Planning
Losing body fat requires time, patience and planning ahead. Write down a specific goal with the amount of weight you want to lose within a realistic time frame. Depending on how lean you want to get, this could be between 8 and 20 weeks.
Work out how many pounds you want to lose per week. At the beginning, a lot of it may be water weight, therefore losing 5+ pounds a week is normal. But after a few weeks, aim for around 2 pounds to maintain as much muscle as possible. (This can be particularly difficult whilst cutting).