Why The Eat Less Train More Approach To Fat Loss Will Make You Fatter!
The old myth that to lose fat or “weight” as most females like to think of it means “you need to eat less and train more” – Never seems to die!
Heres my spin on a few areas of this:
For optimal body composition (Fat loss – Building/ Toning muscle) you need two important elements
No1) Caloric deficit
No2) Hormonal balance – The secret here!
What most females do when embarking on there summer slim down is cut calories and exercise more! While in the onset this makes the digits on the scale go down… ‘We cannot defy the laws of physiology’ Whats happening in the human body is a cascade of hormonal down regulation and if followed chronically – Potential long term damage to the metabolism!
Not only that but the actual weight thats coming off is a mixture of lean muscle (that will give you the summer body your aspiring to get) Body fat and fluids. (Not fat loss you want)
The actual weight your potentially losing is the wrong “Weight”!
The impact of cutting calories and increasing exercise is recognisable and pronounced, the body sets into motion by down regulating metabolism and an array of key hormones that need to be functioning optimally for you to build a lean toned body and lose fat optimally.
A cascade of compensatory reactions that make you feel hungry, crave calorie-dense foods, smoke your energy and holt fat loss! This approach leaves you at the mercy of your metabolism and completely reliant on willpower, if you’ve followed diets of this sort in the past you’ll know its almost impossible to win a long-term battle of wills against your physiology. Statistics show %70 of people who attempt this approach end up fatter two years later.
This happens because each time you cut calories a large percentage of that weight you lose is lean muscle, muscle is what you need to keep your metabolism firing and torch those calories…Not only that but lean muscle is what gives you the toned lean body your aspiring for, so the next time you attempt to lose “Weight” your in a much more compromised position because you’ve less muscle than the time before. Thats why its harder… Then harder the time after that! Its a downward spiral using this approach and in my opinion one of the main reasons people give up!
Ok So What To Do?
No1) Think Fat Loss -NOT “Weight Loss”
When you want to tone up and create a lean shaped body nine times out of ten this will require you building lean muscle and carving that bikini body you desire, for this you’ll need the extra calories for this process to happen within the body, cutting calories will be the catalyst to the goal your striving for because you’ll be breaking down (losing) muscle. When fat loss is the goal its about eating more of the right things and less of the bad.
There has been occasions when I’ve had a female client come to me with a “Fat loss goal” on day 1, then X amount of months down the track when they’ve achieved there ideal physique there weighing more on the scale. But with a drastically changed physique!
1kg of muscle and 1kg of fat weigh the same but fat takes up 3x more space on the human body so imagine somebody losing 10kg of fat, but then putting 10kg of muscle on using resistance weight training. Taking into account fat takes up 3x more space, their physique will have a complete transformation but the scale weight may have little change, a little food for thought!
No2) Eat More Of The Right Foods Less Of The Wrong
Where all very unique and all require different macronutrient rations i.e some of us require more carbs than others some of more protein and fats, but as a rule of thumb if you stick to the basic fundamentals of nutrition you cant go that far off track.
- Focus on eating foods from the land
- Avoid foods that are processed and left in packets for weeks on end
- Eat 10-12 fruits and veggies a day
- Eat lots of greens
- Use natural herbs and spices to flavour foods over sauce
- Eat organic produce where possible
- Drink lots of water -I.e 1 litre per 50 pounds of total body weight
- Make protein the base of your meals
- Make sure you get adequate healthy fats essential for hormone and brain function
As a rule of thumb I let my new clients eat as much protein – vegetables – berries as they want in the onset of any nutrition plan
No3) Ditch The “Cardio” And Pick Up The Weights
When fat loss is our goal the cardio your likely doing will do little for drastic composition changes, and what I mean by cardio is the long machine based cardio in the gym or pavement pounding thats doing very little for body composition and that toned summer body you drastically want to achieve! I have cardio workouts using weights that will improve your overall fitness levels 10 fold while sculpting a lean toned body!
The myth that: “Weight training will make you look like arnold in a bikini :)” Always cracks me up haha! This couldn’t be be further from the truth, woman have 1/10th the testosterone of men so waking up like arnold isn’t something id worry about! lifting heavy weights in a structured programme is what creates a toned lean looking figure most females desire.
The benefits that weight training delivers are endless, not only for positive body composition changes that will last forever! But for optimal hormone function, increased life expectancy, disease prevention – especially diabetes and cancer prevention to name a few!
Check out my previous article giving you 3 key steps that will fast forward you towards your fitness goals https://jn1performance.com/get-in-great-shape/
Jools Newsome