The 5 Rules of Fat Loss

The 5 Rules of Fat Loss

Successful fat loss plans have a few things in common. Five, actually. You probably already know what they are, but let's refresh just in case.

1. Don't eat so much

In other words, if you're eating a typical diet, you're probably eating a bit too much food to lose fat. That's right, the food you eat that isn't used by your body for energy and re-building gets stored as fat. Simple stuff, but it's often overlooked. That's because most of us have no idea how much food we really eat.

Our job is to help our clients become aware of how much food they're eating. Seems small, but it makes a big difference.

Here's a simple way to do that: Grab a notebook and write down everything you eat for the next three days. After those three days you'll have a rough idea of how much food you normally eat.

Then all you have to do is replace a few calorie dense foods with calorie dilute foods. Or just trim back your portions a little. Voila. Same amount of food, instant calorie-reduction, no stress.

2. Eat healthy food

Depending on who you ask, "healthy" food can mean different things. But there is one universal truth: More nutrients with fewer calories is a recipe for success.

In general, the best foods are lean meats, vegetables, high-quality fats, and maybe a small amount of starches, depending on your carbohydrate tolerance. The best part about these foods? They're also fairly low in calories compared to processed stuff.

3. Move more often

Most people think the only way to lose weight is to work out for 5+ hours per week or go for morning jogs. Fortunately, this is not true. We've seen some remarkable fat-loss progress in clients who simply moved more often.

Taking the stairs, going for a morning bike ride, or walking to lunch instead of driving may seem like small steps, but they make a big impact on how your body feels and how many calories you burn.

Of course, this isn't all you need to become a cover model, but it does kick-start the fat loss process. It also supports rules number four and five.

4. Do strength training a few times per week

To look and feel better and speed up the rate of fat loss, you need to do muscle-preserving exercises like weight-training or bodyweight workouts. They don't need to be too intense, and they certainly don't have to take a long time.

The best thing you can do is start slowly and visit the gym two or three times per week. Perform a small circuit of full-body exercises like squats, lunges, rows, and presses. It all takes about 45 minutes.

A word of caution: Working out is something most people over-think. The truth is, you don't need a perfect program to start the process. All you need is something that gets you in the gym a few times per week and has you lifting weights or doing some sort of challenging body weight exercises. Adding complexity can come later.

5. Do intervals (aka "Cardio")

If strength training was your muscle-preserving exercise, intervals are your calorie-burning activity. Doing short bursts of work followed by longer periods of recovery helps your body burn a tremendous amount of calories.

To start, all you have to do is get on an exercise bike, treadmill, or other cardio equipment and try the following:

30 second burst of fast pedaling or running
60 second recovery of slow pedaling or jogging

That's one round. Go back and forth between the "intense burst" and "recovery" and repeat that for a total of six rounds.

And that's it.