Body change is hard, plain and simple, but anything worth having never comes easy right? Everyday I see people in the gym struggling to change their bodies. What I've also noticed is not everyone knows what it takes to achieve lasting fat loss and that makes it all the more frustrating. What am I suppose to eat and what type of exercise should I do? Sound familiar to anyone? However, when people know exactly what is required of them they are far more likely to do what needs to be done. I've decided to list a few key factors that a person must do to see real body change.
What you put in your body is hands down the biggest change you must make for fat loss. It's not about eating healthy either. You must eat for fat loss and there is a difference and a lot of people do not know this. For example, a typical "healthy" option for breakfast would be a bowl of Cheerios with skim milk, a slice of whole wheat toast wit peanut butter, maybe a banana, and a glass of orange juice. A fat loss option for breakfast on the other hand would be 4 egg whites scrambled with spinach, mushrooms, onions, 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries and black coffee. I hope the difference is obvious. People everywhere still believe that leaving mayo off of their sandwiches, or getting vegetables pizza instead of pepperoni is going to change their bodies, but it won't. In order to see results there has to be dramatic changes in your diet and you have to follow it at least 90% of the time. Switching from cereal to egg whites, from sandwiches to big protein packed salads, and from chips to protein shakes are the type of changes that need to be made for fat loss. This approach works, but it is difficult for most people to change their mindset and be willing to makes these types of changes in their diet.
Exercise is the next factor in achieving fat loss, but it has to be the right type. Aerobic exercise is not the best form of exercise for fat loss because it will burn little fat, eat up your muscle which will eventually damage your metabolism. A good exercise program should combine weight training and aerobic training together. You should be lifting heavier weights that will allow you to complete between 6 and 15 repetitions and aerobic training should be short and more intense followed by lower intensity (walking). Science has proven that long duration moderate intensity aerobic exercise such as jogging for example may create a negative hormonal situation. I combine intense aerobic training with weights to maximize the calorie burn as well as firing up those fat burning hormones. Your goal in each workout should be to get breathless, get your muscles burning and straining from the heavy weights, and getting sweaty.
Sleep and stress are key as well. Neither one have calories of course, but will most certainly add on the pounds if they are not managed properly. Sleep is a major part of fat loss. It directly impacts the body's ability to recover from stress. You can either be burning fat during sleep or you can store fat depending on whether or not you're getting enough of it. You need at least seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Sleep has an influence on your hormones as well. If you're sleep deprived, hormonal changes will occur that will make you feel hungry even when you're full (leptin and ghrelin are your hunger hormones). Many studies have suggested that people who consistently get less than seven hours of sleep are susceptible to weight gain. Managing stress is critical for fat loss as well. The stress hormone cortisol is released in the body during stressful times and when this process occurs over and over again it becomes chronic and will make it impossible to lose fat. Find time to relax during the day and become involved in stress reducing activities like a relaxing movie, a warm bath, a leisure walk, a massage, or even reading a book.
Stroud Fitness
Leslie
