How To Make A Calorie Deficit Feel Easy (Copy Me)

If you feel like it's so hard to stick to a calorie deficit and no matter how much you try, you just can't stay consistent. Well, I've lost 9 pounds in 13 days on a calorie deficit diet. And in this video, I'm going to give you the 7 non-negotiables that make it easy for you to stick to and be on a calorie deficit. deficit so that you can copy them for yourself and see the same results for yourself. Before I get into the first non-negotiable, I want to talk about why a calorie deficit is hard in the first place. And as an online coach for the past 9 years, I've seen there are 3 main reasons why a calorie deficit is hard for people. So number one is your hunger. When people start on a calorie deficit, you are eating less calories than what you burn. So inevitably, your hunger is going to be higher. Anytime that you are hungry already, that makes it hard for you to stick to that calorie deficit. It makes it hard for you not to overeat. And the issue I see a lot of people do when this hunger comes about is you think it's a willpower issue. You think you just have to have more discipline. You have to push through it. And it's just your willpower. Even if you're hungry, you got to eat your meal prep chicken and broccoli. And maybe you do that for a little bit and maybe you can white-knuckle your way through, but eventually your body is smarter than you are. Your biology is stronger than your willpower. So eventually, whether it's 3 days in, 5 days in, 15 days in, your body's gonna say, listen, we are way too hungry. And when you get to this point, you don't just eat a little bit, you way overeat. And I'm sure some of you watching this have had that experience where you've been good, you've been on track, and then all of a sudden you just have this day where you way overeat. It's almost like it's uncontrollable. And that's because you let yourself get too hungry. So we're going to talk about how to fix that in this video. Number 2, the reason why a calorie deficit is so hard, you have no plan. The way I like to talk about this is imagine if you were driving from New York City to California with no GPS or no map. You might get there, but if you did, it's going to take you so much longer than if you had a GPS. And what's most likely gonna happen is you're gonna start driving around, you have no clue, you have no structure, you have no plan, you don't know where to go. So you're gonna say, well, screw this, I'm just gonna turn back around and go home. And that's the exact same thing that you do with your calorie deficit. If you don't have structure, if you don't have a plan, if you don't have exact things to follow, you'll have no reason to stay committed to it. And if you're not committed to it, you're obviously not going to be consistent. So in this video, I'm going to teach you how to stop turning the car around and actually get you to your destination and make it smooth driving. I was going to say smooth sailing, but we're driving. So that's reason number 2. Reason number 3, fatigue, low energy, both physically and mentally. And I want you to think about, imagine trying to use your phone all day on 3% battery. You might be able to use it for a little bit, but eventually you're going to have to plug it in and recharge it. And even when you are using it at 3%, it's so much less efficient and so much less fast than if you were to use it at 90%. And what happens is most people who go into a calorie deficit, they're trying to do this And then they end up having such low energy again, whether it's physical or even mental stress, emotional stress, stress from work, stress from your kids. And that then causes you to not have the willpower that you think you need to need— you need to have. When again, in reality, it's not really willpower. It's just the way you're setting up your calorie deficit is causing this fatigue. And that's something that we can And we will fix because I've lost these 9 pounds in 13 days. I've had great energy. It hasn't been hard to stick with. And that's why I'm making this video for you right now so you can do the same. So those are the 3 main reasons why people fall off. And let's talk about the first non-negotiable that you're going to start getting set up with your diet so that you can make your calorie deficit as easy as possible. And it really all starts In the morning. For context, a popular diet right now is intermittent fasting. And this is where you basically skip breakfast. And most intermittent fasting protocols is 16 hours of not eating, then 8 hours of eating. And although this is popular right now, the issue I have seen for, I would say, 75% of our online coaching clients is It backfires. Now, before people freak out in the comments, Eric, I love intermittent fasting and it works for me. Wonderful. It does work for some people, but for a lot of people, because you're not eating a lot of nutrients and food during the day, because you're delaying that till later in the day, you start, your hunger starts to pile up and it starts to get more and more and more intense. Even if you have a big meal at noon, by the time 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 PM rolls around, what happens? You're hungry. And then you think, okay, well, it's 7 PM. I really want to get into these chips, or I really want some of these cookies, or I just feel like I'm not satisfied. I feel like I need something. This is where we talked about earlier, it almost becomes uncontrollable. You feel this urge to eat. And you think, well, I just need more willpower to get through this. No, you don't. You don't need more willpower to get through it. You need to make sure earlier in the day you give your body the nutrients that it needs to be full and satisfied so you're not having to get them at night. Because like I said, your biology is smarter than your body. Your biology is more important than your willpower. So if you don't give your body nutrients early, it will need to get them later. And by the time later rolls around, you've had a full day of work, you've had a full day of being parents, going to school, whatever it is, you're already going to be more tired and have less willpower. So this causes you to overeat, especially overeating on junk food, chips, snacks later at night. So how do we fix this? This is something I do and something we encourage all of our online coaching clients to do, which is have your first meal within 2 to 3 hours of waking up. So if you're waking up at 6, you should be having your first meal at the latest 9 AM. Now, it's not just having the meal. You got to make sure you're eating the right stuff within the meal. And so what that would be is 3 main components to your first meal to make sure you're full, satisfied, and setting yourself up for success and making your calorie deficit easy. So number one, You got to have at least 20 grams of protein in that first meal. Number 2, you have to have at least 10 grams of fiber in that first meal. And number 3, you have to drink at least 20 ounces of water in that first meal. One more time, 20 grams of protein, 10 grams of fiber, 20 ounces of water. 20, 10, 20. And the reason this works so well is because protein and fiber are the most satiating nutrients. All that means, it's going to keep you full for a long period of time. So when you get these nutrients earlier in the day, it makes the rest of the day so much easier. Not to mention water. Most people underdrink water. They're dehydrated. And when you're dehydrated, your body Sends a signal, but that signal often comes up as hunger. It's like, I need something, but you think it's hunger. So then you go and eat more calories when in reality, if you're properly hydrated, you wouldn't have that dehydration signal. So doing these 3 things, I promise if you do this, you will make the rest of your calorie deficit during that day so much easier because Your body stops fighting against you and it starts working with you when you work with it and give it the proper nutrients. Now, speaking of the first meal of the day, the next non-negotiable is going to be what you do immediately or soon after that first meal of the day. And that non-negotiable number 2 is going to be taking a 10 to 20 minute walk Before noon. And let me give you some context on this once again. Most of us watching this, especially during the week, we sit at a desk, we're working on our computer, or we're driving to work. You don't end up getting a lot of steps, a lot of movement early in the day. Now, the science behind this, your calorie deficit is not just about eating fewer calories. Which by the way, if at any point you're like, Eric, calorie deficit, how many calories should I eat? How many calories am I going to burn? I already took care of all that for you. There's a link in the description of this video below for a free calorie deficit calculator. So if you'd like to use that and get your exact calorie deficit number, you can do that at the link below in the description. But the calorie deficit is not just eating fewer calories. It's also burning more calories. more calories to create the calorie deficit. And your walks, your daily steps take up 15% of your daily calorie burn. So things would tell us if you increase that 15%, your total daily calorie burn is going to increase by a lot, making it harder to stick— I'm sorry, making it easier, not harder, to stick to your calorie deficit. And there's the strategy that I like to call and use for this. It's called front loading. Most of us, once again, if we leave things for 6, 7, 8, 9:00 PM at night, chances are most of us are not going to do those things because why? Once again, you've gotten through a whole day of work, you've gotten through a day of school, you've gotten through having to parent your kids and you're exhausted. So by 7, 8, 9:00 PM, you just want to sit down and do nothing. Now you're going to cook dinner, you got to clean dinner. You're not going to go get 8,000 steps at 8:00 PM at night. But if you get this 10 to 20 minute walk before noon, depending on how fast you walk, depending on how big your strides are, that can be anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 steps. And again, this can be anywhere. It doesn't have to be outside in the cold or a dedicated walk. We've had a lot of our online coaching clients who will take their walks within the building. So they're gonna go use the upstairs bathroom instead of the downstairs bathroom. They're then gonna go fill up their water bottle on the other floor across the building versus the one right next to them. And then they're gonna walk by their colleague's office and mess with them before they get back to their office. And all of that was a 9-minute walk, but the daily steps add up. Or if you're on a meeting where maybe you don't have to be talking, maybe you can pace around. your office during the meeting. Maybe you have a walking pad, which is a great investment, by the way, for your daily steps. Do anything that you can do to get this 10 to 20 minute walk. And not to mention, if you get it after your first meal of the day, you will also improve your digestion. You'll reduce your bloating. You'll improve your insulin sensitivity. You'll improve your energy and your mood. Which all those things will again make it easier to stick to your calorie deficit. Don't make the excuse that you do not have time. I promise you, you can make the time just like everybody else would make the time. Okay? Now you have that second non-negotiable and that one's big. But speaking of activity, let's talk about where most people go wrong with their workouts and what you need to do to make it right. if you want to make a calorie deficit as easy as possible. So non-negotiable number 3 is going to be doing less workouts with less intensity. And I know this sounds crazy to you because most people think about fat loss and say, if I do more workouts and I push harder at a higher intensity, I'm going to burn more calories and I'm going to lose more weight. While I appreciate the hard work mentality, This often backfires, and here's why. When you're in a calorie deficit, calories are just a unit of measurement of energy. So a calorie deficit means you have less energy coming in. So that's already your baseline. You have less energy than what you normally would. And if you stack on top of that very, very high output, very high energy and calorie burn, especially through high-intensity exercise, that is going to then make your energy levels deplete that much more. And what do we say why people fall off? Their energy levels are low. This will cause you to not have the energy, not have the willpower. And it's not because your willpower sucks. It's because the way you're setting up your workouts sucks. This will also make you have higher cravings and higher hunger. Because when your energy intake is here and your energy output is way up here, and that's through high-intensity exercise, which also adds stress and cortisol to your body, your energy and your cravings go through the roof and your energy input is still here. So your body has to somehow make this up. How is it going to make it up? It's going to eat more calories. This is why you overeat when you're on high-intensity exercise routines 6, 7 days per week. So how do we fix this? Something that I do for my plan and what we do with the majority of our online coaching clients is set up your workouts to 3 to 4 high-intensity exercises per week. So high-intensity exercise would be strength training, It would be spin classes. It would be running with a high heart rate. It would be boot camp classes. It would be dance classes, pickleball, anything that gets your heart rate very elevated. I would try to stick to 3 to 4, maybe 5 times per week max of high intensity exercise. And again, the reason being is this is the sweet spot that I have found personally and what we found coaching over 25,000 online clients at this point. To be able to keep your hunger low while still having your calorie burn high, because there's a threshold that you don't want to cross. I said a calorie deficit also means burning calories, but like I said, once you get to a point where it's too high, your diet and your calorie deficit will then not follow because you're going to have to make up that ground. Now, on your rest days, You still should be moving your body. We just talked about hitting your daily steps and getting your walks. So whether it's an incline treadmill walk, whether it's low-intensity cardio, whether it's swimming, biking, walking with your kids after dinner, whatever form of exercise that you would like to do, if it's low intensity, you can do that. Now you might be asking, Eric, what is low intensity? Typically, you want to keep your heart rate around 60 to 70% of your max heart rate. So if you're tracking your heart rate, that's where you'd want it to be, or You should just be able to hold a conversation while you're doing the exercise. And so if you're on the incline treadmill or the stair stepper, you should be able to hold a conversation like this without having to take really big, deep breaths. Once you get into doing cardio like this, that means your intensity is too high and you should bring that down. So that way you can move 7 days a week. And I would encourage you to do that because that will help your calorie burn, but the lower intensity exercise will keep your calorie burn high without lowering your energy or increasing your hunger, making it easier for you to stay in the calorie deficit. Now, talking about a calorie deficit, the 4th non-negotiable is actually, I think, the one that people get wrong the most. And we're going to discuss that right now. Non-negotiable number 4 is stop eating too Few calories. And here's the mistake that most people make, which you watching may make as well. You think, I want to lose weight yesterday. I get it. So what you think is, I'm going to eat as few calories as possible to lose weight as quickly as possible. And again, you think, I'll be able to willpower my way through it. I'll be able to do it. I'll just eat the same boring foods every single day. I can do this. I really want to lose weight. And so maybe days 1 through 5, you're like, this is tough, but I can do this. And you stick with it. Maybe day 6 and day 7. But at some point you're going to get to this wall where you say, I'm tired. I'm over-restricted. I'm hungry. I'm low energy. I can't just keep using all this willpower. And you're going to say, fuck it. I'd rather be fat. And then you go and eat everything. You go and eat everything. And this happens Well, it's on Friday, so I might as well just keep eating Saturday and Sunday. And then like, well, I look in the mirror Monday morning and I hate how I look and I hate how I feel. So I guess I got to restart again. And then you restart again, but you restart with eating too few calories. So this cycle just keeps happening over and over. My God, how frustrating, how exhausting, how annoying that must be. Because you're not even seeing progress. You're working hard for a short period of time, but you're not actually seeing any progress. Again, going back to point number 3, higher intensity on your calorie deficit is not what you need to do. Instead, we need the sustainable fix, which is we start most of our online coaching clients in a 400 to 600 calorie deficit. This means if your maintenance calories are 2,500, you would be eating 2,000 calories per day for your calorie deficit. Now, you might hear that and think, well, I'm not going to lose any weight like that. Well, you would probably lose less weight in the beginning than if you were to eat 1,200 calories. But as we've seen thus far, you're not going to stick to 1,200 calories over the long term. So in 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, you would lose more weight in 12 weeks eating in a 500-calorie deficit than you would eating 1,200 calories for 12 weeks because you're not going to stick with it. You'll do it for a bit and then way overeat. You'll do it for a bit and then way overeat. So in 12 weeks, you'll probably be at the same weight, if not way more. Because you can't stick to what you're doing. So it's better to lose weight slower for those 12 weeks than to lose weight faster in 1 week and then gain it all back. And again, if you're like, wow, this really sounds like me and I need some help. I don't just need a calorie calculator. Eric, can you fucking help me? Yes, we can. You can click the link in the description below if you'd like to learn more about my online coaching program. Now, that being said, you might be thinking, well, Eric, what is the expectations I should have then? I want to lose 5 pounds a week. Let's go into the next non-negotiable talking about what proper expectations look like. So non-negotiable number 5, you got to have realistic expectations for progress. And I know you scroll on social media, you watch videos on YouTube, you see people lose 3, 4, 5 pounds per week. Heck, You've even seen and hear me right now saying, oh yeah, I've lost 9 pounds in 13 days, which I'll talk about in a second. And that makes you feel like if you only lose 1 pound per week, you're doing something wrong. You're failing. Your diet's not working. It's not going fast enough. And this causes you to quit because you're not seeing progress. You're not seeing results quick enough. And that's what ruins your journey. The funny, the crazy part is you're actually making progress and you're probably making really good progress. You just think you're not, so you quit. And by the way, losing, consistently losing 4 or 5, 6 pounds per week, it's actually very, very negative because number one, you'll slow down your metabolism. Number two, you'll lose muscle. Number three, you'll go back to what we said earlier, kind of in that cycle of yo-yo dieting, starting and stopping because The amount of calories you would have to eat to lose 5 pounds per week would be so low. And then number 4, you would end up as that skinny fat where you don't really look the way you want to look, although you've lost weight. And again, you're probably like, Eric, you just said you lost 9 pounds in 13 days. Yes, but most of that was water weight. Out of those 9 pounds, I would say 6, 7 is probably water weight. And the other 2 to 3 is fat. So I don't expect, nor do I want to keep losing weight as quickly as I am right now, because that would mean all those negative things were going to happen. So I fully expect and I fully want to slow down my rate of weight loss. How crazy is that to say, right? And again, you're probably like, screw you, Eric. I'm just giving you the real thing here. So what are the golden metrics of what you should be looking for for progress? when you're on a calorie deficit, losing 0.5 to 1% of your total body weight per week. So for me, I'm 200— right now I'm 245 pounds. So that would be somewhere around 1.2 to 2.5 pounds per week. Now, if you're somebody who is 170 pounds, looking to lose fat. 0.5 to 1% of 170 pounds would be 0.8 to 1.7 pounds per week on average. So a couple of notes there. Notice this goes by your total current body weight, because if let's say I lose 1 pound per week and the person who's 170 pounds loses 1 pound per week, They're actually losing more at a faster rate than I would be. Does that make sense? And it's not to compare yourself, but that's to make sure you understand you might actually be making incredible progress. You just don't think you are. So it goes by percentage of your total body weight. And you have to understand, if you're hitting these numbers consistently, you may have heard me say average. One week you might only lose 0.5, but the next week you lose 2 pounds. So in 2 weeks you've lost 2.5 pounds. That's a little bit over 1 pound per week on average. On average. This is why you can't just go by 1 week. You have to go by multiple weeks. And this is why in our online coaching program, we have our clients weigh every day. And some people are like, oh my God, why would you do that? Well, The more weigh-ins you have, the more data you have. It's just data. I don't care what you weighed on Tuesday versus Friday. I care about what is the data telling us? Because if we have 31 data points to look at in a month, we can see where your body weight is trending. And that's the most important part because then we don't have to make an emotional decision. We can look and say, okay, over the course of the month of December, Your weight trended down 4 pounds. That's about 1 pound per week. That's incredible progress. Good job. So if you see these numbers, you have to celebrate these numbers. Now, heading into the next non-negotiable, talking about celebrating a bit, you're gonna have to— non-negotiable number 6— accept and almost celebrate that you're gonna have to make some sacrifices. The mistake that people make— this whole video is about how to make a calorie deficit easier. But in my humble opinion, when you accept you're going to make some sacrifices to lose body fat and to change your lifestyle, that's when the calorie deficit really becomes easy because you stop trying to fight it. This is something we teach our online coaching clients. It's not just about following a diet. You followed diets before. You've tried to work out really hard for a 6-week challenge before, but it's always short-lasting. It never ends up sticking. Why? Because you weren't really focused on making a lifestyle change. If you want to become the person who's fit, in shape, consistent, sticks to their diet, you're going to have to change your current lifestyle to make that happen. You're going to have to become the person who wakes up early. That's a sacrifice. You're going to have to become the person who looks ahead at the menu when they go out to eat. That's a sacrifice. You're going to have to become the person who only has 1 or 2 drinks that fits into your calories versus having 4 or 5 drinks, because these things are what actually change your lifestyle. You can only follow a diet for so long. You have to find a way to make all of this a part of your lifestyle change. Otherwise, you'll continue to be in the trap of starting and stopping. And the analogy I hope will hit home for you is think about when you go to sleep. Before you go to sleep, what do you do? It almost is funny to think about. You lay down, put your head in the pillow, you close your eyes, and you pretend to fall asleep. You don't fall asleep right away. You act like you're falling asleep, and then eventually you fall asleep. So this person that you want to become, this body that you want to have, this lifestyle that you want to have, the energy you want to have, you have to act like that person first before you actually become that person. Because you're going to need to take the actions that that person would take to become that person. It's not just like, it's almost like saying, I'll save money when I get rich. The way you get rich is by saving money. So you have to save the money first and then you get rich. Your fitness is the same exact thing. So accepting that you're going to make some sacrifices in the short term to build the life, the body, the energy, and the person you want to become in the long term. And that's one of the last points I'll make on this non-negotiable is remember the sacrifices that you may make today, not overeating, going to get your walks and your daily steps when it's cold, making sure to meal prep, making sure to go to sleep on time to wake up early. Those sacrifices you're making today, Have a payoff later. That is what builds the life that you want. So you can make these sacrifices right now, except that you're going to make them to get the reward later. Or you can continue to overeat and overdrink and not go to sleep on time, not do your meal prep. You can take the easy route now. Just know you're not choosing to build the life that you want. You're not choosing to act like you're sleeping before you sleep. You're not choosing to take the actions of the person you need to take to become the person you want to become. The choice is yours. But if you're watching this video, I know that you want to make that sacrifice and you will accept that sacrifice. Now, it's actually funny because leading into non-negotiable number 7, you need to stop waiting for the perfect time. Right now, as I'm recording this, it is December 13th. And I'll be honest with you, I have ran an online fitness business for the past 6 years. And before that, I was an in-person personal trainer for 3 and a half years. Getting people to care about and want to take action and change their health in the month of December It's like selling snow cones to somebody in Antarctica. Nobody wants it. And I understand, I get it. You'll start January 1st and you'll really pick it back up then. Fair enough. But what happens is the, when X happens, I'll get in shape. When January 1st rolls around, I'll dial it in. Like, you're going to become a new fucking person like January 1st. Like, your life is going to be the exact same. I'll start when work slows down. Well, yeah, I could start in January, but I have a vacation the first week of February. I'm not going to be able to really stay consistent for that long. I'll just start when I get back. And you keep making excuses as to why you don't start. And a little bit of tough love here. I'm recording this in 2025. If you don't like where you're at right now, where your body is, how you feel, your energy, your health, it's because you've made excuses for why this isn't the perfect time to start. It's because you don't feel ready. So if you keep doing that, do not expect a different result in 2026. You would be stupid to expect a different result. I'm not saying you're stupid, but if that's what you're thinking, you're gonna keep waiting for the perfect time. You're gonna keep waiting to feel ready. It's never going to come. And guess what? Even if it does, you and I both know it's not going to last. When in your life has a perfect period of time lasted more than a couple of weeks max? So what are you going to do? You're just going to be on point when things are perfect and then not? You're just going to fall off track again? You're going to go back to doing what you're doing? How do you expect to make a lifestyle change at that point? You never will. No wonder a calorie deficit feels so hard for you because the only time you're doing a calorie deficit is when you're perfect. It would feel really hard for me too if that's what I was trying to do. So there's never a perfect time. You have to get comfortable with taking imperfect actions to be able to keep going consistently. And a couple of key phrases that you can take with you if you'd like is number one, something is better than nothing. Right now you're either all in or all out. And by the way, that's an excuse. You're— I'm a perfectionist. That's just an excuse. I'm sorry to ruffle your feathers a bit, but it is because you're giving yourself an out when you don't want to or when things are hard or when you can't be perfect. It's an excuse. So I'm just being real, but you keep doing that and that's why you can't stay on track with it. You need to understand there's a way to just make it good enough and good enough can be good enough. You can just start. Stop waiting until the new year. Am I going to sit here and say, oh, you're going to lose 20 pounds before January 1st? No. But can you build some momentum? Yes. Can you drop a pound or 2 of fat? Yes. I started December 1st, and I remember I made a post on my YouTube. You can go back and look at it. There was a comment that was like, damn, Eric, you started in December? You couldn't wait until after the holidays? Well, I don't know. It's been 13 days and I've lost 9 pounds. I don't know. I think I'm in a pretty good fucking spot. Why? Because I didn't wait. And you watching this right now, that could have been you too. But what did you choose to do? Well, my holiday Christmas party's coming up and it's gonna be really busy with travel and my kids are doing this and Christmas is going on and you wait and you wait and you procrastinate and you fucking delay. So you're in the same goddamn spot you were in November, in October, in September, and the rest of 2025 because you keep fucking telling yourself you're gonna wait. At some point, you have to want this. At some point, you have to be okay with just taking the next step. Stop waiting for it to be perfect and stop waiting to feel ready. You're never going to feel ready. If you're waiting to feel 100% ready, again, you will never get there. So if you're 64% ready or 82% or 19%, All I know is this. If you do something that is getting you closer to your goal— another analogy for you. Imagine you're on the highway, you're in your car. Everybody else is flying by at 70 miles an hour. You're going 10 miles an hour. Even though everybody else is going much faster than you, you're still getting closer to your destination. Versus when you choose to say, I'm just going to wait until the new year. I'm going to wait until my kids' sports are done. You are choosing to take the key. Most cars don't have a key with a key in it anymore, but you're choosing to stop the car, turn it off, get out, sit on the side of the road with your car going nowhere. You are choosing that. Let me be very clear. And eventually what's going to happen? The fucking police are going to come by and take your shit, and then you got to get it towed and you lose all of your progress and you gain 20 pounds. It's your choice. And I'm being a little bit passionate because I need you to understand this is in your control. You are the one choosing to procrastinate, but you can also choose not to procrastinate any longer. And you can choose to say good enough is good enough. And by the way, that's the whole goal. The goal is consistency with your calorie deficit, not perfection. And that is truly how you make a calorie deficit as easy as possible to follow, putting it on easy mode, because then it won't feel like such a struggle. It won't feel so heavy. It won't feel so impossible and overwhelming if you do those 7 non-negotiables that we just talked about. And by the way, if at any point you're like, Eric, you're really cool and you're really handsome, thank you so much, I want you to help me, we can. Click the link in the description below to get a personalized plan and have some accountability along the way in your journey. You can check out our online coaching program or If you want to see the exact system I have followed thus far to lose 9 pounds in 13 weeks, you can watch this video right here next.