The internet can be a great source of information but it can also be extremely confusing when it comes to weight loss. A lot of people come to me confused as to what they should and shouldn’t do.
These are 3 simple steps that if you get right make the process considerably easier:
Tweak your diet
You can sweat as much as you like and train as many times as you want a week, but the easiest ways to get in shape is to reduce your calorie intake. Firstly I would look at slowly reducing your carbohydrate intake (your bodies source of energy), whilst increasing your protein and fat intake.
With your protein, try to avoid red meats like steak and mince and stick to white meat like cod, chicken and turkey as they are less calorie dense. Meaning you can eat more of it equating to the same calorie intake as far less red meat. Plus the upside is protein rich foods fill you up for far longer than carbs!
With fat intake, be mindful that 1 gram of Fat is worth 9 calories, whilst carbohydrates and protein have 4 calories per gram. So in short eat good fats but limit the amount, you can have too much of a good thing!
Track You Food
Following on from tweaking your diet. The only way you can make this process successful is by tracking and monitoring what you eat.
I am told constantly by people “I eat healthily”. That may well be the case but you can still over eat healthy food. Fruit for example can be deceivingly high in calories especially carbohydrates/fructose. Fruit can be added to a number of meals which can quickly make a meal/snack quite calorie dense if you are not careful.
Lift Weights
Cardio is great for your heart and lung function so definitely incorporate this into your routine. However lifting weights will get you in shape way faster than just cardio alone.
Stick to the basic multifunctional movements such as squats, bench presses and deadlifts etc. These moves use a multitude of muscle groups in one movement = more energy/calories used.
Do not get suckered in to the dribble you see in social media. The people you see on there with great physiques will have done the hard basic movements. This especially applies to glute workouts. The ladies with great glutes will squat, lunge, leg press, stiff leg deadlift etc and NOT only do banded glute activation workouts.