Looks and Game matter, so we should try and maximise both. If your SMV (looks, status and charisma which includes vibe and Game) is equal to or higher than hers then you’re in with a shot of laying her.
I put together a long post on my own weight loss journey here and one of the key things I held in my mind was “Calories In, Calories Out” (CICO). It didn’t matter what I was eating as long as I was in a small calorie deficit, didn’t feel too hungry and didn’t develop any cravings which would turn into binges.
Counting calories was a big part of that journey but we can never be completely accurate. As I said in that previous post we’re counting them on a best efforts basis.
Counting calories themselves is very useful but a lot of it is because you end up keeping a food diary. You can then look back at how much you ate the previous week and eat a little less this week.
But counting isn’t essential and some people actually just flat out refuse to count (or track in any way). Perhaps they see it as too much of an effort even though apps like My Fitness Pal make it incredibly easy to at least keep a food diary (still waiting on that sponsorship though).
So in today’s post I’ve listed out ways I’ve used to move into a caloric deficit which someone could use without counting calories. These are all methods which would decrease the calories in or increase the calories out and you could introduce them one at a time to see what works for you.
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- Swap high fat items for low fat items with similar volume
This isn’t to say that fat is the devil, just that you can easily reduce calories by picking the low or zero fat option especially when it comes to meat and dairy. I do that but then get enough fat elsewhere from things like using almond milk for my shakes, eating fish every now and then, and having a little guacamole here and there.
- Swap high sugar items for zero sugar items
Don’t be scared of artificial sweeteners because they aren’t going to shut down your metabolism. If they were really so toxic to you you’d know it by now. They are the perfect way to get your sweet fix without increasing calories.
- Use low calorie sauces
This ties in with point two but is specific for things like BBQ sauces, mayonnaise, ketchup, etc. Sauce is usually what it takes to make something bland taste good.
- Use non-stick sprays
This is tied in with the first point but will make a huge impact. If you cook two or three times a day and can eliminate the fat used for cooking then you’ll immediately save over 100 calories (probably a lot more).
- Get rid of trigger foods
I’ve been doing this for ten years and have always found it useful: simply don’t buy the foods you know will make you gain fat because you’ll eat them in large amounts (high calorie, highly palatable food). Don’t trust yourself to only eat a few squares of chocolate, a few biscuits, etc. And for me if I get my hands on those foods then it can easily lead to a binge, so not having them in the house is doubly important.
- Double your portions of vegetables and salad
This isn’t a tip that would reduce your “calories in” straight away, but it does further down the line / later in the day. If you fill yourself up on low calorie foods now then you’re less likely to binge later.
- Eat foods which are high in protein and fibre
Don’t tell yourself “I can’t have carbs/fats/etc.” I’ve done that in the past and ended up craving the thing I told myself I couldn’t have. Instead just know to promote foods which are high in protein and fibre since they’re the most filling. Protein also has the highest thermic effect of food and so it takes the most calories to actually break it down into usable energy compared to carbs and fat.
A food which is “high in protein” usually has 10 calories per gram of protein total (remember: total calories, protein still only has four calories per gram). For example if you have a protein bar with 200 calories and 20 grams of protein that’s high in protein.
You won’t often find foods which have a gram of fibre per 10 calories so I like to see if there’s a gram of protein plus fibre per 10 calories. This would include food like beans.
- Drink something sweet with zero calories after dinner
After dinner my body usually expects some kind of dessert even though I’m not hungry. I can trick my body into thinking it got dessert by having a zero sugar drink afterwards. In fact, this tip would work throughout the day whenever you’re starting to crave something sweet.
- Half the portion and eat twice as much
This might sound very silly but it does play a good psychological trick. There’s something about being able to eat two of something when you usually only have one. For example, a regular wrap has about 180 calories but I can get a low calorie wrap which is smaller but only has 80 calories (as well as a lot more fibre). Now I can eat two wraps rather than one and that makes me feel like I’m eating more even if the amount of filling was exactly the same between the one large and two small wraps.
- Walk every day
Download a pedometer on your phone and see how many steps you do. Then increase that each week by 1000 steps until you’re at 10,000 steps. That’s an arbitrary figure, and if you’re already doing more then don’t decrease it, but walking is an excellent low impact way to increase the “calories out” side of the equation.
- Weigh yourself every day
Sometimes the problem is just that we let ourselves go. Weigh yourself every morning after using the toilet and if the scale starts going up too quickly you’ll see it.
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Hope those helped. I watch all of Greg Doucette’s YouTube videos so I recommend checking him out if you haven’t done so already. I think he has the right mindset – common sense – towards weight loss.
Yours unfaithfully,
Thomas Crown
Hire me for coaching (Skype and infield available), buy my book and follow me on Twitter @thomascrownpua !
Thomas Crown PUA 