Losing fat isn’t as exciting as you may think.  The truth doesn’t involve trendy diets or gadget exercizers.  It all comes down to training and nutrition.  Nutrition is easily the single most important factor when it comes to weight loss.  I’ve discovered that you simply can’t out train a bad diet.

But  a proper training program will undoubtedly enhance the weight loss process and effectively build lean muscle mass.  Our daily energy expenditure looks something like this; 10% dietary, 20-30% activity and 60-70% resting metabolic rate. The effective methods of losing fat have been proven over and over again, but the problem is… it’s plain old vanilla boring.

And let’s face it, the overweight population is NOT disciplined in the least.  Overweight people are the result of eating too much of the wrong stuff.  From a personal trainers’ perspective it is way harder to train an overweight person than others.  Oh by the way, saying you don’t want to use weights because it will make you “bulky” is the absolute biggest cop out in history.  Having lean muscle by lifting weights (and not light weights for 20+reps) has been proven to burn fat and you would have to lift a hell of a lot of weight before you ever get that “bulky” look.

Here are the most effective nutritional weight loss tactics:

• Eat Fruits & Vegetables, Lean Protein & Take Fish Oil. This is all there is too it.  Nothing fancy or bling blingy.  Eat fruits and vegetables regularly every day and eat lean protein such as chicken, fish, turkey, buffalo, pork tenderloin, etc.  Also taking a fish oil supplement has been found to enhance the fat loss process.
• Spread Out Your Meals Throughout the Day. A study found that those who ate 6 meals a day lost significantly more weight than those who ate only 2 meals throughout the day.   When you have irregular meal times you will gain fat.  It’s not just about how many calories you take in, but the meal frequency plays a big role.
• Low Carbohydrate, High Protein Diet. Consuming a high carb diet will cause you to gain fat as numerous studies have shown.  Research has shown that there was significant fat loss with a low carb, high protein diet.  It will enhance satiety and increase your metabolism.  If you’re overweight your diet should look like this; 40% carbs / 30% protein / 30% fats, erase whatever notions you have that a low fat diet will make you skinny.  Bad fats (saturated, trans) will make you fat, healthy fats (unsaturated) won’t.
• Avoid Grains Like the Plague. Grains are not vegetables!  That includes corn and it’s manufactured friend, high fructose corn syrup.  High fructose corn syrup is found in everything from sports drinks to ketchup.  Go for rye bread next time instead of whole grain.
• If it’s White, then Don’t Eat It! Stay away from things that are white such as rice, pasta, cereals and go for things that are colorful and nutrient rich.

Alright, now that we have the nutrtion part out of the way, let’s look at the training fat loss principles:

• The Heart Rate Aerobic Fat Burning Zone is a Load of Crap. Keeping your heart rate in the 65-80% heart rate zone for burning fat is a bunch of hogwash.  Yes, in this zone you are burning more calories percentage wise than 85% and above, BUT when you go 85% and above you are burning more total calories overall and therefore burning more fat.  Steady state aerobics will have zero to no effect over dieting alone, the science simply doesn’t support it.
• You Have to Lift Heavy Weights. Resistance Circuit Training is incredibly more effective and causing fat loss than aerobic cardio work.  You’re going to have to lift heavier weights than the light weights you may be used to for your 15+ reps you’ve been doing.  Keep it around 8-12 repetitions and don’t rush through it, your time under tension (60 seconds) is a big factor here.  Try alternating a upper body exercise with a lower body exercise with 30-60 seconds rest in between them, by alternating we will maximize our work density, therefore increasing our total calories burned.
• Use Interval Training. Interval training has been scientifically proven to burn 9 TIMES more subcutaneous fat loss than endurance training.  The belief behind this is that there will be a metabolic disturbance in your body in the post workout period and will enhance your EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Consumption).  If you’re obese this will most likely be too intense for you. You should first realistically focus on lifting weight 3 days per week and doing some light walking.
• Time Is the Biggest Variable. If you had all the time in the world to work out, then you would want to do something in this order; Metabolic Resistance Training, High Intensity Anaerobic Interval Training, High Intensity Aerobic Interval Training, then Steady State Aerobic Training.  Unfortunately we live in a real world and most of the people I see I can only see 3 hours a week, so I’m going to have them do resistance training with me.  But if I had a few hours more I could do more interval training, and then if I had more time then I could add some steady state aerobics to aid in losing weight.
• Write Down Your Goals. When a client first comes to me and I ask them their goals, I’m really asking them to be specific.  It’s not enough that you just want to lose weight.  We have to have a plan of attack.  Always answer the following questions; what do you weigh? how much do you want to lose?, by when?  Then record their body fat %, take girth measurements and take pictures.

So there it is.  Everything you need to know about losing weight whether you’re obese or just trying to lose 10-25 pounds.  It’s really very simple but unfortunately not very easy or exciting.  But if you have a goal don’t let anything stop you from achieving it.

- Josh Schlottman