3 Must Do's for Fat Loss

It's the beginning of the new year and hopefully everyone is still on track with their New Years resolution. In this post I hope to help give insight into what I imagine to be a very popular resolution for people, that being fat loss. 

It's easy to get caught up in the latest detox's, cleanses and diet trends and be left completely baffled around what is the best way to lose that extra body fat you may have put on over the festive period.

In the above picture, you can see my personal fat loss journey through 25 weeks last year and the scale weight as reference throughout that period. Here are the quick before and after stats:

Before:

• Bodyweight: 184.7lbs
• Bodyfat: 15-17%
• Caloric Intake: 3200

After

• Bodyweight: 163.5bs
• Bodyfat: 8-10%
• Caloric Intake: 2200

Throughout my personal journey, I have compile my top 3 tips and tricks to what has helped me and my clients shed that unwanted belly fat.

1) Figure out your caloric and macronutrient intake

Now for us to drop body fat, we need to make sure we are eating a calorie deficit (eating less calories than we burn). For a simple equation, take your bodyweight in lbs and multiply by 12. This will be your daily caloric goal.

Example: 

175lb x 12 = 2100 calories per day for fat loss

Now from here, we need to calculate the breakdown of the calories into protein, carbohydrates and fats. To maintain muscle we need roughly 0.8-1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight, and then we can split fats (roughly 25-30% of total calories) and carbs (rest of the calories).

So for a 175 lb person, this would look like:

175 grams of protein (700 calories)

70 grams of fats (630 calories)

195 grams of carbs (780)

Plug these numbers into an application called Myfitnesspal and you are set to start tracking your daily macro and calorie goals!

2) Eat strategically

The main factors which people fail upon is nutrition when it comes to fat loss, and this is mainly because they cave in to their cravings due to a lack of planning. To help maximise satiety levels we want to spread out our protein servings evenly across our meals and time our carbohydrate intake around training and evening to help decrease our cortisol levels. Here is a basic structure for your meals:

Breakfast: High Protein, low carb, moderate fat 

Lunch: High Protein, low carb, moderate fat 

Pre Training: Moderate Protein, moderate carb, low fat

Dinner: Moderate Protein, moderate carb, low fat 

Having a higher protein & fat breakfast and lunch will help with keeping satiety high during the work morning and introducing carbohydrates closer to training will ensure better performance in the gym. 

3) Consistency & Patience

Remember, fat loss is a long game and it takes time for your body to change. Scale weight should not be the only way of tracking progress, you should also do body circumference measurements as well as taking progress pictures! Take these measurements every 4-6 weeks and make sure you are consistent with your nutrition AND training.

There is no secret diet nor best practice, the BEST diet for you is the one you can sustainably maintain throughout an extended period of time! Like any "get rich quick" plans trying to sell you a shortcut, there isn't such thing and if it sounds too good to be true, it is. 

Be patient, eat in a calorie deficit, train hard and you'll get there in no time. 

As always, contact directly if you need any further assistance with your diet or training.

Dan