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We've consulted with our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians to bring you informed recommendations for food products, health aids and nutritional goods to safely and successfully guide you toward making better diet and nutrition choices. We strive to only recommend products that adhere to our philosophy of eating better while still enjoying what you eat.

Benchmark Your Progress With Our Lean Body Mass Calculator

This online tool will estimate your lean body mass and fat mass percentages.

FACT CHECKED BY Christopher Roback
Expert-Recommended

We've consulted with our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians to bring you informed recommendations for food products, health aids and nutritional goods to safely and successfully guide you toward making better diet and nutrition choices. We strive to only recommend products that adhere to our philosophy of eating better while still enjoying what you eat.

,Muscular,Woman,Abs,gym,fitness,muscle,workout
Shutterstock
FACT CHECKED BY Christopher Roback
Expert-Recommended

We've consulted with our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians to bring you informed recommendations for food products, health aids and nutritional goods to safely and successfully guide you toward making better diet and nutrition choices. We strive to only recommend products that adhere to our philosophy of eating better while still enjoying what you eat.

Do you know what your body is really made of? And do you know how the distribution of your body tissue affects your weight, nutrition, and the exercises that are most effective for you? If you are looking to improve your health and fitness, understanding the answers to these questions can be incredibly impactful. One tool that can help you with this process is the Lean Body Mass Calculator. This online calculator requires only a few measurements from you to estimate your lean body mass and fat mass percentages.


Most people believe that lean body mass (LBM) is only skeletal muscle, but it is much more than that. It includes muscle but also water, organs and bones. Essentially, it is all body mass except for fat mass. Lean body mass is metabolically active, which means it needs nutrition for maintenance, growth, and repair. This is key when developing an exercise and nutrition plan to meet your goals.

The Lean Body Mass Calculator is a great tool to assist in your fitness journey. By having information about what your body is made of, programming for exercise and nutrition is more specific and effective. Improving or increasing lean body mass will improve health, longevity, fitness and overall function. Using this calculator as part of your fitness regime will provide you with valuable information to enhance your success. Here's everything you need to know about the Lean Body Mass Calculator and how it might work for you.

Introduction to Lean Body Mass

Strong,,,Athletic,,Man,,Muscles,Abs, biceps, gymShutterstock

What is lean body mass, and why is it important to know your LBM? Lean body mass is not only the weight of one’s muscle mass but it also includes the combined weight of bones, ligaments and tendons, internal organs, and water. In other words, “Lean body mass differs from total body weight because it does not include fat mass. Total body weight = lean body mass + fat mass,” says Jordan Hill, MCD, RD, CSSD, of Top Nutrition Coaching, a Lead Registered Dietitian.

“A healthy LBM is between 70%-90%,” says Nadia Murdock, a Mindset & Movement Coach at Garage Gym Reviews. “For women ideally it should be on the longer end of the range and men on the higher. It's important to know your lean body mass for a few reasons.

  1. To know how much protein you should be consuming.
  2. Sufficient amounts of lean body mass are critical for building a healthy life over time.
  3. Having a healthy body composition can help reduce heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and insulin resistance.
  4. A good LBM can improve your energy levels as well as overall self-esteem.”

Indeed, “Knowing your lean body mass can provide valuable information as it relates to your body composition, overall health status, and fitness level. It can be used to more accurately estimate calorie and macronutrient needs to ensure a person is consuming appropriate nutrients for their body and their desired goals. A few benefits of having a higher lean body mass include a faster metabolism, improved immunity and insulin sensitivity, and support of better bone density,” says Hill.

Murdock adds: “LBM gives a better insight to overall health vs just weight alone. The theory is that people with a healthy body fat percentage are at lower risk of developing diseases related to obesity like heart disease as well as certain cancers. Look at this way: the more you can know about your body and how to set it up for success the better. It's about being your own health advocate and the more knowledge you have the better equipped you are to make better strides towards a healthy well-being."

Importance of Lean Body Mass Calculation

Fitness woman in sportswear trains shoulder muscles, doing dumbbell press while sitting on bench in gym. Back viewShutterstock

Why is calculating your lean body mass beneficial for fitness and health goals? Knowing what your body is made of can be powerful information in making decisions based on your weight, health, nutrition, and goals. This percentage will give you an estimation of fat mass (which is just that, body fat) and lean mass (composed of muscle, water, organs and other tissues that are not fat). In general, lean body mass is metabolically active and requires energy (food) for maintenance and repair. If you find you have a high lean mass, it is important to include enough calories to support it. If the opposite is true, you may want to focus on skeletal muscle growth and improve your percentage of lean mass before trying to lose weight. Many make the mistake of trying to lose weight with low lean body mass and this makes the maintenance of that weight loss very difficult due to the drop in overall metabolic activity (calorie burn).

Additionally, knowing your lean mass to fat mass percentages will give you knowledge in how to approach both exercise and nutrition. Lean mass is active and requires more protein and calories to maintain. A certain amount of fat mass is necessary for health but if yours is higher than desired levels, it may help you to decide on how to tailor your program. Do you want to increase lean mass or do you have enough and want to work on decreasing fat mass? The nutrition and exercise for these goals are very different. If you go into a fat loss program with a low lean body mass, you will have a very low metabolism once you have lost the desired fat. This will make long-term goals much more difficult.

"It really depends on what your goals are,” adds Murdock. “Think of it as a roadmap for your fitness routine. It will help to point you in the right direction so you are working with your body vs against it.”

Lean Body Mass Calculator

Understanding the Lean Body Mass Calculator

The man who measures a waist with a tape measureShutterstock

There are several Lean Body Mass Calculators that use a variety of measurements to make estimations in what your body is made of. The calculation uses formulas that have been studied and correlate with body composition measurements. These are estimations but do provide a baseline of information for those looking to improve health and body composition.

The Lean Body Mass Calculators will always ask for age, height, and weight. They are more accurate when more measurements are used in the calculations such as neck, waist and hip circumference. These additional measurements provide the calculator with information on where body fat is located on the body. In general, the more information asked by the calculator, the more accurate the information tends to be.

Interpreting Lean Body Mass Calculator Results

woman,laptop,computer,officeShutterstock

How should you interpret the results from the Lean Body Mass Calculator? Always use this as a starting point and a point of reference. The key is to use the same calculator and measurements every time you want to check in on your progress. Interpretation of the results is just that, an interpretation. It is not a hard number but an estimation but one you can use to track progress. Make sure to track all of the measurements asked by the calculator as sometimes raw data can also give us insight. For example: if your waist circumference dropped by a half inch, you have lost body fat. If your arm measurement increased, you probable gained lean mass. The results from the calculator should be part of the overall picture and data you are using to track your progress, no matter what your goal is.

What does a higher or lower LBM indicate about your health and fitness levels? Lean body mass consists of skeletal muscle, water, bones and internal organs. It is basically everything that is not body fat. Lean body mass is metabolically active, uses calories at rest and contributes to the function and health of your body. The greater lean body mass you have, the leaner and healthier you tend to be. It indicates a lower body fat percentage. High body fat levels are associated with chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Putting your efforts toward increasing lean body mass will improve your health and overall function of your body.

"Once you have your results it can help guide you in setting realistic goals while helping you track your progress along the way," says Murdock, who adds: "One factor to consider in your calculations is hormones! The difference in LBM is mainly because of the hormone testosterone, the primary male sex hormone. This plays a major role in muscle development as well as maintenance. Because men tend to have higher levels it allows them to to build and maintain more LBM in comparison to women." In short: "Each person is different, understanding your own various factors such as genetics, lifestyle and training techniques can all assist in making sense of the calculation results."

How You Can Apply the Lean Body Mass Information

Side view of two attractive sports women on running track. Girls on treadmillShutterstock

The Lean Body Mass calculator will provide information on where you are starting and the progress you have made. It is best to run the calculation every 4-6 weeks as you are working on your goals. If you find that the calculation is moving in the desired direction, you know what you are doing is working. If you find that you are not seeing the results you expect or want, it helps to make changes to your nutrition and exercise program at that time. These calculations can be used primarily as a tracking tool to determine when program changes need to be made and also check how the program is working.

If you are trying to improve lean body mass and increase it, it is vital to be doing strength training in an intensity to elicit growth. Many people are afraid of lifting heavy but that is the way to increase lean mass. Lean mass growth also requires materials (aka: food) to grow. For those wanting to lose body fat, many times they are in caloric restriction that is to low to provide the needed materials for lean mass growth. Sometime increasing overall calories and protein are beneficial to lean mass increases. It is important to track the calculation every 4-6 weeks to check your progress and the effect of both your exercise and nutrition.

Accuracy and Limitations of the Lean Body Mass Calculator

Weight,Scale,scales,loss,diet,health,feetShutterstock

One big caveat to all this: “I think that it is pretty fair to say that online lean body mass calculators are fairly inaccurate compared to clinical methods,” says Lena Bakovic, RD, of Top Nutrition Coaching. “This is especially true if an individual does not know their body fat percentage. Simple calculators using height and weight to estimate LBM are one of the most inaccurate methods but can perhaps provide an individual with a guess, or rough estimate. If you do know your body fat percentage, there is a different calculation available online to estimate LBM, however it is still fairly inaccurate. BMI is an additional online calculator however specific measurement does not distinguish between muscle, fat, or water weight.”

She adds: “Although these calculators are easily accessible via the internet, they do have limitations- the most obvious being their inaccuracy, especially if one does not know their body fat percentages. Without the body fat percentages, it becomes even more of a guessing game. However, even with incorporating body fat percentage in an online calculator, the method remains largely inaccurate. The BMI calculator, specifically, has the limitation of not being able to distinguish between muscle, fat, or water weight,” says Bakovic.

Beyond the Calculation

Healthy,Meal,Prep,Containers,,Green,Beans,,Chicken,Breast,diet,cooking,kitchenShutterstock

Once you know your lean body mass, there are steps we’d recommend for improving or maintaining it? “If someone is looking to dial in their nutrition and take an individualized approach, I recommend they work with a sports dietitian who can guide them. Depending on what their goals are around lean body mass, the timing of eating, portion sizes, and food choices may vary,” says Hill.

As for specifics: “In efforts to increase lean body mass, there’s a balance between proper fueling and an appropriate training routine that can help,” says Hill. “Eating adequate total calories to build muscle tissue is a must. From there, ensuring one is consuming enough protein and at the optimal times is important. Consuming adequate carbohydrates can indirectly assist in muscle hypertrophy. Adequate hydration, proper sleep, stress management, and adequate rest and recovery times is also necessary. Lastly, having a good strength training routine is another necessary piece to the puzzle in muscle building. It's important to progressively increase the intensity of your strength training workouts over time. This can be achieved by lifting heavier weights, increasing the number of repetitions or sets, or varying the exercises to target different muscle groups.”

Success Stories and Real-World Applications

Measuring,Body,Composition,Balance,,Standing,On,The,Medical,ScalesShutterstock

“I have had several clients who have worked with me over the years to help shift their body composition from less fat to increased muscle (or LBM),” says Bakovic. “Two of the more recent clients I had with these goals used InBody Scanners to estimate their body fat percentages, skeletal muscle mass, as well as total body water. We tracked and trended the data from baseline (when we first began working together) to several months later. Both of these recent clients achieved their goals for the shifts in body composition they were seeking! It was eye-opening for them when we pulled up graphs to show where they were when they first began their health journeys to where they ended up. Super rewarding for me as well as their RDN!”

As for how she implements it at work: “Honestly, I have never advised my clients to use the online calculators. However, as I mentioned above, when we are able to use a more clinical form of estimation such as the InBody Scanner or a DEXA scan, was quite useful for those clients wanting to achieve specific shifts in body composition,” says Bakovic. “Some clients are very numbers-oriented, so the LBM data is super meaningful for these clients in terms of accountability and building confidence in their achievements.”

How Often to Check Your Lean Body Mass

Writing,On,Notebook,And,Work,With,Calculator,And,LaptopShutterstock

“If one sets out on a health and fitness journey and is interested in tracking their body composition as a part of that, I have observed that what works for most people is to schedule body composition measurements perhaps quarterly or every 4 months,” says Bakovic. “One common question clients may have is how long it will be before they see changes and for that reason I would recommend not checking LBM more frequently than every 3-4 months. This allows sufficient time for any dietary and fitness interventions to influence change and for true shifts to be observed.”

Lean Body Mass Calculator Final Words and Encouragement

Back view of strong sporty girl showing muscles at the beach during sunset.Shutterstock

“I would say that it is important to remember that change takes time. Nutrition, for sure, is a journey! Fitness is as well,” says Bakovic. “I can speak for the nutrition journey piece, and that it truly does help to work with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist as part of this journey. Nutrition is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and having someone to talk with through the process is super helpful. Also, when you have that ongoing support, the RDN will work with you to customize and revise your goals as things progress as health and nutrition journeys are generally always dynamic.”

Lacy Puttuck, MS, RDN, CISSN, CSCS is of Top Nutrition Coaching

More For You

,Muscular,Woman,Abs,gym,fitness,muscle,workout
Shutterstock
FACT CHECKED BY Christopher Roback
Expert-Recommended

We've consulted with our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians to bring you informed recommendations for food products, health aids and nutritional goods to safely and successfully guide you toward making better diet and nutrition choices. We strive to only recommend products that adhere to our philosophy of eating better while still enjoying what you eat.

Do you know what your body is really made of? And do you know how the distribution of your body tissue affects your weight, nutrition, and the exercises that are most effective for you? If you are looking to improve your health and fitness, understanding the answers to these questions can be incredibly impactful. One tool that can help you with this process is the Lean Body Mass Calculator. This online calculator requires only a few measurements from you to estimate your lean body mass and fat mass percentages.


Most people believe that lean body mass (LBM) is only skeletal muscle, but it is much more than that. It includes muscle but also water, organs and bones. Essentially, it is all body mass except for fat mass. Lean body mass is metabolically active, which means it needs nutrition for maintenance, growth, and repair. This is key when developing an exercise and nutrition plan to meet your goals.

The Lean Body Mass Calculator is a great tool to assist in your fitness journey. By having information about what your body is made of, programming for exercise and nutrition is more specific and effective. Improving or increasing lean body mass will improve health, longevity, fitness and overall function. Using this calculator as part of your fitness regime will provide you with valuable information to enhance your success. Here's everything you need to know about the Lean Body Mass Calculator and how it might work for you.

Introduction to Lean Body Mass

Strong,,,Athletic,,Man,,Muscles,Abs, biceps, gymShutterstock

What is lean body mass, and why is it important to know your LBM? Lean body mass is not only the weight of one’s muscle mass but it also includes the combined weight of bones, ligaments and tendons, internal organs, and water. In other words, “Lean body mass differs from total body weight because it does not include fat mass. Total body weight = lean body mass + fat mass,” says Jordan Hill, MCD, RD, CSSD, of Top Nutrition Coaching, a Lead Registered Dietitian.

“A healthy LBM is between 70%-90%,” says Nadia Murdock, a Mindset & Movement Coach at Garage Gym Reviews. “For women ideally it should be on the longer end of the range and men on the higher. It's important to know your lean body mass for a few reasons.

  1. To know how much protein you should be consuming.
  2. Sufficient amounts of lean body mass are critical for building a healthy life over time.
  3. Having a healthy body composition can help reduce heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and insulin resistance.
  4. A good LBM can improve your energy levels as well as overall self-esteem.”

Indeed, “Knowing your lean body mass can provide valuable information as it relates to your body composition, overall health status, and fitness level. It can be used to more accurately estimate calorie and macronutrient needs to ensure a person is consuming appropriate nutrients for their body and their desired goals. A few benefits of having a higher lean body mass include a faster metabolism, improved immunity and insulin sensitivity, and support of better bone density,” says Hill.

Murdock adds: “LBM gives a better insight to overall health vs just weight alone. The theory is that people with a healthy body fat percentage are at lower risk of developing diseases related to obesity like heart disease as well as certain cancers. Look at this way: the more you can know about your body and how to set it up for success the better. It's about being your own health advocate and the more knowledge you have the better equipped you are to make better strides towards a healthy well-being."

Importance of Lean Body Mass Calculation

Fitness woman in sportswear trains shoulder muscles, doing dumbbell press while sitting on bench in gym. Back viewShutterstock

Why is calculating your lean body mass beneficial for fitness and health goals? Knowing what your body is made of can be powerful information in making decisions based on your weight, health, nutrition, and goals. This percentage will give you an estimation of fat mass (which is just that, body fat) and lean mass (composed of muscle, water, organs and other tissues that are not fat). In general, lean body mass is metabolically active and requires energy (food) for maintenance and repair. If you find you have a high lean mass, it is important to include enough calories to support it. If the opposite is true, you may want to focus on skeletal muscle growth and improve your percentage of lean mass before trying to lose weight. Many make the mistake of trying to lose weight with low lean body mass and this makes the maintenance of that weight loss very difficult due to the drop in overall metabolic activity (calorie burn).

Additionally, knowing your lean mass to fat mass percentages will give you knowledge in how to approach both exercise and nutrition. Lean mass is active and requires more protein and calories to maintain. A certain amount of fat mass is necessary for health but if yours is higher than desired levels, it may help you to decide on how to tailor your program. Do you want to increase lean mass or do you have enough and want to work on decreasing fat mass? The nutrition and exercise for these goals are very different. If you go into a fat loss program with a low lean body mass, you will have a very low metabolism once you have lost the desired fat. This will make long-term goals much more difficult.

"It really depends on what your goals are,” adds Murdock. “Think of it as a roadmap for your fitness routine. It will help to point you in the right direction so you are working with your body vs against it.”

Lean Body Mass Calculator

Understanding the Lean Body Mass Calculator

The man who measures a waist with a tape measureShutterstock

There are several Lean Body Mass Calculators that use a variety of measurements to make estimations in what your body is made of. The calculation uses formulas that have been studied and correlate with body composition measurements. These are estimations but do provide a baseline of information for those looking to improve health and body composition.

The Lean Body Mass Calculators will always ask for age, height, and weight. They are more accurate when more measurements are used in the calculations such as neck, waist and hip circumference. These additional measurements provide the calculator with information on where body fat is located on the body. In general, the more information asked by the calculator, the more accurate the information tends to be.

Interpreting Lean Body Mass Calculator Results

woman,laptop,computer,officeShutterstock

How should you interpret the results from the Lean Body Mass Calculator? Always use this as a starting point and a point of reference. The key is to use the same calculator and measurements every time you want to check in on your progress. Interpretation of the results is just that, an interpretation. It is not a hard number but an estimation but one you can use to track progress. Make sure to track all of the measurements asked by the calculator as sometimes raw data can also give us insight. For example: if your waist circumference dropped by a half inch, you have lost body fat. If your arm measurement increased, you probable gained lean mass. The results from the calculator should be part of the overall picture and data you are using to track your progress, no matter what your goal is.

What does a higher or lower LBM indicate about your health and fitness levels? Lean body mass consists of skeletal muscle, water, bones and internal organs. It is basically everything that is not body fat. Lean body mass is metabolically active, uses calories at rest and contributes to the function and health of your body. The greater lean body mass you have, the leaner and healthier you tend to be. It indicates a lower body fat percentage. High body fat levels are associated with chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Putting your efforts toward increasing lean body mass will improve your health and overall function of your body.

"Once you have your results it can help guide you in setting realistic goals while helping you track your progress along the way," says Murdock, who adds: "One factor to consider in your calculations is hormones! The difference in LBM is mainly because of the hormone testosterone, the primary male sex hormone. This plays a major role in muscle development as well as maintenance. Because men tend to have higher levels it allows them to to build and maintain more LBM in comparison to women." In short: "Each person is different, understanding your own various factors such as genetics, lifestyle and training techniques can all assist in making sense of the calculation results."

How You Can Apply the Lean Body Mass Information

Side view of two attractive sports women on running track. Girls on treadmillShutterstock

The Lean Body Mass calculator will provide information on where you are starting and the progress you have made. It is best to run the calculation every 4-6 weeks as you are working on your goals. If you find that the calculation is moving in the desired direction, you know what you are doing is working. If you find that you are not seeing the results you expect or want, it helps to make changes to your nutrition and exercise program at that time. These calculations can be used primarily as a tracking tool to determine when program changes need to be made and also check how the program is working.

If you are trying to improve lean body mass and increase it, it is vital to be doing strength training in an intensity to elicit growth. Many people are afraid of lifting heavy but that is the way to increase lean mass. Lean mass growth also requires materials (aka: food) to grow. For those wanting to lose body fat, many times they are in caloric restriction that is to low to provide the needed materials for lean mass growth. Sometime increasing overall calories and protein are beneficial to lean mass increases. It is important to track the calculation every 4-6 weeks to check your progress and the effect of both your exercise and nutrition.

Accuracy and Limitations of the Lean Body Mass Calculator

Weight,Scale,scales,loss,diet,health,feetShutterstock

One big caveat to all this: “I think that it is pretty fair to say that online lean body mass calculators are fairly inaccurate compared to clinical methods,” says Lena Bakovic, RD, of Top Nutrition Coaching. “This is especially true if an individual does not know their body fat percentage. Simple calculators using height and weight to estimate LBM are one of the most inaccurate methods but can perhaps provide an individual with a guess, or rough estimate. If you do know your body fat percentage, there is a different calculation available online to estimate LBM, however it is still fairly inaccurate. BMI is an additional online calculator however specific measurement does not distinguish between muscle, fat, or water weight.”

She adds: “Although these calculators are easily accessible via the internet, they do have limitations- the most obvious being their inaccuracy, especially if one does not know their body fat percentages. Without the body fat percentages, it becomes even more of a guessing game. However, even with incorporating body fat percentage in an online calculator, the method remains largely inaccurate. The BMI calculator, specifically, has the limitation of not being able to distinguish between muscle, fat, or water weight,” says Bakovic.

Beyond the Calculation

Healthy,Meal,Prep,Containers,,Green,Beans,,Chicken,Breast,diet,cooking,kitchenShutterstock

Once you know your lean body mass, there are steps we’d recommend for improving or maintaining it? “If someone is looking to dial in their nutrition and take an individualized approach, I recommend they work with a sports dietitian who can guide them. Depending on what their goals are around lean body mass, the timing of eating, portion sizes, and food choices may vary,” says Hill.

As for specifics: “In efforts to increase lean body mass, there’s a balance between proper fueling and an appropriate training routine that can help,” says Hill. “Eating adequate total calories to build muscle tissue is a must. From there, ensuring one is consuming enough protein and at the optimal times is important. Consuming adequate carbohydrates can indirectly assist in muscle hypertrophy. Adequate hydration, proper sleep, stress management, and adequate rest and recovery times is also necessary. Lastly, having a good strength training routine is another necessary piece to the puzzle in muscle building. It's important to progressively increase the intensity of your strength training workouts over time. This can be achieved by lifting heavier weights, increasing the number of repetitions or sets, or varying the exercises to target different muscle groups.”

Success Stories and Real-World Applications

Measuring,Body,Composition,Balance,,Standing,On,The,Medical,ScalesShutterstock

“I have had several clients who have worked with me over the years to help shift their body composition from less fat to increased muscle (or LBM),” says Bakovic. “Two of the more recent clients I had with these goals used InBody Scanners to estimate their body fat percentages, skeletal muscle mass, as well as total body water. We tracked and trended the data from baseline (when we first began working together) to several months later. Both of these recent clients achieved their goals for the shifts in body composition they were seeking! It was eye-opening for them when we pulled up graphs to show where they were when they first began their health journeys to where they ended up. Super rewarding for me as well as their RDN!”

As for how she implements it at work: “Honestly, I have never advised my clients to use the online calculators. However, as I mentioned above, when we are able to use a more clinical form of estimation such as the InBody Scanner or a DEXA scan, was quite useful for those clients wanting to achieve specific shifts in body composition,” says Bakovic. “Some clients are very numbers-oriented, so the LBM data is super meaningful for these clients in terms of accountability and building confidence in their achievements.”

How Often to Check Your Lean Body Mass

Writing,On,Notebook,And,Work,With,Calculator,And,LaptopShutterstock

“If one sets out on a health and fitness journey and is interested in tracking their body composition as a part of that, I have observed that what works for most people is to schedule body composition measurements perhaps quarterly or every 4 months,” says Bakovic. “One common question clients may have is how long it will be before they see changes and for that reason I would recommend not checking LBM more frequently than every 3-4 months. This allows sufficient time for any dietary and fitness interventions to influence change and for true shifts to be observed.”

Lean Body Mass Calculator Final Words and Encouragement

Back view of strong sporty girl showing muscles at the beach during sunset.Shutterstock

“I would say that it is important to remember that change takes time. Nutrition, for sure, is a journey! Fitness is as well,” says Bakovic. “I can speak for the nutrition journey piece, and that it truly does help to work with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist as part of this journey. Nutrition is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and having someone to talk with through the process is super helpful. Also, when you have that ongoing support, the RDN will work with you to customize and revise your goals as things progress as health and nutrition journeys are generally always dynamic.”

Lacy Puttuck, MS, RDN, CISSN, CSCS is of Top Nutrition Coaching

Evidence-Based

This content references scientific studies and academic research, and is fact-checked to ensure accuracy.

Our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians strives to be objective, unbiased, and honest.

We are committed to bringing you researched, expert-driven content to help you make more informed decisions around food, health, and wellness. We know how important making choices about your overall health is, and we strive to provide you with the best information possible.

Ever wondered what a fitness expert would do if they had to get lean as quickly as possible? While most of us scramble through conflicting advice and fad diets, having a proven game plan can make all the difference.


Adam McDonald, a performance coach, a nutrition PhD candidate, and a natural bodybuilding competitor, breaks down exactly what he would do if he needed to get shredded fast. With his master's in nutrition and years of coaching experience, Adam combines scientific research with real-world results. Here's his step-by-step strategy to shed fat while maintaining muscle – and how you can apply these principles to your own transformation.

Know Your Numbers First

"99% of people underestimate how much fat they need to lose," Adam warns in his post. Before starting any diet, he emphasizes calculating your exact starting point and goal. "Get it out of your head that you want to be X weight at a certain body fat percentage," he advises. "You don't get to choose how much weight you have to lose to reach a certain body fat percentage."

Set Your Weekly Target

For sustainable results, Adam suggests "aiming for around 1% body weight loss per week, but anything between 1.5 and 0.75% is going to be an acceptable range." This approach helps preserve muscle while ensuring steady progress. "Anything faster than this and I'll probably lose muscle, and anything lower than that, I'll just lose motivation."

Calculate Your Daily Calories

"Calories are the most important thing. It's not the only important thing, but it's the most important thing," Adam emphasizes. His simple formula: multiply your body weight in pounds by 10. "You can lose fat without tracking calories," he notes, "but if you want to be efficient and effective, tracking is your best option."

Dial In Your Macros

"I give myself one gram of protein for every pound of body weight," Adam explains. The remaining calories are split between carbs and fats. For tracking, he recommends specialized apps: "I'd use MacroFactor or MyFitnessPal. They're both decent, but MacroFactor has a better database."

Plan Your Meal Timing

"When it comes to dieting, the North Star is optimizing for hunger," Adam explains. His strategic approach includes delaying breakfast until 10 AM because "I tend to get hungrier in the evening when I'm not working." This controlled fasting helps manage daily hunger levels while maintaining the calorie deficit.

RELATED:She Lost 20 Pounds When She Stopped Intermittent Fasting and Did This Instead

Choose the Right Foods

Food selection is crucial for managing hunger. "Potatoes are great," Adam shares. "They're one of, if not the highest food on the satiety index table, basically meaning that per calorie, they're the best for hunger." He also emphasizes the importance of protein sources like turkey burgers that "don't get disgusting" when meal prepping.

Structure Your Training

"What builds muscle also maintains muscle," Adam emphasizes. His approach is surprisingly straightforward: "I rarely train with weights more than four days per week, and actually at the moment I'm just training three days per week." The key is consistency with:

  • 10-14 sets per body part weekly.
  • 2-3 exercises per body part.
  • Rep ranges between 5-20.

Master Your Daily Movement

"Steps work well as you can get them in multiple times throughout the day and you don't have to shower," Adam explains. His target is 12,000 daily steps with a crucial rule: "I'd always want to have about half of my step goal for the day done before lunch because if I didn't, it just got difficult to hit them."

Track Progress Properly

Success requires consistent monitoring. "I track my body weight every single morning after I went to the bathroom and before drinking everything," Adam shares. Weekly averages are crucial because "there's going to be days where weight is just up for a number of reasons, so getting that average gives you much better data."

RELATED:6 Unexpected Signs Someone Is Actually Burning Fat, According to a Coach

Handle Social Situations

"As far as eating out goes, I would really limit it or completely avoid it," Adam advises. However, he maintains flexibility: "If things were moving along nicely and I was making good progress, I'd allow myself to maybe have a meal out now and then, but I'd be really sensible about it."

Prepare for the Final Push

Adam is refreshingly honest about the challenging final stages: "By the end, calories are going to be pretty low, and steps are going to be high. Calories are going to be 1,600 and steps are going to be 15,000. That sounds awful and in my experience, it kind of is, but I know that's necessary."

"Fat loss is simple. It's not complicated, although many people think it is," Adam concludes. "If you have 20, 30, 40 pounds to lose, if you follow this religiously, you'll literally have everything you need to get lean."

While the approach is straightforward, the execution requires dedication. As Adam emphasizes, "Fat loss is simple, but it's not easy." By following these 11 steps and staying consistent with the process, you can achieve your lean body goals efficiently and sustainably. And if you enjoyed this article, don't miss12-3-30 Walking Method: 20 Proven Tips to Lose Weight Faster.

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Evidence-Based

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Our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians strives to be objective, unbiased, and honest.

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Do you want to drop your body fat in half in 2025? According to one expert, it’s totally doable. Brittney Blanco is a Macros Nutrition Coach and social media influencer who regularly shares her creative weight loss meal recipes with her followers. In a new post she reveals her hacks for dropping body fat. “Getting your body fat down to below 10% is an intense challenge—it’s not just lean, it’s incredibly defined. Here’s a step-by-step approach for anyone serious about achieving this,” she writes in the caption. “By sticking to this plan with discipline and consistency, you can achieve the results you’re aiming for.”


Calculate Maintenance Calories

Calorie,Counting,On,A,Paper,With,Calculator.,Diet,And,WeightShutterstock

The first thing to do is calculate your maintenance calories. “Start by tracking your food intake over a week. Be precise, using a food scale to measure everything you consume, and record it in an app like MyFitnessPal,” she suggests in her post.

Set Your Macros

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Next, set your macros. “A good baseline is to aim for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. For fats, set them between 25-30% of your total calories, and let the rest come from carbohydrates,” she recommends.

RELATED: This Coach Used Walking to Reach 12% Body Fat—Here's How

Enter a Calorie Deficit

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Next, enter into a calorie deficit. “To reduce fat, calculate how many calories you need to cut with this formula: (Body weight x .0075) x 500 = calories to reduce from your maintenance. Plan to stay in this deficit for about 16 weeks. If the scale isn’t shifting after 2 weeks, reduce your intake by an additional 100 calories and maintain consistency,” she says.

Follow a Meal Plan

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She also recommends following a meal plan. “Building a meal plan around your calorie and macro goals will give you clear direction and make it easier to stay on track,” she says.

Track Every Detail

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Next, track every detail. “Reaching such a low body fat percentage requires precision. Stay disciplined and track everything to ensure you’re staying on target,” she says.

Eliminate Takeout and Alcohol

Waiter pouring red wine in a glass.Shutterstock

Number six? Eliminate takeout and alcohol. “For the best and fastest results, cut out takeaways and alcohol. It’s a tough but necessary step,” she says.

RELATED: 61-Year-Old Woman Lost 40 Pounds By Making These 2 Simple Changes

Get Your Steps In

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When it comes to exercise, she says to aim for 10,000 steps plus other cardio. “Get in 10,000 steps every day, and add 30 minutes of low-intensity cardio (zone 2) 2-4 times per week,” she writes.

Lift Weights

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And her last recommendation is weight lifting. “Commit to 4-5 strength training sessions a week. Make sure you follow a structured program and push yourself consistently,” she says. And if you enjoyed this article, don't miss these3 Simple Stretches Made This Coach More Flexible in 2 Weeks.

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Our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians strives to be objective, unbiased, and honest.

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Do you want to lose weight but aren’t sure where to start? Kacy Allensworth, aka the Calorie Deficit Queen, is a social media influencer and “forever fat loss coach for women over 40.” On her various social media platforms, she reveals all her secrets to losing over 70 pounds and helping other women achieve their goals. “I was not always the calorie deficit queen. I was the former dieting yo-yo queen. I tried Weight Watchers, keto, intermittent fasting,” she says in the clip.


“In 2020, I hit my highest weight, and that's when I decided I needed to dig into the principles of nutrition, do things a little differently,” she says at the start of a viral clip, revealing the steps she took to drop weight fast. “I will uncover the first steps taken, not just for success, but for sustainable weight loss.”

First Step: Calculate Your Calorie Deficit with Your Goal Weight

The first step? Calculate your calorie deficit. “I'm going to cover two different ways that you can calculate your calorie deficit. The first way is to decide what your goal weight is and let's say your goal weight is 150 pounds. You're going to multiply your goal weight by the number 11.

Multiplying 150 times 11 gives us 1,650 calories, so that would be your calorie deficit,” she says. “This method is really just the simple method. It doesn't take into account your age, your gender, your activity level, or any of that.”

Or, Use an Online Calculator

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“The second method that I recommend is visiting an online calculator, and when you visit the website, you'll enter in your gender, height, weight, and age,” she instructs. “It will ask you what your activity level is. I like to underestimate my activity level. You don't have to input your body fat percentage, and once you hit calculate, it will give you your total daily energy expenditure for maintenance calories. This is not your calorie deficit,” she reminds.

“You will take that number and subtract 500 from it to get your calorie deficit. The reason we subtract 500 is because one pound of fat equals 3,500 calories, and a shortage of 500 calories times seven days a week equals 3,500 calories or one pound of fat per week. Either one of these methods is a great way to begin eating in a calorie deficit, and you might find that one method gives you a discrepancy of a few hundred calories over the other method.”

RELATED: Man Walks 30,000 Steps Daily for 30 Days and the Results Were Unexpected

Choose the More Sustainable Deficit

“Choose the calorie deficit that is most sustainable for you. You will know, after two weeks of eating at that deficit, whether or not this is successful or sustainable. I also do not recommend recalculating or calibrating your calorie deficit. Once you lose weight, lowering your calorie intake even further will have negative effects on your metabolic rate. So we want to avoid that,” she says.

Second Step: Use Three Tools to Be In a Deficit, Starting with a Food Scale

Chicken Breast on Food Scale with Mushrooms and SpinachShutterstock

“There are three tools that you will need in order to be both accurate and consistent in being in a calorie deficit,” she continues.”The first tool is a food scale. You'll need one in order to accurately measure the food that you're eating because most people underestimate the amount of food they're eating and, therefore, underestimate the amount of calories they're consuming. The best way to be in a calorie deficit is to be accurate and know that you're in a calorie deficit by measuring your food.”

RELATED: 8 Protein-Packed Snacks That Helped One Woman Lose 135 Pounds

Second Tool: Bathroom Scale

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“The second tool you'll need is a bathroom scale,” she continues. “You're going to need this so that you can periodically weigh yourself and track your results. I personally recommend to my clients that they weigh themselves daily, track their weight, and focus on what happens throughout the week. Don't focus on a single day of weight gain because no one loses weight. Linearly focus instead on the overall trend.”

Third Tool: Calorie Tracking App

New York - January 9, 2020: MyFitnessPal application on a smartphone. MyFitnessPal is a mobileShutterstock

“The third tool is to use a calorie tracking app,” she says. “Two that I recommend are MyFitnessPal and Lose It. This makes it easy to track your calories and know where you're at throughout the day. Make sure you're using all three of these tools consistently in order to stay in a calorie deficit.”

RELATED: Benchmark Your Progress with Our Lean Body Mass Calculator

Third Step: Set Your Water Goal

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The third step is setting your water goal. “There are various protocols to set your water goal. One of the ones I like to use is taking your body weight, dividing it in half, and drinking that many ounces of water daily. So if you're 200 pounds, you would drink 100 ounces of water per day,” she says. “Let me also say that if you do that calculation and it seems unreasonable to you or not sustainable, then do not start with that many ounces of water per day. Instead, start with what does seem reasonable to you. You're not drinking any water at all. You might start with 42 ounces of water per day. If you're drinking a little bit of water, you might start with 70 ounces of water per day. Make sure that you set your water goal to an amount that will be easily reachable because when you see yourself successful with that, you will then slowly begin to increase that water goal.”

What Counts?

Smile, happy and coffee shop young woman enjoying a cup of tea in a restaurant or cafe on her lunch break. Portrait of happy customer drinking her morning caffeine or cappuccino with happinessShutterstock

Can you count coffee, tea, and seltzer as water? “I personally do not count coffee as water,” she says. “Here's what I tell my clients about the other options. If your tea doesn't have calories and sugar in it, then go ahead and count it as water. If you want to use a low-calorie Crystal Light flavoring or mayo in your water, go for it. If that's going to get you to drink your water, then add the flavoring because that will be more sustainable for you. If you wanna drink seltzer water, as long as there are no calories or extra sugar, go for it. You have to remember that when we set goals, we want this to be successful and sustainable for you,” she says.

Fourth Step: Set Your Step Goal

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The last step is setting your step goal. “Just like setting your water goal, again, you want this to be sustainable for you. We all know it's great to get in 10,000 steps per day, but let me tell you that when I was at my heaviest, my very first step goal was 7,000 steps per day. Set a goal that is reasonable for you and a goal that you will most likely reach and be successful at. It took me about four to five months to work up to 10,000 steps per day,” she says.

RELATED: I'm a Celebrity Trainer and These 12 Hybrid Moves Torch Fat Fast

Use These Steps and Walk Toward Success

“Knowing your calorie deficit, using the correct tools to be accurate and consistent with tracking your calories, setting a water goal, setting a step goal, and following through on both are all the very first steps to successful and sustainable weight loss. I want you to know that you too can be successful with weight loss, and it can be sustainable for you,” she concludes. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.

FACT CHECKED BY Christopher Roback
Evidence-Based

This content references scientific studies and academic research, and is fact-checked to ensure accuracy.

Our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians strives to be objective, unbiased, and honest.

We are committed to bringing you researched, expert-driven content to help you make more informed decisions around food, health, and wellness. We know how important making choices about your overall health is, and we strive to provide you with the best information possible.

Feeling stuck in your muscle-building journey? You're not alone. Many busy professionals struggle to find effective ways to pack on muscle while juggling demanding careers. That's where Zach Rana, a fitness coach with a background in biochemistry, comes in. Having transitioned from long workdays to a career in health and fitness, Zach understands the challenges faced by time-strapped individuals. In this article, he shares his top five tips to help you build muscle quickly and efficiently, complemented by insights from other fitness experts.


Fuel Your Muscles with Protein

Zach emphasizes the importance of protein consumption for muscle growth. "Eat 0.8 to one gram of protein per pound of body weight," he advises in his post. For instance, if you weigh 180 pounds, aim for 180 grams of protein daily. While this may seem daunting at first, Zach assures that with practice and the right systems in place, it becomes second nature.

"At this point, I don't even really think about my protein intake because I have so many protein snacks around," he explains. "Every single one of my meals has 30 to 50 grams of protein, and so I hit my goal pretty easily without even trying at this point. Once you have those systems in place where all the right foods are around you, it's actually pretty easy to hit your protein goal."

RELATED: I Shrunk From Size 22 to 8 With These 15 Tips That Actually Work

Create a Caloric Surplus for Growth

To build muscle, you need to provide your body with sufficient resources. Zach recommends eating in a caloric surplus by adding 250 to 500 calories above your maintenance level. "As an example, my maintenance calories are 180 pounds, with about 15% body fat being 2,700 calories. So when I want to gain, and I'm in a gaining phase, I'll eat 2,950 to 3,000 calories around there," he shares. For a leaner bulk, stick to the lower end of this range.

Zach explains, "The reason we have the range of 250 calories to 500 depends on how lean of a bulk you want to have. I like to keep my bulks pretty lean, so I try to do 250 to 300 calories above my maintenance because that's going to allow me to put on muscle without putting on too much fat."

Embrace Carbohydrates for Energy

Contrary to popular belief, carbs are not the enemy, especially when you're in a muscle-gaining phase. Zach debunks common myths, stating, "The marketing people out there are lying to you when they say you have to do keto. You have to do this. You can't eat carbs. They're bad sugar, bad whatever. Not true." He recommends consuming carbs both before and after workouts.

"Before your workouts, you want quick digesting, simple carbs. What are some examples of this? Rice cakes, rice Krispies, white bread, potatoes," Zach suggests. For post-workout, he recommends "slower digesting carbs that are higher in fiber, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, quinoa, whole wheat bread, beans, pasta, like all of that stuff is great things to have after a workout."

Lift Heavy and Progressively Overload

To stimulate muscle growth, you need to challenge your muscles beyond their current capacity. Zach explains the concept of progressive overload: "If my muscle was currently capable of lifting 80 pounds, I need to try to lift 85 pounds, and what's going to happen is the first couple times I do that, it's going to be really hard and really uncomfortable, but eventually my capacity will grow to reach 85 pounds."

He underlines the importance of continuous challenge: "Every single time we work out, we need to be giving our muscles a higher stimulus than what it's currently capable of that's going to force it to grow."

Luke Jones, a certified personal trainer and movement coach, adds, "Pullups are often referred to as the king of bodyweight exercises. They build muscle mass through the back and biceps, strengthen the abdomen, and support a more upright posture." For those new to pull-ups, Jones advises starting with hanging exercises and progressing to assisted pull-ups before attempting full ones.

RELATED: I Lost 250 Pounds With 5 Simple Walking Tricks

Master Carb Timing for Optimal Performance

Timing your carbohydrate intake can significantly impact your workout performance and muscle growth. Zach recommends consuming carbs 30 minutes to an hour before your workout and immediately after. "Trust me, once you nail this carb timing down, it is a game changer for how strong and how full you'll feel during your workouts," he says.

However, he cautions against eating large meals or high-fiber carbs too close to your workout. "Don't eat a lot of proteins or fats right before your workout because they're going to slow you down and they're hard to digest. Also, if you eat a lot of high-fiber carbs before your workout, those also take longer to digest, and so then you'll basically be putting energy that should be going to your muscles into your stomach," Zach warns. His final advice? "No big meals two hours before a workout."

Incorporate Compound Bodyweight Exercises

While weightlifting is crucial, don't underestimate the power of bodyweight exercises. Christopher Clarke, a certified personal trainer, says, "Push-ups are the crème de la crème of upper body work—push-ups strengthen your shoulders, triceps and pectoral muscles. Push-ups also lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and improve posture by strengthening core muscles."

Eric Rakofsky, a certified personal trainer, recommends the single-leg walkout with a push-up: "It's like a more sophisticated burpee but with less wear & tear on your body and more beneficial. Perform 10 reps per leg with 1 minute rest for 3 sets."

Don't Neglect Lower Body Training

Clarke regards squats as the cornerstone of lower body exercises: "Squats strengthen glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and abdominal muscles, helping improve balance and preventing back pain." Jones adds, "Simply performing bodyweight squats for high reps can be an effective way to build muscle, as can single-leg squats and lunges."

Focus on Core Strength

A strong core is essential for overall muscle development and stability. Clarke recommends crunches: "Considered one of the best exercises to develop and strengthen your abdominal muscles, crunches target the oblique, rectus, and transverse abdominal muscles. They improve posture, lower back pain, and boost mobility."

For those looking for a low-impact core exercise, Leslie Ann, a personal fitness trainer specializing in postpartum fitness, suggests pelvic tilts: "This exercise engages your core muscles, including your abdomen and pelvic floor. By engaging and activating your transverse abdominal muscles, you stabilize your core and help improve muscle tone to the tummy area."

RELATED: I Went Sugar, Gluten, and Dairy Free for 60 Days and Here Is What Happened

Stay Consistent and Patient

By implementing these tips from Zach Rana and other fitness experts, you'll be well on your way to building muscle faster and more effectively. Remember, consistency is key, and results take time. Stay committed to your goals, and you'll soon see the gains you've been working towards. As Zach says, "Try these things out. Let me know in the comments how they go for you and how you feel." And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 31 Fitness Tips Every Beginner Needs to Look Sexy, According to Coaches.

 Brittany Ainsworth britts_getting_fit_
She Lost 115 Pounds on Ozempic After Experiencing These 8 Surprising Side Effects
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Evidence-Based

This content references scientific studies and academic research, and is fact-checked to ensure accuracy.

Our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians strives to be objective, unbiased, and honest.

We are committed to bringing you researched, expert-driven content to help you make more informed decisions around food, health, and wellness. We know how important making choices about your overall health is, and we strive to provide you with the best information possible.

Are you standing in your own way of losing weight on a GLP-1 weight loss drug? Brittany Ainsworth is a weight loss warrior who has dropped 116 pounds on a weight loss drug. In a new social media post, she reveals a few mistakes people make while on them, which prevent them from losing weight. “7 surefire ways to derail your Ozempic/Mounjaro, GLP-1 journey. Speaking from experience as someone down 116 pounds on one so far.”

Overeating

If you are eating the same amount of food while on a weight loss drug, it will prevent you from dropping pounds. “Relying solely on Ozempic while continuing to overeat with the assumption that the medication will handle everything can seriously stall your progress,” she says.

Skipping Meals

Alternately, if you miss meals, it will have repercussions. “Skipping meals or drastically undereating may seem like a shortcut to faster weight loss, but it can actually slow your metabolism and leave you feeling fatigued and unmotivated,” she says.

Not Exercising

Failing to exercise is another common mistake. “Avoiding regular physical activity limits the overall effectiveness of Ozempic, as exercise plays a crucial role in weight management and metabolic health,” she writes.

Not Following Directions

Make sure to follow directions. “Disregarding our healthcare provider’s instructions—such as skipping doses, missing follow-ups, or adjusting the medication on your own—can lead to poor results and unwanted side effects,” she adds.

Not Eating the Right Food

Not eating healthy food can also derail your progress. “Consuming too many processed or high-sugar foods can overwhelm your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar and diminish the appetite-control benefits of Ozempic,” she says.

Drinking Alcohol

You might want to put down the botte. “Drinking alcohol excessively not only affects blood sugar balance but can also lead to impulsive eating and poor dietary decisions,” she says.

Not Being Patient

The last way to derail your weight loss experience? “Expecting instant results from Ozempic can set you up for disappointment, making it more tempting to quit before the medication has had time to work effectively,” she says. And if you enjoyed this article, don't miss20 Incredible Ozempic Success Stories of All Time.

Dr. Becky Gillaspy
7 Tips for Losing Weight After Age 50
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Evidence-Based

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Our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians strives to be objective, unbiased, and honest.

We are committed to bringing you researched, expert-driven content to help you make more informed decisions around food, health, and wellness. We know how important making choices about your overall health is, and we strive to provide you with the best information possible.

In recent years, Ozempic has become one of the most talked-about weight loss solutions on the market. While effective, it comes with a hefty price tag and potential side effects that many find uncomfortable. But what if you could trigger similar weight-loss benefits naturally through your diet? Dr. Becky Gillaspy, with over 24 years of experience teaching college courses from Anatomy to Nutrition and certified as a health and wellness coach, offers a compelling alternative. Read on to discover how specific foods can naturally boost the same hormone that Ozempic mimics—without the injections or side effects.

Understanding How Ozempic Works

Ozempic works by mimicking a naturally occurring hormone in your body called GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1), Dr. Becky explains in her post. "GLP-1 is a hormone naturally produced in your small intestine in response to food intake," she notes. This important hormone helps bring down your blood sugar after meals and increases feelings of fullness. By acting as what scientists call an "agonist," Ozempic essentially tricks your body into thinking there's more GLP-1 present than there actually is.


RELATED: 15 Things to Know Before Requesting Ozempic for Weight Loss

Your Body Already Makes This Weight-Loss Hormone

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The good news is that your body naturally produces GLP-1 after you eat, according to Dr. Becky. "Its responsibility is to help bring your blood sugar level back down after the meal and ensure you feel full," she explains. This means you can strategically choose foods that enhance your body's natural GLP-1 production. The hormone offers three key benefits: it triggers a robust insulin response, slows digestion, and increases fullness—all contributing to better blood sugar control and weight management.

Start Your Day With Yogurt

Healthy Greek yogurt bowl with fresh berry​Breakfast Bowls: Berry Yogurt Power BowlShutterstock

Beginning your day with yogurt can naturally boost your GLP-1 levels, Dr. Becky advises. "The prebiotics and probiotics in fermented foods like yogurt can enhance gut health by influencing the gut microbiota, which plays a role in GLP-1 secretion," she says. As a fermented food containing both protein and calcium, yogurt offers a powerful combination for stimulating this important hormone. The protein triggers GLP-1 release as your body metabolizes amino acids, while calcium enhances this process for an even stronger effect.

Choose Your Yogurt Wisely

Greek,Yogurt,I,Bowl,Spoons,food,dairy,dietEating Too Little at a Time​Shutterstock

When selecting yogurt at the grocery store, Dr. Becky recommends avoiding low-fat varieties with added sugar. "Added sugar spikes your blood sugar," she cautions. Instead, opt for unsweetened Greek yogurt (higher in protein) or regular yogurt (higher in calcium). Either way, you're getting the benefits of fermentation plus that powerful protein-calcium combination. For flavor without the sugar spike, add berries to your yogurt for natural sweetness and additional health benefits.


RELATED: 5 Things to Know Before Taking a GLP-1 Drug, According to a Nurse Who Takes It

Boost Your Breakfast With Berries

Fresh Berries at the Farmers Market​BerriesShutterstock

Adding berries to your morning yogurt doesn't just make it taste better—it actually enhances its GLP-1-boosting effects. "By stirring in some sweetness in the berries, you boost the meal's polyphenol content, giving yourself a third GLP-1 advantage," explains Dr. Becky. Polyphenols are beneficial compounds that give colorful plants their vibrant hues, and they positively influence gut microbiota, supporting GLP-1 production. This is why eating a "rainbow" of foods each day can be so beneficial for your health and weight management goals.

Don't Forget Your Daily Coffee or Tea

Woman drinking coffee in the sun, outdoor in sunlight light, enjoying her morning coffee.​CoffeeShutterstock

Good news for coffee and tea lovers—these beverages contain polyphenols that can help boost GLP-1 production. "Polyphenols are also found in coffee and green tea, so feel free to enjoy a cup or two with your yogurt," Dr. Becky suggests. This means your morning ritual might already be supporting your natural weight management efforts. The polyphenols in these beverages work similarly to those in colorful fruits and vegetables, positively affecting your gut microbiome and enhancing GLP-1 secretion.

Make a Daily Salad Your Secret Weapon

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A daily salad is one of the most powerful tools in your natural GLP-1-boosting arsenal, according to Dr. Becky. "Non-starchy vegetables like leafy greens, cucumbers, onions, peppers, and tomatoes are going to build on your polyphenol intake for the day and also provide fiber," she explains. This fiber not only slows digestion but also feeds beneficial gut bacteria, which produce short-chain fatty acids that stimulate GLP-1 release. Plus, the volume of vegetables physically stretches your stomach, activating receptors that signal fullness to your brain.

Top Your Salad Strategically

Healthy Salad - spinach baby leaves and boiled eggs cut in a half on wooden table.Shutterstock

The toppings you choose for your salad can significantly enhance its GLP-1-boosting power. "Load up your salad with protein and healthy fats such as meat, salmon, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, avocados, nuts, seeds, and an olive oil-based dressing," recommends Dr. Becky. While she's already discussed the benefits of protein for GLP-1 production, healthy fats provide additional advantages. These fats stimulate the secretion of cholecystokinin, a hormone that slows stomach emptying and enhances digestion, keeping you fuller longer.

Design Your Dinner for Sustained Fullness

Farmer woman holding wooden box full of fresh raw vegetables. Basket with vegetable (cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, radish, corn, garlic and peppers) in the hands.​Fundamental 3: Prioritize Whole FoodsShutterstock

To maintain elevated GLP-1 levels throughout the evening, Dr. Becky suggests structuring your dinner around non-starchy vegetables and protein. "Serve a healthy portion of non-starchy vegetables alongside a protein-rich entree like meat, chicken, or fish," she advises. This combination creates a meal that digests slowly, producing a steady blood sugar response that helps you avoid evening snacking. Including healthy cooking fats like butter, avocado oil, or high-quality olive oil adds to the meal's satisfaction factor.

Why Timing Matters for GLP-1 Production

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The timing of your meals can impact your natural GLP-1 production and weight loss results. "Eating too close to bedtime elevates blood sugar and insulin overnight, blocking fat loss," warns Dr. Becky. This means that allowing several hours between your dinner and bedtime can enhance your body's natural fat-burning potential. A well-timed, GLP-1-promoting dinner helps you move comfortably through the evening without the urge to snack, supporting your weight management goals even while you sleep.

The Mediterranean Keto Connection

Food products representing the Mediterranean diet which may improve overall health status​Natural Booster #7: Mediterranean DietShutterstock

Many of the GLP-1-boosting foods highlighted by Dr. Becky come from the Mediterranean Keto approach. "The foods I highlighted in this video are from my Mediterranean Keto Cookbook," she mentions. This eating style emphasizes fermented foods, protein paired with calcium, polyphenol-rich plants, fiber, and healthy fats—all key nutrients for enhancing your body's natural GLP-1 production. By following this approach, you can experience improved hunger satisfaction while potentially achieving similar benefits to GLP-1 medications without the cost or side effects.


RELATED:20 Possible Ozempic Side Effects

Simple Daily Habits for Natural Weight Control

Young,Woman,Eating,Salad,Organic,Vegetables,happy,eating,food​Track MacrosShutterstock

Dr. Becky recommends incorporating her "0123 strategy" into your daily routine for enhanced weight management. This approach outlines four daily habits that support weight loss naturally, including the daily salad she discussed for GLP-1 production. By focusing on these simple, sustainable practices rather than restrictive dieting, you can create an eating pattern that naturally enhances your body's GLP-1 production. These habits work with your body's natural systems rather than fighting against them, making weight management more comfortable and sustainable. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.

Carolin Tyler RNY carolin_rny
Copyright carolin_rny/Instagram
Evidence-Based

This content references scientific studies and academic research, and is fact-checked to ensure accuracy.

Our team of licensed nutritionists and dietitians strives to be objective, unbiased, and honest.

We are committed to bringing you researched, expert-driven content to help you make more informed decisions around food, health, and wellness. We know how important making choices about your overall health is, and we strive to provide you with the best information possible.

Weight loss journeys rarely follow a straight path. Carolyn (@carolyrny) knows this firsthand, having lost an impressive 225 pounds through a combination of gastric bypass surgery and GLP-1 medication. At 28 years old and standing 5'7", she's transformed from 401.6 pounds to 125 pounds today. "I totally, totally altered my whole life when I had gastric bypass surgery," Carolyn shares. Through her YouTube channel, she documents her health journey to help others facing similar challenges. Discover the unfiltered reality of GLP-1 medications that most doctors won't tell you about.

Your First Steps With GLP-1 Medications

"I started Monjaro back in September of 2022. I had heard about it that summer," Carolyn explains in her post. Her timing proved fortunate: "I was very lucky and downloaded the savings coupon in August of 2022, when the terms and conditions were still allowing people to get the medication when it wasn't covered by insurance at only $25 a month."

Like most patients, she began at the lowest dose. "I started at the lowest dose, 2.5 milligrams, and I was on that dose for just one month. That's the loading dose. It's kind of a way for your body to get adjusted to the medication." For medical supervision, Carolyn chose a virtual option: "I use the Weight Watchers Clinic. I have used them from the start with my GLP-1 medication journey."

Finding Your Ideal Dosage

"I moved up to the five milligram dose. And I was at five milligrams, I wanna say for three or four months," Carolyn shares. Her experience at this level was positive: "I had really, really great results with five milligram. And had it not been for the medication shortages at the time, I think I would have stayed and should have stayed at the five milligram, just because I was losing."

She emphasizes an important principle: "If you're still losing at a good rate, you really shouldn't need to go up in dose." Unfortunately, circumstances forced changes: "Because of the shortages and the mess that that was, I had to move up to the 7.5 dose because that was what was available."

Navigating Medication Shortages and Insurance Hurdles

"The savings card ran out in June of 2023, but I had started sort of stockpiling, and I was only taking the medication every two weeks," Carolyn reveals. The timeline became complicated: "In September of 2023, somehow my insurance covered Monjaro without a prior authorization. And I was able to get a three-month supply."

This didn't last: "The beginning of this year in 2024, I started, you know, I needed a prior authorization for Monjaro. And I ran out of the medication at the end of December." Persistence eventually paid off: "I put in prior authorizations for Monjaro, Saxenda, Trulicity, Ozempic, Wigovi, and they were all denied. I finally was able to get Ozempic."

Later came better news: "ZepBound, which is the same medication as Monjaro, it's just FDA approved for weight loss... I have a prior authorization approval for ZepBound until January of next year, which is great."

Managing Potential Side Effects

"Initially starting out the medication, I experienced headaches and insomnia. Mainly insomnia with the five milligram dose," Carolyn reveals. The sleep disturbances were striking: "I would wake up at like three or four in the morning and feel wide awake. Wide awake. It was the craziest thing." Fortunately, this wasn't permanent: "But I think as I got used to being on the medication, that subsided and I don't experience insomnia anymore."

Other side effects varied by dosage: "I experienced the most amount of nausea on the 7.5 milligram dose. That for some reason, that dosage, I don't know. I just experienced nausea on it to the point where I asked my doctor for Zofran." Looking back, she considers herself fortunate: "I've been very, very lucky with side effects. And I know that's not the case for everyone."

Comparing Different GLP-1 Medications

When it comes to different GLP-1 options, Carolyn has clear preferences. "A lot of people ask me what I thought was more effective or what I liked better, Manjaro or Ozempic. And I preferred Manjaro," she states. She backs this with her understanding of research: "I think the studies show that terzapotide is much more an effective GLP-1 agonist. And I definitely experienced that."

Her experience switching medications wasn't ideal: "When I was on Ozempic for a few months earlier this year, my weight slowly, slowly started to creep up, which was very difficult. And it just felt like I was more inflamed and it felt like I was back in that place of struggling to keep my weight off." The difference was noticeable when she returned to her preferred medication: "Now back on terzapotide, I feel much better and I'm very happy about it to be on ZepBound for the next however long."

Tracking Your Results Realistically

"I started my GLP-1 journey at 230 pounds even. And today I'm sitting at 180. So I've lost a total of 50 pounds," Carolyn shares. She's experienced some fluctuation: "My lowest I've gotten down to is 175. I was 175 back in November of last year when I was taking the 12.5 milligram of Monjaro." Her upcoming wedding influenced recent choices: "I didn't wanna lose more because of my wedding dress."

She reflects on her current state: "I'm very happy here at 180. I think I look really good. I feel really good at this weight." Like many, she considers future goals: "I've always had in my head the number 170 to get down to, and I don't know, 170, 160, I don't know. I'm kind of in that like, do I attempt, do I try, or do I just kind of be happy where I am and focus on getting plastic surgery next year, hopefully."

Combining GLP-1 With Proper Nutrition

"I like to have a protein shake in the morning just to get in a good amount of protein before I start my day," Carolyn explains. She sees clear benefits from this approach: "It's really helped me on my GLP-1 journey because you really wanna focus on protein to build muscle. It helps so, so much, not only with maintaining your muscle mass, but also I've noticed it helps just make sure that I'm full a lot longer."

The strategic focus on protein serves multiple purposes: "By prioritizing protein, I'm less tempted to like grab, you know, sweet treats or things like that that don't always serve me best when I'm trying to lose weight." She emphasizes this nutrient above others: "My GLP-1 journey has been over the past almost two years, and I have really made sure to focus on protein. It's really the most important macronutrient when you're on a GLP-1 journey or a weight loss journey."

Building a Sustainable Exercise Routine

Even with medication, lifestyle changes remain crucial. "I still diet and exercise. I still am very mindful of my diet and I work out. And those things are very important to me," Carolyn emphasizes. She connects this to her broader transformation: "I totally, totally altered my whole life when I had gastric bypass surgery."

The medication doesn't replace these foundational habits: "Those things work hand in hand. It's not, you take this medication and the weight magically falls off, quite the, you have to put in the work. It's the same with bariatric surgery. It's only a tool. And the only way to work, to get it to work, is if you put in the work."

Planning for Pregnancy While on GLP-1

Family planning affects medication decisions. "We're getting married, and we are hoping to start having kids in about two or three years," Carolyn shares. This timeline shapes her GLP-1 strategy: "So over the next two or three years, I'm probably going to work my way down in dosage and figure out a good spot there, and then eventually come off of it completely to get pregnant. You can't be on it when you're pregnant."

She's practical about the future: "I am not opposed to getting back on it after having kids. If I need to, if I feel like I need to get back on it after kids, I will." This approach aligns with her understanding of obesity treatment: "I went into this knowing this was a long-term solution, that it was a long-term medication for maintenance, and I'm perfectly okay with that."

Treating Obesity as a Chronic Condition

"My obesity is a chronic illness, and these medications are revolutionary," Carolyn affirms. "They are truly, have changed the game when it comes to treating obesity." She compares this to other health conditions she manages: "I have other chronic illnesses. I have psoriasis that I take an injection for four times a year. I have hypothyroidism that I take medication for every single day."

This perspective shapes her approach to long-term treatment: "I went into this knowing this was a long-term solution, that it was a long-term medication for maintenance, and I'm perfectly okay with that. That doesn't bother me."

She sees GLP-1 medications as valuable additions to surgical options: "Bariatric surgery is still the number one treatment that we have with studies and stuff. You're going to lose the most amount of weight and keep it off with that. But these medications are such great adjunct treatments for people like me who never got down to the weight they wanted to, or who struggled to just stay where they are."

Creating Your Long-Term Maintenance Plan

Long-term planning is essential for sustained success. When asked about staying on medication, Carolyn explains: "Do I plan to stay on it long-term? Like, what are the long-term effects? Do you gain weight back? Statistically, you do gain some weight back if you go off of it, cold turkey, I think, but you're supposed to wean down and wean off of it."

She's already considering her future approach: "My plan, so we're getting married, and we are hoping to start having kids in about two or three years. So over the next two or three years, I'm probably going to work my way down in dosage and figure out a good spot there." She remains flexible about post-pregnancy treatment: "I am not opposed to getting back on it after having kids. If I need to, if I feel like I need to get back on it after kids, I will."

Addressing Access and Stigma Barriers

Broader issues affect many GLP-1 users. "The biggest issue we have is accessibility. Insurance coverage, which I have struggled with, and just being able to get them. There are so many shortages right now," Carolyn points out. She envisions positive change: "I hope that over time, in the next five years, I really hope we see a huge shift in how not only the accessibility, but also the stigma towards people who struggle with obesity and who live in larger bodies and who want help and who want to lose weight or want to be healthier."

This includes changing perceptions: "That that stigma changes from, well, they're just lazy and fat to, no, they have an illness, they have a disease that's preventing them from being compliant with the diet and exercise." Her enthusiasm for these medications is evident: "I'm a huge, huge advocate for these medications."

The Reality Check: GLP-1 Is a Tool, Not Magic

"It's not, you take this medication and the weight magically falls off, quite the, you have to put in the work," Carolyn emphasizes. She draws a parallel to bariatric surgery: "It's the same with bariatric surgery. It's only a tool. And the only way to work, to get it to work, is if you put in the work." Beyond physical changes, she values the mental benefits: "It has helped so much with the food noise to the point where I don't feel like I'm obsessing about food or feeling consumed by thoughts of it. It feels very manageable to live my life on a day-to-day basis."

For Carolyn, this psychological relief outweighs even the weight loss: "Honestly, if I never lost another pound, or if I never lost a pound to begin with, I would stay on this medication." Her perspective is both realistic and hopeful: "These medications are revolutionary. They are truly, have changed the game when it comes to treating obesity." And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.