10 Tips to Lose Fat & Keep it Off
Losing fat is hard… Keeping it off is harder.
An alarming 95% of people who lose weight will regain it. What’s even more concerning is that this statistic does not surprise me in the slightest.
I’ve seen it hundreds of times and it usually sounds something like this…
You purchase a new program that promises you quick results..
You overhaul your entire life overnight in order to adhere to the “rules” of the program. You start out extremely motivated and ready to get after it.
You’re working out every day, and you give up all the foods you enjoy.
You lose some weight.
You stick with it for a couple of weeks, maybe even a month or two.
But soon, that motivation starts to fade, and you break.
You can’t adhere to the restrictions and the rules anymore so you say “screw it!” and you go back to what you were doing before.
You slowly start to gain all the weight back, and then some.
You eventually reach a point where you’re uncomfortable enough to acknowledge that something needs to change.
You think, “oh crap! I need to get back on that program because it worked last time!” And the cycle repeats.
The only things getting slimmer are your wallet and your patience.
Sound familiar?
Let me ask you this: Does it really work if you continue to repeat the same cycle over and over again?
Preying on people’s insecurities, naïveté, and desperate efforts to lose weight is a hell of a business model… There’s a reason why the diet and fitness industry is a 7 Billion dollar industry, yet our country is the unhealthiest it's ever been.
The unfortunate reality is that most programs make massive and misleading promises just to make a quick dollar.
“3 weeks to washboard abs”
“Lose 30 pounds in 30 days”
”Lose Belly Fat Fast!”
With these claims popping up everywhere you look, it can be challenging to filter what is real from what is not. Just know that if it sounds too good to be true… it probably is.
But here’s the thing… Losing fat does not have to be complicated or confusing.
You don’t have to or overhaul your entire life just to shed a couple of pounds. You don’t have to put yourself through a miserable program just to get results. And you don’t have to be stuck in the lose-weight gain-weight cycle forever.
Here are 10 tips that I've learned over the years of nutrition coaching and personal training that make BOTH losing fat and keeping it off much easier:
1. Sustainability from the start is everything. If you can't do it for a month, don't do it for a day.
2. Walking is the most under-utilized tool for fat loss. If you don’t know where to start, just start walking more 一 park further away, take the stairs, take an extra lap around the grocery store.
3. Sleep is king. Sleeping is critical for maintaining the right physical and psychological environment for fat-loss. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
4. Resistance train 3-5x/week focusing mostly compound movements that train several muscles at once. This can be done in one hour.
5. Eat more protein. Protein is the most under-eaten macronutrient. Build your meals and snacks around protein first to make sure you're consuming a sufficient amount.
6. Ditch the alcohol. It's loaded with empty calories and won't help propel you closer to where you want to be.
7. Drink more water. Hydration is important for weight loss and many important metabolic processes in the body.
8. Find reasons for getting fit other than how you look. Superficial motivation fades.
9. Understand that the process is not linear. The scale will fluctuate on the day to day... That is normal. Look at your average trends from week-to-week and month-to-month.
10. Stop stopping. Most people give up when they are faced with challenges and obstacles. Cultivate the ability to keep going - Just quit quitting.
Losing fat is never going to be easy. It's going to take hard work and a dedicated effort... But don't make it harder than it needs to be.
Is it really worth giving up 95% of your life just to weigh 5% less?
Best,
Kerianne Los | RDN at Pursuit | LinkedIn
