The Truth About Fat Loss By: Lisa Ritchie

Let’s be honest, our New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight. More specifically, to lose fat. We’re in the last week of January, so how’s that goal going?

There’ s no special pill, potion, or gizmo when it comes to fat loss, despite what the television commercials advertise. Many of those drugs are designed to treat Type 2 diabetes and come with a host of side-effects.

The only proven, healthy way to lose fat is to adjust your calorie intake (diet) and calorie expenditure (exercise), focusing on changing your body composition and not just weight loss on the scale.

Lean muscle plays a key part in any fat loss program. If you burn more calories than you take in each day, you’ll lose weight. But, if calories are severely cut, your body goes into starvation mode and begins storing fat, holding on to every bit of energy it can, breaking down muscle for fuel and that slows down your metabolism.

Muscles burn more calories than fat cells even at rest. Resistance training is by far the best way to reshape your body and increase your metabolism. By using weights, machines, bands, tubes and even your own body weight, you can progressively overload muscles, so they grow stronger and tighter. That’s how you’ll also lose inches!

You’ll increase your metabolism, enabling you to burn fat faster. Cardio is great for burning calories, increasing lung volume, stamina, lowering resting heart rate, and easing stress. Put cardio and weight training together and it’s a proven recipe for weight loss and redistributing the body fat you do have.

Nutrition has the greatest impact on fat loss. You can work out until the proverbial “cows come home”, but if you’re not eating properly, it’s an “exercise’ in futility. Focus on healthy fats in moderation, such as olive oil, avocado, and nut butters for example. Add in plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. The final piece of the puzzle is keeping your body well hydrated which helps burn fat faster and flushes out stored toxins. Aim to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water.