If you’re trying to lose body fat and you’ve already implemented the major recommendations I’ve listed here:

• eating small, frequent meal/snacks of nutrient-dense food
• following a balanced, challenging and progressive fitness program

 It may come down to how you eat in the last third of the waking day.What makes the last third of the day so important? Well, the closer you get to bed time, the more influence the calories you take in will have on your daily equation (in vs. out or eaten versus burned). So, while it’s not that easy to create a 500 calorie shortfall (which equals a pound of fat loss each week), it’s very easy to consume 1500 calories too many (a few slices of pizza and a couple of beers will more than cover that margin.)

If you did the quick math in your head just now, you know that three days of being good can net out with one “whoops!” day to leave you with a big goose egg for the four days – no weight lost after more than half a week of being on your best nutrition behavior!

What’s frustrating for many people who are working out hard and eating pretty clean and light during the week, but get a little crazy over the weekend, is that you can easily counteract the effects of the week with a weekend of indulgence.

I tell my clients to:

1. Have a mid or late afternoon snack with fat, fiber and protein (fruit and a cheese stick or fruit with a small handful of nuts are good choices), then

2. Have a big glass of water immediately before dinner (rather than with dinner) and

3. Keep dinner a small portion (roughly equal to about two fists) of 2/3 veggies and 1/3 lean protein. Then no more calories after dinner!

If you do that, you’ll start to see that stubborn fat finally hit the road.