1. There are no fat burning foods. There are no fattening foods. It is calories in and calories out. Skittles and chicken have different nutritional values. 500 calories of either one will work but if you want to stay healthy, make better nutritional choices.

You can lose weight eating pure sugar as long as you remain in a caloric deficit.

2. You have a daily caloric budget and it doesn’t matter what time of day you spend your calories. You can break your bank early or wait until almost bed time. Or bed time. 🙂

2. The back of the napkin calculation says if you want to start losing weight and burn fat efficiently, eat 12 calories per pound of body weight. Easy-breezy.

3. To determine your total daily energy expenditure, TDEE, multiply your body weight by 11. That is the amount of fuel you need to run on. Once you get your number, multiply it by 0.75 for a 25% calorie reduction.

Track your daily caloric intake on myfitnesspal or a similar tracking device. Look for 1-2 pounds a week. Despite what you may be thinking, tracking can be fun, interesting and educational. More in-depth on that later.

5. Protein, protein, protein. Eat one gram per pound of body weight. Take a protein supplement if you need to. Protein will provide a feeling of satiety, is muscle sparing when losing weight, and burns more calories just to digest. This process is called the “thermic effect of food.” TEF.

Once you get your protein up, you will see definite changes in your body composition. Protein is Greek for “first place.” For obvious reasons.

Burn baby, burn.