The basic principle of losing weight is to burn more calories than you consume each day. You can always do this by eating very little, but that’s not very safe or healthy and you’ll feel tired, weak, and miserable. Plus, your muscles need protein to grow and get firm. If you don’t get enough daily calories, your body will begin taking energy from your muscles, leaving you looking and feeling like a wet noodle.

In order to lose 2.5 lbs a week (10 lbs in 30 days) you’ll have to be smarter than that. Your muscles are also going to have to work so they can get strong and firm. No use losing a lot of weight if you’re going to be all squishy and shapeless. Both men and women will benefit from having more muscle on your body by being stronger, more efficient, and more energetic!

Besides, just having muscle on your body will help you get rid of fat. For example, “muscle tissue will burn seven to 10 calories daily per pound” all by itself, just by being there! So, the more muscle you have, the less fat your body will keep. Keeping muscle is the trick to having a strong, healthy, well-toned, lean and fit body. Ladies: here are some good examples of  women who lift weights.

To avoid burning off the muscle you are building, you’re going to have to increase the amount of protein you are eating. Chances are, if you’re not consciously trying to eat a lot of protein, you’re probably not eating enough.

You will be on a caloric deficit in which you start moderately and lower your daily calories every week. 3 simple steps!

1. Figure out your body fat percentage.

2. Get your body fat weight.

3. Get your lean weight.

NOTE: To find out how to get the above three steps, Get the ebook today! (See it in Amazon!)

We will start week one by setting our daily calories at 13 x our lean weight.
13 x (Using our example: 120lb) = 1560 calories per day

Now that we know how many calories per day we will eat, we will figure out how many of those grams will come from the three food types, Protein, Fats, and Carbs.

Week 1:

Daily intake: 13 calories per pound of lean weight

Protein:  1 gram per pound

(1 gram per pound of lean weight. Example 120lb lean weight x 1 = 120g Protein per day)

Fats: .43 gram per pound
(Example: 120 x .43 = 52g Fats per day)

Carbs: 1.28 gram per pound
(Example: 120 x 1.28 = 153g Carbs per day)

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4:

NOTE: The info above for Week 1 is a freebie! Each week we will gradually lower the calories a bit more. That’s the secret to losing weight successfully! It is important to end up with enough of a caloric deficit to make a difference and allow you to lose 10 pounds in 30 days. To get the exact numbers for Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4, Get the ebook today!

It is much easier to maintain and track a diet if you eat the same thing every day. Having to recalculate your meals every single day will be laborious and therefore not sustainable. That’s not the 10in30 way. We are all about sustainability. For now, you’re on a mission to transform. Make your life easier and your transformation fool-proof by making up a daily diet for the week. You can change it up and swap out foods at the beginning of each week.

Once you get the amount of each macro nutrient for the day (protein, fats, carbs) you can divide each macro by as many meals as you will eat so that you will know how much of each macro to eat every meal.

For example, our 120lb lean person wants to eat 6 meals—3 main meals and 3 healthy snacks including post workout. Remember, we are eating 13 calories per lean pound that we weigh for week one.
She will eat 120g protein per day so 120/6 = 20g protein in each meal.
She will eat 52g fats per day, so 52/6 = 8.6g (or around 9) in each meal.
She will eat 153g carbs per day so 153/6 = 25.5g (or around 26) per meal.

But you don’t have to be so strict with that! If you want to eat half your carbs for breakfast and the rest for lunch, that’s cool. The important thing is that you don’t go over your daily limit!

Use MyFitnessPal or Fat Secret to configure your daily diet for the week and track your calories. They have a huge database of foods and you can track from anywhere, including your smart phone. Tracking your calories can be a serious eye opener! You’d be surprised how many or how little you’re actually eating. Before long, you’ll get used to it and won’t need to track so carefully.

For example, start by making up your breakfast with a good amount of protein:
1 egg and 1 egg white (10g protein, 5g fat)
2 Safeway Select turkey bacon strips (12g protein, 4g fat)
2 slices of wheat toast (26g carbs, 5g protein) with a tablespoon of fruit jelly (15g carbs)
Totals: 374 calories
Protein: 27g
Carbs: 41g
Fat: 11g

Cook with Pam spray instead of oil or you’d have to weigh and add the oil to your caloric count. Oils are 100% fats which add up quickly, so we recommend to only cook with Pam. If you’d like, go ahead and add salsa and don’t even count it since it’s so low in calories.

If you’d like to have some butter with your toast, go ahead but that is 100% fat too, so feel free to do so but remember to adjust the rest of the meals so that you don’t go over. That is what flexible eating is all about! And again, don’t recalculate your daily calories every single day—you’ll go nuts! Do it once for the whole week, eat the same thing every day, then change it next week a bit since you’ll have to adjust the calories anyway.

Go to Nutrition – Protein –>