Fat Loss doesn’t have to be as complicated as many people make it out to be.

It really takes small, baby steps, for permanent weight loss success.  Here are 21 tips to virtually guarantee success — no weight loss pills, no bogus fat loss scams, or other infomercial quick fixes.  Just tried and true belly busting strategies.

1.  Find a support partner.  Someone who can keep you on track and accountable to stick to it.  This person will ONLY give you positive feedback and never shoot your goals down, or try to steer you in the wrong direction (e.g., you look GREAT, don’t worry about eating X)

2.  Replace all liquid calories with water and real tea (green, black, or white — not fake prepacked junk).  

3.  If you bite it, you must write it — record your intake either by hand in a journal or on a online source, like FitDay.com or Sparkpeople.com

4.  Stay positive — always remember progress, not perfection.  This way you will continue to make progress.

5.  Eat smaller, more frequent meals — including protein, fruit and/or veggies with each meal.  These will keep your appetite in check and energy levels high.

6.  PLAN AHEAD — sit down one day for 30 or so minutes and plan the week ahead food wise.  This will allow you to make the best choices.

7.  Check in with others — social support is key.  This is your accountability partner from #1, but maybe even logging into forums or in person groups too.  It’s easy to let yourself down, but no one wants to let others down!

8.  MOVE MORE — structured exercise is great, but you can’t just be "an active couch potato."  If you move for 30-60 minutes/day, that means you might be sitting or laying for the other 23 hours.  Play with the kids, walk the dog, get up from your desk regularly and walk around.  Movement is necessary!

9.  Eat more fruit.  Add 1 piece of fruit each day … then build on that each week until you’re getting upwards of of 5 servings daily.

10.  Eat more veggies.  Add 1 vegetable each day … and build on that each week until you’re getting upwards of 5-7 servings daily.  You can’t eat too many veggies!

11.  Try a new fruit or veggie.  We get stuck in a routine, eating the same foods over and over again.  This week eat a unique fruit and vegetable for you — if you only turn to apples and bananas, try berries, grapefruit, or some other fruit.  Same with veggies — expand your horizons!

12.  Eliminate trans fat — there’s not many foods/ingredients I’d say "eliminate" — but this is one of them.  Man made trans fat is horrible!

13.  Drink enough water so that your urine looks like pale lemonade.  It may or may not be 8 cups daily … use your urine color as a guide.  When it’s warm, drink more.

14.  Check the number of calories you are consuming. We always stress that all calories aren’t created equally, but at the same time, we can’t avoid calories all together.  They still matter.

15.  Focus on quality, not just quantity.  Calories do matter, but an apple and raw nuts for about 250 calories is much different than a 16 oz soda for the same number of calories.  "Fill up" on nutrients, not junk foods.

16.  Put the focus on fiber — recommendations are up to 35 grams/day.  Don’t worry about carbs, worry about fiber.  Fruit and veggies are great for this.

17.  Write down your goals.  Don’t just think about them, write them.  The act of putting them on paper increases the likelihood of achieving them.  

18.  Replace 1 meal each day with a large salad that’s loaded with veggies and topped with lean protein.

19.  Use fruit, veggies, and beans are your 3 primary forms of carbohydrates — loaded with fiber, loaded with nutrients, yet not filled with any junk.

20.  Stick to foods that have no more than 5 ingredients.  Max.  HINT — you won’t find it with pre packaged foods, so leave those on the grocery store shelf.

21.  Review your goals daily, commit to these 21 habits, and you’ll virtually guarantee success.

What did we miss?  We’d love to hear what tips YOU use to stay lean and healthy!

Spring is officially here, meaning nearly 1/4 of the year is over.

Are you 33% closer to the goals you set for 2011? 

Although January is typically thought of as the "weight loss month" with all the fat loss goals everyone sets for the New Year, surveys suggest March is actually a BIGGER month for dieting and weight loss attempts.  Interesting.

Is it that warm weather signals "bathing suit" season is around the corner?

Regardless of the reasons of why fat loss is a top priority in March, today we’re sharing what we call the "Diet Cheat Sheet."

These are 7 Super Simple Steps are our "Diet Cheat Sheet" and you should keep these handy when trying to lose weight, use nutrition as medicine, and get healthy.  Print these and keep them visible so you can be sure you’re working on it daily … heck, even if you’re not trying to lose weight for bathing suit season … if you simply want to improve your nutrition, these perfect little nutrition nuggets will keep you on track.

1. Plan your meals for the week.  We do this by sitting down with a few of our favorite magazines, picking out some recipes, and going from there.  It helps more than you can imagine and that 15 minutes of planning will save you a TON of time during the week. 
2. Pack your food at night for the following day.  This goes with planning ahead, but doing it the night before saves you from rushing around the morning of work and forgetting everything while trying to get you and the rest of your family out the door on time.
3. Prep your veggies when you get home from the store.  Sound crazy?  It will take you 22 minutes (don’t believe me?  Watch me prep our veggies for the week here) … and when they’re prepped, you’ll eat them because no one feels like going through the prepping process during the day.  You want quick and easy. 
4. Don’t buy snack food — keep it out of your house.  If it’s not there, you’re less likely to eat it.  We could expand on that, but it’s pretty straightforward — and don’t tell us "it’s for the kids" because more often than not, you’re eating it.
5. Have a bowl of fresh fruit visible at all times.  Food that’s visible will be eaten.  And those who eat more fruit weigh less and have less disease. 
6. Eat breakfast daily.  You’ve certainly heard this one before, but it bears repeating.  Eat breakfast and you’ll lose weight faster, have lower rates of heart disease, and have more energy. 
7. Include a veggie and/or fruit with every single meal.  The more you eat of both of those, the faster you’ll get results — if that means faster fat loss, fantastic. 

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A friend of ours is a business coach in the fitness industry. 

He teaches others how to take their businesses to the next level. 

A lot of what he talks about — running a successful business — applies to what we do: teaching people how to lose weight and reach their fitness goals.

Recently in his daily newsletter he talked about getting better.

Directly from Pat Rigsby’s newsletter (which you can find on this site):

"You’re either getting better or worse. Every day. There is no status quo. If you’re not progressing – you’re losing ground."

While he was applying this to the business of fitness, it can be directly applied to fitness and fat loss as well.

While we encourage people to look at the big picture, each decision made throughout the day will ultimately play a role in your success.

Every meal.  Every snack.  Every day.  All of these add up.  So while it’s important to remember that one meal isn’t going to "make or break" permanent success, very often one splurge can cause a negative downward spiral. 

Same goes with training.  I was riding with a friend the other day and we were talking how easy it is to get out of the daily habit of exercising — a few days of not training makes it harder and harder to get back into it. 

So think back to what Pat suggested in his newsletter.

"You’re either getting better or worse.  Every day…"

Apply these 5 strategies to reach your physical goals. 

1. Decide what you want to achieve (e.g., lose 10 lbs)
2. Determine when you will hit that landmark (e.g., pick a reasonable date of when you will achieve that)
3. Write down the steps needed to achieve that weight loss goal (e.g., eat breakfast daily, eat veggies with each meal, train daily, etc)
4. Practice the habits needed to achieve the goal (e.g., everything written down from step 3 above)
5. Work daily to achieve the goals … "every day…if you’re not progressing, you’re getting worse."