If you’ve started an exercise program, one of the most important questions you might be thinking is:
What is the best way to lose fat?
For 8 out of 10 clients we work with, fat loss is one of the main reasons they visit us, with exercise and nutrition being the areas they need to improve..
It’s a great thing that people are turning their attention to losing body fat, because having high levels of body fat increases your risk for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, memory and concentration issues, joint pain, not to mention we feel far more confident when we fit into our clothes properly.
So with this in mind, it’s easy to understand why 80% of our clients mention fat loss being the main reason they are exercising and making dietary changes..
But what is the healthiest, most sustainable, and quickest way to achieve this?
Because one of the biggest challenges we see people have is not losing body fat.. Its doing it in a way they can sustain it, full of energy, and able to go about their lives.
Utilising the following tips could be the changes needed to get in shape and lose your stubborn fat in the process;
Start Strength Training
Most people understand the importance of diet, and cardio but strength training is often the missing link to sustainable fat loss. We know love cardio for many reasons and know it ‘burns’ more calories when compared to strength training but remember the goal here is to lose body fat and metabolically speaking a body with more lean muscle is going to burn more calories.
Strength programs can be built in a number of different ways based on your goals, likes, and dislikes so be sure to get one personally designed or at the very least buy one that suits your fat loss goals.
Eat Healthy Fats
In order to burn fat, you need to eat fat… Well kind of. Fats that contain monounsaturated fats which we get from olive oil, coconut oil, and avocados have anti-inflammatory properties within them. Not only do these fats improve insulin sensitivity which is an important aspect of fat loss they also reduce inflammation, and increase the feeling of fullness, which could prevent you from overeating.
Get More Sleep
Just because you’re not sleeping does not mean your magically going to start gaining weight but through previous studies its believed that sleeping less than 7 hours could have an effect on fat-burning hormones like leptin and ghrelin. Ghrelin is known as the hormone that tells us when we are hungry and need to eat while leptin is an appetite suppressing hormone.
Its believed when we don’t get adequate sleep with studies showing even just losing one (1) hour per night can increase ghrelin, and reduce leptin causing us to eat more and therefore gaining fat. Getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night may balance these appetite-regulating hormones, therefore making fat loss easier.
Increase Your Fiber Intake
One of the major concerns we have with a modern western diet is the amount of processed food we are eating. The issue with processed food is it often replaces fruits and vegetables which are responsible for a large majority of the fibre we eat. Fiber assists with digestive function, satiety (feeling full), and are generally much lower in calories than processed alternatives. Adding more fiber will likely lead to consuming far less calories overall helping reduce overall body fat.
Note to remember: if you’re not eating a lot of fiber now, increase your fiber slowly to prevent gas, bloating, cramps, and pain from occurring.
Don’t Drink Your Calories
Now I love a good coffee so before you get defensive thinking you have to give that up hear me out. The issue is the amount of calories we consume from drinks, if you having one (1) coffee per day then I say go for it. the issue is its believed Australians that drink coffee on average have 3 per day, this could end up being between 400 – 500 per day just in coffee.
There is nothing wrong with the occasional calorie dense drink, but try having reducing the empty calories from too much coffee, soft drink, and shakes. This alone could be the difference between you losing body fat and gaining.
One of my favourite things to do is add lemon, lime, or other fruits to my water if your’e someone who struggles to drink water on its own. This is great for staying hydrated and next to nothing in overall calories.
If you manage to adopt these five (5) simple fat loss tips to your current routine, you just might turbo charge your fat loss just in time for the summer season.
Yours In Health & Fitness
Chris
P.S.: Whenever you’re ready… here are 3 ways I can help you during Melbourne’s latest isolation:
1. Join us Virtual
Isolation is no excuse to put your fitness on hold, we are running daily classes up to 3 times a day to bridge the gap between now and when gym’s re-open. Just reply HERE
2. Join us for Virtual 1v1 training.
We realise group training is not for everyone, we also know many of you have goals that are personal to just you so you might want a program written specifically for you. Just reply HERE with ‘Virtual’ in the subject line.
3. Get a personalised online training program.
If you have the motivation but need us to design you a program that works we can design you a fully personalised program in under 24 hours. Just reply HERE and put “Personalised” in the subject line, and I’ll get you all the details!
