The Problem: I want to lose weight and get into better shape. I am not entirely happy and satisfied with my body at the present moment.

The Challenges:

• I don’t have time to workout and eat healthy
• I don’t know how to lose weight properly.
• Eating healthy is too expensive.
• I don’t know what workout I should do.
• I don’t know what diet to follow or what foods to eat.
• I have lost weight before, only to gain it all back and more.
• It’s all very overwhelming. I can’t do this on my own.

Challenge #1: I don’t have time to workout and eat healthy.

Step #1 is to come up with how many times a week you would like to workout. If you are a beginner and haven’t worked out for a long time, I would recommend 2-3 times per week. You’ll need to find 30 minutes 2-3 times a week to move your body. This will mean cutting out something in your life that is unnecessary or that wastes time. If this is important to you, you will make the time available in your schedule. I’m asking for 60-90 minutes of your time per week. It’s time to audit your life and commit to 30 minutes a day, 2-3 times per week.

The same goes for your nutrition. It takes the same amount of time to cook a healthy meal than it does to cook an unhealthy meal. It just takes some intention. Healthy meals don’t have to be extravagant or take 30-60 minutes to prepare. There are many meals that can be whipped up in 20 minutes or less or even less than 5 minutes. Prepping your food for the week can also help with the time aspect. Again, if this is important to you, you have to make the time. Trim the fat from your life.

Challenge #2: I don’t know how to lose weight properly.

Step #2 is to start tracking what you eat. Download the app myfitnesspal or start a spreadsheet. I use myfitness pal, as it is free and user friendly. If you aren’t willing to track your food, you’ll need a meal plan to follow or at the very least, you need to start eating mostly healthy foods.

Next, go to https://legionathletics.com/tdee-calculator and enter your numbers. It will tell you exactly how many calories you need to eat to lose weight. The only way to lose weight is to be in a caloric deficit, which means eating less calories than you are burning each day.

Next, go to https://legionathletics.com/macronutrient-calculator to determine how much protein, fat and carbohydrates you should be eating per day. When you eat a food, it either has 1 to 3 of the three macronutrients. Protein and Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram. Fats have 9 calories per gram. Whether your goal is to lose fat or gain muscle, I recommend keeping your protein intake between .7g to 1g of protein per pound of body weight. If you weigh 180 lbs, that is 126-180 grams of protein per day. Most people who have not been focusing on their nutrition severely under consume protein. Protein builds muscle, helps satiety (feeling full) and helps the muscle recover from exercise. It helps with fat loss by keeping you full and preventing loss of muscle. It helps with muscle gain by repairing muscles after they have been broken down in the gym. It is the number 1 macronutrient you need to focus on. Everything revolves around protein. You need to strive to consistently hit your protein number. This is one change that you can make immediately that will significantly affect your physique and reduce your hunger levels. Increase your protein. 

So now let’s focus on carbs and fats. Some of these fad diets will lead you to believe that either one of them are bad. It’s not true. Fill the rest of your daily calories with some combination of carbs and fats. Try to keep your fat intake between 15-20% of your total calories, which is about .3g per pound of body weight. The Macro-Calculator takes the guessing game out of all of this. Just plug in your numbers and it’ll automatically calculate it for you.

Here are some simple rules for tracking.

•     Calculate your TDEE (calculator above)

•     Download a food tracking app such as myfitnesspal

•     Hit your calorie number on a daily basis.

•     Protein is king of the three macronutrients. Aim for .7g to 1g per pound of body weight per day.

•     Fill in the rest of your calories with any combination of carbs and fat. Try not to go below 15-20% of your daily calories from fat for general health.

Challenge #3 – Eating healthy is too expensive.

It comes back to being intentional. It is very possible to eat healthy on any budget. Here are some tips:

• Buy frozen food. Berries, fruit, vegetables. You can buy in bulk.
• Eat more vegetables. They’re cheap and fill you up.
• Eat high protein foods. Chicken breasts, canned tuna/salmon, nuts, eggs, greek yogurt, rice, milk, beans, etc are all affordable and fill you up.
• Buy in bulk. Cook in bulk. Yes, the cost of buying in bulk is initially more expensive up front. However, in the long run, it costs less. And we’re in the long game here. Cook enough so that you have leftovers for the next day or take on day a week to cook your food for the entire week, to have some extra meals on hand.
• The cost of eating an unhealthy diet is significantly higher than the cost of eating mostly heathy foods. You can’t afford not to.

Challenge #4 – I don’t know what workout I should do.

When it comes to fitness, there are hundreds of ways to get fit. The main thing that people just need to understand is to just move. You don’t have to have the perfect plan. There is no perfect workout or gym split. You just need to move. Figure out what you like to do and do that. When it comes to the best way to improve your body composition (the way you look), I believe that resistance training is the best way to go. I will devote an entire chapter to resistance training because I believe that it will give you the most bang for your buck. It provides endless health benefits.

I also understand that some people just aren’t into lifting weights. Also, if you are extremely out of shape, I understand that it can be intimidating to go to a gym. To people who aren’t willing to lift weights, you just need to find some other way to move your body. Your life depends on it. Find something that you enjoy, whether it’s running, walking, CrossFit, group training, cycling, spin class, yoga. The list is endless. Do something every day where you move your body. If you need more guidance, check out this article I wrote. Just move your body!

Move

Challenge # 5 – I don’t know what diet to follow or what foods to eat.

Here are my 8 Rules of Nutrition.

• Your diet needs to be sustainable.
• Weight loss or weight gain comes down to calories in vs calories out.
• Calories are made up of 3 macronutrients: Protein, Carbs and Fat
• Eat mostly whole foods that do not come in a package
• Eat the foods you enjoy.
• There are three nutrition goals. Bulking. Cutting. Maintaining. Focus on one at a time.
• It’s okay not to follow your diet 100% of the time. 
• Limit liquid calories as much as possible. Drink water. 

Read this article to dive in deeper.

The 8 Rules of Nutrition

Here is a list of the ideal foods that would make up most of your diet (caveat: food allergies, intolerances, ethical reasons)

Protein

• Chicken
• Beef
• Pork
• Other lean meats, such as turkey, venison, lamb, etc
• Fish
• Yogurt
• Milk
• Eggs
• Nuts
• Beans
• Protein powder

Carbohydrates

• Rice
• Whole Grains
• Fruit
• Vegetables
• Beans
• Potatoes
• Pasta
• Oats
• Seeds

Fats

• Cooking oils (avocado, olive, etc)
• Avocado
• Meat
• Eggs
• Dairy
• Seeds
• Nuts

This is not an exhaustive list. Ultimately, you could fit any food into your daily calories. These foods will give you the most bang for your buck (aka provide endless health benefits and fill you up).

Challenge # 6 – I have lost weight before, only to gain it back and more

My goal is to help people lose weight sustainably and keep it off. Sustainable is the key word to all of this. We need to lose it the right way. The right away includes:

• Losing weight in a way that is sustainable over the long haul (no yo-yo dieting)
• Not cutting out certain foods for the wrong reason (e.g. pizza is bad..it’s not)
• Develop a strategy once the weight comes off (maintain your weight, more fat loss or bulk)
• eliminate fad diets

I wrote an article on this very topic.

The #1 Reason Most Diets Fail

Challenge #7 – It’s all very overwhelming. I can’t do this on my own.

Health and fitness can be very overwhelming for a lot of people. You are not alone and there is nothing wrong with you. Everything you need to succeed is already inside of you. You just might need some help to unleash it. This is where I come in.

I am taking on five clients because that is all I can handle at the moment. This is completely FREE of charge. My goal is to get some client testimonials for my service. I will:

• Create a customized training plan for you.
• Create a customized nutrition plan for you. I will calculate your TDEE and macronutrients.
• Walk you through every step mentioned above.
• Create a grocery list for you, if you need.
• If you aren’t willing to track your diet, I will send you a customized meal plan. Although, I would prefer you track it yourself, so that you learn the long term sustainable method.

In a nutshell, I will work with you for 12 weeks and provide you the tools you need to finally lose the weight and discover your fittest self. I will be there with you during the good times and the times where you fall off track. You’ve got this. I will give you the tools to continue on your journey on your own or if you would like, I will continue coaching you. But after those 12 weeks, I will guarantee you will be in better shape than you are today. Your confidence and momentum will be at an all time high. All that I ask in return is for you to donate $100 to a charity of your choice, as payment for those 12 weeks. No scams, no gimmicks. Just results.

This is not overwhelming for me. This is what I do on a daily basis. I live and breathe this stuff. Here are my results from my last fat loss phase.

Much More Than Just a Physical Transformation

If you are interested, please email me at jasonpeters84@gmail.com and we’ll get started or reach out to me on Instagram. I look forward to hearing from you. You’ve got this.

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