If you’ve been struggling to maintain a calorie deficit and see weight loss, here are 13 simple, easy-to-implement hacks to make your life much, muuuch easier. 

1. Eat more flexibly

Losing weight and feeling deprived don’t have to be paired together. 

You can still enjoy all your favorites–pizza, burgers, chips, cookies, you name it–and see tremendous weight loss progress. 

It’s going to take you doing something though…

Ditching the all-or-nothing mentality you have around food.

If you keep labeling foods as either “good” or “bad” you’ll stay stuck in the vicious yo-yo- dieting cycle.

It goes something like this–

Cut out all the foods you love and eat 100% clean.

Lose a little bit of weight.

Feel restricted as cravings build up.

Binge on all the foods you swore off.

Weight loss progress = erased. 

This keeps happening to you time after time because the methods you’re implementing just are not sustainable.

And unsustainable methods will always lead to unsustainable results.

Instead of trying to eat “clean” 100% of the time, aim to eat clean 80% of the time and allow yourself the other 20% to enjoy your favorite less nutritious, higher-calorie foods.  

Having balance and moderation like that is a much more sustainable way of eating.

When you can maintain your diet, your results will actually stick.

2. Eat more protein

It’ll do the following for you:

• Keep you fuller for longer by reducing hunger hormones while increasing satiety hormones.
• Speed up your metabolism: Your body burns more calories digesting protein than any other food.
• Build/preserve muscle: Losing a little bit of muscle is just a part of being in a fat loss phase but adequate protein intake will help you hold onto as much muscle as possible. You want that because holding onto muscle = more fat loss. 

3. Consume more fiber

I think we all know about the benefits for your digestive system of eating fiber.

But from a weight loss and overall health standpoint, you’re missing OUT if you don’t have enough in your diet. 

For one, it’s super filling.

Two, would you just take a look at these health status?:

• You lower your risk of heart disease by 9% for every 7 grams of fiber you eat.
• You lower your risk of breast cancer by 5% for every 10 grams of fiber you eat.
• Eating enough fiber regularly reduces your all-cause mortality risk (chances of dying from virtually anything) by 19%.

Aim for 25-35 grams of fiber daily. 

Berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries), beans and lentils, and nuts and seeds will give you a good starting point for high-fiber foods. 

4. Fill up on high-volume foods

You know those foods where you get done eating and it’s like, “Man, did I even eat?!”

They’re not filling AT ALL and you’re hungry a whopping 2.5 seconds later.

Well, high-volume foods are the complete opposite.

You get to eat a lot of food on not-that-many calories.

These are foods like:

• Veggies
• Berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries)
• Watermelon
• Egg whites
• Beans and lentils
• Oats and quinoa 
• Greek yogurt (FYI, Dannon Light + Fit Greek Yogurt packs might just change your life)
• Popcorn (low fat)

5. Have lower-calorie alternatives of your favorites 

Just because a food is lower in calories doesn’t mean it has to taste like dog doo-doo.

In fact, there are plenty of lower-calorie options of your favorite foods that still taste great.

Here’s a list for you:

• Bolthouse Farms Condiments & Salad Dressings
• PB2 Peanut Powdered Peanut Butter
• Ole Xtreme Wellness Wraps (large tortillas packed with fiber)
• Live Carb Smart Bread: I’m not telling you to go keto or limit carbs but this bread will save you some calories. This brand also has hamburger and hot dog buns (also high in fiber).
• Dannon Light + Fit Greek Yogurt or Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt 
• Gatorade Zero or G2 
• Diet soda
• G. Hughes Sugar-Free BBQ Sauce
• Halo Top Ice Cream
• Egg whites: You can definitely still eat whole eggs (remember, no food is off limits) but if you plan on having 3 eggs, for example, maybe cut back to one and use egg whites to make up for the rest.
• Turkey sausage
• Turkey bacon 
• Low-fat or fat-free cheese 
• Light mayo 

6. Catch more Z’s

Lack of sleep leads to stress.

When you’re stressed your body produces a hormone called cortisol, which increases hunger.

Not only are you hungrier when you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll have less energy.

You’ll be tired and more sluggish, which can have a negative impact on workout performance. 

When you’re not performing well in the gym your fat loss progress suffers.

7-9 hours each and every night, that’s your goal.

I know that’s a fantasy for some of you out there (especially you new parents!) but try to squeeze out half an hour to an hour more each night.

You’ll be making a huge difference. 

7. Walk more

It is by far the easiest form of exercise you can do not only for fat loss but to improve your overall health.

“Seriously, just walking will help me lose more fat?”

Yep.

You burn 300% more calories through daily movement (I.e. walking) than you do your actual workouts.

Those extra calories you burn walking will make staying in a calorie deficit significantly easier.

In terms of overall health, the people who live longest around the world all have one thing in common.

They get plenty of physical activity. 

Research shows that! 

8. Strength train 3-4 times a week

If you’re not already on a structured strength training program (not a random assortment of workouts you cherry picked from social media), get on one ASAP to build muscle, speed up fat loss, and achieve that toned, more defined physique you’ve been chasing like a bad kid in the grocery store.

You don’t have to go very far because I’ve created two strength training programs for you to give a try:

12-week dumbbell workout program.

12-week gym workout program.

9. Count calories

 
If you don’t want to leave weight loss up to chance, counting calories is a no-brainer.

This is the one way to know FOR SURE you’re eating the correct amount of food to lose weight.

If you’re sitting in your seat right now shaking your head and saying to yourself, “There’s no way I’m counting calories. It’s obsessive and way too much work,”  let me ask you this…

Would setting a budget to ensure you save money be too much work for you?

No?

Well, counting calories is no different.

You count calories (budget) to ensure weight loss (save money).

10. Have planned refeed days and diet breaks

You don’t have to be in a calorie deficit 24/7, 365 to make progress.

You can make things a lot easier for yourself by sprinkling refeed days and diet breaks into the mix:

• Refeed days: You choose one or two days a week and bump your calories up to maintenance (or maybe even go into a slight surplus). This can help manage hunger cravings and give your body and mind a break. As long as you’re in a net calorie deficit for the week, you’ll still lose weight.
• Diet breaks: Instead of picking one or two days a week like you would with refeed days, a diet break is an extended period of time where you come back up to maintenance. I’d recommend doing so every four weeks. So that’s four straight weeks of being in a calorie deficit and one week off. Coming out of your diet break, you’ll be recharged and ready and motivated to be back in a deficit again.  You’ll also be more consistent because you know a diet break where you get to enjoy more calories is never too far away. 

11. Get a game plan together

Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

That could not be any more true than when it comes to fat loss. 

The likelihood of you saying screw it is exponentially higher when you don’t have a set plan to adhere to or follow.

That ends TODAY, because we’re going to get you a game plan together.

The first step is taking out your phone.

Not tomorrow, the day after that, or next week.

But right this second! 

This isn’t an exercise you can do in your head.

And let’s be real, if you wait you’re just not going to do it.

Have your phone out?

Sweeeet. 

Now, I want you to go through and make fitness and nutrition-related appointments with yourself. 

Block off times for your workouts, walks, grocery shopping, meal prep, etc.

Here’s the key…

You treat these appointments like you would a meeting with Warren Buffet who’s promised to bless you with a million dollars just for showing up.

Would you, under any scenario, cancel on him?

Unless you’re already a billionaire, then no chance.

I can hear it now…

“But that’s different. I don’t get a million dollars just for showing up to my appointments.”

My question to you would be this then…

What price tag are you willing to place on your health and fitness

Is one million dollars enough for you to sacrifice improving your health?

Five million?

Ten million?

You only get one body so to me, there just isn’t a price tag high enough.

12. Pre-log your meals

Counting calories gives you flexibility with what you eat, sure.

But that doesn’t mean you have to wing it and have zero clue what you’ll eat meal to meal.

If you want to avoid scenarios where you reach the end of the day and say to yourself, “Man, wish I’d planned better, then I could have this piece of cake I wanted,” start pre-logging your meals the night before. 

You don’t have to know exactly what you’re eating but going through this exercise will at least provide you with a rough draft of what your day could look like nutrition-wise.

You can then simply use your outline as a springboard to ensure you stay within your calories. 

13. Aim for consistency, not perfection

Understand it’s not what you do all the time but MOST of the time that drives results.

Or in other words, results aren’t driven by perfection.

They’re driven by you being consistent and operating under the mindset that something is ALWAYS better than nothing.

Things won’t always go 100% according to plan.

If you don’t have time for your entire workout, instead of throwing your hands in the air and doing nothing because you can’t be perfect, workout for the 15 minutes you do have so you can stay consistent.

Or let’s say you go over your calories on Friday.

Is it better to say screw it and go on a weekend-long binge, or simply get back on track the very next day?

Stop trying to be perfect and saying screw it when you can’t be!

If you stick to the plan MOST of the time and stop worrying about being on point all the time, I promise, you WILL see results.