How to tone up & lean out without counting calories
Tips to reach your health & fitness goals stress-free!
Whether you've heard it as calorie counting or macro-tracking, these may be common terms that you have stumbled upon when looking to tone up or lose some weight. Since the most effective strategy for weight loss is to maintain a calorie deficit, it's easy to get pulled into the idea of tracking your calories. Even though calorie counting can be a very effective tool, it's not necessarily for everyone, and that's okay! Luckily, there are many strategies that don't involve counting your calories to help you slim down if weight loss your goal!
Good news! Today's blog post gives tips and tricks on how to tone up and lean out without counting calories or tracking macros!
"Eat less and exercise more." A common phrase you may have seen when researching how to lean out and tone up. With calories and nutrition labels plastered everywhere, you might be questioning if you should start tracking your own calories.
Yes, one of the ultimate solutions for reducing body fat is to make sure that you are in a caloric deficit. Ever heard "calories in vs. calories out?" This is essentially the idea of the comparing the amount of calories being taken in versus the amount of calories being burned.
Whether it's calorie counting or macro-tracking, both are effective strategies to help keep you in a caloric deficit. However, with calorie counting, also comes a lot of time and preparation, difficulty learning, and may even cause stress and guilt around food! With all that being said, we are here to reassure you that there are still many strategies to help you lose weight and tone up!
Keep scrolling to learn 10 effective ways on how to lean out and tone up without the stress of tracking everything you eat!
Tips to tone up & lean out without tracking calories
8 effective strategies to help you reach your fitness and health goals
1. Build your meals & snacks around protein
Protein, carbs, and fats are your three essential macronutrients. If you're looking to tone up, protein is going to be the macronutrient to increase within every meal and snack.
Additionally, protein is the macro that is going to be most satiating and keep you fuller for longer. Studies have shown that protein can increase fat burning and boosts your metabolism more than any other macronutrient.
Therefore, building your meals and snacks around protein can be very beneficial to those not tracking calories with a weight loss goal in mind!
By increasing the amount of protein in every meal, you'll be less likely to consume an exceeded amount of calories from other macronutrients.
Try making it a priority at every meal and snack to build your plate around a healthy protein source!
2. Be mindful of liquid calories
Whether it's the caramel macchiato or the few beers on the weekend, liquid calories could be the reason you're having a hard time leaning out. Liquid calories are sneaky and can be detrimental to staying a caloric deficit. Liquids such as whole milk vs. almond milk, soda, wine, and even the tastiest kombucha can carry additional calories that are putting us over our caloric deficit.
Additionally, liquid calories do not provide the same satiety level as whole foods and often lack in nutrients, fiber, and healthy macronutrients. So, it is important to focus on whole foods and sticking to limited amount of liquid calories.
Fortunately, there are man y drinks and beverages that can keep you in caloric deficit such as water, coffee, tea, diet soda, sparkling water, and zero calorie sports drinks.
Keeping an eye out for those sneaky calories will help you to achieve your goals without having to track your food and drink!
3. Load up on the fiber
In addition to weight loss properties of protein, fiber also plays a role in helping you lose fat and tone up. This is because fibrous foods not only will make you feel fuller for longer, but will also help slow down your digestion. Since fiber helps slow down the digestion of food, it also slows down how quickly your body responds to carbohydrates and helps better manage your insulin and blood sugar response to food (Cohen, 2022).
A study done in 2018 found that when participants focused on increasing the amount of fiber and protein in their diet, they essentially ate fewer calories, with weight loss as a result (Zhang L., et al, 2018).
Loading your meals up with fiber filled foods will be very beneficial to the non-tracking calorie approach to leaning out! Fibrous foods such as apples, carrots, oats, and beans are all examples of insoluble fibers; whereas, cauliflower, nuts, brown rice, lentils, and wheat bran are all sources of insoluble fiber! Both of which should be loaded up to ensure you are getting proper nutrients and satiety at every meal!
4. Stay mindful of serving sizes
Serving sizes may be tricky if you're not weighing your food or tracking them consistently. Luckily, on the back of all nutrition labels, there is a suggested serving size that details calories, macronutrients, cholesterol, etc.
Staying mindful of these nutrition labels and portioning out the suggested serving size is going to be very beneficial to staying in a caloric deficit.
For the foods that are tricky to dish out the exact serving size, the table on the right displays a useful technique to help estimate portion sizes.
For a bit more description, you can use your hand as a guide: a portion of protein = 1 palm, a portion of fat = 1 thumb, a portion of carbs = 1 palm, and a portion of vegetables = 1 fist.
Portion sizes may be easy to go over by a little or a lot. Staying mindful of them and using such techniques will help you stay in a caloric deficit without tracking calories!
5. Incorporate resistance training
Although prioritizing a healthy diet is essential for weight loss, exercise and physical activity is just as important! Incorporating resistance training in your fitness journey is another key factor in toning up and leaning out without the need to track your calories and macros.
Let's go back to the "calories in vs. calories out" equation. This is the prime method of staying in a caloric deficit without the hassle of tracking calories. By adding resistance training to your fitness regimen, this allows for muscle building activity as well as reducing body fat.
By increasing the weight of muscle and decreasing the weight of fat, this corresponds with increasing the number of calories you will burn at rest. So go grab some weights and build some muscle to work toward your goal of toning up and leaning out!
6. Prioritize rest days & adequate sleep
Sleep is one of the many crucial factors in building muscle and losing fat. With busy schedules, prioritizing healthy meals, and squeezing in a workout, sleep may be often slept on (no pun intended).
Getting an adequate amount of sleep has been linked to optimum performance of hormones and hunger signals. Studies have found that disruption in hunger hormones leptin and ghrelin can increase appetite and can even contribute to weight gain.
In addition to disturbed hunger cues, lack of sleep can increase the want to snack during the day as well as late night snacking.
Having an adequate amount of sleep goes hand in hand with prioritizing rest days. We may think that we need to be in the gym 7 days a week and burning ourselves out every workout to lean out and tone up; however, rest days are just as crucial. Days off not only allow the muscles to recover, but also gives your body a break and prepare for the next workout! Prioritizing sleep is just another way to increase likelihood of losing fat and toning up without having the idea of counting calories come to mind!
7. Opt for high volume low-calorie foods
Correlating with increasing protein and fiber in your meals, high volume and low calorie foods are going to be essential for leaning out without counting your calories.
However, it is important that we are still filling our bodies with healthy, nutrient-filled foods! Loading up on fruits and vegetables will not only be highly nutritious, but also will help keep you fuller for longer and increase levels of satiety. Pairing fruits and vegetables with healthy fats and lean protein will make for a balanced meal, ensuring you are in a caloric deficit.
Focusing on high-volume and low calorie foods for every meal and snack will allow for larger portion sizes and quite literally keep your belly fuller for longer.
The diagram on the right displays food swap examples to get more bang for your buck with calories and portion sizes!
8. Look for ways to stay active
Going hand in hand with incorporating resistance training, looking for ways to stay active throughout the day will help you stay in a caloric deficit without the need to track your calories.
Otherwise known as "NEAT," Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis is the non-exercise activity you perform in everyday. Activities such as cooking, cleaning, walking the dog, and grocery shoppings are all examples of non-exercise movement done everyday. By increasing your ways to stay active, this will allow you to stay in a caloric deficit throughout the day.
Examples of increasing your NEAT are:
Standing at your desk instead of sitting,
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator
Increasing the duration of your walk with the dog,
Cleaning the house... even more!
Having a step goal of 6k-10k a day
All of which are examples on how to increase your ways of staying active throughout the day to stay in a caloric deficit without the stress of tracking your calories!
Bottom line:
Maintaining a caloric deficit is hard to do, and we understand! Tracking everything you eat may become stressful and you might just not have the time for it. These eight effective strategies are beneficial ways to stay in a caloric deficit, helping you to lean out and tone up!
Key factors to recognize are to keep a nutrient-dense diet, active lifestyle, and to stay mindful of how much and what foods you are consuming."Calories in vs. calories out" is the ultimate way to stay in a caloric deficit and help you achieve your health and fitness goals!
It's important to be kind and patient with yourself and to trust the process. Results will come seamlessly!
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Forty-three percent of women say hormones have negatively affected their overall well-being, according to new research. The survey of 2,000 American women, also found that nearly half (47 percent) have experienced the symptoms of a hormonal imbalance.
KSM-66® Clinically shown to relieve stress, improve brain health, as well as decrease body fat in conjunction with resistance training.
Maca increases natural energy, promotes healthy hormone balance and helps stimulate and support libido.
7-Keto-DHEA speeds up the metabolism and heat production to promote weight loss. 7-Keto-DHEA is also used to improve lean body mass and build muscle, increase the activity of the thyroid gland, boost the immune system, enhance memory, and slow aging.
DIM aids in estrogen metabolism and prevents drastic increases or decreases in estrogen. Prevents conversion of testosterone into estrogen.
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