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How to know you’re making progress

Getting in shape – whether that means crushing it at the gym, losing weight, or just feeling healthier in general – is a long game.

No matter what goals you’re chasing, you can bet you will need to work at them for months and years.

It makes me sad to see how many people give up on themselves before they’ve been at it long enough to see the true results of their efforts.

Some people try to do way too much and once and end up flaming out.

Other people focus exclusively on the most obvious measures of progress and ignore all the other signs that they’re moving in the right direction.

Both of these approaches set you up to fail. We have to be patient and keep showing up for ourselves if we truly want to transform the way we look, feel, and perform. This is why it’s so important to take a sustainable approach to training and eating.

We also need to adjust some of our expectations (for example, in regards to how much weight you’ll add to the bar each week or how fast the scale will drop) and expand our definition of what it means to progress in the first place.

Here are a bunch of things you can look for to tell you that you’re moving in the right direction.

Signs of progress toward your strength training goals:

  • Lifting more weight
  • Doing more total volume (sets and reps)
  • More density (doing more volume in the same amount of time)
  • Using better form
  • Things just feel easier
  • You’re able to train without pain
  • Progressing to a more advanced variation of an exercise (eg. moving from kettlebell deadlifts to trap bar deadlifts)
  • Changing the lifting tempo (slowing down, adding pauses, speeding up)
  • Increasing your workout frequency (how often you train)
  • Increasing your workout consistency

Read more: How to bust through training plateaus

 Signs of progress toward your weight loss goals:

  • Scale weight goes down
  • Measurements (like waist, chest, hips, arms, etc.) go down
  • Body fat % goes down
  • Clothes fit better, or you go down a size
  • You notice changes in the mirror or in progress photos
  • Other people notice changes (even if you can’t see them)
  • You feel lighter and more energized
  • You can consistently stick with your diet
  • Reduced instances of binge eating or completely falling off the wagon
  • Less stress and anxiety around food

Read more: To Weigh or Not to Weigh? The Many Ways to Measure Fat Loss Progress.

 Signs of progress toward building a healthy lifestyle: 

  • Sleeping 7-9 hours each night
  • Regularly including things that help you recover from training (eg. massage, low intensity movement, foam rolling and mobility work)
  • You can consistently stick with your diet (can be a generally healthy diet, does not need to be geared toward fat loss)
  • Less stress and anxiety around food
  • You can delay gratification in the short term so you will feel better in the long term
  • You feel lighter and more energized
  • Increasing your workout consistency
  • Increasing your activity outside the gym
  • Increasing your daily step count
  • Able to complete physical tasks that used to be out of reach
  • Reduced aches and pains
  • You feel less stressed out
  • Health metrics and/or bloodwork improves

I’m willing to bet that no matter how hard you are on yourself, you can find a few things in each category that already apply to you.

Keep going, keep an open mind, and reach out for help if you’re not sure what needs to change.

Are you feeling frustrated with your progress toward your goals? Sometimes we all need some help and guidance to make sure we’re moving in the right direction. You can apply for my 1:1 coaching program here.

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I’m Working Out, But Not Losing Weight. Why?

When most people begin their fat loss journey, the first thing they do is hit the gym or the pavement.

This is a good thing; regular exercise has countless benefits for your physical and mental health, and it can act as a keystone habit that creates a cascade of positive change in your life.

And yet, you can work out all the time and still not lose a single pound. Many people get stuck here, understandably frustrated because they feel like they’re working really hard with little to show for it. 

Why does this happen?

The most important consideration for fat loss is to sustain a caloric deficit (consuming less energy than your body uses) for a prolonged period of time. This is part of the laws of thermodynamics which govern how energy is stored, transferred, and converted throughout the entire physical world.

There are many internal and external factors that affect both the amount of food you eat and amount of energy you use, but ultimately if you don’t obey this law you won’t be successful.

Read more: The Only 3 Things You Need to Lose Fat

It’s true that you burn calories during exercise. Sadly, it’s extremely easy to eat those calories back in a fraction of the time you spent working out.

[Side note – It’s also notoriously difficult to accurately measure how many calories you burn while working out. This is why, if a client is counting calories, I don’t want them to add back calories their FitBit, Apple Watch, treadmill, etc. told them they burned exercising. You should only consider your activity levels when calculating or adjusting calorie goals.]

For example, you can burn ~200-500 calories running for 30 minutes.

Any regular size candy bar from the corner store is around 200-250 calories. A single cookie from your favorite coffee shop can be upwards of 400+ calories. A single beer is 125-400 calories; ditto for different sized glasses of wine.

If you have a hard workout and enjoy a treat later because “you earned it”, you can potentially wipe out all those calories burned (and then some) in a few short minutes!

[Another side note – This is one reason why it’s so important to try to eat whole foods as you diet. A 400 calorie salad is going to fill you up and give you a lot more sustained energy than a 400 calorie cookie.]

There are other problems with trying to exercise your way into weight loss. Too much of the wrong kind of exercise makes it much harder to stick with your nutrition plan.

Doing hours and hours of steady state cardio every day can dramatically drive up your appetite. When you constantly feel ravenous, it’s difficult to eat in a deficit.

Too much high intensity training can also be problematic. There is a lot of evidence that suggests an appropriate amount of this stuff helps you lose fat. Unfortunately, many in the fitness industry took this a little too far and made high intensity training the sole focus of their workouts (I’m looking at you, Orange Theory).

It’s counterproductive to always train this way because it drives you to exhaustion, which can effect sleep, stress, and fuel powerful cravings for junk food. As you can imagine, this doesn’t make it easier to make good food choices or stick with your diet.

So, what should you be doing for exercise if you want to be successful with your weight loss goals? Here are my suggestions:

  • Strength training 2-4 times per week. This helps you hold onto (or even build) muscle as you diet. Muscle keeps your metabolism revving, which means you can eat more food and still lose weight.
  • Daily walking and low intensity movement. Being more active in your daily life is one of the most powerful things you can do to achieve your fat loss goals. Sit less, move more, take up a physical hobby, and mind your daily step count. You will burn a lot more calories without the negative effects on your appetite.
  • High intensity interval training or other intense conditioning 1-3 times per week. Keep it under 15 minutes and make sure you’re really pushing yourself during that time. Resist the urge to do more than this!

Start here and make a big effort to work on your eating. If after a while your progress starts to stall, then you can think about adding extra cardio sessions or HIIT.

Over the last 7+ years working with clients, I’ve seen countless people get stuck in the “I’m exercising a lot and not losing weight” trap. I am going to dig into this and four other common hangups in my free “5 Fat Loss Mistakes” webinar, which you can sign up for using the box below.

The webinar will take place next Thursday, February 25 at 6pm CST. If you can’t make it live, you can still watch the replay afterwards. I hope to see you there!

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What Really Matters For Fat Loss?

There is a lot of confusing information out there about what it takes to get lean.

Everyone and their mom is selling some new diet, promising to reveal a secret trick you haven’t tried yet. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking there’s an answer for your struggles out there if only you keep searching and trying all these different diets.

In reality, weight loss success is a lot less sexy than what nutrition gurus want you to believe. Furthermore, most of the things they tell you to do don’t actually matter and won’t help you lose weight.

I love the concept of big rocks vs small rocks when it comes to dieting.

Big rocks are changes that have a huge impact on your results. The 80/20 principle applies here – 20% of actions are responsible for 80% (or more) of your results. Moving the big rocks helps you build the habits and skills that will help you actually lose weight.

Small rocks are a lot less impactful. Some of them can give you an edge, but only after all the big rocks have been moved. Other small rocks have virtually no impact on your results at all and are merely a shiny distraction.

Keep reading to get some clarity about what does and does not matter when you’re dieting.

1. Consistency

Even if you find the mythical “perfect diet”, it won’t do you any good if you’re constantly falling off the wagon and having to start all over again.

There are many factors that can improve consistency, including non-food considerations like managing stress and creating a more diet-friendly environment at home.

For now, just know that if you aren’t following your plan ~90% of the time, you’re probably not going to be successful. Make changes or find an approach that’s a better fit for you.

2. Energy balance

Our bodies follow the same laws of thermodynamics as the rest of our physical world. We all use a certain amount of energy (measured by calories) to power our daily activity, digest the food we eat, and maintain basic functions.

Weight loss requires you to eat fewer calories than your body uses for a prolonged period if time. If you’re not losing weight, you’re eating too many calories.

It’s important to note that eating for health and eating for weight loss are not exactly the same. You can eat a very healthy diet and still not lose a single pound if your caloric intake is too high.

3. Macros

Macronutrients are categories that sort the foods we eat based on their molecular structure and how they’re processed by our bodies. There are technically four macronutrients – protein, carbohydrates, fats, and alcohols – but most of the time we just focus on the first three.

Once you’re consistently eating in a calorie deficit, you can potentially improve your results by tweaking the amount of each macro that you consume.

I suggest focusing on protein first, because it will help you feel more full and enables faster recovery from your workouts. Aim for .7-1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight every day.

More advanced trainees can also play around with carbs and fats. Generally speaking, most people feel better eating either higher carb, lower fat or lower carb, higher fat.

One is not necessarily better than the other for fat loss – remember, calories are king. However, finding the right balance of carbs and fats can go a long way in helping you feel satisfied and energized as you diet.

Read more: Calories and macros

4. Food quality

Technically, you can eat a 100% junk food diet and lose weight so long as calories are in check. However, this would be a lot less satisfying and would most likely make you feel pretty shitty. For this reason, I do think it’s important to focus on food quality when we diet.

Try to eat more whole and minimally processed foods like lean proteins and fresh fruits and veggies. These foods will give you a more steady stream of energy throughout the day, which makes it easier to stick with your diet. As an added bonus, they tend to be higher in water and fiber, making them more filling with fewer calories. 

I would focus on moving these big rocks in the order listed. Consistency is most important, closely followed by calories. You can get great results focusing only on those two things.

If you’re ready to take your dieting to the next level or you want to troubleshoot issues with energy, hunger, cravings, or performance, then you can focus more on macro ratios and food quality.

The image above gives some examples of small rocks that don’t really matter for weight loss, at least not without moving the big rocks first. 

  • It doesn’t matter if you’re fasting or eating 6 small meals a day. You can’t trick your metabolism and you won’t lose weight if your calories are too high. 
  • Supplements may help with some health issues and improve your workout performance, but they don’t circumvent the laws of energy balance.
  • Drinking enough water can help you feel energized and temporarily quell hunger, but it won’t lead to weight loss if you’re still eating too much.

You get the idea.

I hope this concept gives you some clarity about what you should focus on if you want to lose weight. It can also serve as a filter for future questions.

When you come across a new dieting trick, ask yourself if it fits into one of the four big rocks above. If it doesn’t, it’s probably only a small rock.

Are you struggling to lose weight and keep it off despite your best efforts? Join me in a free webinar to learn how to avoid the common dieting mistakes that are standing in your way.

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My Fat Loss Coaching Framework

There are a lot of diets and fat loss coaches out there. Nearly all of them have good intentions and really want to help you be successful (although there are a few charlatans just out to make a quick buck.)

However, good intentions don’t always lead to good results. If your diet fails to follow scientific principles or if it’s too restrictive, you’ll struggle to lose weight.

Furthermore, if the diet doesn’t help you make lasting changes to your lifestyle and environment, you’ll have a hard time keeping off any weight you do lose.

Any successful diet will focus on energy balance (establishing a caloric deficit) and work with your psychology (preferences, routines, beliefs) to help you make long-term, sustainable changes. Leaving out any of these pieces will make it nearly impossible to get and stay lean. 

Keep reading to learn the exact process I use with fat loss coaching clients to help them achieve their goals without falling prey to common dieting mistakes.

(If you want to apply for my fat loss coaching program, you can do so here.)

1. Gain awareness of current eating habits.

If you don’t understand what you’re doing now, it’s impossible to make well-informed decisions about how to move forward.

Oftentimes, people are already doing many things well. Yet their first instinct is to totally overhaul their nutrition and dive into a restrictive fad diet.

Identifying your baseline habits and routines can save you a lot of unnecessary headaches down the road.

Read more: All About Food Logging: Why and How

2. Fix your leaks.

Sometimes, one or two bad habits are behind the majority of extra calories in your diet. If possible, I try to help people reduce or eliminate these things first. This is a great way to get some fast wins at the start of your journey.

If you want to learn more about this concept and start identifying some of your leaks, check out this article I wrote on the subject.

3. Reduce calories in a sustainable way.

This where the bulk of the work occurs when dieting

Some of my clients track calories or macros, others monitor their portions using other methods.

During this step, I work with clients to iron out all the details of their individual diets. This usually involves some experimentation to figure out what does and doesn’t work.

Key questions we address in this stage:

  • How can I eat in the most satisfying way possible while still staying in a caloric deficit?
  • How can I manage hunger and cravings?
  • What foods help me feel my best?
  • How can I make good food choices in challenging situations?

4. Change your environment.

This is the most underrated and under appreciated step in the entire process.

Most of us gain weight because we live in an environment that makes it insanely easy to overeat and difficult to make healthy choices. Your will power can only take you so far if everything (and everyone) around you is pushing you to fall back on your old habits.

To lose weight and keep it off, you need to reengineer your environment to support your new healthy lifestyle. This might mean making changes at home, at work, and even in your relationships.

5. Build related healthy habits.

The only thing you need to do to lose weight is sustain a caloric deficit, and the best way to do that is through dieting. However, this is much easier if you stay active, get enough sleep, and manage stress.

A few ways I can help you achieve your fat loss goals:

I coach my 1:1 clients through every step in this process. If you want custom help right now, you can apply for the program here and I’ll follow up.

I also run a 6 week group course – Sane and Simple Fat Loss – to help clients lose weight without losing their minds. In the course, I teach a six pillar system to help you navigate steps 1-4 above (we don’t really cover exercise). Topics include increasing awareness, managing portions, and which foods to eat and which to avoid.

Sane and Simple Fat Loss is coming back on Monday March 8! If you think you may be interested, you can join the waitlist to receive early, discounted access on February 26.

If you’re struggling to lose weight and keep it off despite your best efforts, join me in a free webinar to learn how to avoid the common dieting mistakes that are standing in your way.

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Who should count calories – and who shouldn’t?

My fitness journey began ten years ago when, during a routine check up, my doctor informed me that I was prediabtic. I was scared and knew I needed to make big changes to avoid a lifetime of illness.

However, this was not the first time I tried to lose weight. I knew for years that I wanted to change, but I didn’t know how. Without a concrete plan, I struggled to find my way.

Around the same time as my fateful appointment, I happened to discover a food blogger who had successfully lost a lot of weight. She laid out the steps she took to achieve her goals and many of them involved counting calories.

Losing weight always seemed like a mystical process beyond my grasp. Now, for the first time, I saw a clear path from where I was to where I wanted to go.

All I had to do was do a few calculations, start logging my food, and patiently trust the process.

I bought a food scale, learned to cook, and dutifully logged my calories every day. Right away I saw that I was eating WAY more calories than I realized. No wonder I was having so much trouble losing weight!

I used this data to experiment with different changes to my diet. For the first time, I saw real progress toward my goals and felt like I actually had the power to make this daunting change.

Calorie counting helped me with all of this:

  • It helped me detach from my extreme emotions about food and get objective.
  • It improved my relationship with hunger and cravings.
  • It showed me a clear connection between the foods I ate and the way I looked and felt.
  • It gave me the power to make changes based on actual data, not just how I was feeling. Instead of getting frustrated when my efforts didn’t match my results, I now clearly saw where I could make changes.
  • It eliminated my fear of “junk” foods, because I saw that I could enjoy them in reasonable amounts and still lose weight.
  • Most importantly, I actually saw real weight loss success.
On the left: just before I began my fat loss journey back in 2011. On the right: me in 2020.

Counting calories gets a bad rap in the fitness world.

Gurus love to tell you that counting is obsessive and that it destroys your relationship with food. I disagree with this appraisal because myself and countless clients have had the opposite experience.

Too many people give up on their weight loss goals because they feel like they’re working really hard with little to show for it. This is where having actual data can be so powerful: you clearly see what’s going on which gives you the opportunity to make more impactful changes.

If you wanted to improve your financial health, you’d start to track numbers and data. You’d create a budget, monitor spending, create a debt pay-off strategy, and make smart investments.

No financial advisor would tell you to just listen to how you feel and trust that you’ll instinctively know what to do. And no one would be able to help you if you had absolutely no idea where your money was going.

Some people may take tracking a little too far and waste half their work day watching market fluctuations. Most people, however, would simply view this data as an objective measure of their success or failure.

They’d know they’re doing the right stuff when they see more and more money in the bank. If the numbers go in the wrong direction, they can look at their spending and budgeting to see what may be causing the problem.

Calorie counting works in the same way. You have a “budget” of calories that you need to stay underneath to lose weight.

Once you understand how your favorite foods fit into your daily budget, you can choose to eat the ones that are the most filling, satisfying, and energizing without going over your number.

You don’t need to count calories forever. I don’t do it all year long, and I don’t force my clients to do it if it’s not a good fit.  But, if you’ve been struggling to lose weight for a long time, counting calories for a while can be a helpful and illuminating experience.

You may benefit from counting calories if:

  • You’ve been following popular diets (Keto, Weight Watchers, Paleo, Whole30, Atkins, etc.) but haven’t been able to lose weight.
  • You’re tried of feeling like you’re working really hard to lose weight but not seeing the results you expected.
  • You’ve never tried to lose weight before and you don’t know the calorie content of common foods.
  • You are a person who likes to make decisions based on numbers and data.
  • You want to be able to enjoy some of your favorite treat foods while you diet.
  • You are a pragmatic person who prefers systems and science vs relying on intuition and feelings.

If you want to learn more about setting calories for your goals, check out this blog post.

You may want to skip counting calories if:

  • You’re incredibly busy and the thought of adding even one more task to your day stresses you out.
  • You’ve tried to count calories in the past and you know for a fact that it creates unnecessary stress, anxiety, or food obsession.
  • You don’t care about losing weight and would rather work on eating in a mindful, moderate way.
  • You have a history of disordered eating and have been instructed not to count, weigh, or measure food (please note this isn’t true across the board, some people – myself included – use calorie counting or food logging to help them recover from disordered eating).

If you want to learn more about how to lose weight without counting calories, check out this blog post.

And if you want some help with your personal fat loss goals, you can apply for my 1:1 coaching program here.

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A New Way to Think About Trigger Foods

A lot of nutrition coaches will tell you that there are good foods and bad foods.

“Bad foods” typically include things like fast food, baked goods, fried foods, and candy. Depending on which diet camp the coach belongs to, more contentious things like grains, dairy, meat, or even fruit could all be on the do-not-eat list.

There is typically a lot of shame, guilt, morality, and fear-mongering tied up in this approach to eating.

Early in my fitness journey, I fell prey to many of these questionable nutrition dogmas. I tried numerous fad diets looking for the perfect way to eat and lose weight.

My entire experience of food was heavily influenced by this good food, bad food dilemma. I remember the anxiety I would feel at a party or at a restaurant if I couldn’t find foods that fit within my narrow menu of acceptable options.

When I inevitably did eat an off-plan food, it sent me into a spiral of overeating because “I already blew it.”

As you might imagine, this approach did very little to help me lose weight. It certainly didn’t help me live a healthier life or improve my relationship with food.

These days, I consider myself a diet agnostic. I don’t believe there is one best diet for everyone and I never instruct my clients to follow a specific diet (although I will answer questions and provide information if someone asks me my thoughts).

Part of this shift has involved removing morality from food. I no longer think of foods in black and white terms like good or bad. Food is just food, and I think there are always instances when it’s appropriate to eat foods other coaches may consider off-limits.

Despite this attitude, however, I don’t think you should just eat whatever you want, whenever you want all the time. It’s still useful to consider which foods work for you and which do not.

This is especially true if you’re trying to lose weight, or if you have a history of disordered eating like I do.

I love the concept of red, yellow, and green light foods that I learned from Precision Nutrition.

Red light foods are foods you don’t want to eat very often, or ever.

This category includes foods you’re allergic to, or those which strongly clash with your values (eg. meat for a vegetarian).

Red light foods could also include foods you have a really hard time regulating yourself around. For example, I know there are particular foods that are heavily associated with binging for me, and I choose to avoid these foods.

Note that there isn’t necessarily anything inherently wrong with these foods, they just aren’t a good fit for your body, psychology, or goals.

Yellow light foods are foods that you can enjoy in moderation but don’t want to eat all the time.

Sometimes these foods are higher in calories, so we want to be mindful of portion sizes so we don’t accidentally overeat (think nuts, nut butters, pasta, etc.).

Other times we may feel uncomfortable if we eat too many of these foods. For example, many people are mildly lactose intolerant and can only eat so much dairy before they start to experience side effects.

In other situations still, yellow light foods may be treat foods that we can enjoy in small amounts but want to be careful not to overindulge. I usually have a couple of chocolate bars in the house, but I limit myself to one or two squares at a time.

Green light foods are foods that make your body and mind feel good and support your goals.

They should make up the bulk of your eating if you want to look, feel, and perform your best. Although the specific selections will vary for each person, green light foods include things like fruits, veggies, lean meats, whole grains, beans and legumes, and eggs.

How to use this system:

  • Most of your meals should consist of green light foods.
  • Occasionally, you can enjoy yellow light foods in appropriate portions.
  • Skip red light foods most of the time. I would not keep these foods in your house, and if you do decide to eat them I would be very intentional about the setting.

Keep in mind that these categories are fluid and will likely change as you get older or chase different goals. And remember to remove shame from the equation. Red light foods are not inherently bad, they just don’t work for you at this time.

Are you struggling to lose weight and keep it off despite your best efforts? Join me in a free webinar to learn how to avoid the common dieting mistakes that are standing in your way.

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Fix Your Leaks (An Easier Way to Lose Weight)

There are a lot of misconceptions about what it takes to lose weight or get in better shape.

Many people think they have to completely overhaul their current lifestyle to see results. This is what drives people to attempt to train hard every single day, or to go all-in on the latest fad diet.

If you’ve ever taken this approach, you know it doesn’t last for long. If you try to do too much exercise too soon, you get incredibly sore and fatigued. When you do inevitably miss a workout, you feel like a failure or weakling. Sometimes that’s all it takes for you to give up on yourself and stop coming to the gym altogether.

It’s also nearly impossible to change your eating habits in one fell swoop. You’ve likely been eating the same way for years – even decades. You have your go-to meals, you buy the same things at the grocery store, you reach for the same treats when you’re stressed out, and you frequent a regular rotation of restaurants.

For most people, these choices are largely automatic and deeply ingrained. It takes a lot of effort and attention to interrupt problematic behaviors and replace them with new, healthier habits.

Losing weight is simple, but it’s not easy (anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something or has never been overweight themselves). Why on earth would you make this process even harder by trying to change everything at once?

I’m happy to report that you don’t have to change everything you’re doing right away – or ever. Instead, I recommend you start by fixing the obvious leaks.

Just about everyone has one or two food habits that are obviously not ideal. Some of the most common ones I see: 

  • Drinking pop or other high calorie beverages. This includes excessive alcohol consumption.
  • Way too much snacking
  • Bites, licks, and tastes
  • Finishing your kids’ food
  • Drinking shakes after your workout
  • Regularly eating fast food
  • Dessert every day
  • Distracted, mindless eating (eg. not realizing you ate an entire bag of chips while watching tv)
  • Eating peanut butter by the spoonful

Ask yourself, do I have any habits that are obviously not helping me achieve my goals?

Is there one that I am ready, willing, and able to tackle right now?

Pick just one leak to plug and focus all your attention on it for at least a week. Once that time has passed, evaluate your compliance and progress and see if you need more practice or want to add something else.

Does this approach really work?

When I work with clients, I use the concept of the minimum effective dose.

What is the least amount of stimulus or the smallest change we can make and still see results?

I’ve found it really doesn’t take much to get the weight loss train moving in the right direction. This is because plugging these leaks can remove a substantial amount of calories from your week, calories you probably didn’t realize were racking up in a big way.

Taking this “less is more” approach also makes change a lot more manageable. You don’t have to bend over backwards building something from scratch. You’re more likely to actually do the things you said you would, and sustain them without burning out.

The psychological benefits of this cannot be overstated. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, or like you’re a failure, you feel good about your efforts. Your confidence in your ability to change grows, and you’re better prepared to potentially make bigger changes in the future.

If you want to lose weight or get in better shape, you absolutely do not need to change your entire diet or build all-new habits. Instead, look for the leaks – those small habits that are costing you a lot of calories – and focus on fixing those first.

Want some help simplifying the fat loss process? You can apply for my online coaching program here.

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The Most Underrated Tip for Weight Loss

The first thing most people do when they decide to lose weight or build healthier habits is decide which foods to eat (or skip) and how much of them to include in their new diets.

It’s great to consider which foods work for you and which don’t. And it’s very helpful to learn about the calorie content of your favorite meals, or to focus on eating more whole, nutrient foods.

However, I think there is another factor that nearly everyone misses that may actually be more important to their long-term success.

You do not live in a vacuum; you’re highly influenced by the people and things around you at all times.

Therefore, in order to lose weight and keep it off for good, you need to change your environment to support your changing lifestyle.

There are a lot of great things about being a human in the modern world. Unfortunately, the same conveniences that help us live safer and less stressful lives also make it much, much harder to eat in a healthy, sustainable, and moderate way.

You can find cheap, delicious, and highly processed foods everywhere you look. They’re in the break room at work, in every corner store, at family get togethers, and even in our own homes.

These foods are engineered to make it difficult for us to stop eating them. They also happen to be high in calories and low in nutrition, a terrible combination for health and weight.

It takes way more effort to resist these foods than to just eat them. And it’s even harder to actively replace those foods with minimally processed whole foods, especially if you’re not used to the taste of these foods or don’t know how to cook them.

Many people fail in their weight loss efforts because everything in their world is conspiring against their attempts to make healthier choices. You only have so much willpower at your disposal before you start defaulting to easier options.

That’s why it’s so important to build a healthier environment as you’re working to build new eating habits.

Here are a few ways you can change your environment to support weight loss and improved health:

Don’t buy trigger foods.

I’m not the type of coach who says you can never enjoy your favorite treats again (in fact, I think that approach is actively counterproductive). However, you do need to get honest with yourself about your relationship with certain foods.

If you know you have a hard time eating just one serving of something, or if it tends to trigger binge eating or food guilt, you’re better off not keeping that food in the house. If you buy it, you will eventually end up eating it. 

Read More: A New Way to Think About Trigger Foods

Keep snack foods out of sight.

If you do buy treat foods, try to keep them tucked away in a pantry or cabinet where you don’t have to see them every time you go in the kitchen. Out of sight, out of mind. 

Make healthy foods highly visible.

This is the flip side of the point above. I keep a big bowl of fresh fruits on my counter, and as a result I tend to reach for fruit when I want a snack. Some of my clients chop fresh veggies at the start of the week and put them in the front of the fridge. Now, when they open the fridge looking for a snack, the veggies will be the first thing they see.

I strongly recommend using a list to grocery shop so you already know what you need to buy and don’t need to make decisions at the store.

Be smarter about your grocery shopping.

Try to do most of your shopping around the perimeter of the store (that’s where the produce, meat, fish, dairy, and eggs are located) and only venture into the aisles to replenish pantry staples that are on your list.

It’s also wise to have a snack before you hit the store and never grocery shop when you’re hungry.

Some of my clients have had a lot of success using grocery delivery services. They only order what they need and aren’t tempted by treats at the store. This option may be even more appealing during the age of COVID-19.

Read more: How I Learned to Love Grocery Shopping


Plan for your restaurant meals.

If possible, try to be the person who decides where the group is going to eat or order take out. This allows you to pick a place that will have healthy or on-plan options for you to order.

Take a look at the menu before the meal. If you have no idea what you’re going to eat until you’re about to order, you’re more likely to make an emotional decision or say “screw it” and order more than you want.

Read More: Eating Out on a Diet

Plate your food.

Have you ever eaten an entire bag of chips while you mindlessly watched tv? I’m definitely raising my hand here. This happens because we tend to keep eating until we’ve finished the food in front of us, no matter how hungry we are.

To solve this problem, always serve yourself food on a plate or in a bowl. If you want to have some chips, put what you want in a bowl and then put the rest of the bag away.

Minimize distractions while eating.

Many Americans eat as they work, watch tv, or scroll on their phones. You’re way more likely to overeat when you do this, and you’ll get a lot less satisfaction out of your meals.

Try to eat without distractions as often as possible. Pay attention to your food, eat slowly, and savor the experience.

Get your loved ones on board.

It’s very hard to make lasting nutrition changes if everyone else in the house is eating junk food.

I know it’s not easy to do – especially with kids – but you may need to sit down and have a conversation with the people closest to you about what you’re doing and why it’s important to you. See if you can get others to be a little more supportive, even if they aren’t ready to change their own eating habits. 

Changing your environment to make it easier to make healthy choices and harder to make not-so-healthy choices is one of the best things you can do to help you achieve your health and fitness goals. Remember, your life and choices are deeply connected with your environment. It’s impossible to remove yourself from this influence, but you can make changes that will make your journey a lot easier. 

Are you struggling to lose weight and keep it off despite your best efforts? Join me in a free webinar to learn how to avoid the common dieting mistakes that are standing in your way.

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The Truth About Carbs

One of the most pervasive ideas in the nutrition world is that carbs are bad for you, especially if you want to lose weight or change your body composition.

As a lifelong carb lover who has lost a lot of weight personally and coached clients to similar success, I’m happy to tell you that this claim is false.

You read that correctly – you can eat carbs and still lose weight and feel great.

In fact, many people may experience more success with their fat loss efforts and feel a lot better throughout the day if they increase their consumption of carbs.

How can this be true?

Keep reading below, where I bust four myths associated with the demonization of carbs.

Myth #1: Carbs make you gain weight.

Countless diet gurus have fed the public misinformation about the role of carbs in the body. This has led to the widespread belief that carbs are inherently fattening in a way that other foods are not.

Here’s the truth: we gain weight because we eat more calories than our bodies need. This happens because we live in an obesogenic environment where high calorie, hyper-palatable foods are everywhere we look. It’s incredibly easy to eat these foods, and it requires effort to resist them or make changes to long-standing dietary habits.

High carb foods are a part of this equation (more on this below), but they don’t tell the full story. In the end, it doesn’t matter if extra calories come from carbs, fat, protein, or alcohol – they will all cause you to gain weight if you consistently exceed what your body needs and uses.

There is no special property of carbs that makes them more likely to be stored as fat or more likely to cause weight gain.

Myth #2: Junk food = carbs

When I ask you to visualize junk foods, or foods you know you shouldn’t eat all the time if you want to lose weight, you probably think of things like ice cream, cookies, donuts, cake, pastries, chips, french fries, and candy bars.

It’s true that these foods contain lots of carbs, especially compared to other food sources like fruits, vegetables, and even starches.

However, if you take a close look at the overall makeup of these foods, you’ll notice that they also contain a lot of fat. Many of them actually get a much higher percentage of overall calories from far than they do from carbs.

From this perspective, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think of these foods as carbs.

Foods like these are designed to be as delicious and easy to eat as possible. There are food scientists working in a lab right now to determine the perfect proportion of sugar (carbs), fat, salt, and consistency (creamy, crunchy, etc.) to achieve this goal.

Your inability to stop eating these foods has a lot more to do with the interplay of these factors than it does with their carb content.

Chocolate usually contains more calories from fat than it does from carbs.

Myth #3: You can look, feel, and perform your best without carbs.

My response to this myth is a little more nuanced because it does contain a grain of truth.

The human body can technically survive without carbs, as we posses internal mechanisms to convert protein and fats to energy if we enter a prolonged period of carb reduction. This was essential to our survival back when food was a lot more scarce.

However, just because our bodies can work this magic doesn’t mean it’s easy to do so.

Carbs are the preferred source of fuel for your brain, which explains why many people feel tired, sluggish, and cranky when they cut carbs.

Carbs are also the ideal fuel for your workouts, especially if you want to build muscle or look more toned as you lose weight. If you’re an active person who removes most carbs from your diets, your performance is likely to suffer.

Side note – the reason why some people who cut carbs drop a lot of weight really quickly is because they use up all the carbs stored in their muscles, which are paired with a lot of water. It’s not actually body fat.

If you have no energy, your workouts suck, and you hate the way you eat, how likely are you to stick with your low carb eating plan?

For most stressed out millennials, the answer is “not very.”  These people would do better to add more carbs back into their diet so they don’t feel like shit all the time.

There is definitely individual variance here. Some bodies do naturally burn fat easier than carbs. You probably already know if this is you, because you’ve likely felt better when you stopped eating as many carbs and started eating more fats.

But there are many people – probably a majority – who really do need to eat carbs if they want to feel good, perform well, and stick with a long-term nutrition plan. This is especially true for women, because carbs are more involved with our hormonal health than men.

Ultimately, you need to experiment to determine if you do better with high carb/low fat or low carb/high fat. Pay attention to energy levels, mood, cravings, workout performance, and of course, progress toward your big-picture goals.

Read more: My Thoughts on the Keto Diet

Myth #4: You have to cut carbs if you want to lose weight. 

As mentioned above, carbs by themselves will not make you gain weight. Therefore, you don’t necessarily have to remove them from your diet if you want to build a leaner body.

I believe the most important thing to do if you want to lose weight and keep it off is to build sustainable habits. It’s not about getting to the goal as fast as possible – it’s about learning to eat in a way that you can see yourself repeating forever. You will need to eat fewer calories while you’re dieting than you will when you’re maintaining, but the basic principles of your nutrition should be more or less the same.

What does this have to do with carbs?

It’s important to eat in a way that gives you energy, minimizes hunger and cravings, supports your activity levels, and is aligned with your bigger values around food.

Our discussion of Myth #3 showed us that many people will benefit from eating more carbs. If these people want to lose weight, they should consider cutting calories from fat as much as possible.

This can also be a more satisfying approach because you’ll be able to eat a higher volume of food (fats contain more than twice as many calories per gram than carbs).

It doesn’t matter where the calories come from: if you are in a deficit for a sustained period of time, you will lose weight. Cut your calories from somewhere else if you love carbs.  I hope this clears up some confusion about the role of carbs in a healthy diet or fat loss plan. Carbs can (and often should) be a part of your daily intake.

Read More: What Really Matters For Fat Loss

Are you struggling to lose weight and keep it off despite your best efforts? Join me in a free webinar to learn how to avoid the common dieting mistakes that are standing in your way.

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A solution for those who hate calorie counting.

There are a lot of strategies you can use to lose weight. Ultimately, success comes down to eating fewer calories than your body needs over a long period of time.

  • Lost weight doing keto? It’s because you cut out a lot of calories (from carbs) compared to how you were eating before.
  • Lost weight going vegan or vegetarian? It’s because you replaced animal products with lower-calorie plant-based alternatives.
  • Lost weight on Weight Watchers? It’s because the point system incentivized you to prioritize lower calorie, nutrient dense foods as well as limit you overall quantity of food.
  • Lost weight after you started hitting the gym? Perhaps you were eating around your maintenance calories and the increase in physical activity was just enough to put you in a deficit.

This is all to say you can use any number of diets and workout plans to achieve your fat loss goals.

The most important thing is to respect the laws of energy balance, and to do so in a sustainable, healthy way that aligns with your values, personality, and lifestyle.

For me, this has often meant counting calories. I’ve gone through a few major periods of successful weight loss over the last decade. For all but one, I’ve counted calories and used an app like Lose It! or MyFitnessPal.

One reason why counting calories or tracking macros is such a great tool for fat loss is because it shows you that you can eat all kinds of foods and see success, provided you hit your numbers most of the time.

I like to see the data and numbers so I can make adjustments to my approach when things aren’t working. And I like having some guard rails, because after years of battling an eating disorder I’ve learned that I personally can’t always trust the messages I get from my brain about food.

However, I’ve learned that most people don’t share my feelings about this kind of food logging. And I completely understand why.

Like everything else in your fitness journey, counting calories is a skill that takes time and practice. When you don’t have a lot of experience it takes a lot of time and can be very tedious and annoying. If you have young kids or a crazy work schedule, you likely won’t want to set aside the time it takes to figure this out.

Additionally, calorie counting isn’t a good fit for people who eat out a lot or don’t cook most of their own food. Using a food tracking app only works if most of the data is precise and accurate. You won’t be able to easily weigh and measure your food if you’re not eating at home. Therefore, you won’t be entering high quality information and it’s tough to draw meaningful conclusions about what’s working and what isn’t.

Here’s the thing: if you have a fat loss goal and aren’t seeing the progress you’d like, you’re probably eating too much food. (Sometimes there are also medical issues at play – if you suspect this please seek out a qualified physician.)

So what are you to do if you know you’re eating too much food, but you hate the idea of weighing, measuring, and counting calories?

Thanks to the super-smart folks at Precision Nutrition, there is an easy system you can use to identify proper portions no matter where you are.

The best part about this system is that it’s ultra low-tech. All you need is one hand and your eyes to make it work. Use the size of your hand (which, conveniently is bigger or smaller depending on your stature) to eyeball the portion sizes of different types of foods:

  • Protein: Animal proteins like meat, fish, seafood, and poultry. Plant-based proteins like beans, lentils, and legumes.
    • 1 serving = 1-2 palms, about the thickness of a deck of cards
  • Carbs: Rice, oats, and other grains. Potatoes and starchy tubers. Fruit.
    • 1 serving = 1-2 cupped handfuls
  • Veggies: Basically any low carb colorful plant.
    • ​​​​​​​1 serving = 1-2 fists
  • Fats: Nuts and nut butters. Olives and olive oil. Butter. Avocado.
    • ​​​​​​​1 serving = 1-2 thumbs

 This can be a very eye-opening experience for people.

One thing I hear a lot is that people eat nuts as a healthy snack, but realize that they are eating handfuls at a time instead of just one thumb.

Or, maybe you order a steak at a restaurant and it’s the size of three or four palms.

The latter example would be a great opportunity to practice boxing up a portion of your meal to take home and eat later.

If you have a weight loss goal and your progress has slowed, give this system a try for a few weeks.

Serve yourself by eyeballing your portion sizes using your hand. You may realize this is less food than you’re used to eating, which could be a clue as to why you haven’t been losing weight.

When in doubt, eat slowly and stop at just satisfied (as opposed to totally full.)

This system isn’t set in stone and may need to be adjusted based on how many meals you like to eat, activity levels, and more.

Experiment and figure out what works for you. I’m here to help if you need any guidance or support along the way.