1 Reduce your carbohydrate intake
When we talk about fat loss the main factor that affects your results is diet; you can train hard and consistently and use the best “fat burning” supplements but it is what you eat and how your body responds to it that makes the biggest difference. In a western diet we tend to eat the wrong kind of foods and at the wrong moment; the most common mistake is the massive quantity of carbohydrates that we consume everyday. We need carbohydrates to produce the energy that we need for our daily activities: work, exercise, family commitments, etc. The question is, what happens when we have more energy from our carbohydrates than what we actually spend?
We store all the carbohydrates that we eat in the liver and muscle cells (glycogen) and, if not burnt with exercises, of course it stores in our fat cells. Another important point is the glycaemic index; not everyone is familiar with this concept so here is a simple definition: The glycaemic index or GI is a measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels. The higher the value, the more insulin our body produces; insulin is the hormone that stores all the macronutrients in our cells, it’s highly anabolic ( professional bodybuilders used to inject it in their blood in strategic moments) and at the same time we need it to stay low and consistent to avoid storing fat.
The best way to control your carbohydrate intake is to choose mainly low glycaemic index foods, especially in the second half of the day, and keep the right amount of them for your daily activities, based on your body type, sex, quantity of muscle, energy spent for your activities and fitness goals.
2 Increase your protein intake
Protein is what we need to build up muscle; without the right amount it our efforts in the gym don’t really matter, simply we won’t have any increased strength or muscle size.
I know what are you thinking right now: what is the connection between muscle gain and fat loss? The point is that you need muscle to lose fat; more muscles means a faster metabolism because you need energy just to maintain them. This is why usually men have a lower body fat percentage than women ( or at least most of the time it is like this) or why they need much less time to drop weight; the biggest production of anabolic hormones such testosterone or G.H. means more muscles so a faster metabolism.
Other good reasons to increase protein intake is the energy required to process them is almost double that used to digest carbohydrates. Also there is exactly the same quantity of calories per gram so the energy that they get is much less. They also help you to control your appetite so it is much easier to maintain your low-moderate carbohydrate intake.
3 Eat small meals every 2-3 hours
We already learnt that if we want to have long term results we need to increase our metabolism; an excellent way to do this is eat small meals consistently. If we eat exactly the same quantity of food in 2 or 6 meals we will have very different effects; the point is that our body adapts itself to our lifestyle and it’s priority is to make sure that we store enough fat to survive, it’s the survival instinct. If we eat just 2 big meals everyday, our body needs to keep as much fat as possible to “survive” before the next big meal. If instead we consistently eat every 2 or 3 hours our body can stop storing “emergency fat” and use food’s energy more efficiently. This is also great because in this way we can feel energetic for longer during the day.
4 Eat a source of “good fat” at each meal
Fats, like protein, are essential macronutrients, and your body can only get them through your diet. They have different functions: the manufacture of hormones ( testosterone, G.H, etc.), maintain body temperature, transport liposoluble vitamins a, d , e, k and balance blood sugar levels. If we talk about “good fats” it also seems that they help to burn fat as energy and decrease heart disease risk and cholesterol.
What do I mean with “good” or “bad” fats? There are mainly 2 categories of fat: saturated and unsaturated. The first are the “bad”, they are associated with high cholesterol levels, stroke and heart disease. You can find them in most animal product like meat, dairy products, egg yolks, margarine, palm and coconut oils.
Unsaturated fats are the “good”, you can find them in olive oil, canola oil, avocado, nuts, cashews, almonds, peanut and fish. Particularly important fats are omega 3, new research suggests how they affect, in a positive way, joints and the brain, reduce your risk of cancer and improve body composition.
Mix every meal with a source of unsaturated fat to help decrease the overall glycaemic index of the meal and improve anabolic hormones that will increase our muscle mass and metabolism.
5 Eat fibrous food
Fibre decreases the overall glycaemic load of meals and maintains moderate blood sugar levels. Usually you can find them in products with low carbohydrate density such as green vegetables so you can have big portions of them, it will help to moderate insulin and control your appetite.
6 Resistance training 2-3 times per week
As said before more muscle you have the faster your metabolism will be. For this reason my tip number 6 is to have a weights session 2/3 times per week. Don’t be afraid to push hard during your workout, you need to become stronger if you want to increase your muscle mass. Be focused on big compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, lunges, chinups, bench press and row; the reason is these movements work in the same time more muscular groups and so require more energy, allow us to make our session shorter and more efficient, allow our body to produce higher levels of anabolic hormones and increase strength and size better than isolation exercises. Somebody can ask why I wrote resistance training but didn’t mention any kind of aerobic exercise: simply because I don’t think that they have the same impact of weight training. Even if the energy source of aerobic training is mainly fat and the one of resistance training is carbohydrates, you need to think about the long term effect: who cares about fats burnt in my 45 minutes in a zumba class when I can keep my metabolism higher 24 hours per day because of my bigger quantity of muscles. I think that you need to have a bigger picture of the situation and understand the reason behind fat loss. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that aerobic exercises don’t have any benefit; a good combination of weight/cardio can give you amazing results, just make sure to give priority to increasing your metabolic rate before you think that aerobic is the only answer.
7 Recovery
This is maybe the most underrated factor; society suggests that we need to expend as much energy as possible, train hard every day, sleep less and work harder, right? Even if it is correct that if we are more active we expend more energy, overtraining can be a huge obstacle to achieving your fitness goals. If we compromise on our recovery how can we build strong muscle and a faster metabolism? Remember that actually our muscles grow when we rest, not when we train, and more muscle tissue means a faster metabolism and less fat. When we overtrain we also produce catabolic hormones like cortisol that destroys muscle tissue and stores fat; some new research suggests that high cortisol levels means more fat especially in the abdominal area. How can we recognize overtraining symptoms? Usually they affect your sleep quality, you can feel lethargic during your day, lose enthusiasm about your training, be sick often and lose strength. The good news is that you can prevent overtraining with a smart approach to your training and lifestyle, here are my suggestions:
-make sure that you have quality sleep for at least 7-8 hours
-minimize stress when possible
-eat quality food in the right quantity
- have some rest days from your workout during the week
- make sure that you have enough rest days before repeating the same muscle group
- train for no more than 1hour-1hour 15min
- minimize alcohol intake
Personally I like to take 1 “easy” week every 3 weeks during my workouts. In this “easy week” I reduce the overall sets for each exercise and maintain a high intensity. This really helps to keep my intensity high and overcome plateau.
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