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Why I made this guide
Now I live life in a much happier place, my confidence is through the roof, and I want you to feel that same change for yourself.
Along the way to losing 35kg I learned so many things that I now carry with me every day. This guide is here to give real value and show the main things that actually matter in a fat loss phase. The goal is to give you a clear framework you can apply straight away, while also showing you the approach behind my own transformation.
I lost 35kg by focusing on what works, repeating it consistently, and keeping things simple enough to stick to. If I had to lose the weight all over again, this is exactly where I would start.
Seeing all this information at once can feel overwhelming, and trying to take on everything at the same time is usually very hard to do. That is why this guide is set up so you can focus on one pillar, get comfortable with it, and then move on to the next.
These are the same steps I personally took to lose 35kg, and I gradually adopted each of these habits into my life over time.
| # | Pillar | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Nutrition | Eat in a calorie deficit, use carbs efficiently, and prioritise protein and fibre. |
| 02 | Walking | Build up daily steps gradually — the simplest, most sustainable fat loss habit there is. |
| 03 | Sleep | Protect your hormones, hunger, recovery and motivation by getting sleep right. |
| 04 | Lifting weights | Build muscle while you lose fat so you get real shape, not just a smaller number on the scale. |
| 05 | Cardio | Increase your output and fitness in a way that supports the diet instead of burning you out. |
Eat in a calorie deficit
This is the only way to lose weight. No matter what diet style you follow, if you are not in a calorie deficit, your body weight is not going to come down.
The easiest place to start is by finding an estimate of your maintenance calories. Go to tdeecalculator.net, enter your information, and use the number it gives you as your starting point.
Then do this for the next 2 weeks:
- Eat at that calorie target every day as closely as you can.
- Weigh yourself every morning.
- Track your calories properly.
- At the end of the week, add up all 7 weigh-ins and divide by 7.
- Use that weekly average as the number you judge progress by.
Your body weight can fluctuate daily from food volume, sodium, water retention, sleep, stress and digestion. One random weigh-in means very little on its own — the weekly average gives you the trend that actually matters.
How to judge your maintenance
| If your weekly average… | It means… |
|---|---|
| Stays roughly the same | That intake is around your maintenance. |
| Goes up | Your true maintenance is lower than you thought. |
| Goes down | Your true maintenance is higher than you thought. |
Once you find your maintenance, subtract around 300-500 calories and begin your fat loss phase. That gives you a more sustainable deficit to work from, instead of crashing calories too hard and making the process harder to stick to.
Protein
Protein is one of the most important parts of a fat loss diet because it helps you feel full, supports recovery, and makes it much easier to keep your body looking good as the weight comes off. Higher protein intake during weight loss is linked with better muscle retention and better body composition, which is why it should be a priority.
A good target for most people is around 0.8 to 1.1 grams per pound of body weight per day. A simple way to think about it: aim to get protein into every meal instead of leaving it all for one part of the day.
Protein helps in a few important ways:
- It keeps you fuller for longer.
- It supports muscle growth and recovery.
- It helps protect your body shape while dieting.
- It can make sticking to a calorie deficit easier because you are less likely to get hungry quickly.
Do not ignore fibre
Fibre is important for keeping your body functioning well, supporting digestion, and helping you stay fuller for longer. It can also help with things like clearer skin and overall health, so it is worth making sure fibrous foods are part of your diet. A simple way to do that is by regularly including foods like fruit, vegetables, oats, potatoes and other whole-food carbohydrate sources in your meals.
Carbs and workout performance
Carbohydrates are your body's main source of energy for training. When you eat carbs they get stored in your muscles as glycogen, and that glycogen is the fuel your body taps into when you lift, push hard and chase progress in the gym. Going into a session with full energy stores means you can lift heavier, get more reps, and train with more intensity — and better training is what protects your muscle and keeps your results coming while you are in a deficit.
This is exactly why you should not fear carbs while dieting. They are not the reason you gain fat — eating above your maintenance calories is. Used properly, carbs are one of the biggest things that make your training feel good and your fat loss sustainable.
Eating fast-digesting carbs around 30–60 minutes before your workout gives you quick, usable energy right when you need it. Because they break down quickly, they top up your blood sugar and energy levels fast — so you feel stronger, more focused and less likely to fade halfway through the session. Simple options like a banana, white rice, oats, a slice of sourdough or a piece of fruit work perfectly. It is one of the easiest ways to get more out of every training session without adding much effort.
Foods I recommend
Here are some simple protein and carbohydrate options I recommend building your meals around:
Protein options
- Chicken breast
- Eggs
- Whey protein
- Salmon
- Cod
- Steak
- Beef mince
- Tuna
- Greek yoghurt
- Skyr
- Turkey
- Cottage cheese
- Milk
Carbohydrate options
- Oats
- Sourdough bread
- White rice
- Potatoes
- Sweet potato
- Apples
- Pears
- Pasta
- Bananas
- Oranges
- Berries
- Yoghurt
Supplements I recommend
| Supplement | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Vitamin D3 & K2 | Helpful for overall health, immunity and supporting bone health. |
| Cod liver oil | A good source of healthy fats and useful for general health support. |
| Vitamin C | Supports the immune system and overall health. |
| Creatine | Helps with gym performance, strength and retaining muscle while dieting. |
| Electrolytes | Useful for hydration, performance and feeling better during training or higher-activity days. |
10,000 steps a day is one of the best fat loss habits you can build — it is simple, sustainable and effective.
It does not require a gym, fancy equipment, or an extreme workout plan. It just requires consistent movement every day. Walking helps you burn more calories without wrecking your recovery, which makes it much easier to stay consistent. And consistency is what drives real weight loss — not short bursts of motivation that burn out after a week.
Build up gradually
The smartest way to approach it is to build up over time. At the start of my own journey, I was only getting around 4,000 steps a day. Then I slowly built it up to 6,000, then 8,000, and eventually 10,000.
Two and a half years later, I now average around 14,000 steps a day without even thinking about it — because it became a habit I built properly over time.
That is why jumping straight to 10,000 steps can feel unrealistic and hard to stick to. Gradually increasing your steps makes the whole process more manageable, more sustainable, and much more likely to become part of your lifestyle instead of just a short-term push.
Walk after your meals
One of the simplest upgrades you can make is to take a short walk after you eat. Even 10–15 minutes after your main meals makes a real difference, and it is one of those small habits that quietly stacks up over time.
When you eat, your blood sugar rises and your body releases insulin to move that sugar out of your blood and into your muscles. Walking gets your muscles working, so they pull in that sugar to use as fuel for the movement instead of leaving it floating around in your bloodstream. Over time, doing this regularly improves your insulin sensitivity — meaning your body needs less insulin to do the same job, and handles the food you eat far more efficiently.
It is how well your body responds to insulin. High insulin sensitivity is what you want — your body manages blood sugar easily and stays in fat-burning mode more of the time. Low sensitivity (insulin resistance) is the opposite, and it makes losing fat much harder.
| Benefit | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Flatter blood sugar | Muscles use the sugar from your meal, so you avoid the big spike and the crash that follows. |
| Less insulin floating around | Lower insulin levels make it easier for your body to tap into stored fat for energy. |
| Fewer energy dips and cravings | Steadier blood sugar means fewer afternoon slumps and fewer sugar cravings pulling you off plan. |
| Extra calories burned | Those daily walks add movement on top of everything else, all without feeling like a workout. |
| Better digestion | Gentle movement after eating helps you feel less bloated and more comfortable. |
None of this is about a magic trick — it is about making your body more efficient at handling food. When your insulin sensitivity is high, more of what you eat gets used properly and your body spends more time burning fat instead of storing it. Stack a short walk onto each meal and you turn ordinary time into progress, which makes losing weight feel a lot more achievable.
If time is the issue
It usually comes down to being more intentional with your day. Be more aware of how much time gets lost sitting around or scrolling, and use those smaller pockets of time to get up and move.
If you really struggle to get your steps in, a walking pad can make a big difference. Setting one up in front of the TV is one of the easiest ways to get more movement in without overthinking it. For a lot of people it is a game changer, because it helps speed up progress without making life harder.
10,000 steps is a great target, but the real win is building the habit properly so you can keep it going. Start where you are, build it up over time, and let the results stack up.
Sleep is massively underrated for fat loss because it affects your hormones, appetite, recovery, energy and behaviour all at once. Good sleep helps you lose more fat and build more muscle while dieting, and it also makes it easier to train well, recover properly and stay consistent.
Poor sleep usually makes everything harder. You are more likely to feel hungrier, crave more junk food, procrastinate more, and feel less motivated to train or stick to your plan. When you sleep well, daily tasks feel easier, your mood is better, and it becomes much easier to stay on top of the habits that actually drive results.
For most people the sweet spot is 7–9 hours of sleep per night. Aim to land in that range consistently — getting enough hours regularly does far more for your fat loss than chasing one perfect night.
Why sleep matters
In a dieting study, people who slept less lost 55% less fat — even though calories and exercise stayed the same. Sleep does not just affect energy; it directly affects how much of your weight loss actually comes from fat.
| Point | What it means |
|---|---|
| Fat loss & muscle retention | Good sleep helps you lose more fat and less muscle while dieting. |
| Hunger & cravings | Poor sleep makes you hungrier and more likely to crave high-calorie foods. |
| Recovery & performance | Better sleep improves training performance, recovery and consistency. |
| Stress & carb handling | It helps your body deal with stress better and can support better day-to-day food control. |
Hunger hormones
| Hormone | What happens with poor sleep |
|---|---|
| Ghrelin | The hunger hormone. When you do not sleep enough it goes up, which can make you feel hungrier. |
| Leptin | The fullness hormone. When sleep is poor it can go down, which can make it harder to feel satisfied after eating. |
Bad sleep makes it easier to overeat because you feel hungrier and less full at the same time. That is one of the reasons sleep has such a big impact on fat loss, even though a lot of people overlook it.
Why sleep helps motivation
When you sleep well, your brain is more rested, so it is easier to focus, manage your mood and actually get things done. You tend to have better focus, less procrastination, and more drive to train, study and stay on top of your routine.
A simple way to think about it: bad sleep makes everything feel harder, while good sleep makes it easier to start and stick to the things you already know you should be doing.
How to improve sleep
Start with the basics first:
| Habit | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Same sleep & wake cycle | Trains your circadian rhythm so your body knows when to sleep and when to wake up. |
| Less caffeine | Helps stop your nervous system from staying too switched on late at night. |
| Wind-down routine | Helps your brain move from go mode into rest mode. |
| Less screen time | Reduces stimulation and can make it easier to switch off before bed. |
Caffeine and sleep quality
Caffeine can stay in your system for a long time, which is why cutting it out at least 6 hours before bed can help. If caffeine is taken too late, it can make it harder to fall asleep and harder to get quality rest.
It can also affect deep sleep and REM sleep, which are two of the most important stages for recovery. If those stages are disrupted, you are more likely to wake up feeling tired, less refreshed and less motivated the next day.
Things that can help
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Blue light blockers | Help reduce screen light exposure at night. |
| Sleep mask | Helps block light if your room is not fully dark. |
| Magnesium glycinate | Can help with relaxation and overall sleep quality. |
| Ashwagandha | Can be useful if stress is making it harder to switch off. |
The biggest sleep improvements usually come from routine, caffeine control and winding down properly. Tools and supplements can help, but they work best when the basics are already in place.
Lifting weights is one of the best things you can do during a fat loss phase because it helps you build muscle while you lose weight. That matters a lot — if you lose weight without doing any resistance training, you can end up lighter on the scale but not actually getting the shape or look you want.
This is where a lot of people end up with that "skinny fat" look. The weight comes down, but because there is not much muscle underneath, the body can still look soft and flat. Building muscle gives your body more shape, structure and a stronger, more athletic look.
A simple way to think about it: losing fat gets the weight off, but lifting weights builds the body shape you want once the fat comes off.
Another reason lifting is so important is that losing weight and building muscle at a moderate pace gives your body time to adapt. If you rush the process too hard, it is easier to feel run down, struggle with recovery, and end up with a result you are not fully happy with. A slower, steadier approach usually leads to a much better overall transformation.
How often to train
There is no perfect training split for fat loss or building muscle. A lot of it comes down to personal preference and enjoyment. You can make great progress lifting 3 times a week just as well as 5 times a week, if you are consistent and training hard enough.
The main thing is making sure each muscle group gets trained with enough intensity and frequency to grow. A very solid target is hitting each muscle around twice a week — that gives your body a good amount of stimulus while still allowing enough recovery. The best split is always the one you enjoy enough to stick to.
Sets, reps and intensity
For most exercises, 2 to 3 hard sets is all you need. You do not have to live in the gym or pile on endless sets to grow — a few quality sets taken seriously will do far more than lots of half-effort ones.
What actually builds the muscle is training hard within the realms of failure. That means taking your sets close enough to failure that the last couple of reps are genuinely difficult and you could only manage one or two more. That level of effort is the real driver of growth — not the exact number you stop on.
Rep ranges themselves come down to personal preference and enjoyment. Anywhere between 5 and 15 reps works well for building muscle, so pick what you enjoy and what lets you push hard with good form. Some people love heavier, lower-rep sets, others prefer lighter, higher-rep work — both grow muscle when the effort is there.
Do not get too caught up in the perfect number of reps. Train hard, get close to failure, and the rep range is yours to choose.
Progressive overload
Progressive overload is simply doing a little more over time. It means gradually giving your muscles a bigger challenge from week to week — by adding weight, getting an extra rep or improving your form and control on a movement you already do.
This is the single most important principle for building muscle. Your body only grows because it is forced to adapt to something it could not handle before. If you lift the same weight, for the same reps, in the same way every single week, you give your body no reason to change — so it stays the same. Apply progressive overload and you keep handing it a new challenge to rise to, which is exactly what drives muscle growth.
The easiest way to apply it is to keep a simple record of your main lifts and try to beat something each session. A few ways to push the needle:
- Add a small amount of weight when a lift starts to feel easier.
- Get one or two more reps with the same weight.
- Improve your control, depth or form on the same weight.
You do not need to add weight every single session. Progress is not always linear — the goal is to trend upwards over weeks and months, not to break records every time you train. Small, steady improvements stack up into a serious transformation.
The beginner split that helped me
This is what helped me stay consistent, enjoy the gym and really fall in love with training:
- 1 Push
- 2 Pull
- 3 Legs
- · Rest
- 4 Chest & back
- 5 Shoulders & arms
- · Rest
If you want something simpler, these are the splits I would recommend depending on how many days you want to train:
| Days per week | Split |
|---|---|
| 3 days | Full body, 3 times a week. |
| 4 days | Upper, lower, upper, lower. |
| 5 days | Push, pull, legs, upper, lower — great if you want to train legs twice a week. |
Gym anxiety
Gym anxiety is a very real thing, and it is something I struggled with a lot at the start. For the first few months it took me time to get consistent because I kept overthinking how everyone would be judging me and the fact that I had no clue what I was doing.
What helped was getting comfortable with the gym environment first, instead of trying to be perfect straight away. I started going at quieter times, trying out different machines, and watching form videos on TikTok and Instagram so I could learn as I went.
It probably will feel awful at the start, but the more you go, the more confident you get and the less anxious you become. The hardest part is starting — after that it gets easier, because the gym begins to feel familiar instead of intimidating.
When that anxiety kicks in, just remember why you are doing this in the first place. You are doing it for yourself, for your health, and because you want to improve your life.
Cardio is another useful tool in a fat loss phase because it helps increase your calorie output, improves your fitness and supports your overall health. It is also a very simple way to do more work without having to rely only on eating less, which can make the whole process feel easier.
Some of the main benefits of cardio are:
- It helps you burn more calories.
- It improves fitness and endurance.
- It supports heart health.
- It can help you stay more active without adding too much extra fatigue when done properly.
Another big benefit is that doing more activity can mean you do not have to drop your calories as hard to get into a deficit. When you are burning more through movement, you usually have more room to eat, which can make the diet feel easier to stick to and leave you feeling better during the process.
When and how I did it
Personally, I did 20 to 30 minutes of cardio after every workout. Doing cardio after strength training lets you put more energy into your lifting first, which is important if your goal is to build muscle and improve body composition while losing fat.
Do cardio after your strength sessions, not before. If you do it before, there is a better chance you go into your lifting more tired, which can lower performance and make it harder to train with enough quality and intensity.
Why Zone 2 works so well
Zone 2 cardio is especially good because it is low to moderate intensity, easy to recover from, and uses more fat as a fuel source than higher-intensity work. It is also great for improving cardiovascular fitness and endurance without leaving you completely drained, which makes it much easier to stay consistent with.
That is why Zone 2 works so well in a fat loss phase: it gives you a sustainable way to do more activity, burn more calories and build fitness without making recovery from your weight training much harder.
Make it effortless
One of the easiest ways to make cardio feel effortless is to give yourself something to watch while you do it. Watch YouTube or Netflix, or even just let yourself scroll while you are on the treadmill, bike or Stairmaster — it makes the time go faster and helps you stay consistent.
The mindset shift is simple: you would probably be sitting at home, lying in bed, scrolling or watching Netflix anyway. You may as well do it while getting your cardio in, because then that same 20 to 30 minutes is actually helping you lose fat as well. That is basically two benefits in one.