As a Personal Trainer, Nutritionist, Health Coach, Massage Therapy, and Fitness Enthusiast majority of individuals come to me and say I want to lose fat, help me lose weight!
For starters, Weight is your body’s total mass but doesn’t help or define what your body is made up of. You would much rather want to know your body composition (muscle, bone, water, fat).
Your bodyweight fluctuates day to day, hour to hour, heak minute to minute! One day the scale can read 163 pounds, the next it reads 165 lbs., so now you feel frustrated and defeated with yourself off one measurement; bodyweight. Never view that number a way to define your fat loss journey.
Therefore, you don’t necessarily want to lose “weight” but what you want to do is lose fat.
You then ask me—well then help me lose fat!
I reply, “What do you think you need to do in order to lose fat?”
You- Cut out sugar, carbs, lots of exercise, cardio
Me- Exercise; yes, specifically strength training though, and cutting sugar; sort of but not cut out carbs completely. Not if you want to feel tired/ fatigued, deprived, and restricted all the time.
What if I told you your weight may stay the same, while you lose inches, have energy and feeling stronger! Would you then be okay with your current weight? Who cares about your actual weight but more so on increasing your metabolism…
How about this—How about we focus on building muscle rather than losing fat. We don’t want this to be a weight loss journey, we want this to be a Fat loss journey. But when we focus on losing fat we get caught up in the next fad, bouncing from coach to coach, diet to diet, still not feeling like we are losing fat quick enough.
Focus on building muscle not losing fat.
The more muscle, the faster metabolism you will have.
How to build muscle?
Strength Train! Eat Protein, Quality Sleep
Exercise; specifically, Strength Training
Minimally 2x per week
heavy reps (never compromise form)
Protein– is known as the building blocks of muscle, but it does more than just that. It may improve sleep, cholesterol levels, and bone/joint/hair health. Protein helps regulate blood sugar, balances pH levels, and enhancing immune system. Aiding in that fat loss process while improving metabolism.
The current recommended daily allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 g/kg (important to note this represents the MINIMUM amount needed to avoid malnutrition. For individuals wanted to lose fat and build muscle, consuming 0.8- 1.2 grams of protein per POUND of LEAN BODY MASS. Find your Lean Body Mass by using an InBody Scan for a full body composition.
https://www.routeofhealthyliving.com/inbody
If you do not have access to an InBody Scan than start with eating around 1g of protein per pound od goal weight.
Hit your protein goal numbers by tracking using an app: https://www.1stphorm.app/healthyliving
Sleep–
We all know how it feels to wake up and not feel completed rested in the morning, but one part we may not realize is how muscles are not able to recover properly without quality sleep. Sleep has a significant impact on muscle recovery. During deep sleep, growth hormones are naturally released which helps with muscle repair and growth. You can sleep 7-9 hours and still not feel completely rested and recovered and that’s due to the quality of sleep in which you are getting.
Focus on quality > quantity.
Magnesium can improve the quality of your sleep. It plays an important role in your nervous system, helping to activate mechanisms that calm and quiet you. This supplement is a natural muscle relaxer and can be used to assist in staying in deeper cycles of sleep. I personally use this Magnesium supplement as part of my evening ritual every day. One scoop is 420 mg, which is recommended for adult consumption.
More muscle means easier fat loss.
Muscle requires more energy to be maintained than any other tissue in the body. This passively makes your metabolic rate higher which leads to an even greater fat loss.
Shift your mindset to BUILD MUSCLE instead of Losing Fat and your weight may fluctuate but more importantly your Fat percentage will decrease while Muscle Mass and Metabolism increases.
