Time and again people ask what the ‘secret’ is to weight loss. And just like it’s always been, there is no secret. It is hard work and consistency.
But I want to explain what the hard work looks like and to dispel any myths of misconceptions so we are all on the same page.
‘Weight’ loss itself shouldn’t be the goal, it should be to get to a healthy body composition so your risk of metabolic disease decreases, so your joints feel better and so you are more comfortable moving around in this world. And what that means is we want FAT loss, not necessarily weight loss.
In a perfect world, we lose fat and not muscle, when we lose weight.
And so, how do we do that? By considering the following things…
1) Exercise Isn’t Enough
It is a rare day when I don’t try to sell you on the panacea that is exercise. It is the answer to so many health conditions but when it comes to weight loss, it isn’t the first step. You simply cannot exercise it away. You have to change your diet in order to lose weight. Exercise is incredible for shaping your body, making you feel incredible in your own skin and yes, making your body much more forgiving of a bad diet but you cannot exercise away a bad diet.
2) You Must Be in a Calorie Deficit
It’s just like if you are saving money, it doesn’t matter if you are using credit cards or cash to buy your groceries, if you are spending more than you’re making then you will be in a deficit. The same goes for weight loss, if you are overeating protein or carbs you will gain weight. You need to expend more energy (burn more calories) than you are consuming.
3) The Best Exercises for Fat Burning
As much as you can’t exercise it away, I do believe that exercise is an essential component of a weight loss program. When you exercise your body can use one of two things for energy, carbs or fats. And what you burn is dependent on your heart rate. When you have a high heart rate you are going to burn carbs for energy. When you exercise with a low heart rate you are going to burn fat for energy, or be in what is called a Fat Burning Zone. And so yes, walking will burn more fat as a percentage of calories than running but don’t forget, it’s a percentage of calories burned. And so the goal is always going to be to burn more calories, which means you need to work at a higher intensity for a shorter time or you need to work at a lower intensity for a longer period of time.
And, like I said above, the goal shouldn’t be pure weight loss, it should be fat loss, with muscle maintenance. And the only way you are going to be able to do that, when you are in a calorie deficit, is if you are doing resistance training, and if you are eating enough protein in order to help maintain or build those muscles up. And so, some form of cardio and some type of resistance training should always be part of your exercise routine.
4) A Calorie (eaten) is Not Always a Calorie (absorbed)
This may seem to contradict what I have written above about a calorie deficit, but it is more an adjunct to it. Yes, we need to be in a calorie deficit in order to lose weight, but I strongly believe that a calorie is not just a calorie for a couple of reasons.
First, when we eat a whole food it actually takes our body more energy to digest it than it would something refined. This is what is referred to as TEF, or the thermic effect of food. The food with the highest thermic effect is protein, up to 25% of the calories of a high protein food are actually burned in the digestion of that food. Which means a calorie eaten is not necessarily a calorie absorbed.
Protein also has the highest satiety index of all macronutrients, AND, it provides the essential building blocks we need in order to maintain our muscle mass as we lose fat.
Lastly, when we consume carbohydrate rich foods our body secretes insulin in order to move the blood sugar out of the blood and into the liver and our muscles for storage. When our insulin levels are high, it is a signal to our body that we have plenty of fuel and to use that up first, and to not go to our fat stores for energy. Save that for later! The problem is, later never seems to come. And so, if you want to burn fat, you need to keep your insulin levels low.
Check out a related blog on The Magical Trifecta for Reducing Hunger and Improving Satiety or this one, Successful Weight Loss: Top 10 Tips to Lose Weight and if you really want to blame your aging metabolism for your spreading waist line you probably want to read this one too! Sorry, It’s Probably Not Your Metabolism…
