The Secret To Fat Loss

When it comes to losing body fat, there’s only one method you need to know that guarantees results. Yes, really - and not a juice cleanse or weight loss shake in sight!

Want the secret? Read on.

Firstly, let’s clarify the difference between weight loss and fat loss. Weight loss refers to your overall weight dropping and this can occur in a variety of different ways including losing water weight, losing muscle, and yes, losing body fat.

When most people talk about wanting to lose weight, they’re actually interested in reducing their total body fat – this is an important distinction that will affect how we assess our goal, as our body weight can fluctuate by around 4lbs per day depending on different factors. These factors include but aren’t limited to; the time of day you weigh yourself (morning vs evening); if you’ve just had a large meal; if you’ve recently exercised; your level of hydration; how recently you’ve use the loo; etc. For women, our body weight can also fluctuate significantly week-on-week depending on what stage of the menstrual cycle we’re in (heaviest just before you get your period), and over time, the gaining or losing of muscle can cause the scales to shift too.

These are all things that can cause the needle on the scales to shift regardless of our body fat percentage, and they beg the question – is the number on the scales really the best means of assessing health? I find a more accurate way of monitoring fat loss is through progress photos (before and afters) and measurements taken with a tape measure (hips, waist, etc). Fat loss tends to occur slowly, and so changes may not be noticeable day to day, but as the weeks add up the results will start to show in your photos and measurements, little by little, so stick with it!

So now we know what to be aware of and not to pin all of our hopes on the scales, what’s the big secret for losing weight?

Fat loss comes down to two words: Calorie Deficit. So what does it mean?

Calorie Deficit

Firstly, what is a calorie?

A calorie is a unit of energy found in food and drink and this energy is what fuels our bodies. It keeps our hearts pumping, our lungs breathing, our bodies moving, and everything in between. All of these bodily functions require a certain number of calories throughout the day – now the key thing to note is that when we consume more energy than our body needs, it cleverly stores the excess energy for use at a later time when we might not have as much food available – it stores this excess energy as body fat.

Okay, so now I understand how we gain fat, but how do I lose it?

Here’s where the calorie deficit comes in. Put simply, a calorie deficit means consuming fewer calories than your body needs each day, causing it to tap into its fat reserves to use that stored energy.

How do I know how many calories to eat to induce fat loss?

This is the easy part. Despite outdated government guidelines suggesting that men should consume 2,500 calories each day and women should consume 2,000 calories, everyone’s calorie needs are unique, depending on their age, gender, height, weight and levels of activity. To work out how many calories you need to eat to be in a calorie deficit, we first have to work out how many calories you need to eat to be at “maintenance” i.e the exact number your body needs to fuel itself without gaining or losing weight, then from there we can lower then number of calories to create a deficit. There are a number of calorie calculators available to crunch the numbers for you. You can find a link to a calculator at the bottom of this article.

How much of a deficit should I aim for?

Your chosen deficit will depend on a few factors, including how aggressive you want to be with your weight loss, how strict you feel you can be, how long you have to lose the weight, and how low your maintenance calories are to begin with.

On paper, the numbers are simple. To lose 1lb of body fat, we need to create a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories. Over the course of a week this equates to a deficit of 500 calories per day (3,500 / 7 days = 500).

Example - if our body needs 2,000 calories per day, we should be consuming 1,500 calories each day of the week to hit our deficit target.

For those looking to lose body fat at a faster rate it is possible to do this by reducing your calorie intake further – for instance a deficit of 1,000 calories per day = 2lbs fat loss per week. However it is recommend that weight loss is capped at 2-3lbs per week to prevent health complications and avoid dropping your calories below 1,200 for more than a day at a time to keep your body performing at its best. Extreme dieting beyond this can have negative consequences such as fatigue, mood swings, nausea, headaches, lack of focus, poor sleep, digestive issues, and often dieters will find the challenge too mentally taxing and will fall off the wagon all together. If you're unsure where to start, a 15% deficit is usually a safe and manageable bet.

Do I need to be in a deficit every single day to lose body fat?

No, it’s not essential, as long as the total number of calories you’ve consumed over the week average out as less than your maintenance calories then you will drop body fat. For instance, if you know you will be attending a social event one night, you could have fewer calories the day before to make up the shortfall.

Does that mean I can have dessert?

Absolutely! As long as it fits your calorie allowance you can have whatever food and drink you like and still lose weight - there are no good and bad calories. Of course, a balanced diet is the best route to total health. If you only ever consume your calorie allowance in sweets, alcohol and fast food your insides won't thank you very much, so I recommend following the 80:20 rule if you can - try to eat healthily 80% of the time and treat yourself 20% of the time to keep your health in check as well as your weight.

Can I eat in a surplus to GAIN weight?

Yes, the opposite is also true – if you’re hoping to gain weight you simply need to reverse the process and consume more calories than you burn. Of course, if your aim is to gain muscle you will need to combine your higher calorie intake with a good strength training programme to see the desired results and you should ensure you’re eating plenty of protein to grow your muscle mass and speed up recovery (1.8g of protein for every kilogram of your bodyweight is recommended for optimal results).

It is possible to gain muscle mass whilst in a deficit, but the optimal way to build muscle is to be in a small surplus of approximately 150-200 calories. So the closer you keep your calories to maintenance the easier it will be to build muscle. If you’re new to strength training and are looking to drop body fat and build muscle at the same time, a small calorie deficit of 250 calories shouldn’t hinder your ability to build muscle too much.

If your aim is to maintain your current weight the formula is simple – calories in = calories out. Try to burn the same number of calories as you consume each day. It’s not going to be possible to hit the exact numbers bang on every single day but if they roughly average out of the course of a week you’ll be golden.

What can I use to track the number of calories I consume?

My Fitness Pal is a free tool that helps you track your calories. Available online or as an app, it will allow you to log the food and drink you’ve consumed and will tell you how many calories are in everything you input so you can track over the course of the day and add up your totals over the week to make sure you’re on target. I strongly recommend tracking everything fully for at least one week to build a picture of your eating habits and educate yourself on the calorie and nutrient profiles of the foods you like to eat. This experience can be very eye-opening!

Are there any hacks I can use to accelerate the process?

Yep – protein! A high protein diet is particularly helpful for weight loss for a few reasons. Firstly, protein is very satiating – it keeps you feeling full for longer – so if you’re looking to keep your calories low, having lots of protein at meal times will make you less tempted to snack between meals. Secondly, protein is harder to digest, so you actually burn more calories digesting protein than you do carbs and fats. For comparison, 20-35% of calories from protein is used in its digestion, compared to just 5-15% for carbs and fats.

Exercise is also a useful tool for boosting the rate of fat loss. Whilst diet is going to play the primary role in your fat loss journey, additional movement can also speed up the process by increasing the number of calories burned. Cardio and weight lifting are both viable options for this. In particular HIIT workouts (High Intensity Interval Training) tend to have a higher rate of calorie burn compared to steady state cardio (e.g just running on a treadmill) plus your body will work harder in recovery from HIIT sessions, meaning you'll continue to burn extra calories for a while even after you finish your workout. Strength training has a similar after-burn effect and one other key benefit - building muscle demands more calories to both create new muscle in recovery and also to maintain it afterwards, meaning if you gain some muscle you'll burn extra calories each day, even when you're not exercising - win!

Movement in general is your friend when trying to lose body fat, so try to be on your feet and get moving as much as possible throughout the day. For more ideas on how movement can increase your calorie burn, I have an article that goes into more detail on this - take a look here.

For tips on how to achieve a calorie deficit with small, manageable changes to your diet, check out my blog: Top 5 Quick Fixes for a Healthier Diet.

Calorie Calculator

Use this Calorie Calculator tool to calculate your maintenance and deficit calories and get started on your fat loss journey.

Remember, consistency and patience pays off. Youv'e got this!

Stay happy, stay healthy!

Jay x