This is probably the biggest question around. And to your surprise, it’s a very simple answer; “Calories In” v.s. “Calories Out.” I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard the statements “My body won’t let me lose weight” or “No matter what, I don’t lose fat,” or “Nothing works.” Every one of those statements is crap and should be avoided. Regardless of who you are, if you eat more than your body requires (your BMR), you will gain weight. If you eat less then what your body requires, you will lose weight. It’s as simple as that. Anyone can lose weight, just as anyone can gain it. The point is to know how to lose it and keep it off.
You can lose fat without having to wake up at 5 in the morning to run for miles while starving yourself. You don’t have to cut out your favorite foods, and you certainly don’t need to buy any expensive supplements. All you need to lose fat fast is Strength Training/Weight Lifting, Supplemental Cardio, and Healthy Nutrition. Here is a simple fat loss plan that you can follow to help bring your body fat to what you desire while still having a life outside of the gym:
1. Build Muscle/Get Stronger: Weight lifting helps strengthen joints and muscle, improves cardiovascular fitness, and improves overall physical performance. But also helps with fat loss:
- Increased muscle mass increases metabolic rate, which will help you lose fat
- Weight lifting uses glycogen stores and burns calories, helping with fat loss
- Prevents burning muscle from high cardio, which causes the skinny-fat body type
2. Add Cardio to your workout: Doing too much cardio can cause muscle loss (getting the skinny-fat look). Use it as a supplement to your workout or incorporate it using circuits/cross-training.
- Supplement the weight lifting with cardio after the workout. Start light and slowly increase. Start with 15 minutes, and add a minute or so each workout until you hit a maximum of 45 minutes with running, at about 65% of your maximum Heart Rate. (Max HR is approximately 220-Age, but this can be a slight overestimate).
- Cardio burns a high number of calories, helping you lose fat, but too much will also burn muscle too.
- Increases cardiovascular fitness- stronger heart, higher VO2 max, and lower resting heart rate
- Running is a high-impact activity, which can cause a lot of stress on the knees overtime. Of all the cardio equipment, I recommend using the elliptical the most; keeps the cardio but the impact is gone.
3. Consume Less Sugars/Carbs: Carbohydrates are the main source for fat gain, and are also very calorie dense.
- Unused carbohydrates are stored as fat. Limit your carb intake (DO NOT GET RID OF IT). One useful technique is to eat carbs only before and after your workout
- Get rid of sodas and limit juice intake. They are very high in sugar content
- Lift weights to help use carbohydrate stores
- Consume more fibrous foods, such as brown rice instead of white rice
4. Eat Healthy: Oftentimes we eat high-calorie foods, which cause us to gain weight even though we felt like we didn’t eat much. Try to eat whole foods majority of the time.
- Vegetables are low calorie, but can make us feel full. Increase fruit and vegetable intake
- Processed foods have a lot of added salt, sugars, and fat, try to avoid as much as possible.
- Make sure to eat protein to help build muscle. Also has a high thermic effect, which will help with fat loss. Have a protein source with each meal: Meats, dairy, whey, etc.
- Eat healthy fats; Fats do not make you gain fat, being sedentary/not exercising does. Healthy fats, such as in fish oils and nuts, are great for brain and heart function.
- Drink water, remove sodas, etc. Drinking more water will also limit the amount we eat, which can prevent overindulging.
Fat Loss Tips: So now you have the general rules, follow these tips to help be consistent:
- Make scheduled eating times – limit random snacking, make yourself consistent
- Pack lunches to work/class, prevents you from buying high-calorie junk food to eat quickly to fill yourself up
- Eat before going out
- Cook your meals; it’s a lot more enjoyable. Try out new recipes, cook with a friend, girlfriend/boyfriend, spouse, etc.
- Save time by cooking for multiple meals at once. Make a large lunch and have half for lunch, half for dinner, etc.
- Prepare meals in advance – Don’t have to get yourself up to cook for every meal. Prepare breakfast the night before (make a fruit smoothie or something for the morning).
- Bring out the smaller plate. Try to slowly decrease the amount you eat for meals (don’t starve yourself, just decrease a little at a time).
- Limit the amount of junk food you buy when grocery shopping; it’ll prevent you from randomly snacking around the house.
- Calculate your BMR. You will get a general gist of the amount of calories your body requires, so you don’t overeat. But keep in mind typically we underestimate the amount of calories we eat.
Don’t worry about counting calories, it’s way too much work. The point here is to still have a life but change our lifestyle for the better, getting ourselves to where we want to be. Just get yourself on a good program and follow these simple guidelines and you’ll just see the fat melt off of you! Be consistent, and don’t try to rush it. Aim for losing 2-3% body fat per month, or 1-2 lbs per week.
Circuit workouts are perfect for this, for both men and women. They combine cardio with resistance training into a full body workout that will burn more calories than just running. They also build muscle which will help with metabolic rate and make you look and feel better!