If you were to ask any online search engine how to lose weight you would likely be met by a world of over-complicated, conflicting information. Likewise, in the real world many trainers will tell you so many different opinions that fat loss can occasionally come across as a fine art or rocket science.
A recent survey in the fitness industry showed that almost 89% of gym members were struggling to understand how to reach their target body weight.
Bizarrely, despite the number of people who claim to need assistance with this particular issue, we have reached a point of information overload. With too much information, much of it conflicting, many gym users have reverted back to trial and error methods and trying to figure things out for themselves. There are a few scientifically proven methods you can use.
They are:
1. Look to improve your protein intake.
2. Do not follow the trend of cutting out carbohydrates and fats from your diet.
3. Get in your barn and find those old dumbbells. Lifting weights is highly recommended.
4. Replace long aerobic exercise with short HIIT workouts.
An increase in your protein intake will work wonders for your body - particularly those who have fat loss goals in mind. Many people unfairly label protein, and particularly whey protein supplements, as a nutrient for people who want to get big and muscular. This is completely false, of course. Protein is your best friend when you are trying to cut down body fat levels. Eat around 1.5g per kilo of your body weight. So an 80kg person would eat around 160g protein on a daily basis.
You can't expect to get very good results, however, if you are cutting out carbohydrates and fats from your routine altogether. There are many fad diets on the market which promise instantaneous results by telling you to avoid these nutrients as if they were the enemy of fat loss. It is incredibly unhealthy to live this way, and the body can only survive for so long before it begins shutting down due to a lack of these important nutrients. This results in individuals who pile on lots of rebound weight when they eat anything containing carbohydrates. An ideal fat loss diet should be high in protein, high in healthy fats and moderate in carbohydrates.
Next, it is time to dust off those old dumbbells in the garage and start lifting them on a regular basis.
That's right, lifting weights is actually excellent for losing body fat! Do not buy into the myth that you should only lift the iron if you want to look like a muscle-bound monster. Not only is is a proven fat loss method, it will also help you to sculpt lean muscles below the surface of your skin, allowing you to achieve the type of lean, toned physique which most people are striving for.
If you have never previously trained with weights at all then you should be able to enjoy fabulous results by hitting a three day program each week. Try to focus on full body workouts, beginning with the safety of the resistance machines in your local gym before moving on to free bar work when you feel confident enough to do so.
If your cardiovascular sessions are overly long and drawn out, there is another way to get more out of them without boring yourself to death on the treadmill. I am talking, of course, about high intensity interval training. This proven method has been around for over 20 years and is proven to be much more effective and time-friendly than regular aerobic cardiovascular exercise, although it has only really reached the mainstream in the last 10 years.
A combination of HIIT with a targeted resistance training routine is definitely a move in the right direction if you are learning how to lose weight that you can keep off forever once it is gone. It's easy to progress, unlike steady state cardiovascular routines, and it offers a much needed dosage of variety into your training sessions.
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