If you want to know how to lose weight fast without sacrificing your muscle, metabolism, or health, then you want to read this article.
1. CALORIE DEFICIT
You want to reduce the number of calories you burn every day by 20%.
Starting with this and following the other strategies in this article, you can lose upwards of 2 to 3lbs per week, while limiting muscle loss.
Reducing calories effectively requires a few steps.
Step 1:
Figure out How Many Calories You Should Be Eating Every Day
This is commonly known as total daily energy expenditure or TDEE.
To figure this out, you can use the Katch McArdle formula to determine your basal metabolic rate and then multiplies it based on your activity level.
You want to make sure that you don’t cause too much of a calorie deficit because of the risk of losing too much muscle.
A study helped give us an idea of how much we should reduce our calories.
Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä split their subjects–20 to 35-year-old national and international level track and field jumpers and sprinters with low levels of body fat (at or under 10%)–into two groups.
One group had a daily calorie deficit of 300 calories (about 12% below their total daily energy expenditure), and the other had a daily calorie deficit of 750.
The athletes utilizing a 750-calorie deficit lost, on average, about 4 pounds of fat and very little muscle while the group utilizing a 300-calorie deficit lost very little fat and muscle after 4 weeks.
The 750-calorie deficit group was utilizing a pretty aggressive deficit of about 24%, and the results speak for themselves.
This is why I recommend a calorie deficit of about 20 to 25%. You can figure this number out by multiplying your TDEE by .8.
For example, based on the Katch McArdle formula, my TDEE is about 2,800 calories per day.
2800 * .8 = 2,240, which I would just round down to 2,200.
Now you know how to calculate your calorie deficit number.
2. MACRONUTRIENTS
An essential part of rapid weight loss is manipulating the amounts of protein, carbs, and fats you’re eating.
To facilitate losing weight quickly and healthily, your diet is going to be moderate in protein, high in carbohydrate, and low in fats.
Why?
After you eat high-fat foods, you absorb their fat from your intestine into the bloodstream. From there, it is carried to billions of fat cells for storage.
This storage takes place almost effortlessly after every fat-filled meal. In fact, if your body fat is analyzed the fats that you commonly eat will be revealed.
So, this is how we’re going to set up your daily macronutrient intake:
• 35% of your calories from protein
• 50% of your calories from carbohydrate
• 15% of your calories from fat
The math on this is simple to work out. A gram of protein and carbohydrate contains about four calories, and a gram of fat about 9, so…
1. Multiply your “daily calorie deficit” number by .35, and then divide this by 4. This is how much grams of protein you should eat daily.
2. Multiply your “daily calorie deficit” number by .50, and then divide this by 4. This is how much grams of carbohydrates you should eat daily.
3. Multiply your “daily calorie deficit” number by .15, and then divide this by 9. This is how much of grams of fat you should eat daily.
For example, if your “daily calorie deficit” number is 2,000, then…
• 2000 * .35 / 4 = 175 grams of protein
• 2000 * .50 / 4 = 250 grams of carbs
• 2000 * .15 / 9 = 33 grams of fat (which you could simply round down to 30)
3. TRACK WHAT YOU EAT
At times it can seem as though you’re not eating much and yet the weight is not decreasing.
Research has shown that people tend to underestimate the amount of food that they consume.
For example, one study showed obese people were consuming almost twice the amount of calories, compared to the 1,200 calories that they reported to eat.
Keeping track of your macronutrients and calories will inform you of how much you’re consuming. Research has shown this to be true as well. Recording your food consumption can improve your weight loss.
4.High-Intensity Interval Training
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is performing repetitions of a series of high-intensity exercise bouts followed by rest periods, builds fitness and decreases fat faster than extended training. Training explosively on a treadmill, stationary bike, rowing machine or elliptical trainer will build endurance.
Well, studies such as those conducted by East Tennessee State University, Laval University, University of New South Wales and the Baylor College of Medicine have shown that shorter, high-intensity cardio sessions result in more significant fat loss over time than more extended, low-intensity sessions.
According to a study conducted by The University of Western Ontario, which had subjects exercising for six weeks, doing workouts consisting of just 4 – 6 30-second sprints in a workout burns more fat over time than workouts composed of 60 minutes of incline treadmill walking.
HIIT is shown to be far more effective for burning fat.
Researchers have found several reasons for HIIT’s superiority in weight loss:
• Metabolic rate increased for upwards of 24 hours after exercise.
• Improved insulin sensitivity in the muscles.
• Higher levels of fat burn in the muscles.
• Significant spikes in growth hormone levels (which aid in fat loss) and catecholamine levels (chemicals your body produces to induce fat mobilization directly).
• Post-exercise appetite suppression.
Studies have shown that the longer your cardio workouts are, the more they impair muscle growth and strength. Your better off doing shorter cardio workouts to preserve strength and muscle.
The benefit of high-intensity interval training is that it allows for a short workout that burns more fat.
The cardio you perform has been shown to affect the ability to gain size and strength with weightlifting according to research conducted at Austin State University. The subjects that walked and ran gained less strength and size compared to those that cycled.
A simple method is to do 4 to 8 sets of explosive exercises on a stationary bike, treadmill, rowing machine or elliptical trainer for 30 seconds at 90 to 100 percent of maximum effort. Rest three to four minutes between sets so that you are fully recovered.
5. LIFT WEIGHTS
Why Heavy Weightlifting is Best for Weight Loss
The key to preserving muscle and strength while losing weight is to lift heavy weights.
Lifting weights increase protein synthesis and muscle growth.
There are fat loss benefits to heavy weightlifting as well.
A study published by Greek sports scientists found that men that trained with heavy weights (80-85% of their one-rep max, or “1RM”) increased their metabolic rates over the following three days, burning hundreds of more calories than the men that trained with lighter weights (45-65% of their 1RM).
Compound lifts like squats and deadlifts are the types of lifts that burn the most post-workout calories.
7. TRAIN FASTED
When you eat food, your pancreas produces insulin and releases it into your blood.
When your insulin levels rise–when you’re in a “fed” state–no fat burning occurs. Your body uses glucose in the blood for all its energy needs and stores the excess. Depending on how much you eat, this state can last for several hours.
But, as the nutrients are eaten are absorbed, insulin levels decline, and the body senses that its post-meal energy is running out. It then shifts toward burning fat stores to meet its energy needs.
Exercising in this fasted state increases fat loss, with weightlifting being useful in this regard. Fasting for longer than 6 hours has been shown to further increase your body’s ability to burn fat, so early-morning fasted training is a great option.
A study showed that endurance training in the fasted state over six weeks for one hour at 70 percent maximum capacity led to intramuscular fat breakdown (muscle fat) in both fast and slow-twitch muscle fibres.
This finding shows that exercise in a fasted state causes the muscle cells to burn fat for fuel.
8. INTERMITTENT FASTING
Another proven fat loss and weight loss tool is Intermittent fasting.
You limit the amount time that your eating and that forces you to reduce your calorie intake.
There are many different protocols, such as a 20-hour fast with a 4-hour feeding window or a 16-hour fast with an 8-hour feeding window.
These are some changes that occur in your body when you fast:
• Human Growth Hormone (HGH): The levels of growth hormone increase dramatically, increasing as much as 5-fold. This has benefits for muscle gain and fat loss.
• Insulin: Insulin sensitivity improves and levels of insulin drop dramatically. Lower insulin levels make stored body fat more accessible. Intermittent fasting can reduce insulin resistance, lowering blood sugar by 3-6% and fasting insulin levels by 20-31%. This should protect against type 2 diabetes.
• Cellular repair: When fasted, your cells start the cellular repair processes. This includes autophagy, where cells digest and remove old and dysfunctional proteins that build up inside cells.
• Gene expression: The genes related to longevity and protection against disease begin to change.
.• Increased metabolism: With these changes in hormones, short-term fasting may increase your metabolic rate by 3.6-14%.
• Weight loss: As mentioned above, intermittent fasting can help you lose weight and belly fat, without having to restrict calories consciously.
• Inflammation: Some research show decreases in markers of inflammation, a key driver of many chronic diseases.
• Heart health: There may be a reduction of LDL cholesterol, insulin resistance, inflammatory markers, blood sugar and blood triglycerides. Which are all risk factors for heart disease.
• Cancer: intermittent fasting may help prevent cancer in animals.
• Brain health: A brain hormone called BDNF increases, and may contribute to the growth of new nerve cells. It may also defend against Alzheimer’s disease.
• Anti-aging: Studies have shown that fasted rats live as much as 36-83% longer.
Studies show that intermittent fasting can be a potent weight loss tool. In a review study from 2014, it was revealed to cause weight loss of 3-8% over periods of 3-24 weeks.
There is also another study showing that intermittent fasting causes less muscle loss than the more standard method of continuous calorie restriction.
9. DRINK WATER
Drinking water can help with weight loss. A study showed that people who drank half a litre (17 oz) of water 30 minutes before meals lost 44% more weight over 12 weeks.
Drinking water has also been shown to increase the number of calories burned over a period of 1.5 hours by 24-30%.
The timing is critical too and drinking water half an hour before meals are the most effective. It can make you feel full so that you eat fewer calories.
Resting energy expenditure has been shown to increase within 10 minutes of drinking water by 24–30% in adults. This expenditure increase last for at least 60 minutes.
In obese and overweight children, one study found an increase in resting energy expenditure by 25% after drinking cold water.
In overweight women, a study showed that increasing water intake to over 1 litre (34 oz) per day, resulted in an extra 2 kg (4.4 lbs) of weight loss over a 12-month period.
In older adults, studies show that drinking water before each meal may increase weight loss over a 12-week period by 2 kg (4.4 lbs).
In middle-aged obese and overweight subjects, a study showed that those who drank water before every meal lost 44% more weight, compared to a group that didn’t.
Water clearly has some benefits in helping you achieve your weight loss goal.
10. SLEEP
Inadequate sleep has repeatedly been linked to weight gain and a higher body mass index (BMI).
Sleeping less the seven hours a night has been shown to cause a change in weight. A study found that reduced sleep increased the chances of obesity by 55% in adults and 89% in children.
Another study with nurses found that over 16 years, the nurses who slept under 6 hours per night were 15% more likely to be overweight than those who slept at least seven hours a night.
Sleep deprivation studies have also shown weight gain.
One study over five nights allowed 16 adult subjects five hours of sleep per night. By the end of the study, they gained an average of 1.8 pounds.
Many studies have found that people who are sleep-deprived report having an increased appetite.
Also, the hormone cortisol increases when you do not get adequate sleep. Cortisol is a stress hormone that can increase appetite.
Furthermore, research has found your affinity for foods that are high in calories, carbs and fat increases with lack of sleep.
A study of 12 men found that subjects ate an average of 559 more calories when allowed only four hours of sleep compared to when they slept for eight hours.
Furthermore, some studies on sleep deprivation have found that a significant portion of the excess calories consumed is snacks after dinner.
Research indicates that lack of sleep may lower your RMR. In one study, 15 men were kept awake for 24 hours. Afterward, their RMR was 5% lower than after an average night’s rest, and their metabolic rate after eating was 20% lower.
Sleep deprivation can cause cells to become insulin resistant. In one study, 11 men were allowed only four hours of sleep for six nights. After this, their bodies’ ability to lower blood sugar levels decreased by 40%.
11. Determine Why You Want to Lose Weight
Figure out the reasons why you want to lose weight and write them down. in will help you stay motivated and committed to achieving your weight loss goals.
Try your best to read through them daily especially Whenever tempted to stray away from your weight loss plans.
Your reasons could include preventing diabetes, keeping up with grandchildren, looking your best for an event, improving your self-confidence or fitting into a particular pair of jeans.
Many people start losing weight because their doctor suggested it, but research shows that people are more successful if their weight loss motivation comes from within.
So here you have it, 11 simple steps to lose weight.
You may think it’s too easy a tip to list, but very few people have the will power necessary to keep with a program long enough to see the desired results.
Commit yourself today to being one of those few. If you’re not yet one of my esteemed personal training clients then now is the time to join in and experience a whole new level of fitness and weight loss.
Give me a call or email today to get started.
