful for weighing meats/seafood. Bear in mind, that some sources of protein can be significant sources of fat as well so that will need to be considered against your personal needs/goals.

2-Add one fruit or one veggie to each meal. While one could make the argument that many of us are “plant-based” by definition, if you live in the domestic U.S., those plants may be unevenly weighted in starchy carbs: breads, rice, potatoes, etc. You can upgrade the vitamins and minerals in your diet by reducing some of those starchy carbs and picking at least one fruit or vegetable to have in its place. There’s a reason why you hear people say that you want to build a rainbow with your plate: The more color you see, the better off you’re likely to be. You don’t have to go overboard. A breakfast of eggs, toast and bacon can be upgraded by reducing the portion of toast and adding some spinach or mushrooms to your eggs.

3-Add 8-10oz of water to each meal. Many of my clients struggle to get enough water in their day. Use your meals as a cue to add 8-10oz of water as well. If you’re not sure if you drink enough water, try using the urine test: You’ll know if you’re getting enough when your urine is somewhere between clear and light yellow in color. Try not to add too much water to the end of your day. This may cause you to wake up in the middle of the night to pee, disrupting your sleep quality.

4-Having a treat? If you’ve followed me long enough, you’ll know that I don’t demonize foods. There is no good or bad food. There are, however, foods that you may have an allergic reaction to or foods your body doesn’t tolerate well. If you’re electing to have a tasty treat, consider sharing it with someone. I don’t know what it is for me personally, but I get far more joy sharing a dessert with my sons or with my wife than if I just eat it by myself.

5-What about alcohol? If you’re someone who chooses to imbibe, feel free. As we continue to learn more about alcohol and its effects on the body, studies show that there are little to no health benefits in its use. It’s still a known toxin so the least amount you can use, the better. My wife and I are both bourbon fans and we’ve curtailed our use from 3 oz an evening down to 1.5 oz. The adage still applies: drink responsibly if you choose to include alcohol in your diet.

None of this information is sexy and it won’t make the headlines of your newspaper. That being said, the basics still work incredibly well…

You just have to work them.

(Photo courtesy of Jimmy Dean)

One of the upsides to raising a child in a gym (and around the gym environment) is that they see it as a given norm.

That it’s normal to move your body, that it’s normal to make it routine and part of life just like going to school, brushing your teeth, etc.

Our son, Sebastian, has been completely exposed to the gym since he was born.

It’s the only job he’s ever seen me work and, on a given week, Marissa brings him with her for her own workouts: This is how Mama takes care of her body.

And ever since he was old enough to walk, Sebastian has played with dumbbells, kettlebells, weight plates, battle ropes, push sleds, you name it.

On a handful of occasions, he’s seen other children in the gym lifting weights as well. This, of course, sparks the interest that if they’re doing it, he wants to be involved too.

It is fascinating to watch children lift weights, even without cues of how it should be done.

Children are inquisitive, intuitive, and they’re learning how to move their body in space to run, jump, climb, fall, etc.

As Sebastian has grown, he’s tried lifting heavier weights on his own: from a 15lb kettlebell to a 30lb, and a 30lb to a 40lb.

Last week, when he was at the studio, he walked into our hex bar (we call it a trapbar) which, as it was loaded was 105 pounds, didn’t get it off the ground but he did get some play out of the right hand side.

I told him to step outside of it, so I could replace the 25lb plates with 10lb plates and he could give it another try.

After the switch, Sebastian stepped right in, wrapped his hands around the knurled grips, got himself set and pulled the bar straight up.

He was shocked.

I was shocked.

I grabbed my phone and opened up the camera: Sebastian, do it again.

We got footage on that one.

I’ve rarely seen him that impressed with himself. After that, he wanted to conquer every weight in the gym.

There’s a lesson I’d love for you to take from this.

Stay curious about how your body moves.

Find ways to move it.

Stay patient with weights you’ve never been able to lift before and start small to build your strength up.

This applies to how you approach your relationship with food as well.

Make small changes and watch them compound into big movers in your food plan.

Remain curious.

If something works, understand why it works so you can replicate it.

Shortly after Sebastian lifted 75 pounds (as pictured below), I loaded the bar back up to it’s normal 105 and he gave it another try. This time he nailed it.

There’s a lesson there about momentum and motivation too.

So, when you have motivation and you have momentum, stay the course.

Now, Sebastian can’t wait to get back to the gym. He knows what his body can do and he wants to repeat it.

Start small.

Build from there.

Routinely, I’m reminded by my clients that lifting weights has more to do with what happens outside the gym than what happens inside of it.

I will forever be inspired by clients who get closer to their fat loss goals.

Or, clients who gain the muscle they hope to.

Or, clients who break their previous records on heavier lifts.

In the midst of that inspiration, it can be easy for me to forget that other areas of life improve when we get stronger:

-Going up and down stairs with a load of laundry gets easier

-Carrying bags of groceries from the car to the house isn’t tiring

-Getting up and down off the floor takes less time (or isn’t painful)

-Being able to push yourself up and out of the bathtub is possible

-Playing with your children/grandchildren doesn’t wreck your body

Part of this is because the confidence you gain from lifting weights transfers to confidence in other areas of life.

And, one of my favorite fitness industry quotes, normally attributed to Mark Rippetoe: Stronger people are harder to kill.

I have a client who has been with me for several years and this client has always been, pound for pound, one of the strongest in our gym.

Recently, we were discussing that strength and the journey we’ve been on together and I know that there’s something far more important to that client than what we do in these four walls.

Their spouse struggles with an illness that will continue to affect their physical and mental health.

And my client realizes that the strength they gain in here will have a direct benefit in helping to take care of their spouse as the illness progresses.

At my personal strongest (based on the heaviest weight my body has ever lifted), it wasn’t that particular weight that mattered.

It was the fact that I could lift my father’s dying body after he was diagnosed with cancer.

Mind you, by that point, his body was a fraction of the weight I lifted in the gym.

But one area of strength had a direct correlation to strength elsewhere.

Look around you…

There is no area of your life: personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, and social where you have the luxury of being weak. Every area of your life which matters most to you requires strength.

How much strength you gain is up to you, your preferences and your genetics.

I recognize, after 20+ years of lifting weights, that for all of the benefit that being strong gives me, it’s a gift to be able to hold my sons, it’s a gift to be able to hold my wife, it’s a gift to be able to perform a physically demanding job.

And somehow, my clients give me a daily gift, in not only seeing them increase their personal strength but to hear their testimony of how that strength carries them through life.

You’ve got one body.

Use the gift.

(Pictured below, our Richard B., 83 years young, making easy work of 245 pounds)

I’m writing this just after Father’s Day.

A day which remains bittersweet for me.

On Father’s Day, I remember the man who did it best who left our world in 2011.

On Father’s Day, I celebrate the two boys I have: Jackson (15) and Sebastian (5).

On Father’s Day, I think about lessons I was taught, lessons I chose to learn and lessons I wasn’t prepared for.

I think about how my father worked to support his family.

I think about how incredibly selfless he was.

I think about how my father modeled kindness, respect, integrity and unconditional love.

I think about how I’ve modeled the same and how often I failed to meet the mark.

My father always forgave me. It was never a question of right or wrong, it was a matter of: If you know better, DO better.

I’ve been a father for 15 years, I’ve been fatherless for 12 of those years.

I say fatherless because I no longer have his physical body to hold but I do have his spirit and his memory to guide me.

I cherish his memory because my father allowed me to see his strength and his sensitivity.

I was never raised to not show emotions, rather to feel what I needed to feel, and most importantly, to heal what needed mending.

I’ve advocated for mental health over the last 20+ years because it saved my life, in no small part because my father stood my side and was relentless in his search until he found the help I needed when I needed it most.

I champion mental health support so much that I’ve impressed the importance of it on my staff of coaches, all young men who recognize when their own mental health needs attention.

It’s not lost on me that the coaches I work with are technically young enough to be my sons.

Which makes my paternal instinct kick in even more; not because they don’t have fathers of their own but because I believe no man can have too many positive male role models in their lives.

To that: I give thanks to all the men in my life that I take advice from, who I listen to when they speak lovingly about their families, who I watch when they make the time to care for their physical bodies, and to those who are not afraid to cry, to show fear and hesitation and to be the best versions of themselves that they can be.

I know not every man grew up with a good father, nor did every woman. I am deeply sorry for that.

I know that I have not always been the man that my father raised me to be, and I am deeply sorry for that too.

On Father’s Day, I was reminded that my father, in spirit, still routinely takes me by the hand to say: This is the path to go on…and I can lead you there.

When was the last time you told yourself (or someone else):

“I would have…but I didn’t have time…”

Last week, I made a post on Instagram about where my time goes in “typical” 24 hours.

By typical, I mean, what happens on a standard weekday that is more normal than abnormal.

It looks something like this (all figures have been rounded up):

I average 7 hours of sleep (this leaves me with 17 hours in a day).

My morning routine: grabbing coffee, checking emails and texts, reading for a few minutes, and getting ready for work takes about an hour (I’m down to 16 for the day).

I spend approximately 7 hours on the training floor of my personal training studio (this leaves me with 9 hours).

My commute to and from work each day takes roughly an hour (this leaves me with 8).

I usually leave the studio for lunch and between the time it takes for my commute to and from, ordering and eating lunch, I’ve spent another hour (this leaves me with 7).

My workouts take just under an hour lately and I train 4x/week (this leaves me with 6).

When I get home from work each day, I have roughly two hours of time to spend with my family. This includes dinner, any downtime we have to catch up, and getting ready for bed (this leaves me with 4.)

I call these last four hours my miscellaneous time. It’s when I’m mindlessly or purposefully scrolling my computer or phone, running errands for work, responding to client messages, doing video check-ins for online clients, creating content for the internet (like this blog) and any continuing education I might be working on.

Generally speaking, these four hours happen in the middle of my work day or they make up the time around any of the aforementioned time slots.

What would I do if I needed/wanted to make time for something else in my life? Let’s say: 30 minutes of guitar lessons once per week?

I would likely have to remove something from that “miscellaneous” time so that I could carve out 30 minutes of lessons. That’s assuming that I don’t have to drive somewhere for those lessons, which would add a commute I didn’t factor in.

What I can’t do, is add to the twenty-four hours. All I can do is subtract from what’s there to add something else in.

By most accounts, my days are busy and running through a breakdown of my day helps me understand where and how I’m either wasting time or could potentially be more efficient.

There’s a common sentiment that if you “don’t have time”, that it’s less about time and more about priority. You’re simply prioritizing certain tasks and demands over others.

That’s mostly true as many of us can be quite driven when it’s necessary.

Sometimes, we need to break down the snapshot of our average days (like I did above) to be objective and say: HERE is where I can make time for that thing I’ve been trying to accomplish.

Yes, we all have 24 hours. We just don’t have the same 24 hours.

And the irony isn’t lost on me that if time management is where you struggle, you might not even find the time to work this process for your own benefit.

But it could be (*cough*) time well spent.

(Photo courtesy of Aron Visuals)

Several years ago, I had a guest on my podcast, (it may have been Amy Kubal, RD) and we were talking about the two most problematic areas of a diet that we see most often.

If memory serves, I think it came down to alcohol and cheese.

Let’s talk about alcohol.

Many of my clients enjoy their drink of choice. For some that’s beer, others might be liquor (like my wife and I) and others like wine.

I find wine to be the most unique of the bunch primarily because the flavor profile changes so quickly once you open a bottle.

Those changes typically provide the motivation to finish a bottle on the same night that you open it and rarely ever consuming it beyond the second day it was opened.

The average bottle of wine is between 500-700 calories.

Let’s split the difference and say 600 for conversation’s sake.

I’ll use the example of a hypothetical adult woman who would like to lose some weight (fat) and still be able to consume wine.

This woman calculated her daily caloric intake and believes she needs to be at 1600 a day to lose fat at a moderate (not fast) pace.

She also would prefer the flexibility to consume a bottle of wine each evening (not uncommon).

That leaves her with 1000 calories for food.

If I were in her shoes, I would want to keep protein intake relatively high and I’ll set a target of approximately 100g of protein per day. That will take up about 400 calories.

She now has 600 calories left for fats and carbs.

I really don’t like to see very low fat intakes for the purposes of hormonal health, and the health of the skin, hair, nails and gut motility. I’ll set fat at no less than 20% of the daily total. That means 320 calories or no less than 35g of fat per day. The remaining 280 calories would come from carbohydrates and that breaks down to roughly 70g of carbs per day. This would qualify as a low(er) carb diet but not ketogenic.

Assuming that the initial total of 1600 calories is accurate for fat loss and is accurately accounted for, our hypothetical client has a blueprint for wine consumption, decent protein intake, and a manageable remainder for carbs and fat.

Is it ideal? No. But it can work for the purposes of fat loss.

I would love to see this same person cut the wine intake by half (or more), which would look like 300 calories for alcohol and 300 calories to put back into carbs and fats.

The fact of the matter is that alcohol is a known toxin and it simply has little nutritive value. I won’t belabor that.

If you identify as our hypothetical client, my most affectionate suggestion is that you reduce your consumption by as much as you believe that you can. Rather than consuming a bottle a night, try splitting it with a friend/loved one or seeing if you can spread consumption out during the week (one day with, one day without, etc.)

Ideally, I would love to see you consume most of your diet via whole, minimally processed foods: plenty of lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and some poly/monounsaturated fats.

If having a serving or two of your favorite alcoholic beverage helps you stay adherent to your food plan, remember that calories rule the roost. Hold yourself accountable to not only what you drink but what you may potentially consume via food when you drink as well.

Also note that this post isn’t “just” about alcohol. Many of my clients abstain from alcohol but would love to be able to fit in a cookie a day, a serving of ice cream a day, etc. You can use the same principle as we applied to the bottle of wine: take a given portion (say a 500 calorie cookie) and work it off of your daily total.

There are a lot of effective methods for fat loss. This article aimed to give you clarity and options for success.

Author’s Note: If your alcohol consumption is becoming problematic, please consider abstinence, Rational/SMART Recovery, a support group, a counselor/therapist with background in substance use or try working with an app like Sunnyside.

(Photo courtesy of Terry Vlisidis)

Over the last couple of years, you’ve likely heard about the popularity and increase in use of obesity medications.

While the medications themselves are not new and variations have been around for decades, some names are coming up with greater frequency due to how effective they are and in who is getting access to them.

As one might imagine, everyone has an opinion (including myself) and I wanted to compile some thoughts here as a way to approach their usage from the most considerate and respectful place possible.

Allow me to start here with a bit of background on myself. I own a brick and mortar personal training facility where I’ve worked with individuals of all body types for the last 14 years. I also am an online nutrition coach where the last year and a half has given me the greatest exposure to clients who take these medications.

Here is something I’d like to pose to all of the coaches who may be reading this article. I’d like you to think about every person who you’ve worked with who came to you for fat loss and was either A) unsuccessful at losing fat or B) losing fat and keeping it off.

I know that’s a loaded statement.

Sadly, there are coaches in this industry who think that an individual’s ability to be successful at fat loss is due to lack of motivation and/or lack of willpower. The kind part of me thinks that they just need to spend a bit more time working with a greater variety of people so they can develop more understanding and empathy to change their minds.

The not so kind part of me thinks that maybe they’re just assholes. (I might be right on both accounts).

The fact is, even I can admit that clients have come to me for fat loss and have been unsuccessful with their goals and that could be for a host of reasons: 1) They didn’t resonate with my approaches 2) They had too many competing interests for their goals 3) They just “weren’t ready”, etc.

Many coaches start in this field because of their own fat loss transformation story.

Take Joe Trainer who identifies as being the “chubby kid” who was bullied in high school and college, got sick of the insults and shaming, found the gym, lost XXX pounds, looks fit as can be, and wants to bring everyone else to the Promised Land because discipline, hard work, motivation and persistence got him to the body he wanted.

That’s not my story and while there is certainly nothing wrong with discipline, hard work, motivation and persistence, what Joe Trainer conveniently forgets to share with people is that while he was working on having the body of Adonis he was young, he was single, he was only responsible for a car payment and he had no kids.

Joe Trainer also likes to forget that there is a significant genetic/biological component to an individual being overweight and while, yes, some people can grit their teeth and grind their way to the body of their desire, MANY people will NOT be able to take this approach.

As my friend and mentor, Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, has told me (paraphrased): In a perfect world, all it would take is a diet and exercise intervention and everyone would get their desired results. We don’t live in that world.

As a coach, I might (and do with frequency) come across an individual who struggles with depression. While I know that there can be mood-lifting benefits to a healthy diet and that exercise can be tremendously beneficial for mental health, I would NEVER tell someone to give up their Prozac because superfoods and kettlebells can cure their depression. All of these interventions can play nicely together to allow someone to live their best life.

Of note, many people pursuing fat loss elect to have bariatric surgery. What is not commonly discussed is that a significant portion of those individuals regain weight even after the tremendous success of that surgery. And why is that? Well, the surgery may have decreased the size of their stomach but it didn’t change the brain.

And what drives the decisions for what we eat and don’t eat and whether we decide to move or not move? The brain.

Which is why, even with the initial success of the bariatric surgery, many patients also look to obesity medications to help them keep the weight off.

At it’s simplest function, obesity medications help reduce hunger. They do more than that, of course, but this is the way I’d like you to think about it.

As a coach, I’ve had clients swear to me as the day is long that they are consuming XXXX amount of calories religiously and they can’t lose fat. Now, I may know that there is no way they can defy the laws of physics but I’m also not going to run around calling people liars either. That’s not good business (or good peopling).

It’s my job to understand if and where underreporting is happening and to try my best to help clients get the right energy deficit to see results.

The medications, essentially, force the deficit.

So, what are the downsides? There are potentially several. Cost, availability, side effects like nausea or dizziness, and the consideration that many people may have to stay on the medications indefinitely (albeit at smaller doses).

The sad fact is, in the U.S., medications of many varieties are terribly expensive. My mother has Type I diabetes and insulin shots certainly aren’t cheap. Perhaps some of these things will change over time as more options become available but right now, if insurance does not cover the cost of obesity medications, it could be cost prohibitive.

The other problem is that many people who do have discretionary income are able to pay for the medications out of pocket simply to lose some vanity weight. That demand shortens the supply for those who actually NEED the medication.

The other concern is that, with dramatic fat loss, comes the potential for dramatic muscle loss as well. This, of course, is not good. If you currently take these medications, please start (or keep) lifting weights. Your body will thank you.

And this is where I think many coaches need to realize their place in the discussion.

Just because someone elects to take an obesity medication doesn’t mean they don’t need to learn healthier lifestyle habits, the importance of resistance training, the importance of a high(er) step count, having productive coping skills, or how to make nutritious food choices.

Remember: the medications force the deficit. Everything else that matters for improving one’s health still may need support and interventions.

Unfortunately, many coaches view obesity medications as a threat to their income. It isn’t. It’s a complement (just like an antidepressant).

The other thing to note is that these medications will not ever go away. They will increase in efficacy and availability and likely with fewer negative side effects. The sooner we (as a collective whole) can respect their place in the discussion, the sooner we can embrace our client’s needs to utilize them.

This article is not meant to diagnose or replace the advice of your physician. If you believe you are or could be a candidate for obesity medications, please consult with a general practitioner for more information.

(Photo courtesy of Diana Polekhina)

Last week, I was speaking with a client who is currently trying to lose fat.

Their goal is to drop about 50 pounds with no particular timeline.

When we started looking at the plan to reach the goal, my client said they were currently consuming about 2000 calories a day.

That sparked a conversation that I wanted to share with you today.

In efforts to keep some anonymity to the discussion, I’ll give you what I believe is pertinent.

The client currently weighs about 250 pounds and wants to reach 200 pounds.

In my estimation (and we’ll dive into more in a moment), 2000 calories is somewhat aggressive but not unreasonably so.

If you’re on a fat loss journey, here are some points I’d love for you to consider.

We used my client’s current information: age, gender, height, weight and an estimation of daily activity to grab a couple of numbers.

For simplicity’s sake, I used the Harris-Benedict equation, which, like all calorie calculators, has margins of error but it gave us a place to start from.

I toggled between two different activity levels, one of which assumed that my client did not burn as many calories as we would hope and one where they would burn a bit more.

That gave us a range of approximately 2600-2900 for maintaining their current body weight.

As a reminder, all calorie calculators are estimates only and what we burn in a day is not static but dynamic.

I asked my client to split the difference and we’d use approximately 2750 as a day’s maintenance.

That means that their proposed 2000 calories per day would be about a 27% deficit.

There is a school of thought that the more conservative you can keep a deficit (let’s say 10%), the more a client can be adherent to a plan. Yes, it may mean that progress comes more slowly but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In this case, a 10% deficit would put my client at just under 2500 calories a day.

While 20% (or more) will potentially get the scale to drop faster, it may be too aggressive OR too difficult to stick with long term.

One way to sort that is to look at a calendar week and see how many days you could actually adhere to the more aggressive deficit.

As I posed to my client, let’s say that they are able to hit 2000 calories Monday through Thursday. By time Friday rolls around, they’re tired, stressed from a long week of work and ready to unwind with some social time with friends and family.

What happens then?

Normally, there’s an uptick in calories.

I call this a “spike”. It’s neither good nor bad, it simply is.

The first thing to acknowledge (without judgement) is: How big is the spike?

Let’s say it’s 3400.

One type of dieter may look at the spike, regret their choices and decide to let the rest of the weekend go to pot as well. So, Saturday might be 3200 calories and Sunday might be 3100 calories while the dieter tells themselves: I’ll get back to my plan on Monday.

This dieter might also decide to step on the scale on Monday and see that not only is the number not going down, it’s potentially higher than it was the previous Monday. That starts the week off on a discouraging note.

Allow me to pivot.

Another type of dieter may look at the same spike and say: What’s done is done and I’m going to get right back to my plan on Saturday.

They don’t give themselves too much leeway and they don’t allow the snowball to happen.

Suffice to say, the second type of dieter has a greater potential for success.

However, there’s another way to look at this.

There is the chance that the initial 2000 calories, while not unreasonable, may simply be too aggressive for this client to consistently work with.

Remember that our proposed maintenance was 2750, so, in theory, anything below 2750, done consistently, will result in fat loss.

A client may want to downshift to 2300, 2400, or 2500 (for conversation’s sake) and this may keep them from spiking as high as the example above.

Keep in mind, that your personal approach to a deficit is not only reflective of your body’s current needs but also, psychologically and socially what you can tolerate.

Some people have low stress lives and others do not.

Some people have great sleep patterns and others do not.

Some people train with high intensity and some are completely sedentary.

Some clients menstruate monthly, some clients no longer have periods, and some clients (men) do not have periods. (Cycles or the absence of can affect hunger, sleep and cravings, all of which can affect dietary adherence).

I estimated that my client had about 120-140 pounds of lean muscle. I did not do any body measurements, I just estimated based on working with other clients with similar build and goals. I used this reference point as a place to set a protein range, so my client could aim for 120-140 grams of protein per day. They don’t have to be perfect and it’s not the end of the world if they fall below 120 or overshoot 140. It’s just a guide.

Generally speaking, protein tends to be a fairly satiating macronutrient so many dieters are encouraged to keep protein intake on the higher end to reduce feelings of hunger. This does tend to work better if the protein is coming from whole food sources as opposed to liquids.

In addition, I encouraged my client to keep their fiber intake high to also help with feelings of fullness. Typically, you’ll want to vary your fiber sources and have options from fibrous fruits and vegetables to whole grains and some nuts and seeds.

I try my best to encourage a “Choose Your Own Adventure” approach to dieting for those who are in a good mental space to make it work.

-Have a good awareness of your current maintenance calories.

-Find a deficit that supports your lifestyle including your work activity, your recovery, and your style of training (hopefully some combination of resistance training and cardiovascular activity).

-Consistently hitting a high daily step count can be more advantageous than high intensity training. It’s easy to recover from, has less potential for injury and is less likely to raise your hunger signals.

-Remember that a potential drawback to aggressive deficits is that your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) levels can drop even without your awareness. This can have a negative impact on how many calories you burn in a day.

-If possible, take your time with fat loss. Nearly every one I know wants to lose unwanted fat immediately. Learn to listen to what your body is telling you. Sometimes, fast fat loss can be effective and possible with little negative consequence. Other times, the slower, more methodical approach is better. For more of my thoughts on fat loss approaches, you can read more HERE.

(Photo courtesy of Charles DeLuvio)

If your weight isn’t budging, let’s look at ten areas you could put your focus into to see a drop.

1-Dine out less: It’s not impossible to lose fat when you dine out, but it is difficult. Consider that the average restaurant entrée is approximately 1100-1200 calories. This does not factor in any appetizers, alcohol, or dessert. You can find lower calorie options going through a fast food window but not everyone is judicious when it comes to staying low calorie at the drive-thru. If you need to see a change in the scale, consider making a big reduction in dining out or being very strategic with your restaurant options. Skip the appetizer, alcohol and dessert for better effectiveness.

2-Drink at home: If you imbibe, do so at home. It is easier to manage quantity, it is more economical, and you are potentially less susceptible to the social cues of having more than one (just because everyone else is having another). Alcohol can impair your judgement when it comes to extra calories in the way of food. Consider reducing or removing alcohol from the diet if you’re not currently seeing fat loss success.

3-Swap the sweeteners: If you use sugar for desserts, coffee, tea, etc. look at zero calorie substitutes that still give you an element of sweetness without the additional calories. My mother has Type I diabetes and she experimented with several different brands of Stevia to find one she truly enjoyed. She now uses this to sweeten her iced tea at no caloric cost. Everyone’s taste buds are different so you may not like Stevia or may need to try a different brand but other alternatives exist as well.

4-Reduce (not eliminate) carbohydrates: This isn’t advisable if you have an active lifestyle but for those who are more sedentary, look at areas in the diet where you can reduce carbohydrate intake. Carbs hold water and this can have an effect on what the scale says. Of note, this is one of the reasons why many people see such a dramatic drop on the scale when they go from their typical diet to a low-carb variety. It may not qualify as true fat loss, but it may be weight loss and some people report a reduction in bloating when they make reductions to carbohydrates. Even if your estimation is that you currently consume 60% carbs in your day, a reduction down to 40% can not only be what it takes to put you in an energy deficit for the day but can contribute to that initial drop in water weight.

5-Walk more: It’s not sexy, it’s not intense, and it’s not fast, however, walking is easy to do, easy to recover from and is less likely to raise your hunger. Take your dog for a walk, walk with a loved one, walk while you listen to a podcast/music or walk on your treadmill while you watch a streaming show.

6-Assume your app is wrong: Calorie calculators are estimates only and if you find that you’re hitting your goals on your app and your weight isn’t budging, assume that the calorie estimate on the app is incorrect. You can aim for 10% less and see if that moves the scale in the appropriate direction.

7-Assume you’re underreporting: If the calories in your app are estimated correctly, and you are hitting the numbers but you are not losing weight, assume that there is a user error. This could be from picking an incorrect option for your tracking, it could be from using an eyeball measurement or there could be an error on the food label (this does happen). Food scales and, to some degree, measuring cups and spoons can be your friend in this situation. Try measuring more (or more accurately) and see if this changes the outcomes.

8-Hormones matter but they don’t trump total energy intake: Hormones can influence how much or how little you eat. Some of this is genetic, some of it is environmental and some of it is influenced by food quality and diet composition. For instance, perimenopause and menopause can affect women’s hormones, which can, in turn, affect hunger signals. This can make it more difficult to adhere to a calorie deficit but you can’t escape the deficit for fat loss.

9-Develop non-food coping skills: There’s nothing wrong with you if you use food as a way to cope with emotions. However, you may need more than just food or you may need something to substitute in place of food so that it isn’t your only (or your favorite) coping mechanism. Find a hobby or an activity that can occupy your mind which is less likely to stimulate your hunger. Sometimes, we just need a distraction because our previous pattern was to eat when we are bored, sad, happy, or stressed.

10-Use an approach of adding instead of subtracting: It can be a subtle shift but rather than thinking of ways to “cut back”, think of ways that you can strategically swap. Adding in more fibrous vegetables can potentially reduce other areas of the diet like lowering fats or reducing starchy carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta). There is nothing wrong with the latter but if you need to change the scale, certain swaps can work in your favor. When you take an approach of: adding more water intake, adding more fibrous vegetables, etc. you may be reducing other areas in the diet which can work favorably for fat loss.

Lastly, fat loss is not recommended for all people at all times. If you have a history of an eating disorder or believe that you struggle with disordered eating behavior, please consider utilizing the help of a therapist who specializes in that area. Healing your relationship with food is more important than the next crash diet.

(Photo courtesy of Priscilla Du Preez)