The Ultimate Weight Loss Cheat Sheet

If you’re ready to lose weight, but feel overwhelmed with all the info out there, I have you covered. Below is a weight loss cheat sheet you can refer to often whenever you are starting to feel confused. Whenever you need some reassurance that you’re doing everything right, pull this out and give it a read. It will keep you focused on what’s important so that you can continue on the path towards reaching your goals.

The Ultimate Weight Loss Cheat Sheet

1. Set calories to 10-12 times your body weight. Use the higher number if you have a lower body fat. Check out the BodyMedia FIT armband for a more accurate intake.
2. Eat .8-1g per pound of lean body mass in protein.
3. Make sure you are getting in your essential fatty acids (EFAs). Here are 33 surprising health benefits of EFAs and the foods that have them.
4. Healthy fats should make up at least 20-30% of your calories for optimal hormone production, vitamin assimilation, and other vital body functions.
5. Carbohydrate intakes will vary based on activity levels. 40% of calories is a good starting point. Read more about how many carbohydrates you should eat to lose weight.
6. Try to eat veggies at every meal.
7. Eat the number of meals a day that best fits into your lifestyle. If 3 suits you better – great. If 5 is sustainable, have at it.
8. Focus on changing the quality of your food before cutting calories. Until you have 80-90% of your nutrition coming from whole foods, it can be detrimental to cut calories to an already bad diet.
9. Pay attention to portion sizes.
10. If you are carb sensitive, try timing your carb intake to your first meal of the day and post workout. Read more about how to implement nutrient timing.
11. Plan to lose .5-1% body fat per week, with the lower number being more realistic.
12. Don’t stress if you gain weight at the beginning of an exercise program. Intracellular water retention can cause weight gain even if you are losing fat. Working out but gaining weight? Here’s why.
13. Don’t focus on weight loss. Buy some body fat calipers and measure your fat loss progress. Here’s a cheap pair of calipers for you to use.
14. Make cheat meals work for you – not against you. Eat what you want, but don’t wipe out a week’s worth of progress in a single day. Here are your cheat meal guidelines.
15. Water should make up 90% of your liquid intake.
16. Surround yourself with people that support your goals. Block out the negativity and ignore the criticism.
17. Remember that weight loss is a side effect of living a healthy lifestyle. Focus on being a healthier you.
18. Don’t compare yourself to others. This is a personal journey. Strive to be a better YOU each day.
19. Choose exercise you enjoy. Don’t fall into the trap of forcing yourself to do exercise you don’t like. Read the 6 biggest exercise mistakes you’re making.
20. Make small changes to your lifestyle. Pick 1-2 unhealthy habits to change at a time, and keep working at them until they are healthy habits. Then pick 1-2 more. In time, they add up.
21. Be patient. Your weight will not be a straight line down. It will be a zig-zag from point A to B, but given enough time, B will be lower.
22. Don’t be afraid to fail. It’s going to happen. Use these failures to learn and make yourself stronger. See why failure in fitness is necessary.
23. Work out with intensity. Force your body to make changes. Here are 9 reasons you should increase your workout intensity.
24. Find a way to add resistance to your exercise. Building muscle makes the weight loss process 10 times easier.
25. Discover your relationship with food. Find ways to cope with your emotions outside of eating.
26. Work at overcoming your processed food addiction. Restricting processed foods to 10% of your diet will net you 90% of your results. Read more about overcoming your food addiction.
27. Get in the habit of reading food labels – specifically the ingredients section. Here’s your guide to reading labels.
28. Forget about supplements. They aren’t needed. Put your money towards whole foods instead.
29. Use compound exercises whenever possible. They are the most efficient muscle builders and fat loss movements. Find out why compound exercises are the key to building muscle.
30. Don’t forget to rest and recover.
31. Don’t push too much too fast. Work your way up to more exercise. Let your body adapt to the new workloads.
32. Eat beef, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, legumes, tubers, fruits, veggies, and whole grains. Any of these 100 healthy foods are good to eat.
33. Your weight might not change for weeks. Take solace in the fact that you are still making great changes to your body from the inside out.
34. Try not to get so caught up in the day to day aspects of weight loss. Getting fit and healthy is a rest-of-your-life thing. Try to see the big picture.
35. Last but not least – smile. You can do this. The only thing that’s holding you back is your thoughts. Change your thoughts and you’ll change your world.