Fitness

WEIGHT LOSS STRATEGIES AND WHY THEY WORK The road to a slimmer YOU

„ ADAM SIMPSON

BELOW are some common strategies that I often hear people implement into their lifestyle or adapt to their eating regime all in the attempt to lose body fat.

While some of these strategies are effective, they may not be the best strategy for you. It is important to understand the basic principles of weight loss and then you can pick and choose a strategy that is easy for you to adapt to your own lifestyle.

1. Cutting out Carbohydrates

One common strategy I hear is people cutting out carbohydrates from their diet in order to lose body fat. This method can work for weight loss but it doesn't mean that you should do it. By cutting out an entire macronutrient from your diet you are going to drastically reduce your total caloric intake. Which is the key to dropping body fat. A better strategy would be to continue to eat carbohydrates in moderation and monitor your total calories consumed. A basic guideline to keep your carbohydrates in the right portion size is have a portion with every meal and use a cupped hand to measure out your serve.

2. Cutting out chocolate and sugar

We all know that eating too much chocolate and sugary type foods isn't the best for us. Cutting out chocolate and sugar would definitely help you lose weight. But again, you probably don't need to be that extreme with it. Instead understand how many calories are in the chocolate and sugary treats you are eating and then eat those in moderation according to your goals and total calorie budget. Cutting something that you enjoy completely is not going to be a sustainable long term approach to fat loss.

3. Quitting alcohol

Alcohol is a very calorie dense beverage so drinking too many alcoholic drinks is going to make losing body fat that much harder. It’s probably a great idea to reduce how many days you are drinking alcohol, reduce the number of drinks you have on a night out or choosing lower calorie alcoholic drinks. Ideally the fewer calories you drink the better, but cutting out alcohol completely may not be necessary.

Eating bread, pasta, rice, chocolate, sugar and drinking alcohol didn't cause you to gain weight. Over consuming them did! body to increase its energy expenditure which in turn make it easier to get into a calorie deficit. Fat loss comes down to balancing your energy input vs energy output. So anything that increases your energy output is going to be a good thing. However, the affect they have isn't that beneficial on its own. Training consistently and managing your overall calories consumed is going to account for 95% of your success.

6. Meal Replacement Shakes

Meal replacement shakes are another strategy that can be used to lose body fat. By replacing a meal with a meal replacement or protein shake you are again reducing your total calories for the day. Instead of eating a meal which could be 500 - 600 calories you are getting between 200300 with your replacement shake. Again, this is just another way of controlling your total calories consumed.

If you have a weight loss goal and need help reach out to me, we can work out a strategy that works for you. I guarantee you it will work.

4. Taking a fat burner

Fat burners are typically high in caffeine and caffeine can cause your

5. Intermittent Fasting

Another strategy that can work well for weight loss is intermittent fasting. This method basically revolves around fasting for certain days of the week or eating between certain windows of the day. The key to fat loss in this strategy is that you are going to drastically reduce your total calories consumed as you are going for long periods of time with out eating. This can be a useful way to control your calories as it can be a simple method and can be easy to implement for some people. Again, there is no miracle to this strategy it works because overall calories are reduced.

Adam Simpson is lead trainer and founder at Repetitions Group fitness and Personal Training. Visit: www.repetitionspt.com.au or email: adam@ repetitionspt.com.au

Image is for illustrative purposes only. J006714

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