How To Lose Weight: Tips To Help You Lose Fat Fast
Losing weight is simple, you just have to take the right approach
We all want to lose weight as fast as possible. However, using shortcuts or crash diets won't help you build a sustainable lifestyle. Remember that your fitness journey is a marathon, not a sprint.
- Losing weight: you can lose weight by burning fat or by losing water or muscle mass. Losing water is normal and that is probably why your weight fluctuating so much on the scale. However, losing muscle tissue can be unhealthy for you.
- Losing fat: burning fat takes time, that's why you will need to create sustainable habits to help you be consistent in your fat loss.
If you want to lose fat, you will have to burn more calories than you consume.
The formula is simple: Fat Loss (Caloric Deficit) = Calories Consumed - Calories Burned At Rest (BMR) - Calories Burned By Exercising
This can be achieved by reducing your caloric intake by eating less or by exercising more to burn extra calories or a combination of both.
People always wonder "can I lose fat on my belly?" Research has shown that you can't target fat loss in only one body part; doing abs won't make you lose your belly fat for example. When you burn fat, your body will decide to take fat from certain parts of your body, but you have no control over this process.
Research has shown that people tend to lose weight without tracking their caloric intake by eating healthier. Switching from processed to whole food will help you lose weight with ease.
Furthermore, when you're losing weight your body needs micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). Thus, it is important to eat healthy food rich in micronutrients. More info on "What Healthy Foods You Should Have On Your Plate"
The weight scale can be very deceiving. One day you're down one pound, the other you're up two pounds. Remember that losing weight doesn't necessarily means losing fat. That's why it is important to take the scale with a grain of salt.
What is really important to track is your body composition: muscle mass, fat mass, bone density... If you have a scale that tracks this data, it could be beneficial to weigh yourself every week to see your progress and adjust accordingly.
Let's say your caloric intake for maintenance is 2300 kcal, so you weigh yourself and you write your weight down. You're aiming for a caloric deficit of 300 kcal.
At the end of the week, you weigh yourself and you see that you lost weight. So you keep going with this nutrition plan, until you arrive to a week where your weight will remain the same. When this happens; you can either decrease your caloric intake again (by ~200/300 kcal) or exercise more, which will allow you to burn extra calories. Then you repeat the cycle until you reach your goal.
Check our example of nutrition plans:
Eating more often is not a bad thing if you're eating the right food.
Healthy snacks can help you feel full, which will reduce your junk food cravings.
Here are some examples:
- Seeds & Nuts
- Fruits
- Greek yogurt
- ...
The best way to have a successful weight loss is to prepare your meals in advance. When your meals and snacks are all prepared, you don't have any excuses to eat junk food. If you can't eat your own meals, at least prepare some snacks for in-between your meals.
People tend to confuse thirst for hunger. It's important to drink at least 12+ glasses of water (2.7+ liters) daily.
Water is a major component of your body, it's a vital nutrient. Muscle is composed of 72% of water by weight, therefore an insufficient amount of water will have a negative effect on your body composition. It has also many benefits; it helps in the process of chemical and metabolic reactions and in the transport of nutrients.
Here’s a workout plan that will help you lose fat
Most activities will help you lose weight, but we highly recommend to try HIIT (high intensity interval training) and resistance training.
They will help you lose fat while keeping you strong.
- Avoid shortcuts and crash diets. Your weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint.
- Weight loss doesn't necessarily mean fat loss.
- You can't spot reduce; lose fat in a certain area of your body.
- Eating healthy is necessary; fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates.
- You need to create a calorie deficit to lose weight.
- You will have to mainly reduce your carbs intake; but not too much (check our nutrition plans).
- Try to weigh yourself every weeks and change your nutrition plan accordingly.
- Prepare your meals and snacks in advance.
- Eat more snacks. They help you always feel full and avoid craving junk food.
- Drink at least 12 glasses of water per day.
- Do both resistance training workouts and cardio trainings.