The key to big fat loss results is making habit changes that are sustainable in the long term.
A habit is a tendency that you develop through consistent practice of an action. In this case, these are small changes that are related to your nutrition that you can make immediately. The important thing about making these changes is that you must first make a conscious effort at doing the same thing over and over, until you do it without thinking.
Your fat loss results come in stages. You must not expect fast fat loss results. Focus your energy on working hard, being patient and consistent. The fat loss will be a byproduct of this focus.
You must not focus on the scale either, because when you lose weight, you could be losing fat, muscle and water. You may be losing fat and maintaining or gaining weight, especially if you’re strength training. There are ways to track fat loss results without using a scale.
The changes that you want, require you to know how to lose fat to understand why these small habit changes can lead to big fat loss results.
These are based on the changes that I have made this year, that has led to me having one of the best body compositions I have had in awhile.
How to Lose Fat
Fat is the stored energy that builds up when you consistently eat more calories than you burn (calorie surplus).
Calories are the units of energy that is found in all that you eat and drink.
When you want to lose fat, you must consistently eat less calories than you burn (calorie deficit). You can do this through everything that you consume, which is the main focus here, but there are ways to make fat loss easier through:
- Strength training to help you burn more calories and increase your muscle mass.
- Cardio to help you burn more calories.
- Intermittent fasting to reduce the time period in which you eat. This can reduce the amount of calories that you consume, depending on the food that eat.
1. Less Sugar in Your Beverages
The simple changes that can be made here is drinking less liquid calories or calories in your fluids.
Reduce the amount of sugar that you put in your tea and coffee. I have managed to go from 3 sugars to 1 because I drink a lot of coffee during the day. Other than help reduce my calorie intake, this has also helped me have more energy after drinking coffee, because the simple sugar has less of an effect on my body.
You must also try drink less soft drinks during the week, if you do drink any. These calories in your fluids can build up the more you drink them and prevent you from losing fat.
Reducing your intake will reduce your calories and be better for your health anyway.
2. Less Cheat Meals/Snacks and Smaller Portions
Cheat meals are the indulgent foods that you eat when you desire them. They are usually less nutritious and highly processed foods.
They can lead to you gaining a lot of fat if you eat them consistently, but can also help you form a healthy relationship with all food because of less restriction in your diet.
I usually have 1 or 2 cheat meals during the week, depending on the budget and how much I ate the day before. In terms of snacks, I used to enjoy Simba tomato flavoured large chips, but I realized that it wasn’t a snack portion and decided to get the smaller portion ones to reduce my calorie intake.
A ratio of 80-90% of the food you eat being nutritious during the week and 10-20% of it being indulgent food can ensure that you enjoy a good balance in your overall well-being between healthy and indulgent.
3. More Naturally-Sourced Food
Food that has very little processing and/or little to no preservatives to make it last longer is organic. You must ensure that you have food that is as close to its natural as possible.
This food is usually high in nutrition and contains more vitamins and minerals because of the little processing that is done on it. You can ensure that you’re getting rid of free radicals and toxins from your body.
Fruits and vegetables can always be the go-to in natually-sourced food, but your starch, dairy and protein can also be bought with as little processing and preservatives as possible. It is also better for the environment.
Fruits and vegetables are usually low in calories and can be eaten in high volumes. This can help you maintain a calorie deficit, because you can eat a lot of them without them negatively affecting your calorie intake.
It’s these small habit changes that really make the difference in your fat loss journey. They are easy, which make them sustainable in your fat loss diet.
Using Supplements For Fat Loss
People can have the idea of there being pills and drinks that can make you lose fat.
Whenever I do use supplements, it is usually ones that are high in protein, having at least 20g of protein. This is about 30% of the daily reference intake for the average sedentary man.
These supplements really just enhance the idea of being in a calorie deficit by having appetite suppressing ingredients or being high in volume and low in calories.
These can work in the short-term, but in the long-term, some may have negative side effects. They can also get really expensive and not be sustainable for your fat loss journey.
If you do decide to use supplements, do not let them take away from you having good nutrition and a regular training schedule. Many supplement packages do state that they do not replace a healthy diet.
The Takeaway
Fat loss is a result of small changes that are done to consistently keep you in a calorie deficit. This starts with your nutrition and then your training can assist with this too.
Nutritional habit changes you can make are having:
- Less Sugar in Your Beverages
- Less Cheat Meals/Snacks and Smaller Portions
- More Food As Organic As Possible
Supplements can be used to help you in achieving you calorie and macro goals, but they must not replace a healthy diet.
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