What if I told you fat loss was simple? Not easy, but simple. I know that it’s hard to believe, because advertisers would have you believe otherwise. Everyone wants to sell you the magic supplement, diet and workout program. I’m glad that there are a lot of options out there, but this produces a problem. We’ve succumbed to information overload and suffer from paralysis by analysis. I’m going to give you 5 highly effective strategies for fat loss. Don’t be fooled. While very simple, they’re not always easy. However, if implemented with a long-term approach, they will work.
- You must be in a caloric deficit. No matter what diet you choose to follow, there’s one element that makes them all effective: establishing and maintaining a caloric deficit. I’ll be totally honest with you, here. I’m not a calorie counter. I do, however, look at labels. If you’re in the dark about your daily caloric intake, I recommend looking more closely at food labels and counting calories for a week or two. You might be surprised by what you learn. The math is simple. You must burn more calories than you consume, or consume less calories than you burn. Most dietary professionals suggest a 500 (daily) calorie deficit as this will lead to a sustainable loss of 1 pound a week. It’s not exciting, but it works. While I don’t eliminate anything, these are the items I limit to control my caloric intake:
- Beer
- Soft drinks
- Desserts
- Fast food
- Get your NEAT up! NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis) is any movement outside of your normal training. My biggest tip here is to simply move in the manner you enjoy most. My favorite method is walking. For me, it’s more than just getting the steps in. It’s meditative and allows me to burn off extra hyper energy. Also, it checks off a lot of boxes. My dog Nano and I are more active, Vivi gets her longer afternoon nap in and I’m able to listen to an audiobook or podcast and expand my mind. I consider that an absolute win all-around. I don’t care what your activity is, as long as it’s fun and you enjoy it. This drastically increases the chances you’ll be consistent. I’ve never gone Jellyfishing with SpongeBob but it looks pretty fun!
- Work towards getting enough sleep and reducing stress. Now, I know this is easier said than done. We’re currently in the middle of the 4-month sleep regression with my baby girl, so I totally get it. However, this is just a phase. Long-term, you need to sleep. Getting the 6-8 hours a night is crucial to sustainable results. A lot of people give me push-back and say that it will never happen. If this is the case for you, ask yourself this question very honestly. How much time do you spend behind a screen that could be spent sleeping? Training hard and getting enough sleep help me tremendously with stress reduction, but here are some other highly-effective strategies that I use:
- Limit screen time. I only get on social media twice a day, typically to post and scroll a little. My anxiety and stress levels plummeted when I implemented this strategy.
- Be present with the people you love. When spending time with friends and family, I work hard to focus on the present moment and not worry about everything else. This is much easier said than done!
- Meditate. When life feels like it’s about to come-apart at the seams, I slow down and focus on my breath.
- HYDRATE! I’m going to keep this wicked simple for you. Take your body weight in pounds. Cut that number in half. That new number? Aim to hit that number in ounces daily. It will do wonders for your physical and mental health.
- Get as strong as you possibly can. Strength training is a very underrated tool to help you improve your body composition. Lifting weights will help you build muscle, burn fat, move better, feel better and increase your bone density (just to name a few benefits). Not only will your body composition dramatically improve, you’ll feel powerful. I don’t care if you prefer kettlebells, barbells, body weight or dumbbells, just get strong AF.
Try these five strategies for 3-months and see what happens. I think you’ll be surprised by how effective a simple strategy can be.
Train your body. Feed your mind.
-Demarco
