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Effective Fat Loss Strategies

By June 8th, 2020Lifestyle, Health, Nutrition

When it comes to fat loss and the goals we want to achieve it’s totally understandable that we want it to happen over night. While fast results can be done we often set ourselves up for a fail.

Wanting fast fat loss results usually means reaching for the latest fad. An unsustainable meal replacement package, going on a crazy calorie reduction, or generally not eating much at all as examples. Sure it might get you results for a couple of weeks if you stick to it but one question: What happens when you finish with that approach? Generally what we see is people reverting back to their previous food habits. This isn’t a criticism of anyone doing this, it’s just an understanding of what’s going on. You shouldn’t beat yourself up, you’re not failing, you just haven’t found the right approach for you. During that time you generally don’t have an approach that starts to create new habits that can be maintained long term, you don’t give yourself the opportunity to workout what works best for you.

When you rebound back to what you were doing before, you lose a bit more motivation, feel like you’ve let yourself down and continue with a vicious cycle of eating foods you know you don’t want to eat and then reaching for the next quick fix or even trying one you’ve tried before. It’s the approach that’s wrong, not you.

So lets look at effective fat loss strategies for life.

Firstly, the biggest factor to work with is energy. For fat loss you need to be in a calorie deficit. This can be done through diet and exercise. BUT this does not mean putting yourself on a ridiculously low calorie count that isn’t healthy nor sustainable. Think long term and how you can sustain your nutrition as well as ensuring optimum health and performance for day to day living. Which leads me nicely on to my next point.

While energy and calories are the foundation of your fat loss approach, absolutely paramount for results success and improved health is good quality food. Focus on looking and feeling good as well as what the scales may say. Being in a calorie deficit with a diet full of crap food isn’t going to help you short or long term. It’s a great opportunity to play around with fresh whole food ingredients and flavours. It’s a good idea as an example to have half your plate full of fibrous vegetables with the other half consisting of protein, starchy carbs and good fats.

Next, move away from a dieting mindset. You’re not ‘going on a diet’, you’re changing your diet/your nutritional lifestyle. By saying you’re going on a diet, you subconsciously give yourself a time frame and stand a good chance of ‘coming off it’ at some point whether that’s a week or a month. Equally with a dieting mindset when you do slip, as mentioned before, you start feeling guilty & beating yourself up. I hear it a lot “I’ve been bad today………” While you have to be accountable it isn’t a healthy mindset to have and one that’s likely holding you back. Stop telling yourself you’ve messed up or been bad because you have had something that wasn’t necessarily part of the plan. Leading on to my next tip.

Work with an 80/20 rule. 80 = the portion of your week full of fresh wholesome foods that fuel you and make you look and feel great, improving digestive health etc. 20 = that little bit of flexibility (if wanted/needed) to have something you wouldn’t normally have and enjoy it. That’s right – ENJOY it. That one thing will not undo all your efforts over the 6 days, you have not ‘ruined it all now’. BUT here comes the accountability bit. Be accountable and get back to the 80.

With regards to exercise and dropping body fat/getting leaner, we’re massive fans of getting you moving efficiently and lifting some weights. Not always big weights, we train smart. Equally, it comes down to finding what works best for you in terms of sticking to something, training with us at Optimum3, going for a bike ride, swimming, playing sport for example.

Lastly, remember, it’s not a linear process. Like anything there will be bumps in the road. Ride it out. It may take you a little while to get to where you want to be but also remember not to give up, the time will pass anyway.

I hope you find the above useful in moving towards life changing and sustainable lifestyle changes that will have you looking, feeling and performing better. It gives you an insight in to how we work at Optimum3 Personal Training with each person on an individual basis. You can read more of our blogs here.

If you’d like that professional support in getting you to where you want to be and work with some of the best personal trainers in the area simply drop us an email at james@optimum3.co.uk.

Eat Well. Move Well. Live Well.

 

 

 

 

James Brereton

Director | Personal Trainer

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