There is so much information people need to sort through and review when it comes to fitness and nutrition. When it comes to fat loss specifically, it becomes even more challenging.
Many coaches and influencers have some special and usually extreme system or product they want to sell, and most of them simply do not work. Most are gimmicks and tricks that are somehow “guaranteed” to produce extraordinary results in a very short amount of time.
When it feels like you’ve tried everything under the sun to drop body fat and nothing has worked, you’re likely desperate for a positive change. This is when you are the most vulnerable, and coaches with predatory practices will find you and exploit you.
Avoid falling victim to these jerks. Stick with the basics that work.
Here are my top three suggestions for helping you on your fat-loss journey. If you’re not focusing on these, you’re missing out on an opportunity to really see some progress.
Walking
I think emphasizing daily step count is a magic bullet. This baffles people because it just doesn’t seem “hard” enough or “complicated” enough. It’s not meant to be either of those things.
Walking is simply an accessible tool that can have a major impact on fat loss. If you spend 30-90 minutes in the gym, that only expends a certain number of calories, and, honestly, the gym is for building muscle.
It’s what you do in the rest of your waking time that actually drives fat loss. Walking is a weapon. It doesn’t drive extreme hunger because it’s low intensity, and you can incorporate it into your day at any point. It’s easy to track, and you can set realistic goals for yourself when it comes time to increase your step count.
Track Your Food With Precision
Just trying to eat less is a recipe for disaster, especially if you’re not tracking it in any way.
Statistics reveal that we underestimate how much we eat by 30 percent or more. So eyeballing likely isn’t working for you, especially if you have never tracked food in your life.
Not understanding which foods contain protein, carbohydrates and fat can also hold you back. How much you eat does matter, but what you eat can have a real impact on your adherence to your nutrition—and your long term success.
You might be surprised to learn that a lot of people can, in fact, lose fat in the short term. But 99 percent of them regain some weight, if not all of it and more. Some of that is related to the diet they used to drive the fat loss initially.
The goal is to maintain the changes and hopefully sustain a well muscled composition that is metabolically healthy. This comes from eating a diet that focuses on protein and whole foods. To ensure you’re getting what you need, make a plan with your nutrition and be sure to use precision.
Do Strength Training
This is key: Use the gym to build muscle.
Many people head to the gym with the intention of “melting” fat off their body. It just doesn’t work this way. Always performing long sessions of high-intensity exercise, sometimes multiple times a day, might actually increase hunger, making it harder to stick to your nutrition plan. Worse, you might end up burning protein and muscle for fuel.
A balance of strength training, some high-intensity interval training (HITT), and some low-intensity cardio provide a great prescription for fat loss.
While you diet, keep protein front and centre and lift weights to keep lean tissue on your body. As you drop body fat, you will earn muscle definition and the “toned” composition you’re seeking. This approach takes time, but it’s the one that works.
Stick to the Basics!
These three strategies seem boring, and they are definitely the roads less traveled in the fitness world. But these strategies will produce results. No gimmicks, no empty promises.
It’s worth considering that if more people used simple, sustainable strategies, the statistics for sustained fat loss might look a little different!