Welcome back to another episode of the Over 50 Health and Wellness podcast! In this week’s Coach’s Corner, I’m going to continue our three-part series on strategies for healthy and sustainable weight loss by discussing the diet phase. Last week, we covered the pre-diet phase which focused on optimizing your metabolism before starting a diet. If you haven’t listened to that episode, I highly recommend you go back and do so before diving into today’s topic.
To kick things off, I want to share a powerful client testimonial we recently received from Frankie, one of the members of our community. Frankie came to us hoping to lose 10 pounds but after 6 months she had only lost 6 pounds. However, during that time she increased her protein intake, started strength training, and increased her calories from 1600 to 2300 per day. As a result, she is now in her diet phase eating 1700 calories and has already lost 6 more pounds. Even more impressively, she is now fitting into clothes she hasn’t worn in 7 years!
This demonstrates two key things. First, the number on the scale doesn’t tell the whole story. Frankie gained muscle during the pre-diet phase which led to positive changes in her body composition. Second, by optimizing her metabolism first, she can now eat in a deficit during her diet phase while still consuming more calories than when she started with us. This metabolic repair is critical for sustainable fat loss.
When it comes to determining your calorie deficits for the diet phase, a good rule of thumb is to cut 20-25% of your maintenance calories. For Frankie, that meant going from 2300 down to 1700 calories per day. I recommend keeping your diet phase fairly short – around 4-6 weeks – because extended periods in a deficit can be counterproductive.
During the diet phase, keep prioritizing protein at 0.7-1g per pound of ideal body weight. The key is continuing your strength training workouts to preserve your hard-earned muscle. For newer lifters, you may even experience “body recomposition” by losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time!
You’ll know it’s time to end your diet phase when your weight loss plateaus for 1-2 weeks. At that point, you can either take an additional calorie cut if you still have room or you can start the reverse diet process which I’ll cover next week. The main signs that it’s definitely time to switch from fat loss back to metabolic rebuilding are: increased hunger, irritability, low energy, poor sleep, and reduced libido.
Remember that if you lose 1lb of fat but gain 1lb of muscle, that’s a huge win! Gaining lean tissue is key for health and longevity even if the number on the scale doesn’t budge.
That wraps up this week’s coach’s corner on executing an effective diet phase. If you found this information helpful, please leave a 5-star review and be sure to join me next time when I’ll share strategies for the critical post-diet phase. Until then, stay strong!
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