How To Lose Body Fat If You Struggle Keeping To A Diet

Losing body fat is actually very simple. All it requires is a calorie deficit - that is, consuming fewer calories than you burn. It's the discipline that's the hard part... and yes, even us personal trainers struggle with discipline sometimes!

So what can we do to keep the needle moving on the scales if we're struggling with food discipline? This blog post looks to explain in simple terms how we go about losing body fat and in particular, what we can do to improve our success rate without turning to aggressive dieting strategies.

First, we need to understand how we lose body fat

It's a simple maths equation. In order to lose 1lb of body fat in a week, we need to be burning 500 calories more than we consume each day for that entire week. For example, everyone's calorie needs are different but let's use the example of someone who needs to eat 2,000 calories to maintain their weight (this is known as their maintenance calories*). This person would need to eat 1,500 calories every day over a week to lose the pound of fat. However, eating 500 calories less isn't always straight forward. Dieting can be mentally challenging and even triggering for some people. For others, especially petite women, their maintenance may already be relatively low and so to lose a further 500 calories would be considered very restrictive, possibly running the risk of nutritional deficiencies. When a diet isn't sustainable, the second option is to burn 500 calories more than their maintenance each day.

Now let's be clear on this - for the majority of people it is much easier to lose body fat by reducing calorie intake than it is to burn the equivalent number of calories by exercising more. You'd need to go jogging for around 45-60 minutes to burn 500 calories, and you'd need to do that every day of the week to lose 1lb of fat. Not only does this sound pretty dire to me, but you may well find that the fatigue from spending an hour jogging means you subconsciously move less for the rest of the day compared to usual and therefore you may not be in much more of an overall calorie deficit anyway. Complex, no?

So what's the best option? In my opinion, meet in the middle. Ideally, you'll create a small and sustainable calorie deficit by reducing food intake a little - if 1lb of fat loss per week is your goal you could create an initial calorie deficit of 250 per day through food cuts (manageable for most!) - then look at other tools to increase your energy expenditure and bring the total deficit to the required 500.

Let's explore some of the options...

So what can we do to increase our energy expenditure?

Walk More

Walking is one of the most underrated tools for fat loss. It's something that most people can do with relative ease and if you're a busy person you can often multitask whilst walking and use the time to answer calls, listen to a podcast, prep your shopping list, etc, etc. Walking 5,000 steps burns around 250 calories for the average adult and covers approximately 2.4km of distance. Most adults will cover this distance in just 25-30 minutes of walking, so this easy addition can be make or break for your fat loss efforts.

Do note that if you have opted to pair this strategy with an aggressive food deficit, you may feel your energy levels are depleted making it harder to sustain a higher step count without good old fashioned willpower. There may be some days where you really have to coax yourself off the sofa and out of the door - but that's the game if you want faster results.

Zone 2 Cardio

"Zone 2" refers to a measure of cardiac output where your heart works at 60-70% of your maximum capacity. Performing cardio work at this level of intensity is a useful tool for fat loss, as it prompts the body to burn mainly fat as an energy source rather than simply using glucose, energy from food.

To calculate your zone 2 heart rate, you first need to know your maximum heart rate, which you can determine using the following calculation: 208 - (0.7 x your age).

Next, take the answer and multiply it by 0.65 to give you your ideal zone 2 heart rate (in beats per minute, bpm). Example, someone aged 50 would to the following calculations:

Max heart rate = 208 - (0.7 x 50) = 173bpm

Zone 2 heart rate = 173 x 0.65 = 112bpm

If you have a smart watch you can use the heart rate tracker to ensure you keep to your zone 2 average during this style of workout, or you can use gym equipment with in-built metal conductor panels that can read heart rate in real time, such as treadmills or cross-trainers. If you don't have access to either of these, you can base your cardio on "feeling" - the work shouldn't totally wipe you out, a good zone 2 pace should be sustainable for long periods of time and feel just slightly uncomfortable. We're often lead to believe that cardio workouts should be fast, hard and sweaty, but people often report that zone 2 cardio is much gentler than expected.

Good examples of zone 2 cardio include a brisk incline treadmill walk, slow stair-master, a gentle swim.

Stand up

The simple act of standing engages lots of muscles in the body and working muscles burn calories. If you sit lots during the day, getting up to stretch your legs will make a difference. If you work a desk-job and have access to a standing desk or can take calls or meetings stood up, then do so. A calorie deficit is increased by simple daily movements as well as exercise, so the more you're on your feet the more body fat you'll burn. 

Increase workout frequency

Adding additional resistance training to your week will ramp up calorie burn - just be mindful not to over do it! 4 heavy resistance sessions a week has been found to be optimal for performance and recovery, allowing for intense stimulus on the muscles without overtraining and jeopardising recovery. One of my favourite training splits is push/pull, which allows you to train 4 times a week cycling through push movements on one day, e.g. chest, shoulders, quads, triceps, then pull movements on the next day, e.g back, biceps, hamstrings, glutes - never hitting the same muscles two days in a row so we can recover well. Alternatively, an upper/lower split is another great option for 4 sessions a week. But don't worry if 4 isn't achievable for you, you're not alone, if you're currently doing no resistance training, 1-2 sessions per week is enough to help kickstart your fat loss journey.

Keep protein high

Of all the macronutrients - proteins, carbs, fats - protein has the highest "thermic effect of food"... which is fancy nutrition-talk for the energy you burn digesting what you eat. Proteins are complex and not as easily broken down as carbohydrates and fats; for every gram of protein you consume your body uses 20-30% of equivalent calories just to digest it. Meanwhile, carbs only burn 10-15% and for fats it's a meagre <5%. Put simply, you store less fat when eating protein, so add some of these staples to your weekly shopping list: poultry, red meat, pulses, greek yoghurt, tofu, eggs, dairy.

Hydrate

Whilst hydration alone can't boost energy expenditure, being well hydrated is like a super power. Every chemical reaction that takes place in the body requires water so when we're de-hydrated all of our bodily functions are impaired, including our ability to burn fat for fuel, plus our energy slumps making us less likely to hit our steps and zone 2 cardio goals. Industry experts preach the benefits of 3 litres of water per day but if this target feels unreachable then even a modest increase in water intake will help you toward your fat loss goals.

For more help and guidance with fat loss, fill out my enquiry form and let's chat!

Stay happy, stay healthy!

Jay

*Calculate your unique maintenance calories using a calorie calculator.