In today’s world of social media driven ‘education’ (and yes I am aware that you probably stumbled across this article via social media 😉 ) for weight loss it’s easy to become lost in an abundance of information telling you should do this or do that to lose weight.
I have no doubt that some of these posts are very good, but the majority of them will be poor with plenty of promoting to try this ‘new’ system or diet for weight loss.
The truth is, any diet or system that works is because it promotes a calorie deficit. That’s all.
What I’m about to tell you will probably piss a few people off as you won’t need to invest into their fancy systems. I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to do in order to lose weight and the best part? It’s absolutely free.
In my opinion there are 4 key components that you should be managing every week in order for you to lose weight, I’ll go through them now with you in no particular order.
Move more daily
It’s not glamourous or sexy, but it is necessary. You need to move more, stop being lazy and taking the car to the shop. Get walking. Start building new movement habits into your week.
None exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) will play a huge role in you losing weight. This is the amount of calories you burn daily when not exercising. So yeah, if you get your body burning more calories every day, it’ll 100% help you with your weight loss.
Be in a calorie deficit
I know this kinda sounds like I’m stating the obvious here, but this is a biggie. If you want to lose weight you HAVE to be in a calorie deficit over a week’s period to lose weight – no exceptions. So if you find yourself gaining weight? You are over eating for your current body and/or not moving enough.
If you don’t know how much you eat, track it. There is a fantastic app called My Fitness Pal on which you can log/record your food intake. This will give you an idea of just how much you are consuming.
Top tip when tracking: Log the food as you consume it. Do not wait until the end of the day, you will forget stuff. Studies have shown people to miss report food intake by up to 70% in a day.
Do resistance exercise
It’s all the rage at the moment (hurrah) so most gyms seem to be well kitted out nowadays which is great. But why weights and not cardio though I hear you ask….glad you asked 🙂
As we already know, you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. Resistance training burns more calories over a 24 hour period than traditional cardio. So it makes sense, unless of course you want to spend more time at the gym (we both know you don’t). So hit the weights room the next time you go to the gym.
Be consistent
All of those 3 previous points above, you need to be consistent with them all. Not perfect, you aren’t chasing perfection but it you are consistently moving more, staying in a calorie deficit and weights training you will lose weight.
Bonus content
Losing weight and changing how you look isn’t about a diet or exercise (controversial statement alert!) it’s about building new habits, new routines and a new lifestyle. One that enables you to look and feel better. A diet is to help you get into a dress or to go on holiday, long term weight loss is way more than that.
Be prepared to change YOU if YOU want to change 🙂 Nothing changes if nothing changes….
Rich Gunter
Owner Impact Personal Training
