Fat Loss Tips

If your goal is fat loss, there are habits that you need to establish as a part of your healthy lifestyle.  True fat loss takes time, especially if you have a large amount of fat to lose.  One major factor of fat reduction and maintenance of a healthy body fat is consistent practice of the following habits.  

Fruit and Vegetable Intake

Nutrition is the key and the MAIN factor related to fat loss.  Vegetables should be included at every meal!  Not only do fruits and vegetables provide vitamins and minerals, many are also low in calories and fat.  By including them in your diet, you can reduce many health risks and have a larger volume of food to eat.  Strive to eat more real food and less processed food. 

Consuming Enough Protein

The body uses protein as a building block.  Protein is important for muscle repair and regeneration.  Protein amount varies by person and activity level.  A general range is your Body Weight x .8 and Body Weight x 1.5.

Proper Caloric Intake

If you have been previously restricting your calories at too low of an amount, you will need to slowly add calories to your daily intake and allow your body to reset before attempting a calorie deficit.  A range of caloric intake for fat loss is Body Weight x 10 and Body Weight x 12.  If you are obese, you may need to set your calories in the range of Body Weight x 8 and Body Weight x 9.   

Exercise   

Fat loss occurs when you challenge the body and get it moving.  I suggest working out 4 to 6 days of the week.  Workouts should mainly consist of Weight Lifting with some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) mixed in.

Sleep

Sleeping allows for our bodies to rest and recover.  There are guidelines here as to how many hours you should sleep according to your age.  Not sleeping enough can cause cravings and a change in hormones which can interfere with fat loss.  

Hydration

Drinking enough water to stay hydrated is important for you body to function appropriately.  Water is a necessity.  A good habit to create is drinking a full glass of water in the beginning of your morning. Also be sure to consume water before, during and after exercise. 

Food Tracking

Food tracking allows you to see that you are eating within your calorie range and also check your macronutrients (ex: protein, carbohydrates and fat.)  There are many great apps out there that help with food tracking.  I use the My Fitness Pal app to track my food, Calorieking.com when I need to check nutrition and the Restaurants app for when I am dining out.    

If you want to be successful at losing fat, I suggest you begin with these basic guidelines.  Start small and implement one habit at the time.  Remember that true and lasting fat loss occurs when there is a change in habits and lifestyle.  Be consistent, be positive and stay focused!

One pound is hard to lose!

     One pound.  Have you ever stopped to think about it?  One pound is equal to 3500 calories.  Want to lose one pound?  You have to somehow have a negative of 3500 calories in your "calories spent" tank.  Losing one pound in a week should be easy, right?  Sure!  Just cut out 500 calories from your diet.  Every day.  For a week.  Then keep it up to keep it off.
     Now let me take you into the science and mathematics of losing one pound.  First, you need to know your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), the number of calories your body burns just living, breathing, functioning.  Go to http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ and plug in your numbers to get yours.  My BMR is 1360.  That means, in order to maintain my current weight, I must eat 1360 calories.  If I want to lose weight, I need to eat less than that.  Our lowest amount of calories we should consume are 1200 calories in a day.  In reality, I should only cut my calories down 160 a day for weight loss.  If I were to just cut calories at 160 per day, it would take me 22 days to lose ONE POUND.  I could speed that weight loss up by adding exercise.  If I was trying to lose that one pound in one weeks time, that would mean I would need to burn an extra 340 calories a day.  For me, that's about a 3.5 mile run at a 10 minute per mile pace for a total of 35 minutes.  Oh, and don't forget that I must only be consuming 1200 calories. If I go over 1200 calories, I have to workout even more!  If I cheat and have a Grande White Chocolate Mocha Non-Fat No Whip for 350 calories, that's an extra 35 minutes of running for me.
     Figure out your BMR and know that number by heart.  Then, keep a food diary for a few days to see what your caloric intake is.  From there, you can figure out what you need to do in order to lose, gain, or maintain your weight.