Eating for weight loss does not have to totally suck. Here are six simple tricks to make weight loss easier and more enjoyable.

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Engaging in a fat loss journey is no easy task. It’s hard. It takes a long time. It means being hungry. It requires patience and consistency and the willpower to get through some pretty shitty times when you’d rather destroy that plate of nachos instead of power through another damn salad.

I’m here to help. Dieting doesn’t have to completely suck. We’ve been fooled by the celebrity fad diets and cutesy marketed “programs.” They’ve convinced you that dieting has to be a punishment for months (or even years) of horrible eating. 

But here’s what you should know if you are a frequent reader of the content I provide on this website (and you should be a frequent reader by the way, because I am awesome). You should know:

• You can absolutely eat carbs and still lose weight
• You can enjoy some alcoholic beverages and make progress
• You don’t have to starve yourself by severely restricting calories in order to lose fat
• You should enjoy some of your favorite foods (in moderation) to make your dieting program more enjoyable and sustainable

All of these things are true and all of these things can lead to the death of that nasty yo-yo dieting cycle that’s been holding you hostage.

In this article, I’m going to lay out my favorite tips to make weight loss easier and more enjoyable. The more enjoyable that diet is, the more sustainable it will be. And as you know, if you are engaged in a diet that is sustainable, that is the perfect path to a lifestyle of health.

Now, before we get started, it’s important to point out that dieting does mean you will be hungry. After all, you are restricting calories from your body and that’s never the most awesome thing. But with these tips, it should mitigate some of those hunger pangs and cravings to help get your mind off of the suck a little bit. Then you can focus on two things: Kicking fat loss ass and taking fat loss names. 

Let’s get into it.

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How to Make Weight Loss Easier and More Enjoyable

I. Start with a modest reduction of calories

The number one key to losing weight and keeping it off is managing the energy balance of food, this is obviously just fancy speak for creating a calorie deficit. As I pointed out in this article here, you must first establish a caloric deficit before you can even think of losing weight and breaking the chains of yo-yo dieting.

Where many aggressive dieters go wrong is by trying to make up for lost time by taking a decent calorie deficit and turning it into some rapid fat loss program that restricts calories so hard that it has you left with three leaves of lettuce and half a shrimp for your meals all day long. This is a recipe that 1) completely sucks and, most importantly, 2) will lead to absolute disaster.

Look, you did not gain your unwanted weight in 30 days. Likewise, you will not lose all of your unwanted weight in 30 days.

This is a process and it takes time. Dropping calories to a level that is unsustainable sets you up for metabolic adaptation (something I talked about at length in this guide to speeding up your metabolism) and will likely lead to crazy binges that could ruin your deficit and turn it into a surplus.

So what’s the solution? You want to approach your fat loss diet with a very slow and methodical approach and that starts with a moderate calorie deficit.

Do not drop your calories by more than 20-percent. For example, a man or woman with a maintenance target of 2,000 calories per day should reduce consumption to around 1,600-1,700 calories per day, and no more.

This is a solid drop off in food that will lead to results. Coupled with a solid workout program and plenty of walking and sleep, this is a manageable diet setup.

At some point in your journey, especially if you have a lot of weight to lose, you’ll more than likely need to reduce calories a little more in order to break through some sticking points.

But if you started your diet with an incredibly low calorie target, it gets increasingly difficult to reduce food intake and the diet becomes a slog of suck, hunger increases and leads to binges or completely quitting might come into play.

We don’t want that.

So embrace the journey and buckle up for the long haul by taking the tortoise approach of slow and steady to win this fat loss race.

II. Avoid complete restriction

This concept is the cousin of the first point.

You’ve been fooled by the Dark Side of The Force that has you thinking that certain foods are “bad” or “fattening.” This is bullshit and I want you to flip your mindset on this and change your relationship with food.

You can and should enjoy your favorite foods while on a fat loss diet. And any coach that tells you a certain food is “off limits” because of carbs, sugars, unicorn fart dust or any other bullshit reason should be slapped across the face and fired as your coach.

Now, will eating a truck load of pizza every single day get you six pack abs? Probably not. Will it make you feel like a million bucks? Not likely. Remember, the first rule of fat loss always applies and weight loss only occurs when you manage the energy balance of calories in versus calories out.

However, I want you to understand that you can include your favorite foods in moderation. Doing so will reduce the temptation to have one of those emotional triggers when you go off the deep end and dive face first into some guac and chips before polishing it off with four beers, two slices of pizza and a side pint of Ben & Jerry’s.

If you aim for the 80-20 rule of dieting, you’ll be more than fine. Aim for 80-percent of your foods to come from the lean proteins, fruits, vegetables and good starchy carb sources. The other 20-percent can come from your favorite foods.

“But, Pete, how is this possible? Aren’t snacky foods like chips and guac or cookies and ice cream fattening foods that lead to weight gain?”

Nope.

Let’s put an end to the idea of fattening foods or “good” and “bad” foods. There are simply foods with higher calories. And again, as long as you are managing that energy balance of calories in versus calories out, you’ll be fine and will see progress.

If you need help trying to figure out where to start with your macro target for weight loss, you should check out my comprehensive guide to that right here.

But remember, calories are King; then protein is like the Hand of the King. The ratio of carbs to fats does not matter as long as the King and his Hand are happy.

In practice, it can look like this: Let’s say your calorie target for weight loss is 1,800 calories per day. With the 80-20 Rule, you’d aim for 1,440 calories (or 80-percent) to consist of whole, natural foods and lean proteins. The remaining 360 calories (20-percent) can come from your favorite foods.

If you follow me on Instagram (which you should, because I’m awesome and I drop tons of extra knowledge bombs over there), you’d see that I practice this approach every single day. I have a massive sweet tooth, so I factor that into my daily calories and leave room for a night cap of chocolate or even ice cream. Again, as long as this fits into my caloric target, I’m 100-percent fine. And you will be, too.

Don’t demonize foods and stop punishing yourself during your diet. When you do, it’ll go a long way to make weight loss easier and more enjoyable throughout your journey.

III. Take a diet break

Vacations are amazing. But, did you know that the majority of Americans don’t even use all of their paid time off?

Unfortunately, that same work-work-work attitude trickles into the dieting culture, too. Just like you need a break from the rigors and stressors of the office, you need to step away from your calorie deficit from time to time in order to recharge.

That’s where a diet break comes into play.

Don’t overcomplicate things. A diet break is just what it sounds like: You take a break from your diet and the calorie deficit to bring your calories back up to maintenance for a period of time.

It’s up to you how long to break from the deficit, but I’d suggest at least 2-3 weeks as a good place to start. Although you could go for as long as you’d like, depending on goals and lifestyles.

And I’d schedule routine diet breaks to occur after about 10-12 weeks of dieting. Plan for them. Schedule them around periods of leisure, like a birthday or vacation or even during high stress events, like that work trip for a major presentation.

This gives you a light at the end of the fat loss tunnel and something to look forward to when the lower calories are starting to drag on. You’ll know that if you press forward for a few more weeks, you’ll have the diet break waiting for you.

Diet breaks are a major source of not only ensuring that weight loss is easier and more enjoyable, but sustainable.

It’s important to note that when you break from your diet and end up raising calories, it means your scale weight will increase. This is not fat gain. Remember, maintenance calories are the calories you eat to maintain your weight, not lose weight, not gain weight. Maintain.

The small amount of scale weight you do see during the break is the result of more food coming into the system. When more food is introduced, the body is running at full capacity and can utilize the extra carbs for stored energy (called glycogen) which leads to water retention.

For more on reasons why the scale weight can fluctuate, you should read this article where I break it all down for you and calm any fears about fat gain when weight increases due to water retention.

IV. Look for more volume and filling foods

Being hungry sucks. Unfortunately that’s a major part of the dieting process. One way to combat the hunger pangs of being in a calorie deficit is to look for more filling foods.

When you stock your diet full of palatable choices like breads and pasta, they provide instant satisfaction (pasta is awesome) but they are also digested quickly and are less satiating. Instead, you’ll want to aim for a nice mix of slower digesting foods.

Fruits and vegetables will be your friends on a diet. They are lower in calories than their starchier/more processed equivalents. A boiled potato will leave you feeling more stuffed than two slices of white bread.

I wrote an entire article about how to stay full while on a diet. You should check that out.

V. Spice up your foods

Boring food doesn’t have to stay boring. One of the most important diet hacks to staying on track of your goals and within your caloric deficit is to prepare your own meals.

I totally understand that we’re not all blessed with the creative culinary excellence gene, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find one or two dishes in your own personal wheelhouse to make your own.

My challenge to you: Make a commitment to finding one new food per week and playing around with it:

• Maybe it’s a new lean protein source (or even a vegetarian option).
• Perhaps it’s a new vegetable, or even an old veggie prepared a new way.
• Step away from the same rotation of fruits and play around with a new and colorful variety.
• Explore new restaurants––and check out this guide for how to stay on your diet plan while dining out.

VI. Cycle your calories

Before we jump into this one, I need to add a quick disclaimer:

If you’ve ever had issues with disordered eating in any nature, this approach is not something that I recommend. It can potentially lead to some dangerous mindset shifts that lead to more disordered eating. You’ll be more than fine following the other tips in this article and should probably steer clear of this one.

Cycling your calories is nothing new in the world of dieting and nutrition. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, it’s just a way to manipulate your daily calorie targets to maximize those days when you are hungrier than others.

It starts with understanding that if you think about your calories for an entire week, rather than day to day, you can still see progress.

Let’s set this in motion.

You’re busy with work, you have a dozen meetings to attend and your calendar looks like one big long ass block of suck. Or your kids have approximately 917 different extracurricular activities and you need to shuttle them back and forth. Or you’re traveling for work or pleasure or to visit your secret family in Billings, Montana.

Or all of the above.

Sometimes when we are at our busiest, food is the furthest thing from the mind. And that’s okay. So instead of forcing yourself to eat in order to meet your daily calories, you can work around this by strategically setting your target to a smaller number on your busier (i.e., no time to eat or just not hungry) days. This allows for more calorie room on days when you aren’t as busy and might have more chances to eat.

As long as the weekly average of calories still works out to keep you in a deficit, you will still see progress. Think weekly over daily.

How to apply this to your weekly schedule?

So if you have 1,500 calories per day to eat, you could eat 1,800 on one day and then 1,200 on the lighter day when you’re slammed. The average still works out to 1,500 total calories.

Get creative with this. If you know you are a tad more tempted on weekends (aren’t we all?), you can set your higher calorie days for the weekends and keep calories lower throughout the busy workweek.

Now, it is important to remind you here: Calories still count. You must remain within your calorie deficit. So this is not an invite to go into full cheat day mode. Notice that I am still saying you must hit your calorie target and stay within the average for the week.

If you do that, you’ll still make fantastic progress and likely find the key to making weight loss easier and more enjoyable. And enjoying your diet leads to long term sustainability. That’s the key to ending the yo-yo dieting cycle and realizing a full body transformation that lasts a lifetime.

Lead Photo Image by Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash

Let me help you learn how to make weight loss easier and more enjoyable … 

I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Make weight loss easier” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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