This is it, the last one… why you might ask? Cause I can’t make it any more simple than I’m going to make it right now. A simple plan to simply lose fat. Because we all know the goal is to lose fat, not just “weight” (big difference here).
Are you ready for the secret? You have to have less calories going in calories out.
Does it get more simple than that? For pure weight loss (not caring if it’s muscle mass or fat) it’s as simple as calories in and calories out. You have to expend energy or calories while daily living and working out. Now here’s where the hard part comes in; You have to count EVERY single little morsel of “food” that you take in, even those “few” M&M’s you ate from your kid’s snack. So, as you can see, what starts as a simple answer can get a little bit more complicated.
The real answer actually lies somewhere in the middle of having to have a PhD in advanced biology and mathematics, and the calories in vs calories out simplicity. The real answer lies with making sure your macronutrients are taken care of (protein for muscle recovery and gain, carbs for energy and micronutrients, and fats for hormonal/skin/brain help). You have to ensure that you’re not only limiting your calories, but managing the TYPE of calories your intaking.
You CAN go workout for 4 hours twice a day if you want, to eat whatever is in front of you. However, because most of us don’t have more than an hour tops a few days a week to workout, we need to come up with a better, more manageable option. This means we need to have a general idea of the calories we are eating, to adjust the exercise we should be getting in each day. In order to truly lose weight, you should limit the days your calorie intake is higher than you expenditure to a maximum of 1 per week.
Exercise recommendations typically favor “cardio” for the sure amount of calories burned DURING exercise. This is why weight training will never be the go to for health care recommendations although it should be. But, with cardio you’re only counting calories burned while exercising, and it doesn’t take into account what is burned for the hours after. With weight training, there is something called EPOC or afterburn. I won’t bore you with the numbers but let’s just say over 24 hours lifting weights vs running for one hour, the weight training will eventually burn more calories.
Hormones: little “things” inside our body that regulates how well we burn fat, keep muscle, lose fat, digest nutrients, build muscle, sleep quality, “hunger” and many other things. Hormones rarely get the love they deserve when it comes to a fitness plan, and they are just starting to be recognized in their importance. Many things affect our hormones like like lack of sleep, STRESS, etc. It’s a constant battle to keep hormones in check and regulate the hormones that work for us. There’s a hormone, Leptin, that if not regulated won’t trigger that “I’m full” feeling. And of course, you can imagine, that not feeling full, will just lead you to overeat and gain weight.
It may seem confusing, especially with all sorts of “different” types of diets out there. So, in effort to clarify, I’ll be giving even more tips in my next blog - I lied about it being my last one :) - that will take this whole calorie in vs. calorie out thing to the next level.