Introduction
Some of you were taught that only cutting calories and running is the way to lose weight and it really shows. (Cause I did the same and I’m fat). There is some truth to this statement; however, most people do it wrong. Let’s talk about the wrong way to lose weight then we’ll talk about the right way to lose body fat. What is weight loss and fat loss? Some think they are the same, but they are totally different. Take a look at my little Microsoft paint picture:
Point: your body weight is more than just your body fat.
Whenever you see the number on your scale, it’s the combination of both your fat and lean mass. Losing 5lbs of weight is completely different to losing 5lbs of fat. When we’re talking about working out, we’re going to look at the method to target fat loss which results in your body transforming and functioning in a healthier manner.
Main Subject
What is the wrong way to lose weight?
As a disclaimer, I am not a doctor or fitness professional. I’m just an office worker who likes to workout and wants to share my fat loss success and years of personal research. Also, I want to note that most of your weight or fat loss is linked to your nutrition and eating habits.
Weight loss comes from an energy imbalance from the energy you consume vs. energy you expend. If you eat too much food with not enough activity, you will gain weight. If you eat too little food with lots of activity, you will lose weight. This is a law of nature and cannot be broken.
“So, can I eat half my food for a few days and do a lot of running (say 50 minutes a day) to lose weight?” Yes, and it will work; however, this is the default strategy if you want to experience disappointment.
Why do I not recommend the above? There are 2 really bad things that will happen by following this strategy:
- Your body will enter starvation mode and will hold on to stored fat and will consume lean tissue, like muscles and organs, to survive.
- Your body will decrease the amount of energy used by changing your hormone profile to feel tired and extra hungry to promote feeding.
If you manage to overcome these 2 things and lose weight with this strategy, your body will look like a smaller flabbier version of yourself, and, to sustain this weight, you will have to live on the few calories you are eating while running those 50 minutes every day. Does this sound fun or sustainable? This is why most people give up on weight loss all together.
If you have experienced this, I want to let you know 2 things.
- This is not the only strategy that exists to lose weight. We’ll talk about a method that feels effortless, and
- By focusing on fat loss instead of weight loss, we can use other metrics that show success which are more satisfying to track than the number on the scale.
By focusing on fat loss instead of weight loss, we can use other metrics that show success which are more satisfying to track than the number on the scale.
What is the right way to lose fat?
Let me address 1 more thing before we look at how to workout for successful fat loss. There is a nutritional part that is responsible for 80% of your fat loss and body transformation success: eat in a slight calorie deficit, eat lots of protein.
This is the simple method for eating to change your body. Though it’s simple, it doesn’t mean it will be easy.
Here’s the reasoning for these eating tips. Eating in a slight calorie deficit (no more than 200-calories deficit a day) prevents the body from entering starvation mode and prevents sending strong hunger signals which tempt you into cheating on your nutrition. Eating lots of protein is satiating (fancy word for ‘feeling fuller for longer’) and helps the process of building muscles. Now with that out of the way, let’s talk how to work out for fat loss.
When you workout, it is supposed to serve as a supplement to quicken the fat loss process. You will not use exercise to lose weight. In fact, you will use exercise to do the opposite: to gain weight. Remember my dumb Microsoft paint drawing?
Actually, body weight has both fat and lean (muscle, bone, water, etc.) mass. The goal of exercise, resistance training, is to increase your lean mass (in other words to make dem’ gains baby!).
How does building muscle help in fat loss? Let me share with you 2 important things that building muscle does for your fat loss journey.
First, muscle building process requires the breakdown and then healing of the muscle to overcome whatever caused its breakdown. For example, let’s say you’re lifting weights. After exercising, your muscles have micro tears from the stress of resistance training. While you sleep and rest, your body focuses on healing the muscles to become stronger so it doesn’t tear from that stress again. This adaptation results in muscle growth. Since the human body is a survival machine, it uses calories for healing and tells the body keep lean tissue while in your deficit; however, this only works in a slight deficit. Bigger deficits will tell the body to store fat thinking it’s in starvation mode and abandon the muscle. Basically, while in a small calorie deficit, resistance training tells your body to keep and grow muscles while tapping into fat mass to provide energy for this rebuilding.
Second, working out will make consumed proteins be used for muscle building and produce a deeper calorie deficit. Whenever we consume macronutrients (like protein, carbohydrates, and fats), the body breaks it down into calories to fuel the body. Protein is extremely unique. It’s a food source that requires the most energy for your body to digest. It’s estimated that 30% of calories that come from protein are needed to break itself down. What will happen to the remaining 70%? Some will be used for rebuilding muscle and some will be used for energy. Instead of your body using 100% of consumed protein as energy, your body actually consumes less calories resulting in a bigger calorie deficit.
Here’s an example to illustrate this. Say you need 2,000 calories daily to maintain your weight. Add a slight deficit and you get 1,800 calories required to eat to slowly lose weight.
2,000 calories – 200 calories = 1,800 calories (with 200 calorie deficit)
This person also decides to eat 100g of protein which is 400 calories. This is what will happen.
400 calories x 30% = 120 calories (Number of calories needed to digest 100g of protein)
Including the deficit from eating less and the number of calories for digesting protein you get this:
2,000 calories – 200 calories (from deficit) – 120 calories (from digesting protein) = 1,680 calories
Though you chose to eat in a 200 calorie deficit, in reality your body produced a 320 calorie deficit by protein digestion alone. Add resistance training, your body will use even more of the consumed protein for rebuilding deepening the 320 calorie deficit to a 350–400 calorie deficit (This range is dramatic, but I’m using fake numbers to illustrate a point).
Since you only consumed 200 calories less than what you usually need, you probably won’t feel a hunger difference since a high protein diet will keep you satiated. Now you don’t feel hungry and are losing weight without needing to run or feel hungry (isn’t that a win-win?)
How do you workout to lose fat?!
Finally, we are addressing this question!
I recommend 2 things for the average office worker and busy person. Full body resistance training and walking to maximize the benefits of fat loss. This includes both your muscle building and cardio.
There are many resources online, but I would like to share with you a great source of workouts if you cannot find one.
Mind Pump TV Dumbbell Full Body Workout
I learned a lot from this team, and they are fantastic. Highly recommend checking them out. Remember, the goal is to build muscle which means as you workout with resistance, you need to gradually increase resistance over time. For weight lifting it means to lift weights heavier than what you lifted in the past week.
In terms of your cardio, I do not recommend running every day for 50 million hours as it sucks. Instead, do walking. I’m not saying don’t do cardio; it’s important for heart health. For fat loss, the best is to aim for 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day. Download a simple step tracker on your phone and keep it on you. You don’t need to be investing hundreds into watches to track it for you. This takes under 2 hours, so just start walking more. If you want to feel like you’re doing something productive by running, feel free to do so; however, I will suggest learning proper jogging form with the focus of distance instead of running (as jogging and running are 2 entirely different skills).
So yeah… that’s basically it. These are the 2 things I recommend for working out to lose fat. Lift weights once a week with the focus of getting stronger and get your steps in every day.
Conclusion
The best workouts to lose weight is not done by slashing your calories in half and moving more with running. This is a recipe for disaster. Instead focus on resistance training and getting stronger while walking to get your steps (8,000–10,000 steps) daily. Focus on this with a slight calorie deficit and your body will melt fat and build muscle.
Also, work on increasing your protein intake while sticking to a slight calorie deficit. This strategy will not only feel effortless (compared to daily running) but feeling stronger in general gives an amazing sense of power in your life.
Thank you for taking time to read the post and I hope it convinces you on how easy fat loss can be. Hope to see you in the gym and good luck. Talk to you again soon!
