Last week we introduced the Principles of Fat Loss, and now we are going to get into the specific methods of the first principle, creating a calorie deficit. By understanding this key concept, you can effectively manage your weight and improve your overall health. So let's dive into it.
Method 1: Tracking Your Daily Caloric Intake and Expenditure
You can’t change what you aren’t aware of. And by consistently tracking your caloric intake, you can know where you are currently at and make informed decisions about any changes that may need to be made to achieve your health and fitness goals.
Some ways to do that are:
Journal every thing that you consume in a day (Here is a link to our journal)
Fill in AMPT Hand Portion Guide based on your individual needs and goals (Link to Bubbles)
Utilize apps that track your calories, like MyFitnessPal.
Depending on the type of person you are, tracking can be used as a tool forever, or for a moment to create that awareness and help make sure you are creating helpful habits with your food intake.
Method 2: Choose Nutrient-Dense Foods to Stay Full and Satisfied Longer
When you eat foods that are high in protein and fiber they keep you satiated for longer periods of time; ideally for 3-4 hours! Also, foods that are high in nutrients ensure you’re getting the vitamins, minerals and macronutrients your body needs to function optimally.
Aim to eat 1-2 servings (25g, 3-4 oz, or 1 Palm sized Portion) of lean protein per meal
Aim to get 14g of Fiber per 1,000 calories consumed in a day (30-40g per day for most). High fiber foods include many fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. This can look like 1-2 fist sized servings of veggies, or 1-2 cupped hand sized serving of grains/carbs per meal
Choose minimally processed foods that have fewer ingredients, and that you know what all of the ingredients are!
Method 3: Adjusting Portion Sizes and Food Choices
If you are tracking your calories, macros, or nutrients you will need to measure how much your eating
Use the Hand Portion Guide to help guide how much food you eat each meal.
Aim to get 1-2 servings of lean protein per meal
Aim to get 1-2 serving of veggies per meal
Aim to eat 1-2 servings of smart carbs per meal
Aim to eat 1-2 servings of heathy fats per meal
Method 4: Utilizing Behavioral Changes and Mindful Eating Practices for Long-Term Success
How we eat our food can also help us keep our calories down. Being unaware of your eating habits can cause you to eat more calories per meal with out even noticing.
Try to eat slowly every meal. It can take our bodies 20 minutes to know it’s full. This skill can also make sure you digest your food well, and stay satisfied for longer in between meals.
Eating undistracted can help with eating slowly. Try to eat at the table with no phone, TV or magazines.
Stop eating when your 80% full, and eating slowly will help you do this! 80% can be hard to determine, essentially its when you are satisfied and not full, and you stay satisfied for 3-4 hours between meals.
Method 5: Incorporating Regular Exercise
Obviously, physical activity can can be used to help boost caloric expenditure… but you cant out train your diet! We always recommend that your calorie deficit should come primarily from a reduction in calories consumed.
We will go into more details about this in the future; but the most important thing is to find activity that you enjoy!
150 min of moderate physical activity or 75 min of vigorous, with 2 days of strength training per week
If you have been following our GSPA Framework we can break this principles down into actionable practices to help you lose body fat.
Goal: Lose body fat
Skill: Be in a calorie deficit (principle)
Practice: Use mindful eating practices (method)
Action: Stop eating at 80% full
Once you break it down this way you have a daily actionable goal that you can simply ask your self wether you did that action or not. If you did, great, be proud of yourself! Success breeds success… If you didn’t, that’s ok. Try to figure out why not and create a plan to overcome that obstacle, or simply just do it again the next time.
We hope that these methods help to empower you with the knowledge and tools to achieve your goals. If fat loss is your goal, chose one of the methods to start with and break it down into your specific daily action. Remember to keep it simple to build confidence and slowly progress to more difficult methods.
Yours in Health & Fitness,
Roni and Bryan Boggs
Ps. If you need help with defining your daily actionable goal please email us at LetsGetAMPT@gmail.com with your questions!
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