29 Cheat Codes I Wish I Knew For Faster Fat Loss

I've coached over 20,000 people with their fat loss in the last 9 years, and if I had to give you my 29 best fat loss cheat codes that I wish I knew when I first started to help you lose fat faster, here's exactly what I would tell you. Number 1, set aside 300 to 400 calories per day for a treat. Most people trying to lose fat only eat clean and healthy foods and say no treats, no No cookies. But by the weekend, you've not only eaten everything you've told yourself you shouldn't be, but you've absolutely binged on all of it because you've been over-restricting yourself from it. And then you think you ruined all your progress, and then you say, screw it, I'm already off track, I might as well keep going. And the cycle just keeps repeating itself. One of our clients, Jessica, has lost a ton of fat, and she consistently works in treats that she enjoys eating within her calorie deficit number. And as you can see, she's been able to make incredible fat loss progress. She no longer felt restricted. She stayed much more consistent and actually saw faster progress than ever before by including these foods. So here's what you can do starting today. Open up your calorie counting app that you use. By the way, I have my own calorie counting app. I'll put a link here for it in the description of this video and mentally Or literally track 300 calories of whatever food you want to eat, whether it's chocolate, whether it's a glass of wine, whether it's cereal. The only rule is you plan for it and you intentionally eat that portion size of 300 to 400 calories. So now you're not cheating, you're strategizing, and you're still going to hit your calorie deficit number. And this will get rid of the good and bad foods This will get rid of the fact that you feel like you're cheating on your diet when you have foods you enjoy, and it will finally allow you to be more consistent and lose fat faster. And by the way, if you need to know how many calories you should be eating to lose fat, click the link in the description of this video. There'll be a free calorie deficit calculator. The next cheat code is going to help you burn more fat by essentially doing nothing. Number 2, wear a weighted vest Or backpack while walking. You've probably heard before you should go out on walks and you should get your daily steps, but you might be doing that and the scale still isn't moving. Or maybe it was moving and then you've stalled out and hit a plateau. You don't want to add more cardio because you're already pressed for time as it is. So here's the truth. Walking is amazing for fat loss, but if your body gets used to it, the calorie burn Slows down. I actually experienced this on my own calorie deficit where after I lost about 15 pounds, my fat loss slowed down tremendously and I didn't have more time to do more cardio or do more workouts and I didn't want to eat fewer calories. So what I did was got a backpack, put a bunch of books and rocks in it, and when I took my 2 daily walks, I wore the backpack And after about a week, I started to notice my scale dropped again, allowing me to lose the last 5 to 7 pounds I was looking to lose. And the reason this works so well is because when you wear the weighted vest or backpack, your body has to do more work because you are heavier. This means you'll burn more calories for the same amount of work you were already doing. If you're going to buy the weighted vest, I would say 10 to 20 pounds, maybe 25 pounds max, is all you need. Or you can use a backpack at home and just fill it up with some stuff to make it 10 to 20 pounds. And this small tweak will not only improve your calorie burn, which will help you drop more body fat, it will also help get into something called zone 2 cardio, which can also help your heart health as well. We're going to talk about zone 2 cardio a little bit later in the video too. Now our next cheat code is something I believe every human should be doing. Number 3, start your day with 20 ounces of water before any caffeine or food. Most people are waking up tired, groggy, and probably not getting the best sleep. And to fix this, most people go straight for their morning cup of coffee or their morning energy drink. And then we wonder why your energy crashes around 9 or 10 AM, or that you're craving junk food for lunch. And most people don't realize this, but when you wake up, you're already mildly dehydrated. And for most people, they already struggle with drinking enough water as it is. And most people also don't know this about caffeine. Delaying your caffeine intake 60 to 90 minutes after you wake up supports your body's natural cortisol rhythm And it prevents energy crashes later in the day. So this groggy, sluggish, tired feeling you're having, it's not a lack of motivation or willpower. It's poor hydration. I found this out recently because when I would wake up, I would go straight to an energy drink and I was slacking on the amount of water I was drinking. So now when I wake up, I have a full glass of water. It's 20 ounces, and I sprinkle a little bit of salt in it, usually about 1/4 teaspoon, because salt is one of your main electrolytes. And automatically, even in this past week, I have felt more energy throughout the day, less energy crashes, and I'm more alert and focused. All of these things will help you stay on track with your diet better. It will also have you more likely to move more and get your daily walks and steps throughout the day. It'll give you more willpower and motivation and just make fat loss easier than ever before. So immediately when you wake up, within 30 minutes, have 16 to 20 ounces of water. And if you'd like, sprinkle a little bit of salt in, or you can use electrolyte supplements. And have this before you do anything else. And this will help you drink enough water throughout the rest of your day as well, because if you front-load your day with 20 ounces, it's going to be easier to hit your water goal the rest of the day as well. And later in the video, we'll talk about what your water goal should be. And our next cheat code is one that people will argue a ton about, but it works. Number 4, drink zero-calorie carbonated drinks or diet soda. And I already know people are going to argue about this, but One of the biggest problems people face when trying to lose fat is making sure they're in a calorie deficit. A lot of hidden calories come from things like soda, juices, healthy green smoothies, liquid calories. And people also don't like to give up the things that they enjoy. It makes it harder to lose fat. Now, to a degree, you're gonna have to make some sacrifices to lose fat. But if you can do things that you like and still lose fat, it makes it easier to lose fat. And let's face it, most people just aren't gonna drink plain water all day, every day. You want something that feels like a treat, but you also want to lose fat. One of our clients, Marco, used to drink 2 to 3 sodas a day, like the full sodas, not diet. And that was an extra 500 to 700 calories per day. He switched to having one diet soda per day, and that switch alone kickstarted his fat loss journey. And by the way, it doesn't even have to be diet soda. If you're really freaked out about it, you can do things like sparkling water because the carbonation and the fact that it's zero calories will help fill your stomach up and make you feel like you're having a fizzy treat, that can help curb your appetite a bit and help you stick to your calorie deficit. And whether it's a diet soda or a sparkling water, just know you can include it into your diet. It is not going to kill you. And if it helps you have a sweet cravings treat, then doing that and losing the weight you're looking to lose is going to be a far better benefit than whatever people lie to you about the risk of diet soda are. Now, our next cheat code might seem unconventional, but I promise it's gonna work. Number 5, put sticky note reminders on your pantry and fridge. Usually, you're not overeating because you want to, and sometimes you're not even eating because you're hungry. You're eating because you're bored. Or stressed or sad or happy, or it's just a mindless activity. The problem is this mindless activity and not being mindful of your goals is causing you to consume hundreds of calories, potentially thousands of calories per day that are not aligning with your fat loss goals. And the problem isn't the food or the drinks. It's the automatic behavior that leads you to it. It's the quick decisions without thinking about it. And so we actually did this strategy with one of our clients, Sarah, where she put a sticky note of her goals on her fridge and on her pantry. And this way, every time she was going to go grab something she was about to eat, it would force her to think twice about her goals. And this small little change of just making herself more mindful of, is this the decision I really want to make right now? Before she started doing this, she was having a tough time sticking with her calories. After she implemented this change, she started stacking up weeks of consistently hitting her calories, which then led to consistent fat loss happening week over week. So all you have to do is grab a sticky note, put it on your fridge, put it on your pantry, put it on the kitchen counter where you normally grab snacks, and just seeing it for half a second will make you more mindful and you'll be much more likely to stay on track with your diet and nutrition goals. Speaking of being mindful of your goals, that's exactly what our next tip is going to do for you as well. Number 6, use a measured water bottle to stay on top of hydration. Most people either think they're drinking enough water to stay hydrated or they have no clue. And when your energy crashes and your afternoon cravings hit and random bloating keeps showing up, the reality is you're not drinking enough water. And just guessing on how much you should be drinking and/or how much you're drinking throughout your day is not going to cut it because you're not being mindful enough. And being dehydrated leads to your body craving things it doesn't actually need. It tricks you into thinking you need sugar or you need food when in reality you just need more water. And this is something I actually struggled with myself. And this tip is something I'm giving you because it worked wonders for me. Now, I was drinking a lot of water in the first place, but I didn't know exactly how much I was drinking. And so first what I did was made a water goal. I am shooting for half my body weight in ounces. So currently I weigh around 240 pounds and I'm aiming for at least 120 ounces of water per day. And that's what you should be aiming for as well. And number 2, I bought a cup that has measurements of ounces in it. I'm not sure if you'll be able to see inside of there or not, but inside of the water bottle it says there's a line for 5 ounces, a line for 10 ounces, 15 ounces, 20 ounces. So now I know when I drink out of this how many ounces I am drinking, and I know the larger goal that I am shooting for. I'm also tracking my water intake inside of the same app that I showed you earlier. So with all of this being said, I am so much more mindful of my water intake now than I was even a week ago. And like I mentioned earlier, I have instantly seen the positive benefits my body is feeling from drinking enough water. So if you do not have a water goal, set that. And if you do not yet have a bottle that is going to track your water intake and let you know how much you're actually drinking, I would strongly encourage you to start. And again, if you're interested in checking out the app that I use to track my calories, water, workouts, everything, it's the app that I built, and I'll link it here below in the description of this video. Now, our next tip is going to be an absolute game changer for you staying consistent on this journey. And it's one simple rule that will immediately increase your discipline and willpower. Number 7, earn your dopamine. If you struggle to stay consistent, it's probably not a motivation issue. It's a dopamine issue. You tell yourself, I'll go work out later after I spend some more time relaxing or scrolling social media, or I'll meal prep later on when in the moment you're just Netflix and chilling. You're not lazy, you're just rewarding your brain before you actually earned it. I'm not saying you can't have leisure time or enjoy yourself, but you gotta earn it. Dopamine is your brain's chemical that drives motivation and reward, and it's firing when you watch Netflix, scroll social media, and it's giving your brain that feel-good feeling so you don't have to go do anything else. You just kind of feel good in the moment. We have a client named Christina, and we set a goal for her. Before she sat down and watched any of her TV shows or allowed herself to scroll social media, she had to hit her daily step goal. That meant even if she was tired and she wanted to just lay down and scroll, she could do it after she hit her daily step goal. And guess what? It worked because she wanted to go lay down and just kind of chill out after a long day, but she also wanted to lose fat. So it's this mindset of, if I do this, I can then reward myself with this. And so for you, whatever you might be struggling with, whether it's daily steps, whether it's your calories, whether it's meal prep or workouts, tell yourself you have to do that thing first to then earn the dopamine, earn your leisure or pleasure time. It's not that you can't do it, but you got to take care of this first before you do that. And trust me, you will be much more incentivized to get the shit done that you need to get done in order to do that later on. And it almost makes it into like a gamified session where You're challenging yourself to kind of get the game done so you can get the reward after. Now for our next tip, we're also going to be talking about how you might delay getting a reward. And let me explain exactly what I mean. Number 8, wait 15 minutes after meals before snacking. You ever eat a full meal and 5 minutes later you're already looking back in the pantry for something else to eat? Something sweet? Something salty, or just more. It's usually not because you're still hungry. It's because your brain takes time to register fullness, and if you snack too soon, you override your body's natural signals and overeat without realizing it. And then you usually end up way stuffed or way full. It's because you didn't need the extra snacks or sweets. So, what I personally do in my journey is every time I get done a meal, I have to wait at least 10 to 15 minutes before I eat anything else. Because I am somebody who I will go in the pantry and get an extra handful of this or an extra bite or snack of this. And usually, I try to get out of the kitchen whether it's going to take a walk outside, whether it's going into my office, Whether it's going upstairs or downstairs, and I try to get away from the food. And 9.9 times out of 10, after 10 to 15 minutes, I realize, why was I going to eat something else? I am not even hungry. But if I don't give myself that time and it's just in the moment, I feel like I could keep eating because I am somebody who has a big appetite. Maybe you do as well. And that is one of my biggest secrets when I go into a fat loss journey myself, because that saves 200, 300, 600, 800 calories per day easily of not getting the extra snacks and bites. So for you, after every meal, if you struggle with this, wait at least 10 to 15 minutes. And if you need to, set a timer on your phone for the 10 to 15 minutes to go by. And how about this? If you're still starving after 15 minutes, cool, eat whatever it is that you were going to eat, but you have to give yourself the 15-minute time period first. Now, speaking of awareness, in the next tip we're gonna talk about starting some challenges with your friends or family to selfishly help you. Number 9, start fitness challenges with friends or family. Let's be real, staying motivated 100% of the time is a fallacy. Life gets busy, you get tired, time passes on, and you just don't feel like doing it all the time. And when no one really knows or cares if you showed up and did your stuff today and it's all on you, it's a lot easier not to do it. And this is where most people fail, not because they don't know what to do, because no one's watching if they Quit or not. We see this a lot in our challenges that we run inside of our coaching programs, which, by the way, if you want to check out our online coaching programs, there will be a link in the description of this video. Feel free to check it out if you'd like. But when we run these challenges where people are involved and they're together and they know Sally's supposed to be hitting her steps today, Automatically, they are held more accountable. They stay on track more, and it's no longer just about them because other people have skin in the game and they know other people are watching them. And so you might not need more willpower or more discipline; you might need more support. And a great way to do this: yes, sign up for coaching if you would like to do that with. Us. But even if you don't want to sign up for coaching, tell your friends or your coworkers or your family. Lead a challenge like, hey, we're all gonna hit 8,000 steps every day this week. We're all gonna get 3 workouts this week. We're all gonna eat veggies every single day this week. Lead the challenges. And you can even offer a reward if you want to, whether it's you buy them dinner or a coffee or just bragging rights. When other people are invested in it with you, you, you are going to show up more. When you show up more, results will follow. Now, our next tip is actually a little bit of a piggyback off of an earlier tip. We talked about walking and using a weighted vest and getting more steps, but here's a hack that'll take you 90 seconds and increase your calorie burn by up to 200 calories per day. Number 10, walk between sets You're already at the gym or in your workouts, so why not turn your rest time into fat loss time? This one small tweak can help you burn hundreds of extra calories without adding a single cardio session or any more time to your workouts. And we already know walking more and getting steps is going to help you lose fat, but you're short on time. You sit at a desk all day, you drive to work. I get it, it's hard. But this is where you have to use your time smarter and work smarter, not harder. One of our clients, Carol, wanted to lose some extra body fat, but she was short on time. So what we had her do was, in between her sets of an exercise— generally speaking, we rest for about 90 to 180 seconds in between sets. So because she couldn't get a lot of steps the rest of the day, we just used that rest time to slowly walk around the gym and get an extra walking session and daily steps in. Over the course of her workout, she would add an extra 2,000 to 2,500 steps per day to her total, all from just walking. In between her sets. And if you walked an extra 2,000 to 2,500 steps, depending on the person, that's an extra 75 to 200 calories burned, which will help you be in the calorie deficit and which will help you lose fat. And again, you don't need to take this intense. You don't need to speed and power walk. Just slowly walk around, catch your breath, and move. That is the most important part for fat loss. Now, if you want even more flexibility in your daily step goal leading to help you lose fat faster, that's exactly what I'll show you in the next tip. Number 11, set a weekly step goal, not just daily. Having a daily step goal is great until life happens. You get sick, you work late, it rains, and then you end up missing a day. And suddenly it feels like you broke the streak, or suddenly it feels like, well, I didn't accomplish this goal. Most people then struggle with going into the all-or-nothing mindset. You feel guilty and you feel like you ruined progress because you didn't hit your step goal that day. Or people's schedules might just lead it to, there's no way I can hit 10,000 steps on Thursday. Thursday because I got to be at work at 6, I got to take the kids to school, I got to do this, I got to do that. How am I supposed to hit that number? And one of our clients, Nick, was a good example of this. He had some days of the week where he just could not get his 8,000 to 10,000 steps. So instead, here's what we did. Yes, have a daily step goal and try to shoot for that, but what you can also do is look at your steps over the course of a weekly goal. So for easy math, let's just say you are shooting for 10,000 steps per day. There are 7 days in a week. That would be 70,000 steps per week that you are shooting for. As long as you hit 70,000 steps over the week, you hit your goal. This might mean one day on the weekend when you have more time and you go for for a hike, you might hit 15,000 steps on that day. But if Wednesday was a crazy day and you only hit 6,000 steps, guess what? You're still gonna hit your weekly step goal, and that is what matters the most. Because when it comes to fat loss, hitting your step goal one day or not doesn't determine if you lose fat or not. Hitting your weekly step goal is what's going to determine fat loss or not. So to allow yourself to be more consistent and avoid the guilt, the shame, the thinking you ruined all of your progress if you didn't hit your daily step goal, just set the weekly step goal and look at it like that. Okay, now that your movement is on point, let's clean up those sweet cravings that throw you off track. Number 12, use my favorite low-calorie, high-protein sweet treat. You're doing great all day eating low calories. Meals are dialed in until you get to later in the day. The cravings hit. You want something sweet. And this is where most people blow their calories for the day. This is where most people get stuck. So I want to show you something that has drastically helped me every single time I go into a calorie deficit. And it's this right here. I use Greek yogurt as a low-calorie, high-protein sweet treat. Then I also add a half scoop of protein into the Greek yogurt to make it higher protein, but also to give it a little bit of flavor. And in fact, this is my own personal protein powder flavor. If you can't see, it's caramel coconut fudge cookie. It tastes just like the Girl Scout Samoa cookies. It's so good. If you want to try this flavor out, there'll be a link in the description of this video. Seriously, you will not be disappointed. It tastes incredible. And I mix that together and add some frozen berries. I like to use strawberries because they are the lowest calorie fruit. For a whole pound of strawberries, it's like 150 So for this entire thing, depending on how much yogurt I use, is 250 to 300 calories, and you get a lot of food volume and high protein, and it's a sweet treat. But it's a sweet treat that helps fuel your fat loss goals, not take away from your fat loss goals. And I'm not saying you can never go out or have sweets or desserts, but if you do it all the time on a consistent basis, it will make it harder to reach your goals. This will make it easier to hit your goals. And if I have it in the house, I even like to add a little bit of a Jell-O— sugar-free Jell-O packet, mix that in there as well, give it some texture, give it some flavor. I'm telling you, if you have not tried this concoction out, do it. And again, if you want to try this protein powder flavor, there'll be a link in the description of the video. And if you want to keep swapping things for better versions to help hit your fat loss goals, that's exactly what we'll do in the next tip. Number 13: swap sour cream or mayonnaise for Greek yogurt or cottage cheese. Your condiments might be sabotaging your fat loss. A healthy wrap or a salad or a snack can turn into hundreds Hundreds of extra calories. But what if you could keep the flavor and still keep the calories low? And I'll be honest, the first time I heard about this, I was quite skeptical, especially because I feel like everything nowadays is just fucking cottage cheese. You put cottage cheese in everything. But I'll be honest, I am a believer now because what'll happen is when you swap out mayonnaise or sour cream for Greek yogurt and cottage cheese, cheese, you'll decrease the amount of calories you're consuming, which will help you be in a calorie deficit, and you will increase the amount of protein you are consuming, which will help you be more full. And protein has a higher thermic effect of food. All this means is you're just burning more calories when you digest protein. So you're eating less, you're more full, and you're burning less from making these simple swaps. And oftentimes when we coach people on their fat loss, we're not here to completely overhaul your life because that's not going to be sustainable. But these little swaps here and there, doing that over and over and over throughout the course of your day is going to add up to sustainable fat loss progress. So I would say try it next When you're about to use sour cream on tacos or you're about to put mayonnaise on a sandwich, just try the Greek yogurt or try the cottage cheese on top of a salad or things of that nature. If you're like me, you might be skeptical, but it worked for me, might work for you as well. All right, so now that you've got your condiments cleaned up, let's talk about cooking habits and how you can save hundreds of calories to help immediately speed up your fat loss. You're cooking at home, trying to use real ingredients and be healthy, but you still feel like your fat loss is stalled. Well, the hidden issue might be the oil that you are cooking in. 1 tablespoon of olive oil is 120 calories. And let's be honest, nobody is measuring the oil that they're using when they're cooking. You're just putting it in the pan. So you could easily be consuming 120 to 360 calories per day from just oil. And this is what one of our clients, James, realized during his fat loss journey. When he first started tracking his calories and understanding how much oil he was consuming, he was a bit shocked, if I'm being honest. So what he did was he swapped out using the cooking oil for the cooking spray. Spray instead. Now, side note, this says 0 calories. It's actually not 0 calories because it says if you use it for 1/4 of a second, it's 0 calories. But again, nobody's doing that. I would say most people, when they're using the spray, they're spraying the pan, it's probably 30 to 50 calories. So you can track it if you want to, but that's massively different than 120 to 300 extra calories per day from oil. And combined with moving more, combined with daily steps, combined with eating more protein, using the sweet treat cravings hack I just showed you, all these little things are gonna start to add up, save you hundreds of calories, and help you be in that calorie deficit. Speaking of calories, for our next cheat code, I want to talk about what you should do if you know that you're probably going to have a higher calorie day coming up. Number 15, if you know you're going over in calories, add 2 servings of fruit and veggies first. Let's say you're going out to dinner on the weekends, or maybe you're going to an event, a birthday party, something, and you're like, Eric, I'm probably going to go over in my calories today. It's going to be very hard for me to stick to my calories at this event. What most people do is they'll say, I'll just eat a bunch less, or I'll fast all day and I'll try to make up for it. That doesn't work because by the time dinner or the event rolls around, you, my friend, are fucking starving. So then you of course don't stay on track, but you go way over and you turn it into a 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 calorie day, When it didn't have to be. So something I personally do when I know I might have a meal out later that might end up being higher in calories is before I go to the meal or the event, I make sure to have 2 servings of fruit and 2 servings of veggies earlier in the day. So this could look like I will have raspberries at breakfast and an apple at lunch. I will have spinach and peppers at breakfast and a big-ass salad for lunch. 2 servings of fruit, 2 servings of veggies. And what this is going to do is allow you to still eat a lot of food to fill your stomach up, but fruits and veggies aren't that high in calories. And number 2, both fruits and veggies are high in fiber, which fiber is one of the most filling nutrients you can have. So now you're still able to eat throughout the day, and you're actually able to eat more throughout the day, fill yourself up more. So by the time you do go to the event, even if you do go over in calories a bit, you'll practice more moderation and you'll eat less overall than if you didn't eat all day, or if you didn't include fruits and veggies earlier in your day. And this is a perfect segue into our next cheat code. Most people focus on being perfect, but here's why that's actually not what you should be focusing on if you're trying to lose fat. Number 16, aim for 90% consistency with your calories. You start a new plan, you hit your calories, and everything's going great. Then life happens, you miss a day and you think, fuck, I ruined all of my progress. I might as well quit. And there's an ungodly amount of guilt and shame and you think you're a failure and a loser. And it's all because you had this unrealistic expectation to start with. One of our clients, Lori, really had this when she first started working with us. And what we educated on was you do not need to To be 100% perfect. Let's not shoot to be 100% perfect. Instead, let's shoot to be 90% consistent. And with that, she was able to immediately change from the all-or-nothing mindset, the guilt, the shame, and she realized when she had a day off track, it's all good. It's actually worked into the plan. And she was able to get right back on track, which then allowed her to stay consistent over the course of a month, which produced results. And so for you watching this, 90% consistency with your calories is somewhere around 27 or 28 days out of the month. If there are 31 days in a month, you don't need to hit your calories all 31 of those days. And really, I would say 80% consistency, but Most people— it's like a speed limit. If the speed limit's 55, most people are going 65. So if I tell you 90% consistency, if you fall between the 80 to 90% mark, you're still going to make incredible progress. But shoot for 90% consistency. And this is going to go perfectly with our next cheat code, talking about what you should do on those days where you're not going to hit your calories. Number 17: Plan off days in advance. Now that we know you don't need to be 100% perfect, most people hear that and they think, oh, okay, on those days I'm not perfect, I'm gonna use those as cheat days. I'm gonna eat all the foods that I know I can't have when I'm on plan. I'm gonna go way over in my calories and just binge the entire day. That is not what I would do because that, number one, is not going to produce a very healthy relationship with food. And number two, it's actually very realistic that if you do take that approach, you can blow all of your progress out of the water. You'd be shocked at how easy it is to eat 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 calories in a day. So Instead of using cheat days and blowing your progress, something I like to do when I am in a fat loss phase is, number one, plan out the 4, 5, 6 days of the month that I'm not going to be hitting my calorie goal. And maybe it's centered around a trip I'm taking, maybe it's centered around a date night, maybe it's centered around hanging out with my friends. So you can look on the calendar and plan your days where you're going to have higher calorie days. Again, this will help with the all-or-nothing mindset because you won't feel guilty when it happens. You've already planned ahead for it. And the second part, instead of just saying screw it, you'll eat whatever you want, try to hit around your maintenance calories on those days instead. So if let's say for example your calorie deficit is 1,700 calories and that's a 500 calorie deficit, you would look to eat 2,200 or 2,300 calories on your higher calorie days because eating in your maintenance calories, number one, you're not in a calorie surplus and so you're not going to gain any fat, and number two, it can give you enough flexibility to have some foods maybe you enjoy and be a bit more flexible with your nutrition, but not blow your progress out of the water. And this has worked incredibly well for not only me, but also a lot of the clients that we have coached. So look right now for you, look ahead at your next 31 days, plan out the days where you're gonna have higher calorie days, figure out what your maintenance calories are By the way, if you need a free calorie calculator, click the link in the description of this video. It will tell you how many calories you need to maintain, and then go hit those on those days. But okay, what about the days where everything does fall apart and it's just almost impossible to stay on track? That's exactly what we'll cover in our next cheat code. Number 18: set minimums for bad Listen, you're going to have some days where everything just goes to shit. It doesn't go as planned. You're not going to hit your meals. You're not going to get your workouts. You're not going to get your steps. It's all going to suck. That happens for all of us. So, don't beat yourself up. But the mistake that most people make is when those days roll around, they just throw their hands up and throw everything out of the window. And it's usually not for just the one day. It's for multiple days, weeks or months after it. So, don't do that. What you need to do instead is something we worked with one of our clients Jamie on. Where when she had days that were going to shit, she set a minimum standard for herself. And what this looked like was even on bad days, she was committed to one 15-minute walk, drinking one protein shake per day, and having at least one fruit or veggie per day. She felt like no matter what else happened in a given day, she could do those 3 things. So that was the minimum standard that she set. In this way, no matter how crazy the day got, if she hit those 3 things, she still won that day and she was still moving forward keeping healthy habits and consistency. And this allowed her to be very consistent and make long-term progress. So for you, I want you to think about what 3 things can you commit to doing every single day no matter what. And these 3 things have to almost feel too easy. People mess this up by making things that are entirely way too difficult for them to stick with. I want this to feel easy for you because that's when even on your hardest days, you will stick to it. Think about a minimum speed limit versus a maximum speed limit. Most people set the maximum and they're trying to do the most. But what is your minimum speed limit? And actually, the next cheat code I'm going to share with you could be one of your minimum speed limit items, and it'll help you stay on track when you go out to eat. Number 19, have a protein shake before eating out. I get it, you're trying to be good all day, but you know you're going out to eat and you're worried about ruining all of your progress. So you skip meals, you save calories, you don't eat before thinking you'll save all the calories for dinner, and then you won't go over your calories. Except, like we talked about earlier, you get to the dinner, you overeat, you feel guilty, shameful, and you feel like you fucked up all of your progress. This is a tip that I personally use, and we use with all of our coaching clients, to help them go out to eat and still practice moderation, still stick to their calories, and still see great fat loss progress. And that is having a A protein shake before you go out to dinner. And the reason being is a couple of fold. Number one, even just doing this is gonna make you more mindful of your food choices when you go out to dinner. And we talked earlier about the positive benefits of practicing more mindfulness when doing things with your diet. And second, the protein is gonna help fill you up. So you won't go into your dinner with as much hunger, with as much cravings. And then when you're looking at the menu, you're not going to be like, oh my God, I really, really want this. I have this really big craving for this. You'll be able to look at the menu with more decision-making, with more mindfulness, and you won't feel the need to order the things that make you overeat or overindulge. And it's a very simple thing you can do. 30 minutes, 60 minutes before heading out to eat. And not to mention, most restaurant meals have protein, but they're not that high in protein. So this will help you get your protein goal for the day as well. And again, this is the brand I use, and this is my own personal flavor. If you want to try it out, there'll be a link in the description of the video. All right, so now that you got your going out to eat handled, let's talk about the next cheat code that really fucks with people's progress, the weekends. Number 20, meal prep for the weekends. Most people meal prep for the week, but not for the weekend. So when Saturday and Sunday roll around, there's no structure, you have no food ready, no plan. And it never made sense to me because the reason you meal prep for the week is because you want to be in control, you want to have a plan. You say you cook crave a plan, but you don't meal prep for the weekends. And then by Monday morning rolls around, you're pissed because you ruined all of your progress again when you could have avoided this by meal prepping for the weekend. One of our clients, Chris, had this same exact problem where he just couldn't stay on track during the weekends. And what he started to do was meal prep for breakfast and for lunch. By the way, this didn't mean he actually cooked his food ahead of time. Sometimes he did, but he just had a plan. He knew what he was going to be eating for Saturday and Sunday breakfast and lunch. For dinners, usually he'd go out to eat with his family or his friends. He would make mindful choices, but he knew if he could control lunch and breakfast, he had a much higher likelihood of staying on track and losing body fat, which he did end up doing. And so for you, make it a rule you have to have lunch and breakfast planned for Saturday and Sunday. You'll get extra bonus points if you cook food ahead of time for the weekend. And we have had clients who on Wednesday or Thursday, they'll cook food for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or on Friday or Saturday morning they cook food for Saturday and Sunday. Whatever works for you, you can do it, but you have to go into the weekends with a meal prep and a meal plan routine. And for the next cheat code, it's actually something I'm doing right now which can save you from overeating hundreds of calories. Number 21, only eat eat sitting down at the table off of a plate. You're not overeating because you're hungry. You're overeating because you're eating on autopilot. A few handfuls while you're cooking, a few chips from the pantry, or a few bites off of your kid's plate. These little bites that come from mindless eating are adding up to make you not reach your goals, and Frustrating because you feel like you're not eating a ton, but you're still not losing weight. This is why. So for one of our clients, Genevieve, she was struggling with this, and we implemented this rule that can help you out as well. No matter what you eat, especially if you're eating at home or eating at work, you have to sit down and you have to put your food on a plate before you are allowed to eat it. Notice how I'm not saying you can't eat something. I'm just saying you have to sit down and put it on a plate first. Like we talked about with the earlier cheat code of putting the sticky note on your pantry or your fridge, this will force you to be more mindful of the decisions that you are making with your food, which in will help you make better decisions with your food and help you stay on track more. And this is a perfect segue into our next tip to help you stay on track more by having rules for yourself. Number 22: only buy fun foods in single-serving packages. You might be doing great all day, hell, even all week, but you know there are those certain foods where if you have them in the house and you have a big bag of chips or you have a whole jar of Nutella, the chances of you overeating on those foods are very high. And it's usually not always your fault. Remember, these foods that are very yummy, they are designed in a lab to be that yummy. The whole point is they trigger dopamine in your brain brain. And they taste incredibly good. That makes you want to eat more of them. And that's why I encourage you, you do something that we helped one of our clients Vince with, where when he would have these fun foods or these treats that he would enjoy, we made a rule, you can only buy them in the single serving packages. So when you eat it, it's done. There's no digging into the end of this entire big chip bag or scooping the Nutella out of the jar with your fingers. Don't ask me how I know that. Because you only have the single serving packet, and this can be beneficial for actually tracking your calories because it'll say the calories right on the package as well. You'll know how many calories you're consuming, and you might even use it for our very first cheat code. 300 to 400 calories of your day can come from from treats. And that bleeds into the next cheat code, which talking about having specific things in your house. You need to have these 3 things in your house at all times if you want to be successful with fat loss. Number 23, keep 3 grab-and-go protein options stocked at all times. You're trying to hit your protein and your calorie goal, but life is busy. You're always on the go, and sometimes you don't have time to stop, cook chicken breast, and eat it. And then you're running out of the door thinking, I've eaten no protein today, I'm gonna end up starving and overeating on my calories. And then trying to use all the willpower in the world to stay on track, or trying to eat 150 grams of protein at dinner, it's just not gonna happen. And so this is something I have always lived by, which you can absolutely Have 3 go-to grab-and-go protein sources at all times in your house. So for me, this looks like Greek yogurt, this looks like protein powder, and some sort of protein bar. Or the brand I work with, Legion, they actually have protein Rice Krispies. Absolutely incredible. I strongly recommend you checking them out. Again, There'll be a link in the description of the video. But these 3 things, I don't have to cook it. I can just scoop it into a bowl, scoop it into a protein shaker, or literally open the box, grab it, open it, eat it. That is what I want you to have in your pantry or fridge every single day, no matter what. Because then you know, even if life is getting crazy busy, you'll have something to keep you on track. If you don't have this, this is where you start to reach for the chips, or this is where you don't eat anything, but then later you get hangry and you end up overeating and not making the best choices. And some more examples of this might be beef jerky, tuna packets, cheese sticks, cottage cheese, pre-boiled hard-boiled eggs, and the list could go on. But find your three grab-and-go, no matter what options. And for our next tip, it can also make your journey more easy, especially if you struggle with having a big appetite. Twenty-four: Use smaller plates and the one plate rule. If you're like me, you have a big appetite, and you could just keep eating. And I think especially here in America. Our portion sizes usually tend to be a little bit on the generous side, which is why we have an obesity epidemic. And you almost chase this feeling of being overly full, almost to the point where like you feel like your stomach is gonna explode. And one of the issues is big plates make normal portions look small, and so it forces you to eat more portions which just ends up being more calories. And so one of the ways we helped our client Nicole is no matter what, when she ate food at home, pick a smaller plate for her portion sizes and stick to the one plate rule. Basically what this means is no matter what, your food has to fit on the one plate. And if you think about if you were to eat the same exact meal on this plate versus this plate, automatically you're going to eat less calories from this plate right here. You don't even have to track your calories. You'll just know there will be less because your portion size is decreased. And visually, it won't make it seem so bad because the plate is actually helping you have a proper portion size. And this one tiny simple trick helped her lose over 80 pounds. And so if you don't have smaller plates already in your house, I would say it's worth going out and buying smaller plates to help with your portion sizes. So now that you have your portion size and your meals under control, let's get your environment working for you, especially if you're somebody who sits at a desk all day. 25, use a standing desk to increase your calorie burn. Right now, you might be hitting the gym 3 to 4 times a week, you're trying to eat healthier, but you're still strapped for time. And it's hard to work in extra stuff to try to help you reach your goals. So you can start doing something I was skeptical on, I won't lie. But it has helped me and thousands of our clients. And it's actually something I'm doing right now. If you're somebody who sits at a desk all day, it can be worth investing into a standing desk because this will increase something called your NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis. Just a very fancy word for how many calories your body is burning throughout the day That is not a dedicated workout. And this takes up 15% of your daily calorie burn. So if you are standing versus sitting, automatically your body's going to have to burn more calories. And no, it might not be like intense cardio and it might not be thousands of calories, but if you're sitting 8 hours a day, Versus standing for and sitting for, the standing 4 hours is going to burn a ton more calories for you, which, like we talked about earlier, combined with all these other little things that you are doing, can end up making a huge difference in your fat loss. And even if you can't invest into a standing desk, I would at the very least encourage you to stand up and stand for 5 or 10 minutes a couple of times throughout your day. Remember, something is always better than nothing. So if you can't get a standing desk, stand up multiple times. And so let's take this same mentality into your meals and talk about something you should be doing at every single meal if your goal is to speed up fat loss. Number 26, eat protein first at every meal. Most people sit down to eat their healthy meal Chicken, rice, veggies, maybe a bit of sauce. But by the end of the meal, you've eaten everything and you're still looking for a snack. That's because most people eat in the wrong order. They fill up on the carbs and the fats first, and they leave the protein for last. One of our clients, Kevin, was having this problem where he always just felt like after a meal he wasn't satisfied. And so I gave him one rule: Eat all of your protein first, and then you can go into your carbs or your fats. And the result? He naturally ate a little bit slower, which allowed him to let his stomach and his brain talk to each other to notice his fullness cues. And he stopped grabbing snacks after meals, which helped him decrease hundreds of calories per day, which helped him him ultimately lose fat. And so for you, when you have a plate of food, all of your protein first. And a bonus tip, if you have veggies on the plate, eat all of the veggies first, and then you can go into whatever carbohydrates or dietary fats you have on the plate. This will help your body be more full to help you end up losing more fat. 27, limit alcohol to 1 to 2 times per week. You're crushing your nutrition during the week, you're eating healthier, getting your steps, getting your workouts, but something always ruins it. You have a few drinks, you throw in some late-night snacks, and now you're at least 100, if not 1,000 calories over your calorie deficit number. And it doesn't just affect that day, it affects the following days Because you're hungover, you have less energy, you have worse sleep, worse willpower. And that's why one of our clients, Victoria, has completely cut out alcohol. And you can see the progress that she has made. Now, I'm not saying you have to completely cut it out. But I am saying you should probably cut back on the amount of alcohol you are drinking. The rule of thumb we use for our clients is 1 to 2 times per week, and when you drink, 2 drinks max. And yes, that is 2 drinks in a day. That's it. And I know you might be thinking, well, I'll just eat way less during the day. It doesn't work like that either because I mentioned earlier, let's take protein. For every 100 calories of protein you eat, your body burns up to 30 of those calories. For every 100 calories of alcohol Alcohol that you drink, your body burns like zero of these calories because it doesn't do anything for you. It doesn't fuel your workouts, doesn't promote recovery, doesn't burn calories, nothing. It just kind of sits in your stomach, which is why, by the way, most people who drink a lot of alcohol also have a big belly. Yes, that's fat, but it's also a lot of bloat that goes into it, and it dehydrates you, which Which we talked earlier about the issues of dehydration when talking about losing fat. So just make the journey easier for yourself, at the very least for right now when you're really trying to lose fat. And the next cheat code is gonna feel easy for losing fat, and it's almost like if you were cheating. 28. Add riced cauliflower or other chopped veggies to meals. One of the hardest parts about sticking with a calorie deficit deficit is feeling full and satisfied while still trying to keep your calories low. And this is why most people find themselves reaching for snacks, reaching for sweets, or just ending up overeating because they're not full enough. And one of the hacks that I've used, along with thousands of our clients, is adding riced cauliflower or chopped Veggies to your meals. And this could be, let's say you're having a half cup of rice. Instead of having a full cup of rice, add a half cup or a cup of cauliflower rice, which is going to give you much more food volume for not that many calories. Or if let's say you're making an omelet in the morning with eggs, instead of just having the eggs, put in some chopped veggies or chopped spinach to add more food volume to the omelet, which the more food volume will put more food in your stomach, making you more full for not that many calories. And the cool part is you can literally do this with anything, any meal, anytime. Maybe not like Greek yogurt or something, that'd probably be weird, but for the most part, all meals. And more examples would be zucchini noodles shredded cabbage, bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach. Look where you can add those into your meals, and I promise you will be a lot more full, making your fat loss feel easy. And the next cheat code is actually going to be 2 things. One, if you like what I have to say in these videos and you're interested in having a coach on my team help you through your journey, click the link in the description of this video. And number 2, If you want even more help just like this with your workouts, then watch this video right here.