How to Lose Fat – A Clear and Effective Strategy

by | Mar 4, 2019

Do you want to know how to lose fat? You’ve come to the right place.

Losing fat is a lot easier and can be done a lot faster than gaining muscle over the same time period.

It doesn’t matter whether you want to achieve your goal quickly or slowly, or whether you want to lose fat from the belly or any other part of your body. This article will equip you with the information you need to reach your ideal weight.

Read ahead and you’ll be able to understand the caloric deficit, the need for consistency, and additional tips to speed up the fat-loss process.

Losing Fat Is Not Very Difficult

Getting rid of your excess fat is a lot easier and can be done a lot faster than gaining muscle over the same period. Of course, it will not happen overnight, but if getting lean is your primary goal, you don’t have to worry. With the right mindset and a little consistency, you will be there sooner than you think.

Why does it seem that losing fat is so difficult in the first place?

It is very irritating to see so many different diet books and diet foods everywhere. Everyone promises that they have found the perfect formula for weight loss. This creates the illusion that losing fat is difficult and requires a lot of thought when exactly the opposite is true. 

So, let’s dive into it!

Caloric Deficit and Fat Loss

Contrary to popular belief, there are only two determinants for weight loss. These are:

  • Caloric deficit: Your daily consumption of calories should be below your weight maintenance level.
  • Consistency: You have to stick to the diet for a while. Don’t fuck it up by running after every tasty treat you encounter during the day.

That’s it. This is how to lose fat.

In contrast to many advertised diets, the macronutrient composition of the diet —the percentage of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats—is irrelevant. The only reasons to reduce fats and sugar in our diet is to lower our cravings for food.

Remember: Take your diet seriously. No matter how hard you train, you will never be able to out-train bad nutrition.

Protein-rich diets and diets with complex carbohydrates make us full, which makes it easier to maintain a caloric deficit over time.

To get a feeling of fullness I recommend eating proteins, complex carbs and a lot of high-fiber nutrients.

So, make sure to stay in a caloric deficit, and I promise you will see visible progress every week.

Let’s Speed Up the Process

These rules are a great first step, but I am pretty sure you want to know how to lose fat even faster. Am I right?

Well, here we go. You can add a few things to your regimen.

In order to speed up the process, it’s wise to supplement your diet with resistance training, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and cardio training.

This is not a requirement, but more of a healthy choice that I definitely recommend. It will also help you to increase your caloric deficit further, which naturally leads to faster fat loss.

Make sure that you do the following three things if you do not want to waste your time while doing a workout.

  • Compound Exercises: My go-to answer if somebody wants to know how to lose fat is to do mainly heavy resistance training with multijoint exercises.
  • HIIT: Engaging in high-intensity interval training at least twice a week is the most efficient way to speed up the overall fat burning process.
  • Cardio: Additional slow long-distance cardio will help you to further accelerate fat loss if you have the time.

To train for the best results, choose compound exercises which target the biggest muscle groups. This will help you to speed up your metabolism the most, and you will be burning more calories for the rest of the day. If you are serious about your fat loss goals and new to resistance training check out the following article: Beginner’s Guide to Resistance Training.

The same is true for high-intensity interval training. It does not require much time, and you will program your body to burn calories – again – for the rest of the day. 

If you enjoy cardio sessions and have the time, it will help as well. The fat-burning rate is at a heart rate of 60 to 70 percent; there’s no reason to go faster. You will know that you are within the correct heart rate zone when you can easily maintain this speed for hours at a time. You should be able to have a conversation during the workout.

Maintain Your Lean Muscle Mass

Muscles burn more calories than fat cells and are very helpful for staying lean in the long term. It doesn’t matter whether you are a strength athlete or not; you should always try to preserve your current lean muscle mass while being on a fat-loss program.

To maintain lean muscle mass during a caloric deficit, consider doing the following three things:

  • Increase your protein intake: Consuming more protein can help maintain lean muscle mass. A protein intake of about 1.8–2.7 grams per kilogram body weight is the standard, but you are probably fine with around 1.5 grams or a little lower.
  • Engage in resistance training: If you remind your body about the usefulness of your muscles, it will do its best to preserve them.
  • Maintain a caloric deficit: The standard advice is not going below a 500 calories deficit per day, but I am critical about this logic as it will also increase the time needed to reach your goal.

You have probably already guessed that I am not in favor of that 500 caloric deficit recommendation. My personal preference is to diet fast, which results in a substantial deficit of 1000 calories. It will speed up the process and makes it possible to return to my usual training and diet sooner. As long as you lift heavy and eat enough protein, your muscle loss will be minimal, even with a significant caloric deficit of 1000 or higher.

Conclusion

I hope I was able to answer the question – “How to lose fat” – satisfactory. 

As we have just seen, losing fat is not very difficult, but with all good things in life, it will not just come to you while you sit on the coach. Make sure to motivate yourself a bit, especially at the beginning. Feeling a little hungry during a fat loss program is normal, so stay focused on your goal and be consistent with your diet.

When it comes to losing fat, it is okay to start slowly and only implement a few of the options I have recommended above. This will be sufficient to see progress over time. Applying all of the advice in this article will indeed demolish your excess fat, and you will see results in no time.

Personally, I think it is an advantage to diet faster—with a high caloric deficit—as you will be able to build muscles again as soon as you have finished. The decision is up to you, but above all, start today. After all, planning something is still just planning.

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Btw, what do you guys think? Is a radical diet better which will deliver faster results or do you prefer a slow and steady diet over time? Feel free to discuss in the comments below.