How to Lose Weight for Summer 2023: the BEST Ways to Eat and Train
One of the most frustrating experiences for people trying to lose weight is consistently going through cycles of weight loss and gradually gaining the weight back again. Eventually, it starts to feel like “nothing works” — and there’s a reason for why these cycles happen for many on this journey.
Today we’re covering the different methods for weight loss (fat loss) so that you can feel confident in your body not just temporarily for the summer, but permanently.
Fat loss is both simple and complex. Once you understand the “why” behind what you’re doing to achieve these results, it becomes much easier. For you to be able to maintain these results, it’s important to understand the concept behind what you’re doing with your nutrition and your training.
The Best Diet for Weight Loss
When it comes to nutrition, there are two options: intuitive eating or tracking.
Intuitive eating involves eating with mindfulness, but without needing to track or measure the food. Tracking your nutrition involves weighing and measuring the food to hit certain goals, whether it be calorie goals, macronutrient goals, or even micronutrient goals.
Option #1: Tracking Your Calories & Macros
The most efficient way to track calories is to track your macros.
Tracking macros means that you’re tracking all of your protein, carb, fat, and alcohol intake. Each of these four macros make up the total energy (calories) that you’re consuming within a day.
Macros are just more detailed information on the type of calories that you’re consuming. Each type of calorie (macronutrient) contributes to a different type of energy for our bodies. For example, protein typically contributes to repairing damaged cells.
Before you can actually track your calories or macros, you first need to know how many calories you should be eating.
How Many Calories Should You Be Eating?
The biggest red flag I see is when people throw around random numbers to shoot for when it comes to calories. If you don’t follow a nutrition assessment, you won’t know how many calories are the right amount for you and your energy needs.
Our nutrition requirements are unique to us. This is due to age, sex, height, muscle mass, activity levels, daily habits, etc. The calories you may need to help you lose weight may cause someone else to gain weight!
Many people utilize online macro or calorie calculators to figure out how much they should be eating for their goals, but the problem with this is that they’re not very accurate. Sometimes, they can be within the ballpark, but there is room for inaccuracy which will only stall your progress.
The best way to find your own caloric intake is via a nutrition assessment that you can do yourself or with your coach.
Follow This Nutrition Assessment (to Find Your Maintenance Calories)
Start by tracking everything you eat and drink for 7 consecutive days.
Weigh yourself each morning before eating or drinking over these 7 days.
Take the average of your weight & average of your calories to get your maintenance calories.
The results from this assessment will provide you with your current maintenance calories. Essentially, this means that this is the amount of calories you would eat to maintain your current weight. If your goal was to maintain weight, this is where you would set your calories, but if your goal is to lose weight, we need to move forward with the next steps to find your deficit calories.
To find your deficit calories (the amount of calories you want to aim for to lose fat/weight), we’ll take your maintenance calories from the assessment results above and subtract this by 150 calories.
Maintenance calories - 150 calories = your caloric deficit calories
You’ll want to monitor your weight loss from week to week to make sure that you’re on the right track. A healthy range of weight loss from week to week, on average, is anywhere from 0.5-1.5 pounds per week for most people.
How to Find Your Macros & macro Percentages
If you want to track your macros, you’ll typically want to work with a coach, as there is more detail that will go into this, but you can still track your macros and set general goals here based on general nutrition recommendations.
The general macronutrient ranges are as follows:
Protein: 10-35% (stay on the mid to high range if you’re lifting)
Carbs: 45-65%
Fats: 20-35%
Here’s How to Put it All Together
After you take the nutrition assessment, let’s say that you found that your maintenance calories are 1,700 calories.
You’ll take 1,700 and subtract 150 to find your calorie requirements for an efficient caloric deficit.
1,700 - 150 = 1,550 calories
Keep in mind that anything under your maintenance calories will allow you to steadily cut. Subtracting 150 calories is just a general number that tends to work well with most populations.
From there, if you want to track macros, you can use the general nutrition recommendations to plug in your protein, carb, and fat goals.
How to Set Your Protein Intake Goals
There are 4 calories per gram of protein. You can choose any percentage from the range of 10-35% as mentioned above; let’s say you choose 20%.
You’ll follow this equation:
(caloric deficit calories * protein percentage goal) / 4 calories = your protein intake
The 4 calories that you’ll be dividing at the end will stay the same anytime you’re setting your protein intake goals; this is the amount of calories there are per gram of protein.
This is how it will look for this example.
(1,550 kcals * 20% protein) = 310 kcals
310 kcals / 4 kcals = 77.5 grams of protein (your protein intake goal)
How to Set Your Carb Intake Goals
There are 4 calories per gram of carbs. You can choose any percentage from the range of 45-65%; let’s say you choose 50%.
You’ll follow this equation:
(caloric deficit calories * carb percentage goal) / 4 calories = your carb intake
The 4 calories that you’ll be dividing at the end will stay the same; this is the amount of calories there are per gram of carbs.
This is how it will look for this example.
(1,550 kcals * 50% carbs) = 775 kcals
775 kcals / 4 kcals = 193.75 grams of carbs (your carb intake goal)
How to Set Your Fat Intake Goals
There are 9 calories per gram of fats. You can choose any percentage from the range of 20-35%; let’s say you choose 30%.
You’ll follow this equation:
(caloric deficit calories * fat percentage goal) / 9 calories = your fat intake
The 9 calories that you’ll be dividing at the end will stay the same; this is the amount of calories there are per gram of fats.
This is how it will look for this example.
(1,550 kcals * 30% fats) = 465 kcals
465 kcals / 9 kcals = 51.67 grams of fat (your fat intake goal)
When setting your macros, make sure that your protein, carb, and fat percentages all add up to 100%.
In our example, we had 20% protein, 50% carbs, and 30% fats. 20% + 50% + 30% adds up to 100%; if you go over or under, you’ll be eating more or less than our calorie goals.
If you’re tracking your macros, you do not need to worry about tracking your calories separately!
Option #2: What Should You Do If You DON’T Want to Track Your Food?
Intuitive eating is another option for those who don’t feel comfortable or just simply don’t want to track their calories or macros. This is a way to be mindful without the stress of tracking.
Eating tends to be relatively social and sometimes tracking calories can cause more stress because this makes us feel like we have to participate in less social activities in order to not feel left out in the experience of food. If this is how you have felt in the past or start to feel this time around, this may lead to binge & restrict cycles, keeping you further from your goal. The best route may be instead to eat mindfully and intuitively, without necessarily tracking all of your food intake.
Start by creating a list of food staples for each macronutrient.
Aim for about 80% of your foods to come from your list of staples and roughly 20% to be fast food, going out to eat, or eating your favorite desserts or snacks that may not necessarily be a “staple.”
Protein staples may include:
Chicken breast
Lean ground turkey
Whole eggs
Egg whites
Whey protein
Greek yogurt
Cotttage cheese
Tofu-based protein products (vegan)
Soy-based protein products (vegan)
Carb staples may include:
Rice
Lentils & beans
Whole oats
Cereal
Whole grain pasta
Whole wheat bread
Whole wheat bagels
Whole grain raps
Sweet potato
Fruits & veggies
Fat staples may include:
Avocado
Nut butters
Nuts
Cheese
Oils
Other Helpful Nutrition Tips to Keep You Stay on Track:
Cook from home
Plan and prep meals & snacks ahead of time
Don’t grocery shop on an empty stomach (to help you stick to your list)
Pay attention to how foods make you feel (ie: Do they make you more or less hungry after? Do certain foods cause you to binge or spiral?)
Don’t be so restrictive with your diet on what you “can” or “can’t” eat (sometimes eating your favorite dessert a few times a week can lead to longterm adherence and better results!)
Use Pinterest to find fun, new recipes!
The Best Workout for Weight Loss
When it comes to weight loss, the biggest factor is to remain in a caloric deficit. Technically, you don’t need to follow any specific workout. It’s also important to keep in mind that no workout you do will target fat loss in any certain area. Spot reduction (“lose fat in your stomach,” “lose fat in your arms,” “lose fat on your legs”) is a myth; fat loss does not work like this.
That being said, exercise helps to promote weight loss by allowing you to remain in a caloric deficit. It also tends to be the easiest way to get started with fat loss if food and nutrition is something you struggle with. Starting simple & slow is better than not starting at all.
Another reason why training is incredibly important, outside of the direct benefits of fat loss, is because it also helps to bring balance to our health, both mentally & physically. When we start to bring in more balance into our lives, our goals & progress tend to come more naturally. For that reason, exercise is usually the first habit I would recommend integrating if you want or need to ease into these changes.
You can choose between three main styles of exercise for the best results: cardio, strength training, or a combination of both.
Cardio
This method is best utilized for those who only have the goal of fat loss and conditioning.
Cardio isn’t effective when it comes to building muscle, but it is effective in getting you into a caloric deficit for fat loss. If your goal is primarily fat loss and you love cardio, this may be a great option for you!
Things to consider about choosing cardio as your main style of exercise:
How it effects your hunger (does it make you feel ravenous after or do your hunger cues feel stable?)
How it effects your energy (do you feel exhausted after or are you on an energetic high?)
How it effects your mood (do you feel defeated after or are you eager to challenge yourself?)
If you’re feeling overall positive results about incorporating cardio, then this may be a great option for you to include in your routine!
Strength Training
This method can be utilized for both fat loss and building muscle!
When it comes to lifting, you’re both burning calories (which aids in your caloric deficit), but you’re also able to focus on building muscle & strength when incorporating resistance training.
It’s important to keep in mind that when incorporating strength training, you’re not always building muscle. Lifting weights alone will not lead to building muscle. Unfortunately, this is why many people lift for years and struggle to see any progress.
If you don’t necessarily want to build muscle, but just want to move your body, you can stick with the same weights and force yourself into a training plateau. This still utilizes energy and it can be a fun method of moving your body.
If your goal is to also build muscle though, you can easily do so long as you’re putting emphasis on progressive overload with your strength training.
Things to consider about choosing strength training as your main style of exercise:
How it effects your hunger (does it make you feel ravenous after or do your hunger cues feel stable?)
How it effects your energy (do you feel exhausted after or are you on an energetic high?)
How it effects your mood (do you feel defeated after or are you eager to challenge yourself?)
If you’re feeling overall positive results about incorporating strength training, then this may be a great option for you to include in your routine!
Sample 3 Day Training Split
If you’re not sure where to start with your training, you can try this simple training split to get started!
Day 2: “Pull”
3x10 barbell rows
3x12 lat pull downs
3x12 cable facepulls
3x12 rear delt flys on machine
3x12 alternating dumbbell curls
Day 1: “Push”
3x10 dumbbell chest press
3x12 cable chest flys
3x12 standing overhead press
3x12 lateral shoulder raise
3x12 cable tricep pushdowns
Day 3: “Legs”
3x10 barbell squats
3x10 barbell conventional deadlifts
3x12 single leg glute bridges
3x8 walking lunges (ea)
3x10 dumbbell step-ups
If you’d like more in-depth training programs you can also check out the glute-focused training program or level 1 of the powerbuilding program
Incorporating a Combo of Cardio and Strength Training for fat loss
Incorporating a combination of both cardio and strength training is great for those who like to mix things up & have multiple goals and challenges they want to play around with. I recommend trying different styles of cardio and strength training to find what feels and works best for you based on your interests and what keeps you most consistent.
The goal is to make this a part of your lifestyle, so try out different styles of training to find what you love! There is a style of movement that works well for everyone; it may even just be going for walks, bike rides, dance class, or pilates.
The Reason Most People Fail Their Weight Loss Journey
While losing weight in concept is easy, it is challenging for most people to create consistent results, at least initially! There’s nothing wrong with you if you’ve started this journey over and over again, just to feel like you’re right back at the start.
This is actually a normal experience, as creating change is hard and many people forget about one of the most important parts of this process: mindset.
If you don’t believe that you’re able to achieve longterm results, you won’t. Most people who get started want to lose weight and even want to believe they can, but there’s that little voice in your head that doubts that it’s possible for you.
When you believe that it’s possible, you find a way to make it possible. The things mentioned above are quite simple, even working around social settings and finding balance are relatively simple to work around, but working on how you think about yourself remains one of the leading factors as to why people quit or restart their journey.
Alongside this weight loss journey, I recommend working on your mindset. This may include journaling, therapy, positive self talk, surrounding yourself with encouraging people, and reading mindset books.
I would also recommend checking out this video to help improve your mindset and self belief.
When keeping all three of these aspects in mind: the nutrition, the training, and the mindset; I guarantee you will see some of the best results of your life and feel better about yourself while striving towards these goals.
Good luck & good lifting!
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