Well hey there! Thanks for stopping by!
If this is your first time here, then I’d like to quickly introduce myself…
My name’s Egis.
And now read this:
“A man became Fat-Burning Wizard just by ditching this one bad habit“.
“A woman lost jelly jiggle of her belly by quitting sodas“.
How many times have you read mumbo-jumbo like this? How many times have you thought that changing a single habit can‘t be this beneficial?
But it‘s true. Sometimes you only need one little daily tweak and you‘ll get that flab off your belly.
Here are some easy-to-implement daily habits that might let you lose fat without doing the agonizing diet or 5 hours of cardio every week.
1. Set Environment For Success
Don‘t keep bad food choices in places that you spend the most time – home and work.
Don‘t put yourself in a position where you would need to fight the temptations.
Sounds so simple and yet, many fat loss dieters fail at this.
Simply clean up your shelves. Throw away any cookies, sweets, or sodas that you may have. Foods that are easy to overeat on.
So grit your teeth, fight your urges to binge eat, and just throw these sweets through the window!
2. Eat Similar Foods
When the average Joe or Jane wants to lose weight, what’s the first thing, besides cardio, they do?
They start eating all kinds of different foods.
And that backfires.
Sit down and make a list of foods that you love. Make these foods your priority each day.
Most will tell you to eat a variety of foods.
And that’s true.
However, you don’t have to eat the gazillions of different foods. The less variety you have, the less hassle you’ll face when preparing meals each day.
Stick to a small group of foods and cycle them every day and every week.
3. Never Fail Twice
By that I mean never have two crappy meals in a row.
If you just had a piece of the pie, make sure your next meal is a lean protein with a bunch of veggies.
A single slip doesn‘t mean you should throw your meal in defeat and gobble down every last bite of sweet you can get your hungry fingers on…
4. Follow 80/20 Rule
It doesn’t matter what diet you’re on, whether it’s paleo, keto, whole30, follow the 80/20 rule:
It states that you should get about 80% of your daily calories from healthy and minimally processed food and the rest of the calories can come from anything you wish.
This will help you to lose fat without feeling deprived or having binge eating on weekends.
5. Stuff Your Plate With Veggies Every Meal
You know this very well, right?
Eating more veggies is the easiest way to lose weight because they’re high in volume and the fiber in them gives you fabulous satiety.
Not to mention all the health benefits…
Studies clearly show that consuming a higher proportion of calories as vegetables may support a greater weight loss and the diet itself may be more sustainable (source).
There are around a gazillion and one different vegetable. Show some love for them.
Check out this article on building a balanced, macro-friendly meal.
6. Eat One Plant-Based Meal Every Day
Let‘s take veggies idea a step further.
We all know that vegetarians have a lower body weight (source). So there‘s something we can learn from them.
As I just said, veggies are a great source of fiber which gives long-lasting satiety levels. Take advantage of it!
Have one plant-based meal every day. Make sure to have some soy, beans, or legumes in it as these foods are high in protein.
About 99.999% of the time it will result if fat loss.
7. Treat Yourself (Every Day)
As depicted by this fancy-pants infographic, it’s similar to 80/20 rule. Pure perfection on the left!
Don‘t ditch the foods you like! It will backfire.
Once you tell yourself that you can‘t eat chocolate, that will be the only food that you‘ll crave for. And binge on, eventually.
Have a third of chocolate or ice cream. Whatever you like. This will make dieting more enjoyable and sustainable.
Are you binge eating? Then this article may help.
8. Limit Alcohol
Wondering “How the FLIP did I gain 20 pounds?“
You‘ve been DRINKING!
Image Source: Comicsandmemes
A glass of beer has about 215 calories. You might think it‘s just one bottle but it adds up.
Alcohol alone won‘t make you gain weight. It‘s the food that you eat when drinking that makes you eat excess calories. That‘s the main issue with alcohol.
You don‘t have to cut it entirely. You can still have one or two drinks a week. Balance, you know…
9. Increase Protein Intake
I feel like I’ve made it abundantly clear already but just in case, I’ll say this again…
Protein is the most important macronutrient when it comes to weight loss.
There‘s this thing called the thermic effect of food (source). Protein has the highest thermic effect of food which boosts your metabolism by a bit.
Just by eating more protein, you increase a calorie deficit of several hundred calories.
Heaps of studies show the benefits of reduced cravings, snacking, and binge eating (source).
If you‘re into resistance training, you should get 0.8-1 g/lb of bodyweight.
The easiest way to get sufficient intake is to get at least 20g of protein at every meal. It doesn‘t mean you have to eat just meat. Dairy, legumes, beans, soy are also brilliant options.
10. Opt For Whole, Minimally Processed Foods
The longer the label the worse the product possibly is.
Choose foods that are close to the form that’s found in nature. They’re stuffed with minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. All of that will make you full for longer.
Half of your plate should be veggies and the other half split between complex carbs like fruits and protein sources.
This will inevitably be both nutritious and low-calorie meal.
11. Drink The Right Way
Increases in drinking water are associated with significant loss of body weight and fat over time. That‘s no secret (source).
Water fills you up.
Limit sugary drinks. That’s obvious. They’re neither healthy nor nutritious.
Throw a lemon or orange into the water, have a black coffee, sparkling water and you’ll save up on 400 calories easily.
This will work like using the Star boost in Mario Kart…
12. Try Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting (IF) refers to an eating pattern that cycles between eating and fasting periods.
It doesn‘t tell you what should you eat. It only restricts the time frame during which you can eat.
By making you eat fewer meals IF MIGHT result in an automatic reduction in calorie intake.
Just don’t fall for all that intermittent fasting hype. As I said in this article, it’s no better than continuous calorie restriction.
13. Eat Fruits
Increases in fruit consumption are associated with subsequent weight loss (source).
Oh really, Sherlock? Didn’t know that…
Just like veggies, fruits make you full faster and for longer.
Make sure to have at least 4 servings per day. Eat in between every meal or before a meal. That would fill you up and you would end up eating less when the meal comes.
14. Start Lifting Weights
Weight lifting will prevent you from looking like skinny supermodel named Smeagol once that fat is gone!
Not only that but resistance training has a few more benefits worth dancing about:
Get yourself a proper training plan that includes the right exercises, rest periods between sets and exercises, etc.
Most importantly – lift with a proper form.
15. Focus On Full Body Workouts
I love full-body workouts.
It allows you to train the same muscle group more than once per week. That ensures that you’ll work all major muscle groups in every workout.
Major muscle groups require more energy (calories) to perform exercises so that will make you have more effective sessions.
Check this article on how to create your own workout routine.
16. Try HIIT
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) alternates short bursts of high-intensity exercise and passive recovery periods. (source).
Contrary to what most folks believe, HIIT isn’t better in terms of fat loss. However, it appears to be the predominant weight loss strategy because of its time efficiency (source).
17. Grocery Shopping When Hungry – Bad Idea
Going grocery shopping will sabotage your weight loss journey.
You‘ll end up buying foods that aren‘t on your list. That happens all the time…
And it always ends the same… with a pint of ice cream, a box of Oreos in your cart, or both. (usually both)
18. Eat Out Smart
Eating frequently in restaurants is one of the behaviors associated with obesity (source). It’s safe to say that eating out is, uhm, dangerous AF?
There was a cool survey done with restaurant chefs.
76% of chefs thought that they served “regular” portions. However, the actual portions of steak and pasta they reported serving were 2 to 4 times larger than serving sizes recommended by the U.S government (source).
Oopsy…
When you eat out, eat only half of the portion. Save the other half for later and bring it back home with you. All you have to do is ask for a takeaway.
Also, try these tips:
19. Consider Using Protein Supplement
Many people fail to achieve sufficient protein intake. There‘s nothing better than protein powder if that happens.
Not only you‘ll get high-quality protein but it will come at crazy low cost – ~120 calories for 25g of protein.
It will make your pancakes or smoothies both taste better and to be more nutritious.
There are around a bazillion and one different protein powders so here are some of my top recommendations:
- The best whey protein – Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder.
- The best vegan powder – Orgain Organic Plant Based Protein Powder.
- The best natural powder – Antler Farms 100% Grass Fed Whey Protein.
- The best pea protein – Organic Pea Protein Powder.
- The best egg white protein – Egg White Protein Powder From The Freshest Of Eggs.
20. Take A Walk With Your Dog
Make a dog happy and get the flab off your belly at the same time.
Doesn‘t it sound like a Win-Win?
30 minutes of fast-paced walk will burn at least 300 calories.
21. Eat High-Protein Breakfast
Your breakfast might decide whether you‘ll be going to the vending machine before lunch for a morning snack.
In one study high-protein breakfast reduced both daily calorie intake and hunger, compared to regular breakfast (source).
22. Hop-On The Scales Every Morning
Stepping on the scale every morning might improve your self-control and build habits that result in weight loss.
In one study daily weighers lost ~12 pounds (6.1 kg) more weight compared with those weighing less than daily (source).
Make sure to step on the scale right after using a bathroom. Doing so will make fluctuations less noticeable.
At the end of the week add every day‘s numbers and divide that number by 7. That‘s your average weigh-in.
23. Plan Ahead
Do this one simple thing and you‘ll cut a massive amount of calories every day:
Pack your lunch to work.
One massive study found that meal planning is associated with better adherence to the diet, higher food variety, and lower odds of weight gain.
Sounds like a pretty good trade-off for a half an hour prep, aye???
Set aside half an hour every night and prepare a low-calorie meal. The next morning just grab your lunch and off to work.
24. Get Sufficient Sleep
You might have an answer ready to blurt out but…
Sleep is another key factor in weight loss:
In this study, participants consumed 559 calories during the day when slept 4 hours compared with eight (source).
Take sleep seriously. Get at least seven hours if you want more efficient weight loss.
25. Use Public Transport
I wish I could say that I was an anomaly but I like using a car…
But on weekends, I act like I sold one. I walk. I bike. I take public transport.
Heaps of studies show that people who commute to work by active or public transport have a significantly lower percentage of body fat than those who use private transport (source).
The good thing is that you don‘t need to ditch your car entirely. Hop on the bus twice a week. This alone will speed up your weight loss.
The more physical activity outside the gym, the better.
26. Eat, Eat, Eat With No Distractions
I know, I know…
You have to scroll down the Instagram or Facebook feed no matter what.
However, eating while doing something else aka mindless eating (I wrote about it here) may cause you to eat more without even noticing.
According to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, attentive eating is likely to influence food intake and aid weight loss without the need for conscious calorie counting (source).
Leave that sucker, called iPhone, out of the dining room when you eat.
27. Snack Smart
Listen, nuts and seeds are brilliant foods, yadda yadda yadda.
But a handful of almonds have around 220 calories… A couple of daily snacks and that‘s the number of calories that a regular meal contains.
Instead, have an apple or any other fruit. You’ll cut about 400 calories just by doing that.
28. Be Selfish
What do I mean by put yourself first?
No one will make you happy. Only you can. No iPhone, no man, no clothing.
If you want to lose weight, put everything else on the back burner!
29. Start Tracking Food Intake
Unless you’re a mad mathematician, there’s probably not a whole lot of excitement rushing through your veins right now but…
To me, tracking is the most crucial point when it comes to weight loss (here’s an article on getting over a plateau).
Not only tracking food intake makes you lose weight faster, keep you accountable but you‘ll know what to do when the weight loss stalls – you just drop calorie intake by 50-150 calories and the weight will continue dropping.
That‘s when people think that they do something wrong. Weight loss stalls and they think it‘s hormones when in reality, you only need to reduce calories.
And how can you do that if you have no idea how much you‘re eating in the first place???
Be old-fashioned and use a notebook or download MyFitnessPal app. The easiest food tracker in the history of mankind. Hands down.
Read this article about tracking food intake.
I know, that‘s quite a list…
Pick one of these habits, make it “automatic” and move on to the next one. This might not only help you lose weight but build the foundation of healthy eating for the rest of your life.
You may feel a bit overwhelmed and have a laundry list of questions on counting calories or tracking protein…
That’s where my 8-Week Nutrition Education Program comes in. It’s designed to teach you the fundamentals of nutrition for fat loss in a step-by-step format. It includes regular emails covering the fundamentals of nutrition in a logical order.
–> Start Coaching Program
–> Check Out 8 Weeks 2 Lean Program
