J. Shah Fitness

If weight loss or fitness in general is feeling hard for you

Give this a read

Hope this helps 🫶

You’re gonna feel a little hungry when you’re trying to lose weight

It’s totally normal…

No reason to panic!

If you’re giving your body less food than it’s used to…

Of course you’re gonna feel hungry!

But by no means should you feel like you’re starving

This is either a sign that you’re cutting your calories too low

Or that you need to utilize some of these tips to help yourself along

Hope this helps 🫶

Does this sound like you…

You lose weight but then just gain it back & maybe even plus some?

And what’s the point of that right?

It’s like you’re stuck in a hamster wheel & can’t make any actual progress

Focusing on building healthy habits will save you a lot of time by preventing the yo-yo-ing that comes from just having the wrong mindset about weight loss

Hope this helps 🫶

Do you think it’s necessary to take the hardest route possible to achieve your goals⁣?⁣
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Do you believe you have to over-restrict yourself & feel completely miserable?⁣
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Well you can rest assured - this is actually not the best route to take⁣
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You don’t have to eliminate your favorite foods & torture yourself daily!⁣

Hope this helps 🫶

Stop thinking about exercise in terms of weight loss

And start thinking about it as a way to improve your life!

Hope this helps 🫶

I can guarantee you’re not always going to feel motivated to do what it takes to reach your goals⁣

You’re going to “not feel like it” more than a few times along your journey⁣
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But all you have to do to get that momentum going again is by taking even the smallest action⁣ in the right direction

Hope this helps 🫶

There are some big differences between losing weight & losing fat

Differences in the process of both & the results they give you

Losing weight as fast as possible is characterized by over-restriction & improper use of exercise and leads to no meaningful change made in your body or your lifestyle

Whereas process of fat loss is characterized by moderation (not restriction) & maintaining muscle mass for a slow, sustainable rate of weight loss resulting in the physical results you actually want and new habits that will help you maintain your progress and improve your health & quality of life

Hope this helps 🫶

I know taking progress pictures is uncomfortable - but you will not regret it, especially in times when the scale is so disheartening

Taking those pictures can make the difference in you continuing to push forward towards your goal & quitting because the scale isn’t reflecting your hard work!

Hope this helps 🫶

Food cravings don’t have to get in the way of you losing weight if you know how to approach them

And trying to suppress them, ignore them or satisfy your cravings with other food isn’t the right approach!

The more productive approach is to just give in to them…

But in a controlled manner - by accounting for the calories that come from them and ensuring you don’t overeat them

Eat in a way that you enjoy & that’s sustainable if you want to actually get somewhere!

Hope this helps 🫶

Weight loss is a balancing act

It’s not as simple as eating as few calories as you can to lose weight as fast as possible

While you have to reduce how much you’re eating to lose weight, it’s possible to cut your calories too low and experience side effects that will be a huge obstacle to losing weight and negatively impact your health

➡️the big takeaway here is stop trying to lose weight fast by cutting your calories as low as possible

✅Your goal should be to eat as many calories as possible to still be in a deficit & lose at a sustainable rate

Hope this helps 🫶

The best ways to boost your metabolism are conveniently the things you should be doing anyway to improve your overall health 👌

Hope this helps 🫶

Toning isn’t anything more than building enough muscle & achieving a low enough body fat percentage to see that muscle

You don’t lift light weights for high reps, do toning specific workouts or only rely on exercise

In order to lose body fat, you have to eat in a deficit

And in order to build muscle, you have to eat enough protein & lift heavier over time

The combination of adjusting your nutrition to lose fat & strength training to build muscle is what’s going to give you that toned body you want!

Hope this helps 🫶

What makes something optimal is your ability to follow it consistently enough to make progress & create permanent changes

When choosing a diet or training program, instead of forcing yourself to use the “most optimal” one, find the one that you can see yourself sticking with long term⁣

Hope this helps 🫶

No specific food is the reason you’re not losing weight

Weight loss will always come down to the number of calories you’re eating - not what foods you’re eating

Understanding this concept will allow you to be more consistent & make more progress by using a more sustainable method

Eating mostly high quality, nutritious foods and also including your favorite less nutritious foods in moderation will help you avoid the over-restrict/binge cycle, build a healthy relationship with food & actually make weight loss progress

Hope this helps 🫶

Always re-focus on the basics - especially when you’re overwhelmed

If you keep focused on the simple, basic things while blocking out everything else…

You will reach your goal

And you’ll reach it in a simple, straightforward & uncomplicated way 👌

Hope this helps 🫶

Everybody, including you, needs to be strength training

Not just to look your best

But to feel your best & have the best possible quality of life

If you want to reduce pain, prevent injury, move better & be able to enjoy your day to day life more…

Start lifting!

Not only will you change the way your body looks, but you’ll feel better than you ever have

Hope this helps 🫶

The “best” diet for weight loss is just the one that makes it easiest for you to stay in a deficit because it fits you - your lifestyle & your preferences!

You don’t have to make yourself do any specific diet that doesn’t work for you

What matters is that you find a way of doing things that is sustainable in the long run for you

Because the only thing that determines if you lose weight is that you are consistently in a deficit

Hope this helps 🫶

What’s more important - how much you’re eating or what you’re eating?

Well, the answer is both!

The number of calories you’re eating is the only thing that determine whether you lose weight or not

But what you’re eating will influence how consistently you can stay in a deficit!

Hope this helps 🫶

It’s tempting to want to speed up fat loss

But going down this route is simply unsustainable & unhealthy

Slow down & settle in for the long run

And allow yourself time to undo the habits that led you to gain weight in the first place

And build new habits that will help you lose weight, get stronger, improve your health & change your life

Hope this helps 🫶

“How many times per week do I strength train?”

“How long should my workouts be?”

“What exercises do I need to do?”

“How heavy do I need to lift?”

“How many exercises per workout should I do?”

These are questions I answer daily

So I put together this checklist for you

These are the components you should focus on if you want to get results from your workouts

Hope this helps 🫶

Keep things simple

Simple works

And especially if you’re a beginner, focusing on a few simple, basic things will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed

Here are some effective, practical changes you can make to get a strong start on working towards your weight loss goals

1. Adjust the quantity of food you’re eating by fitting all your meals on a plate

2. Increase how much protein & veggies you’re eating by making each meal 1/4 protein & 1/2 veggies

3. Increase how much fruit you’re eating by eating it for snacks

4. Move more throughout your day by increasing your average daily steps by 1-2K

5. Get 7-9 hours of high quality sleep per night

Be consistent

Be patient

And always come back to the basics that work

You will get there!

Hope this helps 🫶

Don’t eat back those calories you burned in your workout!

If you have a weight loss goal, you’ll end up taking yourself out of a calorie deficit and cancelling out your weight loss

But more importantly, you’ll start prioritizing exercise that’s burns the most calories, but isn’t necessarily the most beneficial or important

And you risk developing a poor relationship with exercise & food

Hope this helps 🫶

It’s easy to complicate exercise⁣
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Especially when it comes to fat loss⁣
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I had a conversation with one of my coaching clients about what she can add to supplement her strength training⁣
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Her first inclination was running or high intensity YouTube fitness routines⁣
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She was pretty surprised at my answer⁣
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Aside from strength training, one of the best forms of exercise you can do is actually the simplest⁣
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Walking!⁣
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Walking is incredibly underrated⁣

⁣All my coaching clients have a daily movement goal in the form of walking

Outside of their strength workouts, they have a daily step goal

For fat loss or even just for general fitness, you don’t have to always look for the hardest or most complicated or intense activity for it to be effective⁣
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Never overlook the tremendous benefits of the simplest things

Hope this helps 🫶

This should be comforting to you…

One day of overeating isn’t going to make you gain back all the weight you lost

Yea you’ll weight heavier the next morning…

But that’s simply because there’s more food in your body

Not because you gained a bunch of fat

Let’s take a look at how it breaks down with this example

Say to maintain your weight, you must eat 2000 calories per day

That’s equal to 14000 calories per week… again to maintain your current weight

Let’s say for example, you’re eating in a moderate calorie deficit of 1600 calories per day

That’s 11200 calories per week

One day, you go out to eat with friends and end up eating 2500 calories… way over your daily calorie limit

But you ate 1600 calories every other day that week

Did that one day of going over screw everything up?

Heck no!

Add up how many calories you ate over the week and you end up at 12100 calories

Which is still less than 14000 calories (your weekly calories to maintain your weight)

And that means…

You’re still in a deficit at the end of the week even after that one day of overeating!

So stop worrying so much about overeating once in a while

That’s not to say you should make a habit out of it

But here & there, things happen

What matters most is that you don’t let that one day turn into multiple

Get back on track & stay as consistent as possible!

Hope this helps 🫶

Everything is progress⁣
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It’s natural to feel a little guilty for getting off track⁣
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It just shows how much you care about what you’re working towards⁣
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But what’s most important is how you respond to those situations⁣
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Rather than letting it get you even further off track, learn from it, accept it & move on⁣
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Get back with the program⁣
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It’s unrealistic to think you can give your 100% all the time⁣
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The uncertainties of life won’t allow you to be perfect⁣
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That doesn’t mean you’re a failure, though⁣
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Because achieving your goals doesn’t take perfection⁣
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What it does take is you trying your best no matter what⁣
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If you are always trying your best…⁣
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If you use every opportunity as a way to learn & improve…⁣
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Then you’re not failing⁣
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Whatever your goal is, it’s going to be a process to reach it⁣
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And that process includes ups & downs⁣
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Both the ups & downs are progress because they’re both tremendous learning opportunities⁣
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You learn what works & what doesn’t⁣
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You learn about yourself⁣
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You learn how to deal with setbacks & obstacles⁣
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You gain knowledge for when you run into the same situation in the future⁣
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Which is the best kind of progress!⁣
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Remember this - there’s no messing up on your journey to your goals⁣
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The only way you mess up or fail is if you quit all together⁣
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Everything is progress⁣
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Even those moments when you feel like you’re regressing count as progress because you’re learning & growing⁣
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You running into hard situations & continuing to move forward is how & why you’re going to achieve your goals and be able to maintain your progress long term

Hope this helps 🫶