You know how diets work. I know that...
Reduce your calories. Exercise more. Simple. What’s to mess up?
Although you know the rules, you still might mess it up. You might be the exception, but the most common pattern we observe in hopeful-losers-of-fat goes something like:
1. Set calories too low
2. Make very restrictive food choices
3. Early success
4. Dwindling adherence at 3-8 weeks
5. Drop-off in results
6. Feeling of failure
7. Rebound weight gain
Sometimes, this pattern even repeats itself, not just throughout the year, but every single year.
You don’t want that.
You don’t want to be the permadieter.
The good news is that you don’t have to be, as Triage clients consistently demonstrate. Our clients get in and out of their fat loss diets by following this process:
1. Set target weight loss
2. Set range of appropriate weight loss (typically 0.5-1% BW/week average)
3. Reverse engineer duration (e.g. 10kg @ 1kg/week = 10 wk diet)
4. Add 2 weeks to timeline for assumed errors
5. Set calories accordingly
(you can use this calculator)
Remember, the faster you decide to lose weight, the hungrier you will be, and the lower your energy levels. Often, this results in poorer adherence to the diet. This is not always the case, as some people do find that lower calories help them to be more adherent, but for those engaging in vigorous exercise, excessively low calories would not be advised.
If you have a history of “failed diets”, or are already very lean, choose a more conservative rate of loss (~0.5%/wk).
If you have had great success previously, or have a higher body fat level (e.g. obesity), faster rates are appropriate.
Don’t make this just another haphazard attempt at weight loss. Make this your year. It’s not easy, but it is simple. Simple habits repeated daily produce amazing outcomes over time.
