How To Lose Weight And Eat Whatever You Want

by Nick Anderson | Jul 22, 2022 | Fat Loss

You’ve probably been told that if you want to lose weight, you have to eat a certain way.  But what if I told you that you could lose weight and eat whatever you want?

Have you ever tried a diet where the number one rule was to cut carbs?

And then you find yourself having wet dreams about a loaf of thinly sliced Italian bread?

Have you ever tried a low-fat diet?  And you go all week without eating cheese.

And then you find yourself in trance, wandering to the refrigerator, shoveling shredded cheese directly into your mouth, like a cheese goblin that just escaped from captivity, and wandered into a store that exclusively sells shredded cheese.

I get it, because I’ve lived it.

For the vast majority of people, elimination diets don’t work.

Because the moment that you tell yourself you can’t have something, it’s the only thing you want.

And then you tell yourself “No, I’m an adult.  I can have whatever I want.”  And since you’ve been restricting yourself of that one sweet thing you really want, it turns into an all out binge fest, because you then tell yourself this is the “last time” you’ll ever have it.

Pro Tip:  It won’t be the last time.

How To Lose Weight And Eat Whatever You Want

What Is Flexible Dieting?

Flexible dieting is a simple weight loss plan that allows foods that fit within your calorie budget.

If it fits your calories, you can eat it.

If it doesn’t… well, technically you can.  But it’s not going to be conducive to your weight loss goals.

So that means, if you really want a slice of pizza, and it fits your calories, you can eat pizza and lose weight.

So I Can Eat Whatever I Want?

Yes!  But that doesn’t mean you can eat however much of whatever you want.

Because you still have to stay within your calorie limit.

Fat loss works by being in a calorie deficit.

Which is when you give your body fewer calories than it uses.

And while this is the founding principle for weight loss, it doesn’t mean you should eat a diet consisting of solely Blueberry Pop-Tarts with butter smeared on the back.

Though believe it or not, this actually does work for weight loss.

The Twinkie Diet

For 10 weeks, Dr. Mark Haub, a nutrition professor at Kansas State University did something that become dubbed as “The Twinkie Diet”.

His diet consisted of mainly convenience store items.  Twinkies, snack cakes, Doritos.  He also included a multi-vitamin, and a protein shake.  So he wouldn’t… you know… die.

But the key, is that he limited himself to 1,800 calories.  Which for a man of his size, puts him in a calorie deficit.

And at the end of experiment, Dr. Haub dropped 27 pounds.

So with that being said, should you try the Twinkie Diet?

I want to be very clear here.

I do not think you should try the Twinkie Diet, and I do not recommend for this for any of my online coaching clients, nor anyone reading this article.

While it did work for Dr. Haub, this is a study with a sample size of one.

But it does illustrate the point, that you can eat whatever you want and lose weight.

How To Lose Weight And Eat Whatever You Want

Does Calorie Counting Work?

Calorie counting can be a great tool to know how much you’re actually eating.

And when you’re tracking accurately, it can be a great tool for fat loss, to make sure you have achieved a calorie deficit.

This is my online coaching client, and good friend Kate

After tracking her calories over the course of the time we’ve been wokring together, she’s lost 70 pounds.

And she didn’t have to give up any of her favorite foods.

She also refused to take off those stupid glasses.

My online coaching client Heidi, who lost 45 pounds working with me.

And while she did fight me every step of the way, through counting her calories, she was able to lose the weight she wanted.

And she was able to do it while eating pizza, completely guilt free.

So yes, calorie counting does work.

But for some, calorie counting can lead down a dark hole of obsessing about every gram of spinach, and if you go one calorie over your target, it triggers a complete breakdown.

The key is knowing which type you are.

So if you are the type of person that feels anxious by the idea of tracking their food intake, as to what it might do to your relationship with food, then this option might not be for you.  And that’s okay.

Good Calories Vs. Bad Calories?

Everyone knows that given the choice between blueberries, and brownies.  Blueberries is the more nutritious option.

The blueberries has a much healthier nutrient profile.  It’ll fill you for fewer calories, it has more vitamins, minerals, nutrients.

But if you have 100 calories of brownies, or 100 calories of blueberries.  It’s still 100 calories.

Calories are a unit of measurement for energy.

Just like a mile is a unit of measurement for distance.

If you run one mile, whether it’s on a flat road, through waist deep water, or at a 20 degree incline, it’s still a mile.

It may be harder for you to get through that mile based on the conditions, but it is still a mile.

It’s the same thing with a calorie.

The nutrients may change across different foods.

Which, depending on how many nutrients you get across your foods, may make hitting a calorie target more or less difficult, and energy levels may change based on the nutrient profiles you receive from food.

A calorie is still a calorie, whether it comes from blueberries or brownies.

And when it comes to fat loss.  Calories are what dictates whether or not you lose fat.

Not how many nutrients you get, not how many vitamins, minerals, or gallons of kale you force feed yourself.

It’s the relationship of how many calories you eat, versus how many calories you expend.

But, that doesn’t mean calories are the only thing that matters for your consistency.

Emphasize Nutritious Foods

For this whole flexible dieting thing to work, calories is number one.

Aside from that, is a heavy emphasis on food that will help you Feel Full In A Calorie Deficit.

Making sure that roughly 80% of your diet comes from things like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and protein, is going to go very far for you to be able to stick to being in a calorie deficit.

Because while going to McDonald’s is awesome, it doesn’t fill you up.

Think how much you’d have to eat at McDonald’s before you felt full.

I could easily eat two Big Macs, and 1,100 calories later, still reach for the fries.

Not because of gluttony, but because a Big Mac is not rich in nutrients, and is not a satiating food that fills you.

If I were to eat a salad, however.  Filled with lettuce, cucumbers, chicken, and other vegetables, it would make me feel a lot more full, for a lot less calories.

This is why, it’s so important to build a diet based mainly of nutrient dense foods.

A nutrient dense food is high in nutrients, and low in calories.

Satiety Vs. Satisfaction: The Balance of Nutritious Vs. Delicious Foods

Feeling full is important for being in a calorie deficit.  But what about foods that don’t make you feel full?

This article is titled How To Lose Weight And Eat Whatever You Want right?

Well, we as humans don’t always want chicken, rice, and broccoli.

We want to have ice cream, and tacos, and pizza.

Because these foods are satisfying to the palate.

While you might feel physically amazing eating broccoli, it can leave you wanting a little something extra.

So while it’s of the utmost importance to prioritize nutritious foods, I also believe it’s important to include some foods that you enjoy from time to time.

Because if you are eating nothing but nutrient dense foods all the time, you’re restricting yourself from all the things that you actually enjoy.

And what you restrict, is what you ultimately binge.

The key is, to include these foods as part of your calorie deficit.

If you are allowing room for delicious foods, and staying in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight.

How Many Calories To Eat To Lose Weight And Eat Whatever You Want?

In order to make losing weight stick for good, it’s crucial to make sure you’re eating less calories than you body burns.

But, it’s also crucial that you eat enough calories.

Because eating too few, even though you are in a calorie deficit, can have some serious negative effects.

If you’re calories are too low, you are not providing your body with enough energy to support its daily functions.

Which will leave you feeling exhausted, unenergetic, and so cranky your head might burst into flames.

It will also make it nearly impossible for you to stick to.  And you won’t have the flexibility to fit whatever you want into your day.

So you have to balance eating few enough calories that you are in a calorie deficit, but also enough calories so that you can stick to it long term.

In order to find that sustainable range, you can use my Free Fat Loss Calorie Calculator.

This way you can lose weight sustainably, and not rip your boss’s head off when you get an e-mail from them.

How To Lose Weight And Eat Whatever You Want: Final Thoughts

So yes, it is absolutely possible to lose weight and eat whatever you want.

But the key is to above all, be in a calorie deficit.

Include plenty of highly nutritious foods, and save some room for the delicious foods when you want them.

I hope this has helped you, and if you have any questions, leave them in the comments below.

Much love,

Nick

Is It Okay To Drink Diet Soda For Weight Loss?

by Nick Anderson | Mar 18, 2022 | Fat Loss

Is it okay to drink diet soda for weight loss?

Diet soda has zero calories, and since the only way to gain body fat is to eat more calories than your body needs, which your body then stores as fat.

But even with diet soda being zero calories, there can be a lot of hype out around whether diet soda is safe to drink, and whether or not the added chemicals can cause weight gain.

In this article, we are going to deep dive what the research says, both in favor of, and against diet soda contributing to weight gain.

Then we will reach a conclusion at the end, and you can learn once and for all whether or not diet soda is okay to drink.

So put your reading glasses on, your thinking cap, and also, a pair of really cozy socks.  Because you should be comfortable.

Let’s get into it.

What Is Diet Soda Made Of?

Before we dive into whether the chemicals of diet soda can be harmful or helpful, let’s first understand what is in diet soda.

The thing that scares people about diet soda, is the artificial sweeteners.

Most diet sodas, the popular brands, Coke/Pepsi, contain the artificial sweetener aspartame (which is also known as NutriSweet or Equal).

It’s about 200 times sweeter than regular sugar, and was approved by the FDA in 1981 for use in dry foods, then approved as a general sweetener in 1996.

Like most artificial sweeteners, it was discovered by accident.  Just like when I “accidentally” threw a Nintendo 64 controller at my brother’s head during a spirited game of Mario Kart.

So why does aspartame get a bad rap?

Let’s get into some of the claims around aspartame and diet soda in general, and break down what they mean, and if they are accurate.

Does Aspartame Cause Cancer?

There are several studies done that link aspartame to cancer.

Here’s one study on it.  Which shows a strong link between cancer risk in multiple organs when consuming even low doses of aspartame.

However, this study is performed on rats.

And you’re not a rat.

Your body is very different to that of a rat.

So let’s look on some of the research done on actual humans.

Here’s a study that observed 473,984 participants, and surveyed them on their use of aspartame.

.004% of the participants were found to have cancerous symptoms, after a period of 5 years, and this study did not find a link between aspartame and cancer.

As well as this article which finds no link between aspartame and cancer, among the vast amount of medical research done across of PubMed.

So no, as long as you are not a rat, part rat, or occasionally work night shifts as a rat, you are not at risk for cancer from drinking diet soda.

Does Drinking Diet Soda Cause Weight Gain?

This question stems from a comment I got on my Instagram recently.

I made a post about how all foods are okay to eat, and the comment I got was such this.

“Ummm… not exactly that simple.  The thing that breaks this rule is Diet Coke… It has zero calories… But study after study shows it actually makes you gain weight due to the chemicals they put in it.”

If you’ve been coming to my page for a while, you know that weight loss occurs when your body takes in less calories than your body burns.

And weight gain occurs when your body takes in more calories when your body burns.

This happens to coincide with the first law of thermodynamics, which summarizes that energy cannot be created or destroyed.

Body fat is in essence, stored energy.

And since a calorie is a unit of measurement for energy, you simply cannot store energy from something with no energy in it.

The studies supporting weight gain from drinking diet soda, are mostly on rats.

Which we’ve already identified as problematic, so I won’t bother linking them.

Here’s a study where 154 participants were randomly assigned to consume different types and dosages of no-calorie sweeteners, including aspartame every day for 12 weeks, and controlled daily calorie intake

And this study found that those who consumed aspartame daily for 12 weeks ended up losing weight.

Here’s a meta-analysis which analyzes the results of several randomized controlled trials on humans and artificial sweetener intake.

Their findings showed no evidence suggesting weight gain in adults, adolescents, or children.  It found that replacing sugar with artificial sweetener induced weight loss.

Which makes sense because you’d be replacing something with calories (sugar) for something without calories (artificial sweeter).

Does Drinking Diet Soda Trick Your Brain Into Thinking It’s Real Sugar?

The argument here is that your body thinks the aspartame is real sugar, and so your body releases insulin in response.

This study tested 12 non-diabetes subjects, and 10 non-insulin dependent diabetic patients, handed them a Diet Coke, and a friendly smile, then measured their insulin levels.

Okay maybe that’s not exactly how it happened, but the important thing is what they found.

No meaningful effect on their insulin levels.

In fact, after scouring PubMed for hours, I couldn’t find a single well done study that linked aspartame to insulin release.

If you found one, let me know.

Even the studies on the rats didn’t invoke an insulin response.

Research aside, let’s think about it.

Insulin is released to lower your blood sugar levels.

So if your body releases insulin to lower blood sugar levels, even though your blood sugar hasn’t been raised.

This would make your blood sugar level lower than normal.  Which is otherwise known as hypoglycemia.

If you’re having a hypoglycemic response to diet soda, that is a medical emergency, and very abnormal.

Are There Benefits Of Diet Soda?

My favorite claim against diet soda is that it has no nutritional value whatsoever.

And that is 100% true.

But neither does water.

Here’s the deal.  Aspartame is refered to as a non-nutritive sweeter.  So we know just by its definition, that it does not have any nutrients.

Something having no nutritional value just means that it has no nutrients in it, it doesn’t make something bad.

Water doesn’t have nutrients in it, but your body needs it to survive.

Of course, I’m not saying that your body needs diet soda to survive.

But I’m not saying it’s bad either.  It’s like adding food coloring to food.  There’s nothing nutritious about it, it’s just there.  Doing no harm.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s completely devoid of health benefits.

For one, it’s first ingredient is water.  So by drinking diet soda, you’re getting hydration benefits.  I mean, you should probably be drinking real water too, but this helps.

Secondly, you are getting some satisfaction out of drinking it.  If it’s something you’re enjoying, and it’s not doing any harm, that is a benefit.

Wrapping It All Up

So we’ve learned that diet soda isn’t bad for you.

And even has a few benefits from it.

Bottom line is this:  If you enjoy drinking diet soda, then it is absolutely okay to drink.

And it might even make things a little easier for you.

Much love,

Nick

Why The Scale Fluctuates

by Nick Anderson | Jan 5, 2022 | Fat Loss

You wake up in the morning, and step on the scale.

Before you step on, you do a little wish, prayer and a fart, to get that extra air out.

Close your eyes and let the scale gods work their magic.

Open your eyes and… WHAT… UP 2 POUNDS???

That’s gotta be a misread right?

The scale was just on an uneven part of the floor, right?

You move the scale, step back on and WHAT?? UP 2.2 POUNDS?

Now you’re running to grab the sledgehammer out of the basement.

Well hold on, don’t smash that scale just yet.

Because I’m here to tell you that you did not gain 2 pounds of fat overnight.

I’m going to tell how how difficult it actually is to gain 2 pounds of fat in a day.

I’m going to tell you all the reasons the scale might fluctuate.

And I’m going to tell you what you should and should not do, when you see that number on the scale go up.

Did I Actually Gain 2 Pounds Overnight?

Gaining body fat requires taking in more calories than your body expends.

Gaining 2 pounds of body fat in a day required eating 7,000 calories over the amount of calories your body expends.

Which is the equivalent of 12 and a half Big Macs

And that’s 12 and a half Big Macs over your maintenance calories (which you can find here)

So unless you actually did have to pull off to the side of the drive thru while McDonalds Joe made a world record number of Big Macs in a minute for you, then you didn’t gain 2 pounds of fat overnight.

Yet the fact remains, the scale is up two pounds.

Why The Scale Fluctuates Up

Reason 1: Higher Carb Day

I want to be very clear by starting this section off with saying just because the scale might go up with more carbs, that does not mean carbs or bad and contribute to fat gain.

Carbs do not contribute to fat gain.

As I mentioned above, fat gain comes from more calories than your body expends.

But, when you have a few extra carbs the night before, you may see an increase on the scale in the morning.

This is because when you eat carbs, your body breaks them down into glycogen, which just so happens to be the main source of energy for the cells in your body.

When you eat carbs, your body stores glycogen in various places in your body.

For every 1 gram of carbs you eat, your body has to store 3-4 grams of water to store the glycogen in its secret lair known as your muscles and liver (and throughout your body).

1 pound equals roughly 454 grams.

So having extra carbs in your system is going to add water weight to your weigh in pretty quickly.

But remember, it’s just water weight.

Water weight certainly causes the scale to fluctuate

But your goal isn’t to lose water weight is it?

It’s to lose body fat.

Reason 2: You Need To Poo

I know what you’re doing.

You’re reading this article while you’re on the toilet right now, aren’t you, you dirty dog?

Well great, if you just weighed yourself, wipe, flush, and go weigh yourself again.

Because when you step on the scale before going to the bathroom, you’re not only weighing yourself, you’re also weighing all the sacrifices you’re about to make to the Porcelain Gods.

If you want a more accurate measure of weight, go drop those off first.

You can hold 1-3 pounds, or even more (depending on how bad you gotta go) of poop weight.

If you weigh yourself one day without any of the poop weight, and then the next without… of course the scale fluctuates.

By the way, I made this “Reason 2” on purpose.  I never turn down a poop joke.

Reason 3: Sodium

Is sodium bad for you?

Noooooo. Your body needs sodium to survive.

But just like when you have some extra carbs, when you have some extra sodium, your body holds more water.

This is because your body tries to maintain a salt/water concentration that is similar to sea water.

And when you have more sodium, your body needs to hold on to more water to retain the appropriate concentration to have your body feeling and performing at its best.

For every 0.4 grams of sodium, you retain roughly 2 pounds of water.

Drinking excess water helps to flush this out of your system to retain the appropriate concentration.

But the important thing to remember is it’s just extra water in your body.

Resume normal functions, and the water leaves your body.

Reason 4: Stress

One more time for the people in the back.

The only thing that makes you gain body fat is more calories than your body expends.

Stress doesn’t make you gain body fat on its own.

However, stress can contribute to fat gain through the decisions made while under stress.

If you constantly find yourself stress eating, and consistently overeating calories, then yes, you will put on body fat.

It’s easy for me to say, just be less stressed.  But that’s not how the world works.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s assume that’s not the case.  Let’s assume, you’re under stress (aren’t we all), but you’re managing your stress and it’s not affecting your fat loss related decisions.

Yet the scale is still up, what gives?

Cortisol

Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone.

When your boss texts you at 5:30 AM saying “emergency”, that’s going to to cause your cortisol levels to spike.

And when your cortisol levels spike, your body holds more water.

It can also lead to increased appetite, which goes back to point one of this paragraph.

In short here, higher stress = higher water retention.  And as we’ve learned from here, water has weight to it.

Reason 5: Time of the month

This one’s for the ladies only.

So if you’re a dude, you can either skip this section, or you can read on, because just because it doesn’t affect you directly doesn’t mean it’s not important.

Now if you’re a lady, you’ve probably experienced some bloating during menstruation.

There’s a common theme around bloating, throughout this article.  And that is that it is just water weight.

Here’s the good news, this cycle has an end.

Like I tell my online coaching clients, even though the scale may go up, as long as you just stay on track, that number will go back down.

What NOT To Do When The Scale Fluctuates Upwards

So we’ve learned that when the scale fluctuates up, it’s generally cause by increased water retention.

You now know that you didn’t gain 2 pound of fat overnight, unless you went berserk at the McDonald’s drive thru.

Here are some things you should avoid doing when the scale goes up.

1. Panicking

It’s okay, you now have the awareness to know that you didn’t undo all your progress in a night.

Think of it this way.

You can’t gain all of your progress in one day, so you can’t ruin your progress in one day

It takes just as much time to undo the progress as it took to make it.

2. Making Up For It

So the scale is up, and now you think to yourself, “okay, I’ll just eat a little less today to make up for it.”

Don’t do this.

This is going to cause a classic restrict-binge cycle.

By restricting calories today, this will cause your hunger hormones to fire up tomorrow.

So while you may be trying to “make up” for the weight gained, your body will be trying to make up for the missed food.

Causing you to be excessively hungry the following day, and then you end up raiding your pantry like an escaped war criminal.

3. Adding Extra Exercise

You don’t need to burn more calories from the extra weight.

Because it’s just water.

And it’s totally okay to hold on to a little extra water.

You don’t need to sweat it out just to see the number on the scale go down.

Because the great thing about water weight is, it goes away just as quickly as it comes on.

What To Do When The Scale Fluctuates Upwards

What exactly should you do when the scale fluctuates?

The dirty, unsexy truth is that you should just keep carrying on.

Don’t make any changes just because you see the number on the scale go up.

The scale is just a piece of data to show you how much your body weighs on a given day.

That weight includes not only your body fat, but your muscle mass, skeletal system, organs, and water.

The scale number is not an indicator of health, or self-worth.

So just keep carrying on as is, because this is a long-term journey.

And letting one weigh in dictate what you do on the day to day makes no sense.

Because it’s your consistent actions over time that provide long term success.

Now keep going, and keep doing your best.

Much love,

Nick

How To Lose Weight Working A Desk Job

by Nick Anderson | Dec 16, 2021 | Fat Loss

Former desk jockey turned online fitness coach here.  I know how hard it can be to lose weight working a desk job, and the cubical walls start closing in.

But I’m here to tell you it’s possible, because I’ve done it.

And I’m going to tell you how to lose weight working a 9-5 desk job too.

In the picture on the left, I was going out to lunch basically every day.

Sometimes it’d be a liquid lunch with a few pints of beer, and other times, straight up McDonald’s.

As the stress of the job piled on, so did the pounds.

And then I said enough is enough, so I learned how to lose weight working a desk job.

And I executed on it.

Not only did I do it for myself, I helped my online coaching clients do it too.

Like Christine, who works both from home and in an office setting.

Or Heidi, who lost 40 pounds working with me, and working behind a desk.

And they all did it by sticking to a few basic principles.

Which I am going to outline for you below.

If you want to learn to lose weight while reading e-mails that say things like “let’s touch base”, or “the ball is in your court”.

Then read on.

All I ask is for you to read every single word, and every single Michael Scott reference.

Don’t skim it, like you do to the e-mails from your boss.

I don’t want to have to send you an e-mail that starts with “Per my last e-mail…”

Deal?

Good.

Let’s Lose Weight Working A Desk Job

How Does Weight Loss Happen?

If you want to learn how to lose weight working a desk job, you’ll have to understand how weight loss works.

I know Cathy in accounting might tell you all about how cutting carbohydrates made her niece lose 150 pounds in a week.

And Vicky from HR swears by the ketogenic diet.

But these people work in accounting and HR, and are not qualified to give out nutrition advice.

Weight loss happens when you eat fewer calories than your body burns.

This is called being in a calorie deficit.

I won’t touch too much on what a calorie deficit is, but if you don’t know, you can find out right here.

The important part you need to know, is that your body loses fat if and only if you are in a calorie deficit.

No calorie deficit, no fat loss.

We can create a calorie deficit by taking in less calories than we put out.

So what are some simple ways to do that?

How to manage calories in for weight loss at your desk job

The easiest way to create a calorie deficit is by focusing on the calories you are taking in.

Which can be quite a struggle while working a desk job.

So let’s highlight a few simple strategies to balance calorie intake.

Strategy #1: Start your day with a big breakfast

At first glance this may seem counterintuitive.

In a world where health and fitness magazines tell us we should be eating 1,200 calories every single day, eating a large meal seems like it would be a bad strategy.

First and foremost, I want to tell you that you should not eat 1,200 calories unless you happen to be a 50 pound labradoodle.  And here’s why.

When you start your day with a big breakfast, you help fill yourself up with lots of nutrients to have the energy to take on the day, and whatever crap your boss is about to give you in a harshly worded e-mail.

This is also going to keep you full throughout the day.

Later on, we will get into some other morning strategies, but starting your day off on the right foot is going to be crucial to your success.

Because it sets the tone for the rest of the day.

Imagine yourself skipping breakfast.  Then you sit around starving, staring at the clock over the water cooler waiting for it to hit 12:00.

Since you’re so hungry, you’ll go out to lunch and overeat.

Then you’ll probably go home and do the same, since you’re not well fed enough.

You want to avoid this scenario at all costs, because it’s the easiest way to fall off track, by starting your day off on the wrong foot.

Something like oatmeal or eggs go a long way in the morning.  They keep you full for quite some time.

You’ll definitely want to be eating foods that Keep You Full In A Calorie Deficit.

Strategy #2: Bring lunch with you

Starting this section off with a warning.

Don’t you dare put fish in the office microwave.

Now that that’s out of the way.

Bringing lunch to work with you is a great way to help you cut back on unnecessary calories that you might get from going out.

It’s also going to save you a lot of money.

I’m not telling you to bring chicken broccoli and rice to work every single day.

I’m telling you to bring a nutritious meal, that’s going to make you feel good for the rest of your workday.

Something that’s going to be a bit more nutritious than the pastrami on rye that you’re ordering from the sandwich shop next door.

I’m also not telling you to bring an entire family size chicken pot pie to work.

But something that’s going to fill you up for the rest of your day, ideally has some vegetables in there, and is something you actually enjoy.

Strategy #3: Keep track of your calorie intake

This one can seem daunting.

It’s a skill that takes just a little bit of practice.

To do it, pull out your phone and download an app called MyFitnessPal.

First and foremost, do not use the calorie range it gives you, since it was probably 1,200.  We already talked about why not to do that.

What I want you to do instead is grab this free fat loss calorie calculator, and use that number for your calorie intake.

Use this and keep track of everything that goes into your mouth.

Everything you have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Every snack.  Every piece of candy Gail, the office manager brings in.

If you’re new to calorie tracking, you can use this free resource to help get started

How to manage calories out for weight loss at your desk job.

Strategy #1: Exercise before work.

Get your workout done before your work day starts.

I’m not saying you have to get up at 4 AM, and be the first one in the gym.

But before your work day starts, go get into the gym, lift some weights, and start your day on that positive note.

This one isn’t a “non-negotiable”, if you really can’t get into the gym before your work day, that’s fine.

There’s no wrong time to work out.  The right time to work out is the time you can be most consistent with.

However, before work is probably that time for most people.

What happens when you save your workout for after work?

You dread it the whole day, and as you’re dreading it throughout your work day, your brain will find hundreds and thousands of excuses to not go.

The old “Oh, I’m too tired from the work day now.” Or “Wellll I have to cook dinner, and then go to the post office and then bathe my parakeet.”

Your parakeet is fine.  Go to the gym.

Seriously though, things come up throughout the day, and they actually become valid excuses.

When you go in the morning, it’s out of the way early.

You don’t have time to build up the excuses, no time for dread, and no time for anything to come up that will prevent you from getting it done.

The world isn’t awake yet, it’s just you vs. the gym.

The e-mails haven’t rolled in yet, and your annoying co-worker who talks too loudly on the phone isn’t there to distract you.

You go in, you feel like a badass, get a nice little endorphin rush before work starts.

Now, in order to get up a little earlier, you’re going to have to go to bed a little earlier.

If you want to get up for 6:30, get in the gym by 7, get out by 8 and at work to 9 (holy crap that was a lot of numbers), you’ll have to go to bed by 10:30.

I certainly don’t want you staying up until 1AM, getting up at 6, and running off of 5 hours of sleep.

That’s not going to do anything positive for your fat loss or your career.

Don’t burn yourself out.

I also want to state that you don’t have to go to the gym every single day.

3-4 days a week of strength training is going to be massively beneficial for your fat loss, your health, and your posture.

If you’re not sure where to start on strength training, you can grab my Free Beginner’s Guide.

Strategy #2: Take a short walk every couple hours

If you’re getting 2,000 steps a day because you’re glued to your desk, it’s going to make things a lot harder.

Getting up and moving more, is not only going to be beneficial for your weight loss, but for your overall health.

First I want to discuss why walking is so important for losing weight working a desk job.

And to do that I’m going to give you a quick lesson on metabolism.

Metabolism is a very misunderstood process.

I’ll break it down nice and simple.

Your metabolism is the rate that your body burns calories to keep you alive.

Above is an image of how your metabolism is split up.

This is a picture of your total daily energy expenditure.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to know all of this, we are only going to discuss the first two, BMR and NEAT.

BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate, which is a fancy way of saying the rate your body burns calories just to keep your body functioning.  This is through the processes that keep your brain functioning, your heart beating, your lungs contracting, etc.  And it accounts for 70% of calorie burn.

This number is directly linked to how much lean muscle mass you have.  Remember earlier when I talked about strength training?  This is why.

The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns just by doing basically nothing.  Which is important, because while you are at your desk all day, you want to be burning more calories.

The next is NEAT, which stands for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.  Which is a fancy way of saying how many calories your body burns moving around naturally.

This is why walking is going to be so important for you.  It’s one of the easiest and most accessible ways to burn a few extra calories.

I want to stress here, I’m not asking you to go walk for your entire work day, and I’m not asking you to ditch meetings to go for a walk.

But what you can do, is step away from your desk for 10 minutes every few hours or so.

Get outside, get some sunlight, get away from your desk and take a little walk.

This is going to help improve your metabolic rate, help you get a little more movement in, and rejuvenate you to carry on with the rest of the day.

For me, I’m a person who’s very much into my work, and once I get going, it’s hard to pull me out of this.

So when I first tried to implement this strategy, I was skeptical.

But actually stepping away for a bit, and taking a small break really refreshed me to continue on with the rest of my day, and avoid that 3:00 slump.

Final Thoughts On How To Lose Weight At Your Desk Job

So there you have it.

You did a great job not skimming this, and I don’t need to send you an angry follow up e-mail.

You now have a few solid action items to implement into your life to help you lose weight right from your desk.

Except it won’t all be from your desk, because you’re going to get up and move a bit more.

But you might be having a few extra from your desk lunches.  Which is okay, because they’re going to be nice and nutritious and even have some vegetables in there.

I hope this has helped you understand what exactly it is you need to do.

But if it hasn’t, and you still have uncertainties.  E-mail me, [email protected], and I will be more than happy to help you.

Much love,

Nick

Why You Aren’t Losing Weight Eating 1,200 Calories

by Nick Anderson | Nov 24, 2021 | Fat Loss

If you’ve been eating 1,200 calories

And you aren’t losing weight.

I’m going to help you figure out why.

But more importantly, I’m going to tell you exactly what to do to fix it.

If you’re new here, my name is Nick.

I’m kind of a goof who makes too many dad jokes (and I’m not even a dad), and I also like lifting weights and drinking too much iced coffee (even in the winter).

But aside from that, I’m a normal (well, semi-normal) person, just like you.

A normal person who in my early adult life, gained a lot of weight.

And tried everything in the world to try and get it off.

Including eating 1,200 calories.

And just like you, I wasn’t losing weight on it.

Until through years of trial and error, and extensive research.  I learned how to fix it.

Then I lost the weight for myself.

From there, I helped my online coaching clients learn how to do it too

Like Heidi,

Who lost 45 pounds working with me.

So if you want to learn how to fix the problem

And want to learn why you aren’t losing weight eating 1,200 calories.

Read on.

But don’t skip around.

Read the whole damn thing.

Every word, every bad joke (there will be a few for sure).

Deal?

Good, let’s go.

How Fat Loss Happens

Fat loss occurs when you eat less calories than your body expends.

This is called a calorie deficit.

And it is the only way your body loses fat.

A calorie is a unit of measurement for energy.

Your body uses energy to support it’s daily functions, and keep you alive and thriving.

And when your body gets less energy than it needs to support these functions, that’s when your body burns fat.

So logically, at 1,200 calories you’d be in a pretty severe calorie deficit.

And since you’d be in such a heavy calorie deficit, you’d lose weight very quickly right?

Well, there’s a few problems with that.

Okay, so weight loss is hard, right?

You know what’s really hard?

Eating 1,200 calories consistently.

That’s why the number one cause of not losing weight on a 1,200 calorie diet is sticking to it.

Most people require more than 1,200 calories to actually feel full in a calorie deficit.

And 1,200 happens to be the minimum amount required to keep your body alive and functioning.

How much energy do you think your body is going to have when it’s running off the minimum amount required?

Your energy levels are going to be extraordinarily low.

By a certain point, your body will tell you enough is enough.

You’ll reach a point where you’re constantly daydreaming about food,

Then suddenly, through no fault of your own, you find your body listlessly dragging it’s way into the kitchen, with your mind completely out of the equation.

And then an hour later you find yourself covered in cheese doodles with your fingers caked in orange powder, with little to no memory of the preceding events.

And then what has happened?

Well, you definitely aren’t at 1,200 calories anymore.

And you are no longer in a calorie deficit, because you ate 1,400 calories worth of cheese doodles that weren’t even that good.

So by playing detective here, we can analyze these situations and begin to see why you aren’t losing weight on 1,200 calories.

Because you aren’t actually eating 1,200 calories.

Your week probably looks like:

Monday: 1,200 calories, feeling great!

Tuesday: 1,200 calories, this is easy!

Wednesday: 1,200 calories, I’m hungry.

Thursday: 1,200 calories, I can do it.

Friday: 3,500 calories, oops I ate a single cheese doodle and then the entire bag.

Saturday: 3,500 calories, well yesterday was ruined, so why not today too?

Sunday: 3,500 calories, I’ll get back on track tomorrow.

And the cycle repeats anew.

And if we do some quick math here, we see that your weekly intake is closer to 2,200 calories.

Obviously this is just an example, and this isn’t probably exactly what you’re doing.

But I’d guess if you found this article, the shoe fits in some way.

Okay, so maybe you aren’t going crazy in the cupboards at the end of the night on 1,200 calories.

Well, my dear friend.

If you aren’t, well then you probably aren’t actually eating 1,200 calories.

You may be eating much more.

If you’ve ever weighed out a serving of peanut butter, then you’ll understand what I mean.

If you haven’t, here’s an exercise for you.

You’ll need a food scale for this, you can usually get one for about $12, and it’s a solid investment if you’re trying to lose body fat.

So grab your food scale, place a jar of peanut butter on top.

Turn on the scale, and set it to grams.

With the jar on top, it should read zero gram (if it doesn’t, tare it).

Now grab a spoon, and take out enough peanut butter until it says -32 grams (one serving).

Surprised by how little peanut butter there is?

So if you’re convinced you’re eating 1,200 calories.  I want you to actually find out.

Use the food scale, weigh everything out.

Track every bite, lick and taste that goes into your mouth.

Find out if it’s accurate.

Like I said earlier, 1,200 calories is really hard to stick to.

You may do great with it for the first week, then decide it’s too hard, and go back to it.

Over and over again.

Truth be told, I don’t blame you.

It’s a road I’ve been down, and many others before you.

It looks something like this:

Week 1: 1,200 calories

Week 2: This is too hard, going to take a break

Week 3: I’ll get back on track next week

Week 4: 1,200 calories.

This pattern is taking you out of a calorie deficit.

And the point I’m really trying to hammer home here is:

You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

You’ve just learned the most important thing above.

The reason why you aren’t losing weight eating 1,200 calories is because you aren’t actually eating 1,200 calories.

So how do you fix it?

Should you be more strict?

Should you buckle down harder?

Surprisingly, the answer is no.

The answer is to eat more calories.

Because more calories will help sustain you better, and you’ll be much more likely to adhere to it.

So here’s your action item for the day:

Go grab this Free Fat Loss Calorie Calculator

Input your numbers directly into this.

I want you to ruthlessly stick to the calorie range given for 60 days.

Track your consistency.

Go out and get a calendar, a black marker, and a red marker.

Every day you are within your calorie target, draw a big red X on the calendar for that day.

Every day that you are over your calorie target, draw a big black O on the calendar for that day.

If at the end of the 60 days, you have less than 12 Os (which is 80% consistency), and you haven’t lost weight, go back to the paragraph on inaccurate tracking.

Need help further than that?

E-mail me – [email protected].

I am always willing to help.

So remember,

Sustainable calories matter

Track everything ruthlessly

Don‘t give up.

Much love,

Nick

Should You Eat Back Calories Burned For Weight Loss?

by Nick Anderson | Nov 3, 2021 | Fat Loss

You’ve just finished a nice long run.

The rain was driving into your face, cleansing the stress of your day.

As you pull up to the finish of your run, you glance down at your watch.

677 calories burned!

So the big question is, does this mean you get to add a 677 calorie meal as a treat for running?

Well, if you want to lose some weight, you might want to read on.

All of it.

Don’t just read the headings, and skim your way through.

Read every word, so you don’t miss important information.

Before we dive in, let’s have a discussion on how weight loss actually happens.

There is only one way to lose body fat.

It’s by taking apple cider vinegar while washing it down with a detox tea.

Just kidding, that doesn’t work (it is a great way to accidentally shit your pants though).

The only way to lose weight is to eat less calories than you expend.

This is called a calorie deficit (you may have heard the term once or twice, but if not that’s okay, you can learn more about it here).

The only way to maintain weight is to eat the same amount of calories that you expend

This is what’s referred to as your maintenance calories.

The only way to gain weight is to eat more calories than you expend

This is called a calorie surplus.

A calorie is a unit of measurement for energy.

How many calories in your food is simply how much energy is in it.

Your body uses the energy to make your heart beat, your liver function, to walk, to exercise, or to get freaky (nice)

Any energy that your body does not use for the above activities get stored as fat.

So when we talk about calories burned, we are talking about how much energy you are using.  

When you go do a HIIT workout, lift some weights, or get freaky (still nice), you are expending energy, or… burning calories.

Logically speaking, burning calories through exercise would change this balance.

So, should you eat back your calories burned for weight loss?

Are Calorie Trackers Accurate?

First off, I want to say that the only way to accurately measure calorie expenditure is in a laboratory.

The way it’s done in a lab, is by measuring the amount of heat that’s released from your body, or how much carbon dioxide is released from your body.

The piece of technology on your wrist that makes you look like a Spy Kid can’t do that.

But I can also cite this study which investigated energy expenditure among 62 participants performing various degrees of intensity of activity.

The study found some pretty lackluster results with a mean absolute percentage error varying between 16.85-84.98%.

I’d say 84.98% inaccuracy is pretty damn inaccurate.

Especially if you think you burned 600 calories and it actually means you burned 120.

Which would mean you’d eat an extra 480 calories, which is pretty damn significant.  That’s almost an extra Big Mac’s worth of calories.

But Nick, we spend so much money on these devices, why aren’t they accurate?

A valid question that I’ve put in your mouth…

Every person on the planet Earth is different.

That means we all expend calories in different amounts.

This can be based on several variables.

Not least of which is how much lean muscle mass you have.  This is a huge variable in how many calories you burn.  The more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn by default.

Unfortunately, your Apple Watch does not know how much lean muscle mass you have.

You can find out how much your lean muscle mass is by getting a very expensive DEXA scan.  However, this comes with a degree of inaccuracy as well.  On top of that, your lean muscle mass is constantly changing, so it is a constant variable.

How many calories do you burn through exercise?

Let’s break down how your body burns calories

Shown in the image above is a breakdown of your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Which is a fancy way of saying how many calories your body burns.

70% comes from your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

This is basically how many calories your body burns to keep your functions, well… functioning.  This number, just like every other number, is different per the individual.

20% comes from Non-Exercise Activity Thermogensis (NEAT), which is a really fancy way of saying how many calories you burn through unintentional movement.  You know that kid in 2nd grade who was fidgeting all the time?  That kid burned a lot of calories through NEAT.

15% comes from the Thermic Effect Of Food (TEF), which is the calories your body burns just from digestion.  Digestion takes energy, so just by eating calories, you burn a small percentage of those through the digestion process.

5% comes from Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT).  So yeah, that’s that run in the rain you did.

It accounts for a measly 5% of your daily calorie burn.

Should I account for these calories?

Most calorie calculators (my favorite one is here) are already accounting for calories burned in the calculations.

If you’ve ever used a calorie calculator to figure out how many calories you should be eating (in my opinion, you absolutely should), it will probably ask you how active you are.

And that, my dear friend, is taking your activity into account (this includes NEAT and EAT).  

The best you can.

Because as mentioned above, calorie burn can only be measured accurately in a lab.  So we estimate.

So if you’re estimating yourself at an activity level of “moderately active” and then eating back calories burned by exercise, you’re negating the extra calories the calculation gave you.

And you probably won’t actually be in a calorie deficit.

Let’s break it down with math (don’t skip this part, I’ll keep the math simple, and this is arguably the most important part of the entire article).

Let’s say your Basal Metabolic Rate (which is simply how many calories your body burns per day at rest) is 1450.

And you chose an activity multiplier of 1.375, because you’re fairly active.  You’re on your feet most of the time for work, and walking around having a grand ol’ time.

So now your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (how many calories you burn daily in addition to your Basal Metabolic Rate) is 2,000.

You’re eating 1,750 calories a day, for an average weight loss of half a pound a week.

Your watch tells you you burned 600 calories from running a few miles.

You add those 600 calories to your 1750.

You’ve now eaten 2,350 calories, which is 350 over your maintenance calories.

Now you’re in a calorie surplus for the day

Oops.

Important Note

This estimation is not always accurate (after all it is an estimation).

But there are ways to work around that.

What you need to do is be RUTHLESSLY CONSISTENT for 30 days.

Weigh yourself every single day.

When I say ruthlessly consistent,

I mean track every single thing that goes into your mouthhole.

Every ounce of chicken, every drop of olive oil, and every ice cube.

Weigh it all out, track it accurately.

Because 99.9% (made up statistic alert) of the time people aren’t losing weight in a calorie deficit, is because they either intentionally or unintentionally are not accurately reporting their calorie intake.

At the end of 30 days, if you were in a calorie deficit 25 out of 30 of those days and you have not lost weight, you may have overestimated your activity multiplier.  Drop it down a notch and repeat the process.

Well, if you’ve made it this far in the article, congratulations.

You’ve probably learned something.

And now you know that eating back those exercise calories could actually be putting you in a calorie surplus causing you to gain weight.

So stop focusing on how many calories you burn.

And focus more on how many calories you eat.

It’s much easier to control and track.

Focus on that, and you will lose body fat.