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I used to think when I first started to try and get in shape that I needed to eat solely “clean foods”.

I thought I could never eat a burger, chocolate, cookie, etc ( insert any other junk food here) while also getting in shape.

You can absolutely get in shape while eating cookies, doughnuts, and whatever junk food you like.

When I say get in shape, I mean achieving a healthy body fat percentage of around 10-12% while also having abs and muscle tone.

For example, in the picture below, I have reduced my body fat to 10-12 per cent while also regularly eating cheese, chocolate, pizza, etc.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Eat in a calorie deficit of 500 calories. This enables you to lose fat because when you eat 500 calories less than you burn every day over the course of a week, you’ve lost 3500 calories, which is the amount in a pound of fat ( when you’re in a calorie deficit your body has to burn your fat stores to make up for the calorie deficit, this is how fat loss works). If you want to work out your calorie deficit, click here.
2. Eat 80% of your diet from nutritious whole foods, i.e., lean meats, eggs, fish, fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes. Eat at least five fruits and vegetables daily. My current favourites are dates, bananas, apples, tomatoes, strawberries, and blueberries.
3. Eat 20% of your diet from whatever food you like. Enjoy chocolate? eat it. Like cheese, me to, why don’t you eat some?

When I reduced my body fat to 10-12%, I ate around 2000 calories per day ( I needed to eat 2500 calories to maintain my weight, so eating 2000 calories put me in a deficit of 500, so I’d lose at least a pound of fat per week).

From these 2000 calories, 1600 calories were from healthy whole foods, and 400 calories were from whatever food I fancied, e.g., chocolate and cheese.

I only tracked my protein and calories, and was eating around 180 grams of protein per day ( which was a gram of protein per pound of body weight at the start of my fat loss phase, as I weighed around 180 pounds at the beginning then cut down to 166 pounds). 

The Bottom Line

You can absolutely still enjoy your favourite foods while getting in shape. Follow the 80/20 rule: Eat 80% of your diet from whole foods and 20% of your diet from whatever food you fancy. Thank you for reading, my friend. Now go and eat some chocolate.

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