The Secret To Fat Loss

Far too often we are sold quick sure ways to lose weight, especially at the start of a new year.  It is a massive money making market, and unfortunately there are all too many people who are in a desperate point in their lives to just want that quick fix.

So what is it?  A magic pill? Intermittent fasting? The Dukan diet? Keto? Fasted cardio? Paleo? Juicing?

The truth is... all of these will work if you stick to them consistently.  Why? because they all come down to one simple rule - create a calorie deficit.

Before we can understand what this means, we need to understand what a calorie is.  By definition, a calorie is the energy required to heat water by 1 degrees Celsius.  That is great, but what does that mean for fat loss?

Throughout the day, we burn calories, that is, throughout the day we are burning energy.  This is from exercise, non exercise activity and quite simply our body's functioning such as breathing and digesting food.  All the food that we eat is valued by calories.  They provide us with energy.

If we can consistently burn more calories than we consume, we will lose fat.  It is as simple as that.  If we consistently consume more calories than we burn, then we will gain fat and if we consume the same amount of calories that we burn, we simply stay the way that we are.

So if it is that simple, why can't we all just lose fat?  The truth is that it is far easier to consume calories with the lifestyle that we live today than it is to burn them.  It is easier for us to eat processed foods which are calorie dense than making fresh foods that are fewer in calories but higher in volume.  Plus, who doesn't like to treat themselves to a tub of icecream when we have lost a couple of pounds, only to start the cycle again!

Also, many of us do not know how many calories we should be consuming to maintain our weight, let alone to lose it.

In very simple terms (and not the only way to calculate), to maintain your weight, use the following formula:

14 to 16 multiplied by your weight in pounds.

This will give you a range of calories and to figure out what you should be consuming to maintain your weight, it is a process of trial and error.

Of course, this  does not take in to account your target body weight, or exercise intensity, but it is a good start.

The next step in your fat loss journey is to calculate your calorie deficit.  Once you know your maintenance calories, take away a maximum of 20%.  This is a cautious window to work with to create a safe and sustainable deficit.  Extreme deficits can have their own health problems (discussed in a later blog).

The key to fat loss, is to be in a calorie deficit consistently.  Now, you may find that staying in a deficit on certain days is harder than others, but this does not mean that you have failed.  Ideally, you would calculate your weekly calorie target.  This allows for days where you go over your daily target as you can pull back on other days.  The aim is to be in a deficit over the week for several weeks.

How long should you be in a deficit for?  Some would say, until you have reached your goal weight.  Others would argue that deficits should not be relied upon for long periods of time due to metabolic adjustment.  Look out for that blog!

-Sonia Thakrar