The Levers of Fat Loss
We often speak of losing weight, but what most of us really want is to lose fat while retaining or even gaining muscle. In my previous post, I explained how three things must be present to make this happen: adequate protein (1g per pound of bodyweight), sufficient training volume, and a caloric deficit. In this post, I will dive a little deeper into what it means to be in a caloric deficit and how best to achieve this.
Food is energy and that energy is measured in calories. When the energy we consume is in excess of our needs, we store that energy as fat for later use. Similarly, when our energy needs are greater than the energy we are consuming, our body is forced to tap into our fat reserves to meet our energy needs. The key to losing fat, then, is to consume less energy than we need. This is what is meant by a caloric deficit.
There are essentially two ways to achieve this: to eat less and move more.
Eating Less
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to spend hours on a treadmill doing “cardio” to lose weight. While exercise is beneficial and certainly conducive to losing weight, it is sufficient to simply reduce your caloric intake. Below are some simple strategies to achieve this:
Eliminate liquid calories other than protein shakes. If you are someone that consumes liquid calories like soda, juices, sweetened tea/coffee, or milkshakes daily, then eliminating these will be the easiest way to get your body into a caloric deficit. If you find it difficult to eliminate these cold-turkey, then consider lower-calorie alternatives like diet soda, low fat milk or allulose while you wean yourself off of these liquid calories.
Increase Protein, Reduce Fat: A handful of french fries are more caloric than a handful of cucumbers or carrots. Why is that? Food is comprised of three macronutrients: fats, proteins, and carbs. Of these, fats are the most caloric and protein is the least caloric. This means that 10g of protein will always have fewer calories than 10g of fats. In other words, by replacing fat with protein, you can eat the same amount of food but still be consuming less calories.
Intermittent fasting: Reducing your feeding window to 8 hours (12-8PM, for example) can help reduce calories. However, with this method, it can be difficult, though not impossible, to still meet your protein goal of 1g per pound of bodyweight in such a short window. Restricting your feeding window less than 8 hours is not recommended because your daily protein intake needs to be spaced out over 3-4 meals.
Moving More
When we think of moving more, we often think of “cardio” workouts in the gym, but these small bouts of exercise do not burn very many calories. We want to increase our movement throughout the day, and the best way to measure this is by tracking our daily steps. Most phones and smart watches will track this data for you, but you can also purchase a stand alone pedometer for pretty cheap. Begin by simply tracking how many steps you are taking daily and work to increase that number by about 1,000. Once you’re comfortable with that add another 1,000. A good goal to work towards is 7,500-10,000 steps/day.
Finally, walking is great because it is not taxing on the body. This means that 1) you can do quite a lot of it and 2) that it is less likely to increase your appetite the way that other forms of exercise will.
The Levers of Weight Loss
Calories and steps are the two levers of weight loss I use with my trainees. Either will work, but it helps to use both simultaneously. When you cut calories from your diet, your body might compensate by unconsciously moving less throughout the day. Tracking your steps helps you ensure that when you are removing calories from your diet, your activity levels are staying constant.
Using both levers also offers some flexibility. There will be times when you might find it difficult to eat less. When you’re traveling, for example, you might want to indulge in some foods that you have been avoiding. During those periods, you can compensate by moving more and increasing your daily steps. The extra steps should help you at least maintain your weight and not gain back any fat that you worked so hard to lose.
