Swipe My Fat-Loss Plan Process: 4 Simple Steps

The reasons people don't have success with their fat loss goals

• Reason #1: Too much enthusiasm for getting straight into it! This is a bad thing when the actual planning stage is skipped.

• Reason #2: It can be overwhelming if you don't know where to start; there's SO much information out there.

• Reason #3: Trying to take on board mismatched information from polarising sources. You can't integrate a carnivore diet, a vegan diet, a chemical-free diet and a low-fat diet all at once.

• Reason #4: Not having a plan that you can manage to follow consistently!

Don't worry- you CAN create a plan that you'll enjoy. The key is individualising it to yourself and breaking it down, step by step.

Here's how:

Step 1: Realistic Goal Setting & Initial Progress Measurements

This comes first. If you don't know what you're aiming for, how will you get here?

Take a few minutes for your initial progress measurements so that you can accurately track your progress.

• Photos

• Circumferences

• Weight

Now time to hash out the goal. What exactly are you wanting to achieve?

• What (be specific)

• When (timeframe)

• Why (motivations)

• How (daily actions to move you closer- enjoy the journey)

• Review interval (stay on track and adjust the goalposts if needed!)

Step 2: Calorie Setting

Now time for calorie setting. This is where everyone flops. It's either set WAY too high or WAY too low.

If it's too high, nothing will happen. If it's too low, things will happen fast for five days until you reach the weekend and can't stay on track.

The most important thing you need to know:

A kilo of body fat has 7700 calories.

If you set a calorie deficit of 500 calories less than you burn each day, then you'll lose around half a kilo of fat each week.

This level of a calorie deficit can be increased or decreased depending on your needs (remember the keyword from goal setting- realistically!).

Step 3: Protein, Fat and Carbs

Protein is the most important macronutrient to set first. This keeps you full, helps retain muscle mass while you lose fat, and keeps your metabolism high (through its thermogenic & muscle-sparing effects).

I generally recommend setting this between 1.6-2.5g/kg ideal body weight.

This is impacted by a lot of factors, like muscle mass, training history, current training schedule, choice of diet (vegetarian, omnivore), current diet phase and preference.

Everyone likes to overcomplicate fat and carbs and talk about macronutrient ratios, but this is the simple non-sexy truth:

If you prioritise protein and eat a balanced diet with carbs and fats included at each meal, the carbs and fat will sort themselves out.

I simply set a minimum level of fat intake for clients, no lower than 0.5g/kg ideal body weight.

After this, I set a minimum level of carbs for the client based on how many calories are leftover (after taking away the calories from protein and fat), how active they are and how often they train, and whether or not they prefer carb or fat-based foods after looking at their food diary.

Step 4: Turn it into real food.

Now you have your calories & macronutrients. You need to turn it into real food!

You don't eat numbers, you eat food. This is influenced by health, availability, taste, preference, meal time, culture and occasion.

Simply convert your numbers from above into real-life portions of food.

For example, if you know that you need to eat 25g of protein at breakfast, you can then work out that this can be done with...

• 3 eggs

• 1 scoop of protein powder

• 225g of high-protein yoghurt

• Any other food that provides 25g protein...

Repeat this process with the fat and carbs you have.

For your carbohydrates list, you may create individualised serves of fruit, bread, rice, pasta, couscous, legumes, lentils and so on.

The possibilities are endless and only limited by your imagination when it comes to choosing. You don't have to cut out any single food; just understand where it fits in the context of your diet.

You should end up with a list of options for each meal so you can pick and choose at the drop of a hat without spending hours on My Fitness Pal.

And that's it!

No big mystery, just careful calculations and translating it into real foods instead of just providing confusing numbers.

You can follow this process step-by-step for yourself to create a meal plan that you can actually follow consistently because you're the one who's created it with your personal preferences.

Want more help?

If you'd like to get deep into the nitty gritty of this with more help, I teach this exact process in depth so you can follow along easily, through my Forever Body video course.

My video course has 4 modules which are broken down into bite-sized pieces with example calculations, walk-throughs and done-for-you templates, including a calorie and macronutrient calculator for your goals to make it as easy as possible to achieve your goals.

Alternatively, if you don't have the time or would rather have it done for you, I can do this for you as a 1:1 VIP coaching client with my years of experience for a foolproof plan.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need more guidance about which option would suit you best!

Dom xx