Many people are often lost when it comes to figuring out how to lose body fat and get into the best shape of their lives. To be honest, I don't blame them one bit! Now more than ever there seems to be a new diet hack or one of those 'LOOK! Jamie lost all this weight in just 24 hours!'
Well, I'm here to tell you that 99% of all that marketing is false, (it's ok if you've fallen for that stuff, it's everywhere), and there's not a chance in a million years Jamie lost all that weight in a day. BUT, as much crap as there is out in the world, there are just the same amount of GOOD, factual sources and I hope to be one of them. So here are my steps on how to lose body fat and get you going in the right direction.
GET AN IDEA OF HOW MANY CALORIES YOU EAT IN A DAY.
Before you go off and decide to only eat salads or spend hours on the Stairmaster, hear me out. You can eat burgers, fries, cake, or even ice cream and still reach your dream physique. Of course, you'll want to feed your body with as many nutrient-dense foods as you can, but when it comes to fat loss, it's not about WHAT you eat, it's solely based on how MUCH. This brings me to my first step on how to lose body fat: Get an idea of how many calories you consume on average each day.
This can be done by tracking your normal food intake within a given week using popular apps like 'MyFitnessPal' The key here is normal* food intake. This is to get an accurate idea of how many calories you‘re taking in on average so we know what calorie goal to target moving forward! A food scale will come into play here to ensure accuracy with portions and I highly recommend getting one, at least until you're familiar with proper serving sizes (because one serving of Peanut Butter is so disappointingly small; it stinks). So you accurately tracked all your food and got an idea of the average calorie intake consumed, now what??
THE CALORIE DEFICIT
Our bodies use the energy (calories) we give it to carry out our daily tasks. However, if we consume FEWER calories than we take in, it will tell our body to use our stored energy to now carry out those tasks. And that stored energy? Body fat! I must say, it’s very simple, yet not easy. If there‘s consistency hitting the target calorie goal and you’re left very* hungry, irritable, or fatigued then the deficit is more than likely too much! Contrary to that, if the deficit isn‘t much at all, then just 1-2 “slip ups“ could yield you to a maintenance level of calories for the week and the scale may not move!
I recommend consuming about 250-500 calories below your maintenance level to start! 500 is more on the aggressive side, but everyone‘s start point and end goal is different. What I’ve found best is starting off with a 300 calorie deficit. This offers a chance to lose body fat but limit being overly hungry throughout the day/week!
TIPS, TRICKS, an NEED TO KNOWS
NEED TO KNOW: Macros are important
The most important thing to losing body fat is to be in a calorie deficit, but where those calories are coming from also matters! To make things simple, calories come from Macronutrients! These are Protein (4 cal/g), Carbohydrates (4 cal/g), and Fat (9 cal/g), an when all those are added up it equates to your total calorie intake! When setting up a client (that doesn’t have specific wants or needs such as enjoys more fat in their diet more than carbs) I tend to ratio the Macros like this to start things off:
Protein: .75-1 gram per pound of body weight.
Fat: 20-25% of Total Calorie goal
Carbohydrates: Fill with the remaining amount of calories after prior steps
have been taken
TRICK: Burn more, Eat More
I often times explain to my clients and followers that day to day calorie management is similar to a Checking Account. If you spend more than you make, you'll eventually start to lose money over time right? That's how the method of 'Calories in, Calories out' works. If you consume less than you are intaking each day, you will start to lose body fat, and on the contrary, if you consume more than you burn, your body will use that abundance of energy to build muscle and store the rest for later (Muscle Glycogen and body fat)!
Here is where the trick will come into play of burning more calories in a day rather than lowering your calorie goal each time you hit a plateau. This method can be achieved by introducing a proper cardio routine!
TIP: Cardio is a tool
Say you found your average calorie intake (maintenance level) and are now consuming 300 calories less each day and losing about .75-1lb on average each week (which is an amazing rate of progress) but all of a sudden you stop losing weight, but the consistency is still there, now what?
Your body will become accustomed to the new calorie intake and for that, stop using as much body fat to fuel daily tasks. Here‘s where I will program in a structured cardio routine to implement burning more calories in a given day rather than immediately jumping to consuming less as I mentioned prior! The cardio routine can be any form to start things off, as long as every aspect is consistent! This includes Duration, Intensity/pace, and overall “calorie burn” throughout the session (I say “calorie burn” because no tracker will give you an actual or accurate reading, just keep it consistent!)
My personal go-to is using the Stairmaster, setting my Apple Watch to a specific calorie burn goal, and going until I reach it! Be sure to make these cardio sessions Low Intensity Steady State (LISS) rather than go absolutely wild. Taking a slow, steady approach will help with muscle recovery an make sure that you're not inhibiting your weight training performance!
I hope this helped steer some of you into the right direction with your fat loss goals. I am always ready to help you so please don't hesitate reaching out for more information by sending me an email at mike@bouchardfitness.com or shooting me a DM on all socials @bouchard_fitness.
