Sadly the often very suspect science and marketing of "health" products has just served to confuse many of us. Even the lesser educated, but well-meaning, health practitioners have been suckered into the search for the latest quick fix, selling supplements and pointless exercise equipment.
What follows is my 10 truths about losing body fat. I pull no punches, be prepared to shake your head and disagree, however, if you truly want to lose 1, 10 or even 50 kilos of body fat the principles and facts stated here remain the same.
1. DIETING, in the traditional sense of cutting calories is NOT the optimum method to lose body fat. By starving yourself, your body quickly reacts to preserve itself from its foolish owner. Your metabolism is slowed, increasing your body's ability to store the fuel that is taken in as fat. As soon as you stop the diet you quickly regain the weight, often in a worse situation than before you started the diet. And to make matters worst with a now horribly slow metabolism it will become even harder to lose weight again!
2. Diet PILLS, liposuction and other clinical procedures are nothing more than temporary solutions. Made famous (or should I say infamous!) by celebrities looking for a quick fix to their excess body fat, these procedures are becoming more accessible due to continued high demand. However, you are simply treating the symptoms (i.e. the excess body fat) rather than the cause (i.e. you are not exercising enough and eating too much!). Even if you do go under the surgeons knife it is likely you will still put the weight back on if your poor eating and exercise habits continue.
3. Diets that claim you can eat UNLIMITED amounts of a particular food type should be avoided. A calorie is a calorie regardless of its source. Eating 50 pieces of broccoli at 100Kcal is the same as eating 50 pieces of chocolate at 100Kcal. The excess will always be stored as fat!
4. Doing 100 CRUNCHES per day will not make you lose 10kg from your waist, and more often than not, it will not give you a 6 pack either! The adverts that claim to "melt" fat from your stomach, bum and thighs are challenging one of the fundamental rules of weight loss YOU CAN'T SPOT REDUCE. So throw away that ab trainer you bought on the shopping channel and make some room to do some real exercise!
5. Simply paying for 6 months GYM membership will not lose you body fat by default you actually need to use the gym too! Get the most from your membership by using it at least 3 times a week, hire a good trainer to help set up a program for you and help you perform the exercises correctly and safely.
6. ONLY DIETING will not necessarily give you the sustained weight loss you desire. We have already established that starving yourself is not the right method, and many limited diets quickly become hard to follow. Eating correctly is only half the battle.
7. ONLY EXERCISE will not necessarily work either. A quote often used by trainers is "You can't out-train a trash diet". This is true for all but the genetically gifted, that seem to be able to eat as many pizzas and burgers as they desire, do no exercise and still look slim. However, if you are not one of the "lucky" ones, with freakish genetics, it doesn't matter if you burn an extra 1000 Calories on the treadmill, if you follow it up with a super-sized macdonalds drive thru on the way home from the gym, you're probably not gonna get the results you desire.
8. CARDIO TRAINING alone is not the optimum method for losing body fat. Cardiovascular exercise such as jogging, cycling and swimming is great for burning calories, however the more you do the more efficient your body becomes at performing the workout so you end up burning fewer calories for the same volume of exercise. The next time you are stood waiting to get on to your favorite exercise bike or treadmill have a look at other cardio gym goers you often see and ask yourself if they have noticeable improved in body shape? I will guarantee that you will not see dramatic changes in any of them. Those gym goers with the low, single figure body fat percentages generally hang out in the free weights area, following a simple but effective resistance based workout.
9. A combination of CARDIO and RESISTANCE training, coupled with a sensible healthy diet to fuel and assist your training IS the optimum method for burning body fat. This is a change in lifestyle you must make for the rest of your life and not just the next 10 weeks. To achieve and maintain a great body, regular exercise and a sensible diet is essential.
10. STOP looking for the quick and easy route to a supreme body, it simply does not exist! However there is an optimum method for increasing your metabolism, burning body fat and looking great for the rest of your life. The solution is simple but NOT easy. It requires hard work and dedication to seek the right route for you.
That's it, 10 truths about losing 10kg of body fat. I appreciate that this doesn't fit in with the commonly held beliefs for losing body fat, but the commonly held beliefs obviously don't work otherwise you wouldn't be reading this report!
Good luck with your health and fitness goals and remember you can contact me if you are seriously seeking professional assistance to achieve your goals. And don't forget to sign up to my regular "Top Tip" newsletter if you haven't already done so.
Tim Goodwin GetFit.lu - Personal Training for the busiest people.
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