Fat loss without guessing
A calorie range, a protein target and a week you can repeat will do more than another cleanse. A practical starting point for fat loss that respects your life.
Fat loss is not a mystery, but it is easy to make complicated. Most people do not need a new superfood or a stricter list of forbidden meals. They need an honest starting point, a target they can live with, and enough strength work to keep the muscle they already have.
This is general education, not medical advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant or are working with a clinician, follow their guidance first.
Start with a week of honest data
Before changing anything, write down what you actually eat for a week. Not what you think you should eat. The point is not to judge the week; it is to find the gap between the plan in your head and the week on your calendar.
Most people find one or two repeatable patterns: a late-night snack, a liquid lunch, a weekend that undoes five careful weekdays. You do not need to fix all of it. You need to know where the leverage is.
Set a calorie range, not a rule
A single calorie number looks precise and rarely survives real life. A range gives you room to eat a little more on a hard training day and a little less on a quiet one. The average is what matters.
Use an estimate as a starting point, then adjust based on what your body does over several weeks. The calorie and protein tool on this site uses Mifflin-St Jeor and standard activity multipliers; it is an estimate, not a measurement.
- Lose: roughly 15% below estimated maintenance.
- Maintain: estimated maintenance.
- Gain: roughly 10% above estimated maintenance.
Protein is the lever
Protein helps you keep muscle while you are in a deficit and tends to make meals more satisfying. A common target is roughly 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of body weight per day, spread across meals.
That is a range, not a rule. People with larger bodies, medical conditions or kidney concerns should get individual guidance from a qualified professional.
Lift so you keep muscle
A calorie deficit without strength work can leave you smaller and weaker. Strength training gives your body a reason to hold onto muscle while fat loss is happening. At RTS, muscle building and fat loss are core specialties, and the small-group format keeps the work scaled to the person.
You do not need a perfect program. You need consistent, progressive strength work and enough recovery to show up for the next session.
Make the habit smaller than your motivation
The plan that works on a motivated Sunday often dies on a tired Wednesday. Make the habit small enough to survive the worst day of your week: one planned breakfast, one walk after lunch, one strength session you do not skip.
Ray's coaching focus is fixing daily habits, not chasing a heroic month. That is the right order. The habits are what make the result stay.
When to ask for help
If you have been tracking for a few weeks and nothing is changing, or if the plan is making you miserable, get a second set of eyes. A coach can help you adjust the target, protect your training and stop you from responding to a bad week by cutting everything in half.
Book a free call with RTS if you want to talk through the training side. For medical or clinical nutrition questions, speak with your provider.
The plan that works on a motivated Sunday often dies on a tired Wednesday. Make the habit smaller.
Written by the coaches at RTS Fitness, 469 Broadway in El Cajon. Questions about your own training? Book a free call.