Getting Started
1. Record all food for 7 days. 100% recording. If it goes in your mouth, it gets recorded. Do not make changes to the way you have been eating once you start recording. You need to know where you are currently in order to move forward. If you are unsure of a food and how to enter, just make your best guesstimate. Something recorded is always better than nothing.
2. Once you have 7 days of recording in MFP, you are going to do the following steps:
- Open your diary for today.
- Scroll to the bottom of your diary and click on the “nutrition” tab
- Hit the arrow on the left to take day back to yesterday’s date
- Highlight over “nutrients” at the top
- Over the date, change “day view” to “week view”
- Write down on your tracker sheet, your numbers for average protein, carbs, fiber,sugar and fat
- Next highlight over “calories “ at the top of your screen
- Write down your “net weekly average” of calories
- Stay on calories, but change it back to “day view” over the date
- Write down your “total daily calories”, day by day, for the last 7 days in your tracker.
3. Next is your weekly biofeedback tracking. On your tracker, once a week, each week you are going to keep track of the following: (these markers are EQUALLY as important as the scale, so it’s important to learn your body abs really reflect on your markers over the week)
- How many hours of sleep per night you averaged
- Rate your stress on a level of 1-10
- How many workouts you did in the last 7 days
- How much water did you average daily
- How many days out of 7 you went to that bathroom (bowel movement) also make note of any gut feedback, are you bloated daily, gassy, suffering from indigestion etc.
- Your 7 day step total if you track steps
- Your overall energy for the week (good, bad, do you have a mid day crash etc)
- Weekly dry weigh-ins* averaged and weekly dry measurements recorded on tracker. See YouTube video on how to do.
* A dry weigh-in and measurement refer to weighing in first thing in the morning, naked, after the restroom (urinating), and before you have had anything to eat or drink. This is when you are the “driest” Measurements are also taken at this time.
Calorie Deficit Overview
Your cut/calorie deficit should only be 30 days. This time frame is chosen because after 30 days adherence begins to drop and we start to run the risk of metabolic adaption (our metabolism slowing down) This is why the cycling in and out of a cut is incredibly effective for long term weight loss, it allows for you to have diet breaks.
I have used this method with hundreds of clients, it works. It works very well. If you follow the plan, are compliant and adherent to the program. You will lose the weight but importantly MAINTAIN the weight loss.
You should be in a really good place now. Digestion should be good, energy should be up, you should be experiencing less bloat and gas, you should see differences in your skin. Your body should be giving you lots and lots of good signs that it is happy.
Here, I will teach you how you do a “mini cut.” You will cycle in and out of the mini cut until you reach your weight loss or composition goals. Using this format will increase your adherence to the program as well as increase the odds of you maintaining the weight loss, which is the difficult part.
CUT WEEK ONE
1. Females Reduce your calories to 1700 and males to 2700 calories. Change your macro percentages so that your protein is one gram per pound of body weight (+-5), fat is 60 grams (+-5) for females and 90 grams for mailers, the rest of your calories go into carbohydrates.
Example at 1700 calories
170 pounds starting weight
170 x 4 (4 calories per gram of protein) = 680 calories.
60 x 9 (9 calories per gram of fat) = 540 calories.
680+540 = 1220 calories. Leaving 480 calories for carbohydrates (1700-1220=480)
480 divided by 4 (4 calories per gram of carb) = 120 grams carbohydrates
Starting Numbers
- 1700 calories
- 170 grams of protein
- 60 grams of fat
- 120 grams of carbs
- 30 grams fiber
- 40 or under grams of sugar
2. You will stay at the 1700 calorie mark until you plateau. Now let’s talk about a plateau. This means that NONE of your objective measurements (weight, inches) have changed in 5-7 days. Weight loss is not linear. You will have some peaks and valleys along the way. Don’t be your own worst enemy! This is why I have created your tracker document. You can clearly measure and see on a week by week basis your progress.
3. If you have not moved in inches or scale in 5-7 days, then drop another 100 calories. NO MORE! You always want to reach your goals eating the most food possible. This allows you to 1. Get hangry less 2. Room to maneuver when you hit a plateau.
4. If you drop your calories, you may need to adjust your nutrient calories as well. As long as you are in a +-range of 5 grams for protein, you will not to adjust for the new calories. Only when your grams are greater than 5 grams should you configure new nutrient calorie numbers.
5. You will continue to monitor your progress, adjust calories over a 30 day period.
HOW TO COME OUT OF YOUR CUT
The end goal for your macros, once calories are in maintenance range, is to be (needs to be in the ballpark, not exact) 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, 1 gram of fat per 2lbs of body weight, and the rest of calories put into carbohydrates.
Example
- 150 pound woman eating 2100 calories a day would have the following macros:
- 30% Protein 157 grams
- 30 % Fat 70 grams
- 40% Carbohydrate 210 grams
1. You will do a mini reverse diet to bring yourself out of your cut. Let’s say you finish your 30 day cut at 1400 calories. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW THESE GUIDELINES TO KEEP FROM PUTTING BODY FAT BACK ON.
Step one: increase your calories by 150 for the next 7 days. Do not go over these calories. Coming out of a cut, when you increase your calories it is going to stimulate hunger and you are going to want to eat more. You have to fight through it.
COMING OUT OF CALORIE DEFICIT
EXAMPLE ON HOW TO FIGURE CALORIES:
- End cut at 1400 calories.
- Increase to 1550 to come out of cut. This is a total of 10850 calories for the next 7 days. DO NOT EXCEED 10850 for this week. You will also need to adjust your macros with each calorie increase. Follow the same guidelines of staying close to 1 gram of protein per pound of Bodyweight, gradually start putting more calories into your fats and carbs working your way to the maintenance goals stated above.
- You do have the option to roll calories now. This means adding or taking away calories on a day by day basis, but not exceeding your weekly allotted amount (10,850) Example: if you eat 1525 calories on Wednesday, you can have 1575 calories on Thursday. The same for overages applies. If you eat 1600 on Tuesday, then you would eat 1500 on Wednesday. If rolling calories overwhelms you, then stick to your daily goal.
2. Each week you will increase your calories by 150 until you reach maintenance calories (2000 for women, 3000 for men). If this process is done correctly, all the weight and inches lost in your cut should stay off. You should not gain during the reverse. You have to be accountable to yourself during this process. You have to stay in your weekly calorie goals.
Next Steps
At this point you should be eating maintenance calories, enjoying social nights out, eating good whole foods 80% of the time (because you just feel better when you do) maintaining the weight loss and all your hard work. It truly is about balance.
I like to follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I cook at home, eat Whole Foods, track my food and do all the right things. 20% of the time I enjoy ice cream, go out for Mexican, have cookies or whatever it may be.
I truly believe in learning about nutrition so that it works for you. If you give this program 100%, take the time to do it right and not rush, 6 months to a year from now you will look and feel better than you have in years. I know this for a fact.
If you have a bad day, just brush it off. Start again tomorrow. One bad day or meal didn’t ruin your progress. Don’t let it spiral you down the same rabbit hole you were in when you stated this program. Fight it this time. This time make the commitment to make a lifestyle change. This time…. it sticks!
