If I were to distill it down to just a few key components for maintaining a strong, healthy body, counting macros wouldn’t even make my top five. ⠀ ⠀ Are you surprised by this? ⠀ ⠀ Given how I’ve made so much progress in reaching my goals by macro counting, I was at first.⠀ ⠀ While macro counting is like rocket fuel for charging forward toward body composition goals and life-changing for people who thrive on precision or getting shredded, it is absolutely the peak in the bell curve of what needs to be done to achieve fat loss. And I don’t think it is anyone’s goal to do it forever. ⠀ ⠀ If you are just setting out on your journey to lose, finishing up a reverse diet or simply want to live your life without worrying about weight coming back on, these 5 tips are for you. ⠀ ⠀ ✅ Ritualize your activity - Finish this sentence as related to your daily movement: ‘everyday I...” Hit 10k steps? Take a walk after lunch? Get up at the top of every hour to stretch? Practice mobility as soon as my feet hit the floor? When your life automatically includes movement, your metabolism responds and fires accordingly. Make activity automatic and you’ll never track your steps again.
✅ Reduce processed food consumption - I like an 85/25 split; Arguably the most impactful because once you start eating mostly foods that you buy on the outer aisles of the grocery store and preparing at home, it becomes infinitely more satisfying and you are much less likely to overeat. Think about it; a pound of strawberries is full of water and micronutrients for 150 calories. A pound of chocolate covered pretzels is 1500 calories, gone in 6 handfuls and you’re left craving more.
✅ Prioritize healthy relationships - surround yourself by those who level you up. If you’re always the smartest, strongest, kindest, most educated person in the room, you’re in the wrong room. Ditto for sitting at tables of people who talk about you once you get up.
✅ Establish a sleep hygiene routine - this is the one no one wants to do because there are already too few hours in the day. But without those 7-8 hours of sleep per night, you are spinning your wheels. Reverse engineer your night to ensure this happens, even if it means beginning to prepare for sleep before dinner. I am referring to things that *must* be done before the end of the night in order for you to relax into rest.
✅ Never stop learning - find something you love and dig in. Is it recipes? Optimizing habits? Staying on top of the latest evidence-based research on something the health field? Subscribe to your favorite experts’ podcasts and read their books/email blasts to keep soaking it up!And for those of us who are deep into the thrill of macros, carry on! For me, understanding how to track and count has been instrumental in hitting my goals and finding freedom in food. But I never want to send a message that it is the only way or the optimal way for every person out there. ⠀ ⠀ It is so easy to sing the praises of macro counting when it comes to results, but I know in the past I have been guilty of neglecting some foundational behaviors that could really have moved the needle outside of diving head first into the pinnacle of targeted fat loss.⠀ ⠀ What do you think about these 5 tactics - outside of macros?! Please share, I’d love to hear others opinions!!