Welcome to part 1 of 5 describing the main principles of exercise, throughout the next week I will be highlighting key points and tips to get everything you want from fitness this year.
As we start with fat loss there are two major components to fat loss/gain or maintenance - they are the following:
In - food and drink
Out - exercise, metabolism, thermal effect of food and lifestyle
In order to lose weight you have to either reduce intake of calories or increase activity.
To gain fat it is the direct opposite (intake more than daily use)
To maintain body weight - match intake or output daily.
How to change your intake?
As simple as it sounds, the best way of reducing intake is to reduce the amount you eat or drink daily. This form of calorie control is the preferred option most personal trainers will promote, this is mainly due to reducing the amount of mayo on your chips is a lot easier for clients than running on the treadmill for 10 minutes.
Controlling your calories will be the easiest and less intrusive way of boosting your fat loss potential.
Finding lower calorie alternatives is a fantastic way of still eating the things you love without the necessary fat gain. Remember calories are key when losing body fat!
How to control output?
As personal trainers we actively promote physical training, here are some of the reasons:
. Increased confidence
. Health benefits
. Stronger and better bodies
. Better posture
For some exercising can be stressful and actively avoided, therefore we should look at the following:
Lifestyle - parking a little further away from work and walking, taking the stairs, going for walks, drinking a glass of water before eating, standing instead of sitting and more sleep
Thermal effect of food - protein is king! Eating protein requires you to burn 66% more calories digesting than carbohydrates and fats - protein helps you recover from exercise, burn more calories and makes you feel full. Honestly, what is not to love! Eat as a minimum 2g from every kg of bodyweight.
Metabolism - higher intensity exercise and resistance training increases metabolism, exercise harder and longer to boost your metabolism even higher.
Activity - do not fret about activity, you do not necessarily have to go to the gym for 2 hours a day to lose body fat and improve your health and composition. Doing a little more than what you did last week is the principle I promote to my clients - keep challenging yourself and you will see the difference.
So what does all this mean?
To lose body fat you first need to understand
#1 how many calories you require/day (contact Adamcooley@acptfit.co.uk for more info).
#2 how many calories you currently eat/day - use a food diary or 'myfitnesspal' app
#3 establish if you are willing to increase output or decrease input (ideally both)
#4 set up a plan of action and stick to it - consistency is key. Eating well for 5 days then having a weekend off will not work.
Finally - crash diets do not work!
Be your best.