Fat loss 101 – Everything you wanted to know about fat loss but were afraid to ask

Do you need to drop fat, get in great shape in record time? When your primary goal is rapid fat loss you may think that you are beyond the basics yet what I see when working with hundreds of clients every year is a total disregard to getting the basics right consistently. In this article I will provide you with a one stop shop to ALL the info and tools you need to help you burn the fat and feel great. It’s not going to be very technical but the best advice is always simple and easy to understand and apply. There are lots of people that would charge you a small fortune for all of the following and might even package it as some special secret plan and so they should as there are lots of really great programs that I have stolen ideas for this very article. There difference here is that I have put it all in one place for free and I really hope you apply it in its entirety. Ok here we go, I suggest you buckle up for some home truths and the very best advice I can give.

Not pointing any fingers but you might need to read this!

The best way to view fat loss is in a hierarchy of needs or importance. Here is how I see it and starting in order of importance.

Rule 1 – Cut out the junk.

There is no possible way you are going to drop significant amounts of fat if you persist in eating junk food daily. You are deluded if you think its ok to have muffins, lattes, soft drinks, cheap chocolate or whatever your bag is on a daily basis and wonder why all your training is giving no results. It’s time to get honest and cut it back to 2-3 meals a week where you have a little of what you fancy.

This is the most basic rule as the damage you can do to your fat loss progress is quite amazing due to the massive amount of calories you can easily consume through junk foods. There are 3,500 calories in a single pound of body fat so burning it off your fat through workouts alone is just impossible as that 30mins walk/jog (200-400cals for average person) you did is not going to make a dent in 3,500 caloires.

You have to accept that you are the way you are due to the way you have treated your body. Are you quite overweight and its obvious you need to drop a lot of fat? Then it is no accident how you look the way you do and why you  feel tired all the time. You had to have practiced eating the wrong foods over and over again in order to have put on the weight. You did not have a pizza and a giant coke yesterday and suddenly you are two stone overweight today. Fat gain just does not happen in that way. Keep this in mind when you are in the infancy of your training and nutrition changes - it’s taken a while to get your body the way it is so it’s not going to change overnight.

The clients I work with that drop all the weight they desire are without exception the ones that say “ok, no more messing around, I either get more honest about the food I eat or get used to feeling terrible and allow my clothes size to expand”. The difference is that those that drop all the obvious junk food do so becuase there is more pain associated with continuing to be fat than there is to making the necessary changes. If you want to make massive changes then you need to accociate massive pain with NOT making any changes. You can’t out-train a bad diet so now link in your mind that eating junk food on a consistent basis is making you feel and look terrible and associate exercise and a positive change in your diet with massive pleasure and a giant step towards feeling and looking your very best.

Do you want to be spoken about as the fat guy/girl that really should do something about their weight or would look amazing if only you droppped some serious weight and stopped eating junk all the time?

Nobody can help you take you past this first step unless you really want to go there so remind yourself that “If it’s got to be it’s up to me”.

Get busy living or get busy dying

Rule 2 – Quality first

Once you have cut way back on the junk foods you then need to focus on the quality of the food you are eating. There is zero point in substituting the likes of pasta, bread and bagels instead of having pizza, chips and coke. Your diet should consist of lots of fresh non-processed foods such as, fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, fish, nuts, seeds, good oils and fats.

Much of what you need has been covered in my article on what the hell should I eat – http://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/so-what-do-i-bloody-eat/

I have also done a video on what foods you need to have around you to promote fat loss and is explained in detail (Fat loss Nutrition 101) -

Overall, once you have improved the quality of the foods you eat you are then ready to move on to the next step. Without addressing quality you may just be substituting one junk food for what seems healthy but is just calorie dense, nutritionally empty calories e.g. chips swapped for pasta. Both have tiny amounts of quality nutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants etc) and you would have been better off going for sweet potato, butternut squash or a lower carb option like peppers, onions, broccoli etc.

Roasted chicken with roasted sweet potato and veg

Rule 3 – Do a carb count

Nobody is ever going to argue that the first two rules for optimal fat loss are not valid. However, there is always an on going debate on carbohydrate intake (breads, rice, cereals, pasta, potatoes, junk foods, alcohol, fruit, veg) and it’s effect on fat loss. To clear this up I will simply say that excessive carbs in your diet are going to massively hinder your fat loss.

However please keep in mind this vital point which is that regarless of carb intake it still comes down to total calorie intake so there is no point in taking all major carbs out of your diet and then packing it with tons of protein and fats. This can be a positive step but if your current calorie intake is say 1,500 (female) or 2,500 (male) calories and 60% of that is coming from carbs and you cut this back to 30-40% carb intake or lower but your calorie intake still stays at 1,500 or 2,500 calories and you keep the same level of activity/exercise then you will NOT drop any fat. Yes that movement away from insulin inducing carbs was good but if you are not in a calorie deficit i.e. taking in less calories than you need then fat loss will NOT happen. On this point it really is an exercise in portion control and making sure that you are not out of control when it comes to the good foods that you are consuming.

Eat for the weight you want to be not the weight you are.  

A fundamental understanding of carbs and their effect on your body is explained in my GI article here -

http://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/the-gi-beginners-guide-to-getting-nutrition-on-track/

Lets just keep it simple when it comes to carb intake and please just keep in mind that you are cutting back on the starchy carbs not the beneficial non-starchy carbs for the following reasons -

1. Lower carb intake can encourage lower insulin production which in turn helps with fat burning and fat storage

2. Starchy carbs are very calorie dense i.e. they have a shed load of calories, so cutting back on them makes it easier to lower your total calorie intake

3. Starchy carbs are very addictive and having a little can mean you suddenly start eating a lot.

4. Less bloating – every gram of carbs requires 4g of water to store so ditch the starchy ones if you want to feel and look less bloated

5. Improved energy levels – its very hard to eat the right foods when you are feeling low on energy so make sure you avoid the post carb crash and get your carbs from the non-starchy kind.

Overall, I recommend people start with a 40% carb, 30% protein and 30% fats intake and then work on lower the carbs and upping the fats if fat loss is not happening for you (as long as activity levels remain the same). 

 http://www.fitday.com which is an online journal for tracking your calories, weight loss and exercise with over five million members. It is completely free and I found it great for getting clients to realise the total calorie intake of the food they ate. It was particularly helpful for those clients that were stuck with their weight loss and needed to see where the extra calories were coming from. It breaks down your calories into the three main food groups so you can see if you are committing carbicide on the weekends and possibly ruining all your Monday to Friday progress. This is such a valuable resource that at the very least you should use it once to see where you diet is at the moment.

Rule 4 – Eat fat to drop fat

From the diet journals I see on a daily basis the most common mistake I see is clients not eating enough fats. Now I am not talking about the harmful fats in fried foods and junk foods. These damaging fats are generally listed as hydrogenated or trans fats. There are no safe limits for these fats and should be avoided at all costs. The essential fats that you need for your body to function optimally are the omega 3 and 6 fats. Foods that are rich in good fats are fish, avocadoes, nuts, seeds, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil and nut butters like peanut and almond butter. Initially when I meet many of my clients they are so fat phobic and the mere suggestion of eating more fats is seen as crazy. Yet many of these same clients are extremely deficient in good fats. There is a mountain of research to show that eating more fats even saturated fat from meat, dairy foods and eggs are beneficial to your health.

The good fats

For example, In October 2005 the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study in which the diets of 2,200 post-menopausal women with low total fat intake and they discovered:

“A higher saturated fat (from meat, eggs, dairy foods) is associated with LESS progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD) whereas carbohydrate intake is associated with greater progression”

The bottom line is that it’s not the butter that’s causing you problems it’s the ton of bread and potatoes that is expanding your waistline and increasing your cholesterol.

There is a more detialed article I wrote on how important fats are for fat loss here – Fats that heal, fats that kill,

 http://thetransformationcatalyst.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/fats-that-heal-fats-that-kill/

Rule 5 – Did you do point 1-4?

Yes it’s important that you apply the first three points vigilantly as people drop weight all the time by simply adjusting their diet in the right direction and taking bugger all exercise. You can’t out train a bad diet so apply these points first and then move forwards otherwise you as they say pissing against the wind.

Meatballs and low carb veg a good low carb combo

Rule 6 – Intervals for fat loss

Interval training (IT) is a form of exercise that is done in an On/Off fashion where you work hard (On) for 30-60secs, recover (Off) for double or triple the amount of work time and repeat 6-10times. For example, light walk/jog for 2mins (Off) followed by 1min run/sprint (On), light jog/walk to recover for 2mins and repeat 6 times. You can use any form of exercise to do this and start at any level of fitness so long as you start slowly and build up gradually to harder sessions. It can be done on a bike like in spinning classes, while swimming, walking or my personal favourite is through using a mix of body weight exercises, kettlebells and some aerobic exercise like fast walking, skipping or running.  

In 1994 a landmark study was published which concluded that a training group doing IT for 20mins 3 times a week for 13 weeks burned nine times more fat than those doing long, boring training for 45-60mins 3 times a week for 20 weeks. These results have been supported time and time again since this date proving its amazing benefits.

The magic of IT is in the intensity of the training or the ‘On’ part. When you are working hard for that 30-60secs and through repetition, you’re up-regulating your ability to use fat as energy after the session has finished, increasing you’re ability to train at high intensity and increasing growth hormone levels which aid fat loss. 48-72hrs after an IT session you’re still burning fat and moving your metabolism into overdrive.

When my clients train with me individually or in my group sessions we always do some form of IT (with weights or straight aerobic exercise) to take advantage of the above benefits. Which would you prefer, getting nine times more fat loss in less time doing, for example, some kettlebell swings and press ups in 15mins, or spending endless hours never really getting the results you deserve?

Here is a really simple interval/metcon (metabolic conditioning) workout that you can do from home that is a perfect fat melter. Just swap the ring dips for press ups if you need to and you are set to go!

And another if you really want to test yourself

You will notice in the latter video there is no straight cardio component i.e. i am not running, cycling, rowing, walking etc yet there is no question that my heart rate is going to be elevated. You do not need to do straight cardio to help burn fat which brings me on to the next rule.

Rule 7 – Build muscle

I always find it quite disappointing that when people decide to drop a few pounds and get in shape that their first approach is to go walking or running. Now I am all for getting your heart rate up and building up a sweat but overall doing aerobic exercise like this is possibly the slowest way to burn fat and increase muscle tone. All the research shows that when combined with a decreased calorie intake and when fat loss is the primary goal participants in studies drop more fat when doing resistance training versus doing aerobic exercise. The problem with aerobic exercise is that it can actually cause you to drop much needed muscle, which is vital for keeping your metabolism ramped up and burning calories 24/7.

Not a pink dumbbell in sight doing the basics

The key to lasting fat loss is to maintain and even increase muscle. A pound of muscle is small firm and compact where as a pound of fat is large, bulbous and takes up a lot of space. I have lost count the number of my clients that have decreased their dress size massively but did not drop the amount of weight on the scale that they thought they would. The reason for this is that they all are doing weight training, which increases muscle tone and strength. This increases fat loss, makes the whole body look firmer and generally sucks everything in nice and tight. If you want to get leaner and look slimmer make sure that you are doing some form of weight training for 20-30mins two to three days per week. Get really really good at doing the basic execises like squats, deadlifts, swinging a kettlebell, lunges, press ups, pull ups, overhead pressing and some kind of core work. There is no point in getting technical on an exercise program when you can’t even do the basics to begin with.

Build muscle drop fat

Here is a video of one of my clients doing box hops and kettlebell swings in a ladder format with her 9yr old son. If a mum and kid can do these simple and challenging exercise so can you. So ditch the pink dumbbells and complicated programs, work harder on the basics and build some muscle.

To conclude, if you want to drop fat and get in great shape you need to firstly address your diet, ensure that you are in a calorie deficit, cut back on the carbs, do intervals or metcons to promote rapid fat loss and keep building more muscle. There are lots of other points I could add to this but these are what I see as the most important. You now have the tools to look and feel your very best so I now must enquire were you just asking or did you really want to know?

If you have read this far into the article ask yourself this simple question – are you just asking about how to shed fat fast or do you REALLY want to know? Iget asked daily what is the quickest way to burn fat and get in shape but many people are just asking. They don’t really want to know. The people that are just asking can also end up asking too many questions and it’s like they are never satisfied with the answers becuase they prefer to keep asking questions rather than getting down to the business of putting in good hard training sessions and being way more honest with their diet. For example, do not ask me about whether to use low fat milk in your tea if you insist on eating bread twice a day, biscuits daily and just can’t give up the latte a day habit. Come on work on whats going to make a true difference! Less talk and more action please.

Are you just asking, cause if you are there is a cat for who wants to kick your butt

The clients I work with that do get and continue to get great results are the ones who REALLY want to know and not just know for knowledge sake but because they want to apply the info asap. They never feel there is no more to learn, they enjoy the challenge of a new program and can’t see their life without regular exercise and a clean diet. They love the feeling exercise gives them and they value the time it takes to exercise because they do not want to end up like some people who moan about their excess fat and being tired all the time but never do anything about it.

I never get tired of answering questions on training, nutrition and health but sometimes I have to ask myself does this person REALLY want to know or are they just asking. If you really want to know you NEVER make excuses and you get the job done. If you are just asking then that’s ok and maybe one day you will get the push you need to stop asking and take action.

Getting in shape in a short time frame requires consistent application of all the rules listed. It may seem strict but the best results come from a dedicated effort with a major goal in mind.

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Tags: amazing fat loss, burn fat, Crossfit, crossfit girls, Dominic Munnelly, dublin personal training, fat loss nutrition, insulin spike, low carb, personal training, rapid fat loss program, the transformation catalyst