Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to the question of what’s the best weight loss program. This depends entirely on your lifestyle, habits, and what’s important to you. The best weight loss program is the one that you can stick to! Instead, we have collated a series of the best fat loss tips personal trainers recommend to lose fat.
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Fat Loss Tips
1. Calorie Deficit
The first rule of losing weight is that you will need to eat in a calorie deficit. That requires burning more calories in a day than you consume. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you’ll be in the gym constantly or eating a diet of next to nothing.
In fact, your body burns energy even when you’re doing nothing, which is what your basal metabolic rate refers to. You can calculate how many calories you burn a day through this rate, add exercise, and then figure out what your calorie intake should be to remain in a deficit.
2. HIIT
HIIT, or high intensity interval training, is a type of workout that has been around for a while now. And it’s here to stay! That’s because HIIT is a super effective but fast way of getting your heart rate up, increasing your strength, and getting fit.
HIIT training requires you to work at your full capacity for short periods of time and often involves bodyweight exercises. However, you can do HIIT on a treadmill, or with weights, or many other ways.
Doing HIIT workouts a few times a week can be a great way to start losing fat and gaining muscle. With most workouts done and dusted in half an hour or less, absolutely anyone can make the time to fit these workouts into their schedule.
3. Eat Well
A calorie count leads people to assume that as long as they eat the correct amount of calories, they will lose fat. however, this isn’t necessarily true. It’s not only about the amount you eat but what food you’re eating.
Aim for nutrient dense foods, which are high in nutrients while low in calories. Limit your intake of calorie dense foods, even those which are marketed as ‘healthy’. Peanut butter is a classic example of this, as while it may contain healthy fats, it is still extremely high in calories.
Take what type of food you’re consuming into account. Polyunsaturated fats are better for your health than saturated fats are, for example. So focus on eating food that is good for you and eating a great range of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Plan your meals so that you know you’re getting all the nutrients you need.
4. Build Muscle
Focusing in the gym on building muscle will not only get you fitter and stronger, but also help you to burn more calories. First of all, lifting weights has the potential to burn just as many calories as cardio does. Also, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories that you burn even when you’re not exercising. So lifting weights is a win-win for your weight and your fitness levels.
5. Up Your Incidental Exercise
You likely don’t have the time to hit the gym 3 times a day to lose weight because, who does? However, there are other ways that you can up your activity levels. Increase your incidental exercise so that you move more often and get out from behind that desk. This is an easy way to move more that doesn’t feel like you’re working out.
Some ideas to increase your incidental exercise are to park further away so you have walk further to get to work, start biking to work, or take the stairs instead of the elevator. Get a step tracker and aim for 10,000 or more steps each day to maintain a healthy level of fitness.