Simple Ways To Put Yourself in a Calorie Deficit for Fat Loss

Back in the 1990s there was no My Fitness Pal (it was launched in 2005), so how the heck did we lose weight before the app was born!?

The answer, we made modifications to how we ate and drank and made sure we were doing some type of activity.

So now the app is here it's almost like we can't go back to the pre 2005 days to change our body composition but we absolutely can. Most of my clients prefer not to use the app, and I'm more than happy with that.

So how do we do it?

Make Sure You Move Enough Every Day

• Our daily activity, moving around contributes more towards a fat loss goal than structured workouts. Do you know how many steps you do each day?
• Gradually increasing your steps is a great way to be more active without wearing yourself out by going to the gym more, or running more or any other form of cardio and then increasing your hunger
• Start by finding your daily average steps over a week. Then each week try to make the average an extra 500 steps per day until you hit at least 8,000. This is the marker for the amount of daily activity required for health. If you want to keep going then go for it but again you don't need to go crazy with this, 10,000 steps is absolutely enough

Reduce/Remove Starchy Carbohydrates Increase Veg (Potatoes, Rice, Pasta, Bread etc)

• For most people it's the time we are least active and don't need huge amounts of energy from this type of carbohydrate.  If you try this, it does require you to replace it with something or you will not feel satiated and maybe end up eating more later. 
• It's also really easy to do around a family meal, just cook more vegetables than normal and have either a small portion or no starchy carbohydrates. 
• 250g Boiled Potatoes is 188 calories, removing them in the evening and replacing them with the same weight in Broccoli would save almost 100 calories. A simple swap that will keep you full but contribute to your calorie deficit
• It's a win-win, increase the amount of veg you eat and save yourself some calories

Replace Sugary Drinks with Low Calorie Ones

• 
  An easy way to consume lots of calories is to drink them rather than eat them. By replacing
  sugary drinks with low/zero calories ones, you can save hundreds of calories a day.
• Please don't worry about artificial sweetener consumption. Read this short article on the NHS website, when we are not meant to consume them, the NHS advice will change The Truth About Sweetners

Eat More Protein

• No you don't have to start eating hundreds of grams of chicken a day like a body builder but my
  general advice to my clients is to eat it at as many meals as you can, so yogurt for breakfast, some chicken with lunch, a few crispbreads with 3 Babybel light and some vegetables in the afternoon and then fish for dinner is a start.
• Protein has a very high satiety rating, meaning it keeps you fuller for longer. Have you ever felt hungry a few hours after eating a foot long Subway for lunch? Try making lunch a whole packet of salad leaves, a whole tin of tuna, one boiled egg and some baby potatoes and see how long it takes you to eat it! 
• It's even more important when you are trying to lose body fat to eat enough protein so your body does not need to use your precious lean muscle. When you are in a calorie deficit you want your body to utilise your fat stores for energy not your muscle.
• Vegetarians can generally consume enough protein, if they eat fish and dairy and if not there are supplements like protein powder or simply increasing the portion size of your protein source.
• Vegans may need some extra supplementation. Not all do but if you struggle to get close to 80g of protein a day then the many vegan protein alternatives can make eating enough much easier.