If You Want To Lose 20lbs By End of 2025, Copy This

If I had 20 pounds of excess body fat that I wanted to lose before the end of the year, here's exactly what I would do. In fact, this is the same system that I used to help Nick drop his first 18 pounds in 8 weeks and help Jane drop her first 17 pounds in 8 weeks. So trust me, this system works. And if you're ready to transform your body, take notes and follow exactly what I say in this video. Number 1, set your calorie goal. Fat loss starts and ends With your calorie intake. And most people know this, but they still don't know exactly how many calories they should be eating to lose fat. So if you click the link in the description of this video below, I have a totally free calorie deficit calculator you can use. But here's where most people go wrong. Once you have that number, it's actually not about hitting that number every single day. And that brings me into point number 2. Number 2, weekly calories versus daily calories. Most people think they have to hit their daily calorie number 7 days out of the week, and this is wrong. If your target is 2,000 calories per day, if you multiply that by 7, you get 14,000 calories in a weekly basis. When we look at fat loss, it's not determined by one day, it's determined by a week. This is why you often hear you'll lose 1 pound per week. 2 pounds per week. You don't hear you'll lose 1 pound of fat per day because that's next to impossible. And so the beauty of this is you might eat a little bit less calories during the week and you might eat a little bit more calories during the weekend. But the beautiful part is as long as you hit 14,000 weekly calories, you can have this flexibility with your diet and still be able to see the fat loss progress that you want to see. It's just like if you were to spend money during the week, maybe you don't spend that much money. All you do But then on the weekends you have to run errands, you go out with your friends, you go out to eat, and maybe you spend more money on the weekends. But this is okay because as long as you are spending less money than what you are making, you're still going to save some money. At least I hope so. And calories are the same exact way. Now I do have one piece of caution for you where a lot of people go wrong with this idea. This doesn't mean eat 1,200 calories during the week and then just binge your face off on the weekend. That's what you've been doing, and it's clearly not working. So let's take the 2,000 calorie goal mark. Maybe Monday through Thursday, maybe you eat 1,700 calories per day instead. That way you have 300 calories per day that you could then put towards the weekend. And maybe you end up eating 2,200, 2,300, 2,400 calories on the weekend instead. But at the end of the week, You're still within your range. 2,300 calories is much different than, I didn't eat that much during the week, so I can eat whatever I want on the weekends. That is not going to work. So whatever your calorie goal is that my calorie calculator gave you, I would maybe adjust 200 to 300 per day max. Now, after your calories comes the second most important goal, protein. Number 3, set your protein goal. Protein is like your insurance policy. It preserves muscle. It keeps your metabolism high and it keeps you full so you don't end up going over your calorie limit. Again, if you use my free calorie calculator, it will give you your specific protein target per day you should shoot for. But for everybody, a non-negotiable is at least 100 grams of protein per day. I don't care who you are. I don't care how much you weigh. You need to be getting at least 100 grams of protein every single day. If you do more than that, that's incredible and you'll see even more progress. But if you hit 100 grams, at the very least, you're still winning that day. This will also help prevent against losing the weight but ending up looking skinny fat, where you don't really see the muscle definition you're looking for. All right, so these calorie goals and this protein goal is great, but how do you actually set up a day's worth of eating to hit those goals? Well, that's exactly what we'll talk about in our next point. Number 4, create a meal schedule. Decision fatigue Kills your diet. You already have a million decisions to make during the day. You're exhausted from it. You don't want to have to make a million decisions with your diet as well. And if you try to wing it with your diet, you'll probably keep seeing the results you're seeing right now. A simple schedule that has worked well for a lot of our online coaching clients is going to be the schedule of 3 meals per day and 2 snacks per day. 3 meals is breakfast, Lunch and dinner, and the 2 snacks generally are a mid-afternoon snack and then some sort of dessert or treat after dinner to not feel restricted and include foods in moderation that you still enjoy eating. And before you say, ah, I don't have time to do that, or I can't do that, just hear me out. This meal schedule avoids you ever getting hangry, where you get to the point where you're like, I'm so starving, I don't care what I eat, I'm going to DoorDash. I'm going to go home and eat chips and pretzels and cookies because I don't care anymore. I just need to eat something. When you get to that point, you are so much less likely to stick to your calorie deficit number because all you care about is just not being hungry. And remember, I hear a lot of people and there'll be people in the comments, Eric, I don't have time to cook breakfast, or Eric, I'm not hungry in the morning. I'm hungry at night. First, remember, a meal could be a protein shake, and a piece of fruit. It doesn't have to take you long. And for the, Eric, I'm not hungry in the morning, I'm hungry at night, I'll actually cover that a little bit later in the video in an upcoming point. But while we're on the topic of breakfast, let's dive a little bit deeper into exactly what your breakfast should include to lose fat. Number 5, nail your breakfast. Now let me be abundantly clear. You may have heard people say, well, I do intermittent fasting and that's how I lose weight. And if that's what works for you, awesome, you can keep doing it. For a lot of people, especially the clients that we have coached, we have seen skipping breakfast or not eating the right things for breakfast causes you to be hungry, have cravings, and overeat at night. Most people aren't overeating at 10 AM, they're overeating at 4 PM, 6 PM, 8, 10 PM at night, and it's because your breakfast wasn't set up for success. So, how can you make sure to avoid that? Number 1, get at least 20 grams of protein within 2 hours of waking up. And this could be a protein shake, this could be eggs and egg whites, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, you name it. Also, try to get a serving of fruit or veggies, and with that, try to get 5 to 10 grams of fiber at breakfast. So altogether, this could look like Greek yogurt with raspberries and blackberries, this could be egg whites with spinach and a banana, or this could be a protein shake with a banana. Any 3 of those options would take you less than 5 to 10 minutes to prepare, and it would check off 20 grams of protein, 1 serving of fruit or veggies, and 5 to 10 grams of fiber. And the reason these 3 things are so important to have at breakfast is because it will set you up to be not as hungry, and you'll get proper nutrients in your body so that the rest of the day you don't ever let yourself get to that point of hangry that we talked about earlier. And oh, by the way, we talked about getting at least 100 grams of protein per day. It's so much easier to hit that goal if you front-load your day with protein. If you've only had 36 grams of protein by the time dinner rolls around, good luck hitting at least 100 grams of protein per day. It's going to be next to impossible for most people. And like we talked about earlier, I will get some people say, Eric, I'm not hungry. I'm hungry at night. I got to save calories For the nighttime. Number one, how has that been working for you thus far? Probably not very good. But number two, the reason that you are hungry and craving and can't stop eating at night is because you're not eating enough food and protein and fiber earlier in the day. Your body does not have enough nutrients, and so by the time you get to the nighttime, you think it's the nighttime that's throwing you off. It's because you're not eating enough during the day. Not eating during the day is not a good thing. There's this misconception, a lot of clients who come to work with us think, well, Eric, I eat good all day. And I'm like, okay, what do you eat all day? Well, I skip breakfast and I have a salad for lunch, and then I'm starving by the time I get home. I'm like, oh, that's a shocker. I wonder why. And think about it, when you're hungry at night and you have cravings, your willpower is low. You've already been up all day. You've had a stressful day at work. You've had a stressful day with your kids. Do you think you're more likely or less likely to have discipline and willpower at 8:00 PM at night when those cookies are staring you in the face? Less. So you need to do things to set yourself up to not have those cravings be such a big thing later at night. And I promise, just try this out for a week, you will notice a difference. Now, something else that's gonna help you get rid of those nighttime cravings and snacking is actually our next point. Number 6, mid-afternoon snack saves you. One of the other crucial fixes you can make to nighttime overeating is having a high-protein snack in the afternoon. And this could be a protein shake, a protein bar, beef jerky, tuna packet, edamame, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, a sandwich with turkey meat on it, whatever you want. Just get some sort of protein between 2 and 4 PM. This could be before you leave the office on your drive home. This could be on your drive home. This also could be when you first get home. I'll be transparent with you, I don't love that one as much because If you're getting home and you're starving, you're much more likely to dig into the pantry for those chips and pretzels and cookies and things that are on the countertop. But if you have to wait till you get home, you can do that as well. But just don't let yourself start mindlessly snacking and eating because you are hungry. Prevent that by this 2 to 4 PM high protein snack. And there's one final tip on late night snacking and cravings that I'm going to give you that I think could be a game changer for you. Number 7, cut eating 2 to 3 hours before bed. Now let me be clear, eating at night isn't bad and it's not gonna automatically cause you to gain fat like you may have heard before. But like we've been saying, if you eat later at night, your willpower is lower and you're— let's be honest, you're not snacking on celery and carrots at 9 PM at night. So the foods that you are having are typically putting you over your calorie deficit goal for that day, causing you to overeat and not lose fat. So setting a rule— stop eating 2 to 3 hours before you go to bed— not only shuts the door on that late-night snacking to help you lose fat, but it's also going to improve your sleep quality. When you have a large meal an hour before bed and you're trying to go to bed, you might be able to get to sleep But even if you do get to sleep, your body has to work harder to digest a lot of that food that you just consumed. And so, without going too in-depth into sleep cycles, your deep sleep is at the beginning of your sleep cycle. So, if you get less deep sleep, that means you're gonna be less recovered, and it also does not help your hunger hormones. So, you wake up and you're not as recovered. You're not as energized. You have more cravings and hunger. You have less willpower, and this vicious cycle keeps repeating itself because you're eating snacks, candy, cookies an hour before you go to bed. And so not only will it help with your calories, but it's also going to help with your next day of energy, willpower, motivation, mood, recovery from workouts, muscle building, everything else. I know a lot of these tips right now were just based around late-night snacking, but we've worked with over 25,000 5,000 clients in our online coaching program, and we just know this is one thing that really throws a lot of people off track with the weekends. And by the way, if you're interested in learning more about our online coaching program and working with a one-on-one coach on my team to build you a personalized plan and hold you accountable to it so you don't fall off track, there'll be a link in the description of this video below to check it out. Now I have one last diet tip for you, and it's going to save you hundreds, if not thousands, of calories per day. Number 8, zero-calorie liquids. Liquid calories sneak in everywhere— in your lattes, in your coffees, in your juices, in alcohol. They add up fast but don't fill you up. So when you're getting serious about losing weight before the end of the year, try to stick to water, Try to stick to zero-calorie carbonated drinks, and yes, this means drinking diet soda is okay. I know there's going to be a Karen in the comment section calling me an asshole for saying that, but it's true. Stick to sparkling water or just anything that is zero-calorie and/or low-calorie because it's already hard enough to eat in a calorie deficit. You don't need to be wasting 400 calories per day on liquids. And again, let's just address the elephant in the room— alcohol. While technically you can still lose fat while drinking alcohol, it does make it exponentially harder for a few different reasons. When alcohol is in your system, it stops the fat burning process. This doesn't mean you can't burn fat, but it means you're not going to burn fat until the alcohol is out of your system. So you'll lose fat and burn fat slower, not to mention the calories that come with alcohol easily can add up to 500+. Not to mention when you drink, what happens? Your inhibition, your willpower is lower. So you're much less likely to say, well, I'm going to really make sure I stick to my diet. Like you're— and also you're not snacking on celery and carrots again. You're going pizza, you're going wings, you're going burgers. Fries. So for all these reasons, either for a short period of time cut it out, or at the very least cap it. A rule that we use with our online coaching clients is stick to 2 drinks per week. Yes, I said per week, not per hour, some of you degenerates. Now with all these tips, you might have a really good grip on your diet, but what about the exercise that you need to do to lose the most weight by the end of the year? Number 9, strength train. When you're dieting and eating in a calorie deficit, your body wants to lose both fat and muscle. Lifting is how you tell it, don't lose the muscle, only lose the fat. And this is important because not only will it make you look the way you want to look, but the more muscle you have and keep, the higher your metabolism is, which means you won't have to take your calories as low when you're trying to lose fat. But the mistake most people make here is more isn't better. Most people think you need to work out 6, 7 days a week in order to speed up and see the fastest fat loss progress. But in fact, working out 3 to 4 days per week is going to be better for fat loss than working out 6 to 7 days per week. And let me explain why. If you do more, you will not be able to recover from the amount of stress and work that you are putting on your body. Because remember, you're in a calorie deficit. If you were in calorie maintenance or a calorie surplus where you had more calories coming in, that means your body can have more energy to recover from the work that you are doing. But since you're in a calorie deficit, you're not able to recover from as much, and doing more and pushing it and overreaching is going to backfire on you because since you don't recover as well, you have less motivation, less energy, you have worse sleep, you have more hunger and cravings, and all of these things are going to cause you to not stick with your calorie deficit, which we talked about is the most important thing when you're trying to lose fat. And just so you know, Victor here only worked out 4 days a week in his 80-pound weight loss, and Nicole, one of my clients Nicole, worked out 3 times a week for 30 minutes and she lost 80 pounds. So I'm telling you, 3 to 4 days a week of weightlifting, 2 to 3 hard sets per exercise in the 5 to 12 rep range, push yourself close to failure, and I promise that's all you need. Now, you might be like, well, Eric, what about the exercises and how should I set up my workout and how long should they be? I could be here all day explaining that, so it's a little bit outside the scope of this video, but what I will say is I have some very low-cost workout programs. They're full 12-week programs. If you want to check them out, there will also be a link in the description of this video below as well. But strength training isn't the only exercise you should be doing to lose the most fat before the end of the year. Number 10, daily movement. Daily movement is your cheat code for fat loss. If you walk 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day, you can burn an extra 300 to 500 calories calories without adding any stress to your body or without increasing your hunger or your appetite. And you don't need to obsess over doing all of these steps at once, and you don't need to obsess over doing it at a certain speed. You can easily break up this 10,000-step goal into little mini walks throughout the day. And this could look like parking farther away at work This could be taking the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator. This could be taking little mini 5 or 10-minute walks in between your meetings. This could be cleaning your kitchen or cleaning your house. It doesn't matter. All steps are created equal. So just get more movement. Just get more steps. And if you're at 3,000 steps a day right now, I know 8,000 to 10,000 may seem like a big number, but just slowly work your way up. And I promise you, before you know it, you're going to be there routinely. And you also will realize when you're there routinely, this fat loss thing becomes a hell of a lot easier. And I get it. I'm going to get people in the comments, I'm stuck at a desk all day, Eric. I understand, but find ways to just get mini walks throughout the day. Sometimes with our online coaching clients, I'll tell them, when you go fill up your water bottle, Don't do it at the water fountain that's on the same floor as you. Walk up 7 flights of steps to fill your water bottle and then walk back down and go back to your desk. Doing that 2, 3, 4 times a day could get you an extra 2,000 steps per day. And if you're only getting 3,000 steps, you'll have to eat such few calories to promote fat loss and being in a calorie deficit. I don't know about you, But I want to eat as many calories as I possibly can and still see great fat loss progress. I know you do as well, and that's why we got to hit our daily steps. Now, on top of our steps, we have one more thing that most people talk about when they focus on weight loss, and that's cardio. Number 11, cardio for weight loss. Unlike what most people think, cardio isn't mandatory to lose weight. In fact, I lost 20 pounds in 8 weeks without doing any dedicated cardio. All I did was lift weights 4 times a week, got my 8,000 to 10,000 steps, and ate my calorie goal and ate my protein goal. That's it. No treadmill, no SkiErg, no anything, just that. But cardio can help, especially if you want it to go a little bit faster. The key with cardio for weight loss is to keep it Low intensity, something that we call zone 2 cardio. And this is where you should be able to hold a conversation when you are performing the cardio. So you shouldn't be doing cardio like this because that means you're going too high of an intensity. But if you and I were having a conversation and this is kind of how we were talking, this would be what zone 2 cardio is like. And the reason it's important to stay in this lower intensity zone— when you go to do higher intensity, it adds stress, adds cortisol, it's more for your body to recover from, and it leads to increased hunger, appetite, and cravings, which make it harder to stick to your calorie deficit. So how much should you do and when should you do it? I'd recommend doing 15 to 30 minutes of zone 2 cardio, 2 to 4 times a week, either after your weightlifting sessions, not before, or on rest days. And on top of cardio is something I get asked all the time— supplements. Number 12, supplements, the cherry on top. Let me be abundantly clear, you do not need to take supplements to lose fat, but taking the right ones might help. And I have 5 main ones that I'm going to give to you. First up, we have protein powder. And really, I don't even count this as a supplement. I just think of this as more as trying to get more protein into my diet. But that's exactly why it's a great supplement. It's just an easy way to hit your protein goal. You don't have to cook. You don't have to spend a lot of time making it. It's a super simple way to get in more protein. And oh, by the way, if you can't tell, This actually has my name on it because this is my own protein powder flavor. If you want to try this one out, this is the brand I work with and recommend. There'll be a link in the description of this video below. You want to make sure if you're going to get a protein powder, the calories and protein need to line up. So for an example, this has 110 calories for roughly 25 grams of protein. Next to no sugar, no fat, no carbs, and that's what you want because you want the calories as low as possible and the protein as high as possible. Now, our next supplement might seem weird, but it's gonna be magnesium, and I'll tell you why. This is one of the best supplements to improve your sleep quality. We talked earlier about how important sleep was for recovery, but also your hunger, your energy, your willpower, motivation. If you can get a better night's sleep, Fat loss almost turns on easy mode. So I'd recommend getting some magnesium roughly 30 to 60 minutes before you go to bed, roughly 200 to 400 milligrams per day. And again, this is the brand I work with and the brand I trust if you want to try them out, but you don't have to get this brand. You can get any brand. Now, next up would be fish oil. Fish oil is really good for anti-inflammation. It's also good for cognitive function and brain health as well. Personally, I just think it's a super staple supplement that most people should be taking. So you can take that. The next one, something most people are deficient in, vitamin D. Unless you live in like Hawaii or California or somewhere where you get a lot of sunlight, Arizona maybe, throughout the day, taking vitamin D can really help with your energy levels. It can help with your sleep. It can help with your bone density, help with your metabolism. So most people are deficient. I'd recommend taking some vitamin D. And then last but not least, taking creatine. Now, you've probably heard a ton about creatine. I actually have my own video fully dedicated to creatine if you'd like to check it out. This is not necessarily gonna help you lose fat, but it will help you build muscle, recover better from your workouts, push harder in your workouts. All of these things will help with your fat loss in the long run. You may have heard, ah, creatine's going to make you store water weight. This is correct. Creatine pulls water into your muscle cells, but this is a good thing because it helps your muscles perform better and it helps your muscles look better. So yes, your scale might not drop as fast, but you'll look better, you'll recover better from workouts, you'll have better workouts. And it will be a supplement that is beneficial. It's also beneficial for brain health. It's been linked to better depression as well. And so I would recommend most people taking creatine. Only people I don't recommend taking creatine is if you have some sort of preexisting kidney issue. Other than that, I would say creatine is a green light. Take 5 to 10 grams per day every single day. And again, if you'd like to try this brand, There'll be a link in the description below. Now, notice how none of those were fat burners. Weird, 'cause the video is about how to lose fat. Here's the thing: fat burners don't fucking burn fat. So please, please, I'm begging you, do not waste your money on fat burners. They are not going to burn any fat. You are much better off taking your money and doing literally anything else with it— buying one of those supplements, joining our coaching program, buying one of the workouts I talked about, literally anything. I don't need you to waste your money on supplements. Okay? So if you follow this plan with 90% consistency, you won't need to start over in January because you'll be down 20+ pounds and look in the mirror and actually like what you see. If you watch this video and you're like, this is kind of overwhelming, just help me do this, Eric, click the link in the description below to check out our online coaching program where we build you a personalized plan and hold you accountable to it every step of the way. And after you do that, you can check out this video here for 9 years of honest weight loss advice in 17 minutes.