Today, many of us live in a world of consumerism. Our supermarkets are lined with super convenient processed foods. We have our favourite meals prepared and delivered to us at a click of a finger. No wonder the obesity epidemic has tripled in the last 30+ years! The consumer machine then extracts money from us by selling “dieting” drugs, books, food, and beverages. Does this sound familiar to you?
I know how demoralising it is to see those unwanted pounds around the belly. But should we be paying the same consumer machine to help us get out of the very predicament they sold us? Absolutely not! This is why I want to show you how to lose weight fast for free.
In this post, I will empower you with the knowledge to quickly shed those pounds without spending your hard-earned money on fad books, courses, and the dreaded personal trainer. More specifically, I will be teaching you how to create a personalised diet and exercise program that will work for you.
Contents
1. Losing Weight – Why Is It Important?
2. Lose Weight Quickly Without Spending Money
3. Personal Diet Plans
4. Creating A Diet Plan
5. Counting Calories
6. Exercise To Turbocharge Weight Loss
7. Are You Ready To Lose Weight? You Can Do It!
Losing Weight – Why Is It Important?
Excess weight is a problem many of us currently face. It may even be a problem you will experience in the future (for reasons within and out of your control).
It’s the loathsome “spare tyre” which prevents you from wearing what you want. It’s those unwanted lumps and bumps you see in the mirror. If you’re a bodybuilder, it’s the price you pay to “bulk up”. It’s unsightly. It makes you self-conscious. It’s the subject of ridicule by that demon in your head.
Aside from superficial reasons, it’s also a drain on health. It puts you at greater risk of weight-related illnesses (heart disease, high blood pressure, and gout to name a few). It ultimately prevents us from living our lives to the fullest.
In our modern consumer society, it’s also very easy to put on weight. Depending on where you are, up to 40% or more of the population may be classified as being overweight.
When the inevitable time comes to get rid of that fat, how do we do it? Diet drugs? Personal trainers? Disaster-prone fad diets? These can be pricey, ineffective, and even dangerous!
So how can you quickly lose weight without having to spend your hard-earned cash?
Lose Weight Quickly Without Spending Money
You don’t need personal trainers, diet books, or pharmaceutical assistance. You simply need to create and follow an effective weight-loss programme. This consists of a diet and/or exercise plan. Now, you might be asking:
“I don’t know how to do that! That’s why I am here!”
Don’t worry, we will show you how. The first thing you need to understand is:
The Calorie Principle
All food contains calories (a calorie is a unit of energy). When you consume food, the calories (aka energy) are processed in two ways:
1). It can be used to fuel daily activities. This encompasses everything from running to walking, to watching TV. Yes, the body needs to consume energy even at rest, simply to stay alive and function (this is known as basal metabolic rate, but you don’t need to know about that yet). The more strenuous the activity, the more calories are burnt.
Or….
2). It is stored as fat. If the calories you consume aren’t eventually burnt through daily activities, they will be converted to fat. This is a biological mechanism which helped our caveman ancestors store energy when food was abundant so that it could be tapped into during times of scarcity.
Now we understand the Calorie Principle, can you guess why your body is storing excess fat? Yup, you are consuming more calories than you are burning. Your body is said to be in a “calorie surplus”.
An effective weight-loss programme aims to get our body to enter a “calorie deficit” state. This simply means the body is using more energy than it is consuming. The greater the deficit, the faster we will burn off that fat.
Entering A Calorie Deficit
You can put your body in a fat-burning calorie deficit state by creating an effective diet plan. We will explore this in more depth later.
But first, a disclaimer: The most sustainable and safest way to lose fat is to create a diet and exercise plan that puts the body in a “mild” state of calorie deficiency (~400 daily calorie deficit). By doing so, you can expect to lose up to a pound a week, and still, carry on with your daily life.
Now, you may be thinking:
“But I want to lose weight fast! Let’s just go on a 1000 daily calorie deficit”
My response to that? Yes, you can try a major calorie deficit in theory. But please really consider what that would involve:
You could carry on consuming your daily indulgences, but commit to hours of strenuous exercise every day. Or you could simply choose not to do any exercise, but commit to a lettuce diet and starve yourself. In theory, both methods could put us in a major calorie deficit.
Is this sustainable? The answer is likely a resounding NO!
Trust me, I have gone on a 1000 daily calorie deficit programme before. I lasted a week! Admittedly, I lost 2.5 pounds. But I was lethargic, had insomnia, and was downright miserable. That’s not to say you can’t try it though. And you have my utmost respect if you can persevere with it. But I recommend a more modest approach to set yourself up for long-term weight loss success.
Now that’s out the way, let’s learn how to can create an effective diet plan to put us in a calorie deficit to rapidly lose weight.
Personal Diet Plans
Every diet plan should be tailored to your own personal tastes. That way, you are more likely to stay with the plan and achieve fast results. That being said, we need to establish some general rules on foods to include and avoid:
Foods To Include:
1) Lean Meats.
Essential for body growth and repair, and keep us satiated (feeling “full”).
Chicken, turkey, and seafood are the obvious choices (trim the skin of the poultry).
Some red meats such as pork and duck are also ok in moderation (but trim the fat and skin, which accounts for up to 80% of the unhealthy fat content).
2) Good Carbohydrates.
Provides us with the energy to carry out our daily lives and fuel our workouts. Also keeps us satiated.
Whole grains (brown rice/bread/pasta/oats), potatoes, sweet potatoes, and buckwheat (like soba noodles).
Carbs are not bad for us! Our ancestors have been eating them for thousands of years! “Bad carbs” are bad for us (See below).
3) Fresh Vegetables.
Provides us with key vitamins and minerals which are essential for key bodily functions. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies often lead to mild to severe health complications. Fibre also keeps our digestive system healthy.
Leafy greens (spinach and kale), broccoli, peas, and chillies (shown to increase your metabolism), have been shown to promote weight loss.
If it comes from the ground, chances are it’s good for you! Eat your veggies!
Frozen veg is acceptable. But make sure it’s not processed with artificial additives.
4) Fresh Fruit.
Provides us with key vitamins and minerals. They also contain fructose (a healthier variant of glucose which is found in sweets and confectionary). It’s ok to treat yourself to sugary foods when dieting. But make it an apple rather than a Mars bar!
Kiwi, berries, and citrus are all packed with vital nutrients and have been shown to contribute to fat loss. High sugar/fat fruits such as bananas and avocados are still healthy, but should be consumed in moderation (make sure you account for their calories!)
5) Legumes.
These are powerhouses for fibre, protein, and good carbs. They have been shown to promote weight loss and should be included in your diet.
Kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc.
5) Nuts.
Although they contain relatively high levels of calories, they are also very healthy. They have been shown to facilitate weight loss. But it can be easy to overconsume nuts. So make sure you portion correctly!
Almonds, brazil, and cashew nuts are perfect snacking foods, together with fruits.
Foods To Avoid:
1) Processed Meat.
These are foods which have been mechanically processed with sugar, salt, and additives. They have also been shown to be carcinogenic (causes cancer). Tasty, but stay away.
Canned meats, hotdogs, and ready meats (processed, cooked, and frozen). If that chicken doesn’t look like chicken, it’s probably processed!
2) Fatty Meats.
Fat is extremely calorie-rich and will have you in a calorie surplus in no time. Meats should have their fat trimmed. Aside from the trimmed fat, there is also a high-fat content within the meat itself.
Bacon, fatty steaks, gammon steaks, pork belly.
3) White Rice, Pasta, And Bread.
These are made from brown rice and wheat with the fibre-rich outer layer removed. It makes the product more palatable, but also increases the glycemic index. This has been shown to correlate with weight gain.
5) Baked And Fried Foods.
These are usually high in fat, sugar, and calories. The butter and oil used in processing these foods are usually high in trans-fats (associated with obesity).
Pastries, cookies, french fries, chips. No good!
6) Sugary Drinks And Confectionary.
This is a major culprit for excessive weight gain. Refined sugars are “empty calories”. Consuming sugary drinks and confectionary will add many calories to your diet and still leave you unsatiated. Many people see surprising weight loss results by simply cutting this food and drinks from their diet altogether.
Soda, sports drinks, vitamin water (these are deceptively unhealthy), chocolate, and sweets.
7) Alcohol
Another major culprit for unwanted pounds. Most alcoholic beverages are packed with sugar, bad carbs, and empty calories. Alcohol can also make us crave and snack on unhealthy junk foods such as chips and burgers. Finally, it has been shown that alcohol can prevent the body from burning fat.
8) Fast Food
This should be a no-brainer. Fast food is usually highly processed with unsellable fatty meat cuts, sugar, and salt. Even “healthy” fast food is usually unhealthy. Exceptions are fast salads, but don’t underestimate the sugar and fat in their sauces!
Mcdonalds, Burger King, Subway (their meats are usually processed), etc.
Now you know which foods to are good and bad, let’s find out how you can create a diet plan.
Creating A Diet Plan
Dieting is not easy. That’s why a plan should always be tailored to our own tastes. This makes it a much more enjoyable experience and increases the likelihood you will stick to our plan.
Now that we’ve established what foods to include and exclude, we can create our plan.
For those who are new to dieting (or have tried and failed in the past), I highly recommend creating a set daily menu. This means creating a menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We shall be eating this set menu every day of the week.
The major benefit of following a daily set menu is that it provides a solid structure to follow. This will make it easier to stick with, and harder for to deviate from the plan. To add variety, you can always change the set menu at the end of every week. Meals can also be prepped in Tupperware containers for a healthy lunch at the office.
Each meal should be balanced. So make sure to include a combination of lean meats, fresh vegetables, good carbs and/or legumes. Consume fresh fruit and nuts to fight those snack cravings between meals.
An example of a lunch could be grilled chicken thigh with steamed broccoli and sweet potato.
But how do you portion meals correctly? How much chicken and how much potato?
Let’s find out!
Counting Calories
A calorie count refers to the process of counting each and every daily calorie we consume. This may seem daunting for a beginner, but it really is not hard. If you spend some time learning how to calorie count effectively, it really sets you up for success. Fail at calorie counting, and we risk those hidden calories entering our lumps and bumps.
Let me explain how to calorie count effectively for weight loss…
First, you need to establish your daily recommended caloric intake. This is the number of daily calories you need to consume to satisfy your energy needs. It’s typically ~ 2400 for men and ~2000 for women. But the exact number will vary depending on your age, gender, and lifestyle (e.g. are you sedentary or active?).
When you meet your recommended caloric intake, you will maintain your weight. When you go over or under, you gain or lose weight (respectively).
WebMD has a helpful chart to determine your required caloric intake.
Once you have established our recommended daily caloric intake, you have a number on which to base your diet plan on.
For example, based on the WebMD chart, my recommended daily caloric intake would be ~2500 (I am a 30-year-old male with a moderately active lifestyle).
Since I want to be in a mild caloric deficit to lose weight, I would subtract 300 calories.
Thus, my goal is to consume 2200 calories per day. In other words, the total number of calories in all the meals and snacks I consume throughout the day should add up to 2200 (don’t worry about being a few calories over or under).
I would then plan my daily meals and snacks to hit that 2200 calorie target. I recommend distributing more calories to breakfast and lunch periods. This allows the body time to burn off calories throughout the day. Consuming a modest dinner would prevent those calories from being stored as fat when you go to sleep.
My daily set menu could look something like this:
Breakfast- 500 calories (oatmeal with cut-up banana)
Morning snack- 250 calories (almonds and apple)
Lunch 1 – 700 calories (grilled chicken thigh with steamed broccoli and sweet potato)
Afternoon snack- 250 calories (brazil nuts and kiwi)
Dinner- 500 calories (turkey breast with wholewheat fusilli pasta)
Total – 2200 calories.
Now let me explain how to portion your meals to hit your daily calorie goal.
If you don’t have these already, you will need a set of kitchen and body scales (we are spending money I know! But these can be found cheaply on amazon and will significantly increase your chances of succeeding).
Kitchen scales should have a bowl (to stop awkward foods like oats, and berries from falling everywhere ) and measure in grams. Body scales should be digital and measured in pounds to at least 1 decimal place (e.g. 121.1 pounds).
The kitchen scales will allow you to determine the exact number of calories in a particular ingredient.
For example:
100g of the chicken thigh has 177 calories. So 50g would have 88.5 calories. And 200g would have 354 calories.
Google is a good resource to find out the calorie content of foods. Simply search “chicken thigh calories”. There are also many apps like FatSecret which contain a database of millions of foods.
Now you know exactly how much chicken, broccoli, and sweet potato should be in your lunch tomorrow.
Simply apply the same steps to plan your breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. The total calorie count of your meals should be close to your desired calorie count. If you find yourself over/under your desired calorie count, simply tweak your meals accordingly.
Exercise To Turbocharge Weight Loss
So far, we have focused on creating an effective diet plan to lose weight. What about an exercise programme? You may be thinking:
“I hate exercising, and my job doesn’t leave me much free time. Can I achieve my goals just with my diet plan?”
The answer is yes. And many people do. But If we combine our calorie-deficit diet plan with an effective exercise programme, we will turbocharge results.
Try it yourself. Start by committing to a 30-minute workout 3 days a week. If you also maintain that calorie deficit, you will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you will start shedding those pounds. Find an exercise suitable for you!
You don’t require a gym membership for an effective workout. Here are some great free workout ideas:
1) Walking- exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous to lose weight. Numerous studies have shown that regular brisk walks facilitate fat loss.
1) Jogging- create a playlist, put your earphones in, and choose a scenic route. You can burn off up to 200 calories or more in a 30-minute jog (depending on how fast you jog).
2) Cycling- this is a great and fun way to exercise. Hill climbs are a surefire way to help you shed those pounds!
3) Home workout videos- in today’s world of youtube and apps, it’s not hard to find free guided workout videos. These can often be performed in your own home with no equipment. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts can be challenging, but amazing at blasting that fat away.
4) Yoga- perfect for those who would rather exercise in the comfort of their own homes.
5) Hiking- if you are fortunate enough to have local trails nearby, go for a hike! Uphill climbs are perfect for losing weight and enjoying mother nature.
Remember I recommended getting a set of body scales? Weigh yourself every day. Ideally at the same time each day. I usually weigh myself every morning, right after I wake up and “uh-hum” use the lavatory.
Record your daily weight and take an average every week. To do this, simply add up your weights throughout the week, and divide that value by the number of days.
For example:
Mon- 125.1lb
Tue- 124.5lb
Wed- 127.5lb
Thur- 124.1lb
Fri- 122.1lb
Sat- 121.4lb
Sun- 121.9lb
Average weight – 123.8lb (866.6lb / 7 days)
If you follow your calorie-deficit diet, you should find your weight rapidly decreases every week!
Comparing weekly average weights rather than daily weights will provide a reliable indicator of weight loss.
Why? Think how demoralising it would be to see your weight increase by 3lb’s on Wednesday in the example above! This can and will happen. It’s due to the variations in our bodily system and measuring errors in the scale.
If you find your average weekly weight is not decreasing (or worse, it’s increasing), don’t panic! You may have made an error in your calorie count. Simply increase the calorie deficit until you see your weight decrease.
Are You Ready To Lose Weight? You Can Do It!
In this post, we’ve covered how an effective diet plan should be personalised to you specifically. We detail the foods you should include in a diet plan, and how to structure your daily meals. We’ve described how calorie counting will help you maintain a state of caloric deficit. And we explained how a caloric deficit will help us lose weight rapidly.
Everyone is entitled to a healthy body which they can be proud of. But losing weight is not always an easy task for most people.
It requires willpower to stick to a diet plan. It also requires a degree of knowledge to build an effective weight-loss programme. In fact, there’s an entire industry profiting from it. But you can also learn how to lose weight by yourself!
Weight loss can be a long, frustrating, and costly journey for someone who doesn’t know what to do. But it doesn’t have to be. I hope this post has empowered you with the knowledge required to succeed as you begin your own journey to shedding that weight.
I have provided you with the knowledge. And I hope you can provide yourself with the willpower to achieve your goals!
Thanks for reading guys!
My goal is to create a community at Kalibre Fitness where we can all help each other realise our health and fitness goals.
This is my first blog post, so I would really appreciate the honest feedback. Have you got any questions about losing weight? Is there anything you would like me to discuss in the future?
Please send me a comment below!
Alternatively, email me at kal@kalibrefitness.com.
See you soon!
Peace Out,
Kal
