Welcome to part 1 of 3. These articles have been created to help you understand the correct information and strategies that will help you burn fat for summer 2023.
WANT TO KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO BURN FAT?
The mission is to get ‘toned’ and for others who want to go further its about getting ‘ripped or shredded’. The amount of fat you wish to lose is a personal preference but the methods people adopt are varied and therefore the results change from one person to another. How much fat do you want to lose? Why? And When? Find out your own commitment to this goal and lets discuss your strategy.
So there are 3 areas that we will focus on throughout this series and can be applied to your lifestyle in moderation:
· Nature vs Nature
· Detoxification
· Stress & Sleep
NATURE VS NUTURE
First of all, lets focus on honesty and reality before we get into any science behind fat loss.
We no longer live in the days of the hunter gatherer chasing animals for our next meal nor do we live in the ages where the only choice of work was farming or physical labour. Today in 2022 the majority of people sit in an office, car, train and/or plane for the better part of their lives, working from a mobile phone or laptop.
Very few people burn calories and use their muscles to earn their money. Sitting on your bum for endless hours of the day for work and then heading to the sofa for dinner means you are already at a huge disadvantage. What this means is you must be strategic with your time each day and what chances you have to ensure you exercise and eat properly to reach your bodyfat goals. The nature of our world currently means it’s easy to be physically lazy. Below are aspects of day to day life which are unfortunately ingrained in our society:
- Cinema, Netflix, Social media, internet, mobile phones and i-pads
- Fast food Chains, sweets and processed foods
- Alcohol, Cigarette, and recreational drugs
- Everything can be delivered at your door through an app!
- Public Transport, Taxis and Uber
All of the above is around us all the time. The mentality has changed dramatically even in the last 20 years. When I was a teenager and young adult take-away's, unhealthy food and sweets were a once a week or month treat. Long walks, playing football, rugby and cricket was a normal everyday occurrence. Going to the gym 5 days a week was normal and needed no pat on the back for doing it. Meeting people face to face and socialising through sport was normal. If you had a mobile phone it was just for texting and phone calls. Drinking alcohol was only for the weekends or just once a month for a special occasion.
All of the above has become so easily accessible through technology that people feel they have no need to leave their homes or offices. They can order clothes, holidays, all kinds of takeaway food, garden equipment, alcohol, cars, Christmas presents and practically any product you can imagine that we need in life ONLINE. So people are walking far less or doing anything physically active. Visits to the gym have now become 1-3 times a week and their needs to be an Instagram post about it. People are consuming fast food 3-4 times a week and alcohol consumption has gone up. The quality of food has decreased dramatically and now if you want normal food you have to pay extra and find the label 'organic' on it.
The typical busy stressed out worker now lives off microwave meals and spends his/her time drinking booze in the evenings whilst their kid spends all his time on YouTube whilst eating chocolate and drinking soda. This has become the normal for millions of people and yet they cant understand why their bodies are failing them. We don’t have animals to chase or farms to manage. The majority sit on their bums 7 days a week! We have gone from one end of the spectrum to the other. How much of the above are you participating in? Be honest!
4 tips for living in the 21st century:
- Start focusing on eating correctly and healthy. Delete the Deliveroo app! Lose the burgers, pizzas and booze from at least from your Monday – Friday diary.
- Stop resorting to the ‘extreme calorie deficit method’ to achieve your goals. If you do this you'll simply lose muscle, feel stressed, not perform in the gym and store fat more as your body becomes increasingly catabolic.
- Eat a balanced PH level diet that includes plenty of alkaline foods such as leafy greens and vegetables. Stop relying on acidic calories which are processed.
- The true goal is to lose fat and maintain muscle so ensure you are eating the correct amount daily of high quality protein from organic meat or vegan sources
The amount of fat you obtain is not ordained by your genes but rather 3 factors. What you eat, how much you exercise and how much toxicity is in your body and fat cells. It is dictated by the lifestyle you choose from the moment you wake up and eat breakfast to the very last moments before you go to sleep. Our lives in this digital age can be consumed by laziness, the wrong choices and negative self sabotage. So before I go into any science behind the methods of fat loss, I need to know you are getting off your arse and are seriously going to make some positive changes, enough of the excuses!
In our natural sedentary state our bodies will get used to a certain level of body fat which is directly a result of our actions and choices. This takes months and years to accumulate. The longer the bodyfat remains high the more our bodies develop the adipose cells, capillaries, enzymes, hormones such as insulin and leptin to support it. The body manages its fat % by sending hormonal messages to the brain to defend the fat (unfortunately) this is why fad diets and extreme calorie deficits don’t work. When going on a severe calorie deficit diet what you are actually losing is water, glycogen and burning up muscle as energy for fuel. This is why you feel tired, unmotivated and end up quitting. You have to be smart, strategic and your use your common sense. So how do we do this?
- Eat the correct number of calories for your bodyweight and train with the right volume of physical exercise each day.
- Find out what your gut and waistline respond best to whether it’s a high protein, carb or fat diet. Experiment for a couple of weeks to get this right.
- Eat every 3-4 hours with small/medium sized meals that are hitting your macros (proteins, carbs and fats)
- When choosing the food types, make sure they are healthy organic choices and drink plenty of water (4 litres a day)
Also do not get tricked into thinking you must take these magical fat loss pills, powders and supplements which promise amazing results. You need to start with the basics which is setting the right number of meals per day in addition to weight training training, cardio and lifestyle choices.
When selecting the correct supplements they should only compliment your fat loss goals not solve the situation. They should help to detoxify you, balance your hormones, support healthy cells, balance your PH Levels, create better digestion, improve gut health and aid energy levels during training. These should be the fundamentals of taking the correct supplements with food or water but essentially you should be doing the hard work to earn that better body through the gym. Becoming a fast burning machine takes time and dedication. I wont lie. Get rid of bad habits. Replace them with new positive habits. for example, start with having a high protein breakfast and plenty of water and take a multi vitamin tablet.
Nature vs Nurture summary
Option 1. Ignore the advice of this article. Easy to do nothing and stay at home. Listen to the excuses and negative self talk, turn Netflix back on and crack open a beer.
Option 2. Start changing your dietary habits, water consumption and get into your gym clothes daily and start the week with a renewed sense of purpose. The choice is yours. There is no secret, no magic, no tricks. It is very black and white. Decide to start burning the calories through a healthy gym routine and compliment your results with a healthy diet appropriate of the calories you need. This is your year, lets make it happen now. Spring is upon us and it's time shed that fat!
The second article will be on detoxification, recipes and supplements to help you get onto the right path…
