Fat Loss? Dieting? Getting Lean? Overwhelmed by information? No problem! This article will shed some light on effective fat loss! 
There is a lot of conflicting information that exist about dieting, so its no wonder why people jump from diet to diet their whole lives and not get the results that they want.
In the instant gratification world that we live in, we want it all and we want it now. However, we don’t like exercise, because its just too bloody hard work! In search for the miracle cure, that magic pill, that quick fix, the media and the multi-million dollar supplementation industry lead you to believe. If you believe everything that you read or hear, then you need to wake up and get a reality check!
That said, would you like to know the best and most effective way to shed those fat pounds and become or stay lean? Let me share this little secret with you that will guarantee to get you the best results! And I promise, it is really simple!
Develop a Healthy Eating Habit and Exercise Regularly and Consistently for Effective Fat Loss!
That’s it! It’s that simple!
No miracle products, no latest diet trend, no wonder drug, just plain old fashion eat healthily and exercise. I know, boring isn’t it? Sorry to disappoint, but despite this well known fact, we don’t always do what we know works. Knowledge isn’t power but applied knowledge is!
We need to go back to master the fundamentals of healthy eating first before we attempt anything drastic. This alone will get you most of the results that you are seeking. Yes, read that previous line again. Once you have done this, you can then fine tune’ and get extra lean by using more advanced techniques to shift that last bit of stubborn fat, but until then we need to learn to walk before we can run!
10 Key Fundamentals to Get You Started
1. Don’t Skip Breakfast
Breakfast is your first and most important meal of the day! Skipping it would do a lot more damage than you think – if you are not intermittent fasting which is a completely different topic. Your body is in a catabolic state upon waking. A protein-rich breakfast would blunt catabolism preventing muscle breakdown, kickstart your metabolism (the higher your metabolism, the easier your body sheds fat), replenish depleted glycogen stores (fuel for your muscles), and provide stable sustained energy release for the day.
2. Spread Your Meals Throughout the Day
Instead of having 3 big meals, spread them out to smaller 5-6 meals and never skip them. The portion sizes would be smaller, regulating your body’s insulin release which discourages body fat storage and maintains high energy levels without the spikes and troughs that you see when you have infrequent large meals. The more frequent you eat, the more calories you burn! Thats right, eat your way slim!
3. Remove All Saturated, Trans Fats and Refined Sugars from Your Diet
Saturated fats and trans fats are the bad fats that are very damaging to your body. They can lead to the build up of the bad LDL cholesterol which leads to heart disease amongst a whole host of other health issues. Refined sugars are often an undercover ingredient that appears in many fat-free foods that lead us to believe are better for us. However, they can cause conditions such as hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia (energy spikes and crashes) which often lead to unwanted body fat storage and can contribute to the onset of diabetes.
4. Eat Lean Protein – and Enough of It
Unlike carbohydrate foods that are stored as glycogen by your body and later used to fuel your activities, protein cannot be stored. Lean muscle tissue is metabolically active and as such keeps your metabolism up which in turn leads to effective fat loss. In order to maintain/preserve muscle tissue, eat lean protein sources every 3 hours to ensure that the amino acids (building block of protein) are in constant supply to your muscles preventing them from breaking down.
5. Never Starve Yourself Thin
The more you eat the thinner you get and not the other way round! Paradoxical isn’t it? Sure, you can loose a huge amount of weight by starving yourself but you are setting yourself up for a roller coaster ride if you do! You will be thin and fat at the same time. Why? Because most of the weight lost would most likely be lean muscle tissue. The very thing you train so hard to build and retain. It triggers your body’s starvation response, lowers your metabolic rate and as a result, your body would do its very best to hold on to body fat. You will end up being fatter than you had started! ‘Yo-yo’ dieters jumping from one diet to the next are classic examples.
6. Eat Only Enough to Be in Calorie Deficit
In order to promote effective fat loss, you need to be in calorie deficit. ie burn off more than what you eat each day. Eat below the number of calories that your body needs to fuel your daily activities and increase your level of physical activity. However, there is a limit that you should not dip below in order to prevent your body’s starvation response from kicking in where the point of diminishing returns.
7. Increase the Good Fats and Reduce Sat Fats
Not all fats are bad. Fats such as mono-unsaturates and poly-unsaturates (essential fatty acids) are the good guys and will help you lose fat and keep you healthy as they lower the bad LDL cholesterol and increases the good HDL cholesterol. Saturated fats mainly from animal fat are the bad guys and should be avoided. These are the ones that gives you heart disease.
8. Eat Clean 90-95% of the Time
You can eat clean and healthy as well as the occasional slip up and still look great! The occasional junk food will keep your body guessing as they trigger the release of certain hormones in your body that signals your brain that you will not be starving any time soon and can continue to burn fat off for energy achieving effective fat loss.
9. Taper Your Food Intake as the Day Progresses
Eat like a king in the morning, and a pauper in the evening! Your body is low in energy in a catabolic state after a long night of fasting. By eating a breakfast consisting of complex carbs and protein will ensure that your body gets what it needs to set you up for the day. Towards the evening your metabolism slows down preparing your body for rest and so burns less calories. Eating less at this time will ensure that none of the foods eaten get stored as body fat.
10. Ensure Diet Is Well Balanced and Varied, and Drink Lots of Water
This ensures that you get a balanced ratio of macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients that your body can make use of. For example, foods consists of incomplete proteins (ie, proteins from some vegetarian sources) can be combined with other foods eaten that compliment each other forming complete proteins which you body can use to build and repair muscle tissue. Fruit and vegetables are essential as they are vital sources of vitamins and minerals for the upkeep of bodily functions.
Water is the no.1 most important nutrient in the body! Without water nothing in your body could function properly. In order to achieve effective fat loss you need lots of water.
Did you enjoy my article and what did you take away from it? Let me know by commenting below!
