Looking to shed some weight before summer arrives? Here’s a straightforward approach that focuses on understanding what your body actually needs.

Step 1: Establish Your Maintenance Calories

Start by tracking everything you eat for two consecutive weeks using an app like MyFitnessPal, MacrosFirst, or Cronometer. The key here is accuracy while keeping your normal habits. We need to see what you’re actually consuming in real life, so don’t change anything just because you’re tracking.

This means tracking every bite, lick, and taste. That coffee creamer you pour without measuring? Put the cup on a food scale, zero it out, pour your normal amount, then log what you actually used. The spoonful of peanut butter you lick while making your kid’s sandwich? Weigh the spoon before and after.

Is this meticulous? Absolutely. But we need a clear picture of reality to know what needs to change. We need to stay rooted in reality.

During these two weeks, also weigh yourself every morning right after waking up for consistency.

Step 2: Calculate Your Deficit Calories

After two weeks, average your daily calorie intake across those 14 days and multiply by 0.85. This creates a 15% calorie deficit, which is a solid starting point for fat loss.

For example, if you averaged 2,000 calories per day, your new target would be 1,700 calories (2,000 × 0.85 = 1,700).

Step 3: Set a Protein Goal

Aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of your goal body weight. If you currently weigh 175 pounds but want to reach 140 pounds, set your protein goal at 140 grams daily.

If that feels too high, you can start anywhere between 0.7-1 gram per pound of body weight. This range helps preserve muscle mass during weight loss. Without adequate protein, you risk losing muscle along with fat, which leads to that “skinny fat” look.

Step 4: Remember – Calories Are King, Protein Is Queen

Once you’ve nailed your calorie and protein targets, you can be more flexible with carbs and fats. That said, set some minimums:

• Fats: Aim for at least 50-60 grams daily for hormone health (never drop below 40 grams)
• Carbs: Target a minimum of 100 grams per day for most people

Total calories matter most for weight loss. Whether those calories come from more carbs or more fats is secondary to hitting your overall targets.

Step 5: Establish Your Exercise Minimums

If you’re not currently strength training, start with one full-body workout per week. Already exercising twice weekly? Bump it up to three days.

The FOUNDATIONS Program in my app is the perfect place to start, because it’s full body strength workouts programmed 3 days / week. Each workout hits both upper and lower body, and most have core exercises programmed at the end as well. 

Even if you only worked out one day / week starting out, you’re still hitting major muscle groups both upper and lower body. 

Not ready for strength training? Focus on increasing your daily steps. During your initial two-week tracking period, also track your average daily steps. Then add 1,000-2,000 steps to that baseline as your new daily minimum.

Simple ways to add steps: park farther away, take the stairs, set a timer to stand every hour, walk after meals, or squeeze in a quick evening walk.

You can decrease calories through diet or increase calories burned through movement. Both approaches can create a deficit, and the deficit is what’s needed for weight loss. Personally, I prefer decreasing calories through diet because it’s more precise.

The Bottom Line

Weight loss requires understanding your current reality through accurate tracking, then making small, sustainable adjustments. Stay rooted in reality, be meticulous about your data, and the results will follow.