Top 10 Tips for Fat Loss in 2019

Here are my top 10 advice tips on losing weight (the first 2 are incredibly obvious but cannot be overstated and you might find some little tidbits of help in each heading)

1. Diet
I could talk about this all day but will try to keep it as concise as I can. It is the number one, most important thing when it comes to losing body fat. If you have more calories in than you are burning consistently, you are not going to lose weight.

Get 3 meals a day. Try to cut out snacking as much as you can. I’m not saying low carb diets are the best for everyone but I do think that cutting down on carbs can help go along way towards achieving our goals. A lot of us have carbs with high calorie or sugar content. Reducing this will have a huge impact on the overall number of calories we consume. Add more vegetables as one solution for lowering your carbs in meals.

Whatever food plan you have, don’t change it so much that it does not have long term sustainability!

2. Exercise
Exercise and diet go hand in hand for healthy fat loss. I don’t believe in one without the other which is why they are the first two on the list.

You don’t need an endless amount of cardio and running to lose weight. Get a mix of training types in and stay consistent in your training. Doing HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training (exercises that make you work and sweat fast - but also done correctly!) twice a week is sufficient along with strength training. You gym programme such have exercises that involve more than one joint moving for the most of your strength training (compound exercises like squats, presses and rows over just one joint like a biceps curl) and such also have some form of squat (goblet squat), hinge (kettlebell swing), push (push up) and pull (single arm row). Walking is also great. More on that in the next tip.

The above two tips should hopefully seem fairly obvious. There is no quick fix. No stupid juice cleanse. It takes consistent work. But make your training fun and do the type of training you enjoy doing!


3. Reduce Stress
Stress can play a huge part in not losing weight. When you are highly stressed, our bodies produce a chemical called cortisol. One of the most effective ways of reducing cortisol is walking. 15-20 minute walks (preferably in nature) can help reduce stress, clear our heads and help us lose body fat in the long run! Walking is a type of ‘LISS’ training (Low Intensity Steady State). It can also help you recover from harder sessions where your legs may feel stiff and sore. Unlike HIIT Training, you can’t really overtrain and risk injury.

4. Sleep
We get results when we sleep. We recover when we sleep. If we don’t get enough sleep, we can not recover as well and it may actually cause us to gain weight. We are overtired and get into bad habits and therefore make bad food choices and skip training sessions. Try to get at least 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Less than 7 hours sleep over a period of time can result in increased weight. Adequate sleep helps promote fat loss.

5. Drink water - especially when you first wake up and before your meals
Drinking water before a meal can help us feel more full and consume less food. As well as that, drinking first thing in the morning can help kickstart our metabolism. 2 litres a day, when training may not be enough for some of us. Try to aim for at least 1 litre of water per 25kg body weight

6. Use Cheat Meals when necessary. Enjoy food, don’t demonise it.
We are all going to have cheat meals at some stage. It’s life. But if we plan for them, we can limit the effect the increased number of calories they have. Do not demonise food. Plan your cheat meals around life events. If you can stay on track and eat healthy 80% of the time, then you are going to see results. There’s no need for more than that unless you are a competitive bodybuilder.  So have cheat meals if you feel like having them from time to time and then get back on track. the way my current schedule works, I like to have them on a Sunday but that might not suit for everyone. To compensate for the cheat meal, I might have a lighter breakfast and/or lunch that day.

The one thing I will say os do not go overboard on the cheat meal so that you feel sluggish or have a sugar craving the next day that may affect your food choices.

7. Preparation
Any change in lifestyle is going to require preparation. In short, you should know the day before what you are going to eat the next day, when you are going to eat it and when you are going to train and what your training programme is for that session.

8. Low-fat, Gluten-free foods are not always healthier
If you have a Gluten Intolerance, skip this section. You’ll know more about what you can and can not eat better than any expert.

Low-fat and Gluten-free foods have to substitute something back in for the taste. And that can sometimes be sugar or chemicals and can lead to an increased number of calories in comparison to their gluten counterpart. 

9. Don’t be so hard on yourself
You’re going to miss a meal or a workout at some stage. Yes, you should try to stay on track but you must accept that there are going to be times where life gets in the way, Accept that. Take the hit and move forward. One bad meal is not going to mess up all your gains just like one good meal is not going to transform you overnight. I would say, it is a marathon but marathons are painful. Do not make the process for achieving your goals painful

Slip ups will happen. Take them in your stride

10. Set Goals and Plan
My goal is to lose weight. Ok, but how? And what is the process? Set weekly goals in the gym to keep you motivated. Plan nutrition goals to keep you on track. Make your overall goals realistic and set shorter goals to keep you on track.

Bonus Tip: Alcohol
Now I can’t tell you not to drink. But just know that drinking is going to have a negative effect on your fat loss goals. You will feel sluggish the next day. It will affect your sleep, your energy levels and you’re not going to want to eat healthy after it.

Once again, I’m not saying do not drink. I drink. I enjoy drinking. But I try to limit the days I do drink to stay on track with my goals. I try to plan around the times I do decide to drink. Just know that the calories can add up very quickly if you do drink.