Healthy habits often slip over the course of the summer and as a result, so does body composition, sense of well-being, emotional stability etc…I’ve experienced this more than once myself and so being that it’s early September now, I figured that I’d put an article together on how to reel things in after all of the June, July and August festivities!

If you did fall off track to a degree, I’d encourage you not to beat yourself up…not just because it’s unkind, but because it’s inefficient in the sense that the process of beating yourself up often gets in the way of taking action being that the focus is on the past instead of the present.

You may want to reflect on where ya veered off course just so that you can avoid that potential pitfall this coming holiday season or next summer let’s say, however I think that it’s best to examine how things played out in the most objective way that you can.

Okay so let’s get into it…step number 1 is to determine your goal or the outcome that you want and the more specific that you can be the better, for example…

If you want to lose fat, I’d recommend estimating how much and by when. So maybe you’d like to lose 10-20 lbs, let’s split the diff and say 15…dropping a little over a pound per week is going to be extremely doable and realistic for the vast majority of you reading this right now following the steps that I’m about to lay out.

We could give ourselves 12 weeks (or 3 months) to drop 15 lbs, that’s an average weekly loss of 1.25 lbs…if you want to move things along quicker you can absolutely do that and you can also give yourself more time, that’s always an option as well…it’s entirely your call!

If you want to get to your goal faster, you’re going to need to make larger changes relatively speaking and if you’re in no rush you can make smaller changes relatively speaking…there is no right or wrong answer, it’s just a matter of preference.

You can think about it like saving money, if you set aside a larger portion of your paycheque you’re going to be reducing spending more for a shorter period of time…and if you set aside a smaller portion of your paycheque, you’re going to be reducing spending less for a longer period of time.

How are we going to produce said results?

I have my clients focus on the 4 pillars or foundations. The first pillar which is the most important one by a long shot is nutrition because the one and only requirement for fat loss to occur is a calorie deficit and the most practical way to create a calorie deficit is via what and how much you eat.

Exercise is great, I do it essentially every day, it has tons of benefits but…in and of itself, it’s not an effective fat loss strategy…I wish that it were, but it just ain’t so!

I was just talking to a friend of mine yesterday and a buddy of his had weight to lose and so she decided to start running ultramarathons. If you’re not familiar with what an ultramarathon is, it’s essentially anything further than a marathon, which is 26.2 miles or a touch over 42 kilometers. Typically folks classify ultramarathons as anything over 30ish miles or 50k meaning, it’s a lot of running!

He shared with me that she didn’t just maintain her weight as she was clocking these insanely long distances, she actually GAINED weight and the reason is because she started eating even more calories than she was burning!

This is an extreme example, but it illustrates the point so well, it’s possible to out-eat any amount of activity.

I’ve experienced this phenomenon first hand and I’ve seen it countless times via my 1-on-1 coaching. It can be really disheartening for folks just because they’re putting in SO much time and effort physically in terms of exercise, however they’re neglecting the most important part of the fat loss process, which is nutrition.

This is like working 80 or 100 hours a week in order to save money, but simultaneously spending like a madman in your free time and just putting yourself further and further into debt!

Again, it’s great to implement exercise, however if you want to lose fat exercise alone isn’t going to do it. So, primarily via nutrition like we mentioned, we need to create a calorie deficit which is just a fancy way of saying eating fewer calories than we are burning or…burning more calories than we are eating, same dealio!

This is crucial knowledge because if you’re losing fat, you know for certain that you are in a calorie deficit and if you’re not losing fat, you know for certain that you are not in a calorie deficit…the body never lies, meaning you can rely on it to give you accurate feedback only always!

The 2 key factors in terms of nutrition for fat loss specifically are quantity and quality…

Quantity because the number of calories that you eat matters of course and quality because it has a massive impact on the quantity, for example...

You could technically eat jelly beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner and as long as you ate fewer total calories from jelly beans than you burned, you could still lose fat, however…you would be ravenous because jelly beans aren’t filling in the slightest, not to mention the health consequences of taking an approach like this so...

With my clients we dial in the quantity AND the quality and so we favour single ingredient whole foods that are super filling (and healthy) and therefore it’s that much easier to adhere to the quantity element because they’re super satiated even though they’re eating fewer total calories than they are burning.

There are so many folks in the fitness space arguing about whether quantity or quality is more important when it comes to nutrition for fat loss and fortunately it’s not an either or situation…we can utilize both, we don’t have to choose, they compliment each other very nicely!

The second pillar is movement and I strongly encourage my clients to work their way up to 10,000 steps per day or 70,000 over the course of the week as a whole. If they want to workout on top of that even better, but it’s not a requirement…walking is the baseline!

Daily steps are super underrated for fat loss for a whole host of reasons and if you’re curious about said reasons, have a listen to episode #227 of the podcast titled ‘The most underrated exercise for fat loss’ where I explain all of the ins and outs on the topic!

But Marcus, workouts burn so many more calories than walking does…just listen to episode 227!

The third pillar is sleep and I recommend that my clients get 7-9 hours nightly for health and sense of well-being purposes of course, but also because it makes sticking to the other pillars so much easier, for example…

We are much more likely to make quality food choices when we are well slept vs. tired…everyone has experienced this before, ya just give fewer f*cks when you’re under slept and so getting adequate sleep is such low hanging fruit as far as setting yourself up for fat loss success!

The fourth and final pillar is stress management…some of my clients like to journal for stress reduction, others like to meditate, some do therapy…different strokes for different folks, however what I will say is that the most effective stress management strategy that you can implement hands down is actually just getting healthy!

There’s no debate that our nutrition, movement and sleep habits impact the health of our organs like our hearts, lungs, kidneys etc. and the brain is an organ and so the healthier that you are, the less quote unquote ‘stressed’ that your brain is quite literally.

We can’t separate our brain and our body because our brain lives in our body. So, if you want to reduce your stress levels and simultaneously become more resilient to whatever life throws at ya, get healthy!

Now that we’ve covered the 4 pillars on a high level, let’s dig into some of the practical implementation stuff because the pillars work for everyone, however only if we implement them consistently on a day to day basis.

First, the environment that we create matters a ton and so modifying our environment in way that facilitates our goals vs. goes contrary to them is key, for example…

If you want to lose fat, I’d recommend stocking your fridge, freezer, pantry etc. with healthful single ingredient whole foods that align with the outcome that you want and not stocking your fridge, freezer, pantry etc. with highly processed foods that you find especially tempting to indulge in.

If you have a family or a partner that chooses to eat differently than you do, that makes this food environment piece tougher to manage, but it’s still doable, for example…

You can still stock your kitchen with all of the healthful food that you want to eat on a regular basis and you can identify which highly processed foods tend to be an issue for you and which ones don’t. For example…

If you find ice cream especially tempting let’s say, but chips aren’t your thing, you could ask whoever you live with to only buy enough ice cream that they’re going to eat right away just so that it’s not sitting in the freezer calling your name at 8pm every night. On the other hand, they can totally stock the pantry with all types of chips because chips aren’t your jam.

There are always work arounds and just like my Mom told me a million and one times when I was kiddo…’where there’s a will, there’s a way’…if you want to make it work, you will, you’ll get creative!

Another area that I’d recommend being mindful of is your food environment at work. You can’t control what other folks bring in to the office, but you can control your desk or working area and so I wouldn’t recommend keeping all sorts of funky snacks at arm’s reach in plain sight!

You can also bring your own healthful lunch to work and be sure that you’re super satisfied and satiated when you might be coming across things like donuts, cookies and muffins that may happen to be sitting out in the lunch room.

One more spot is your car…if you have hyper-palatable treats in your glove compartment, ditch em’ and replace them with things like beef jerky or nuts for example. This way if you have a weak moment while you’re sitting in traffic let’s say, you don’t have the option of crushing fruit snacks or something similar.

Another way that I’d recommend setting yourself up for success is putting external accountability of some sort in place. That could be joining a group challenge, hiring a coach or just agreeing to get in shape with a friend or partner.

The vast majority of folks thrive with external accountability and the ones that don’t are typically already in shape! Also, ditch the idea that you quote unquote ‘should’ be able to do it on your own because…

Why ‘should’ you be able to do it on your own? Where did that belief come from?

Do you feel like you have to electrically wire your home or do your own plumbing? How about fix your own car…? Probably not!

So many folks spin their wheels for ages due to this belief, in fact a lot of my clients have this belief prior to working with me. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with needing some support…also, it doesn’t have to be a forever thing, maybe it’s just a get the ball rollin’ in the right direction dealio so that you can create some healthy habit momentum!

Okay, zooming back out…

First and foremost, focus on the 4 pillars…nutrition, movement, sleep and stress management. If you want to lose fat specifically, double or even triple down on your nutrition because it’s the right tool for the job!

Start by modifying your environment whether that be at home, work, your car or all of the above. Put someone or something in place on the accountability front and you’re going to be well on your way to looking, feeling and performing your best and…

If you find that you’ve been procrastinating or putting your health off, consider that we often delay things for longer than it takes to actually just do them!

Take action today, even if it’s a the tiniest little thing…a single step in the direction that you want to go is in fact a step.