10 Things You Need To Know About Fat Loss

In this article you are going to learn how to eat, train and properly address all of your fat loss goals. Whether you have 10 pounds of stubborn fat to lose or 100 pounds, you will find this information useful to you and your situation. Once applied, the information will begin to produce results for you.

We all want to be fit, healthy and lean. Struggling with weight is an issue for all of us at one point or another in life. Some will of course struggle with weight issues more than others and many will struggle with it throughout their lives, never fully getting control over their weight issues for numerous reasons.

Maybe you have some weight issues that bother you. Maybe you have been unable to shift the last few pounds even though you are training hard and eating really clean and following all the 'so-called' fat loss rules.

Maybe you are struggling to accept the fact that your weight problem has been self-inflicted and you are finding it hard to finally accept the fact that it's your fault and you who needs to own up and start taken responsibility and address the problem head on.

Whatever your fat loss related issues are, these simple 10 tips will become very useful to you as you start to address your fat loss goals. Just remember these tips only do you any good if you start to implement them and implement them consistently!

Fat Loss Fact # 1
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY! You must accept responsibility for your current physical state. Stop playing the blame game, take responsibility and take immediate action. Those individuals who continue to blame others or blame their genetics never achieve the fat loss result they want and that's a fact! Successful people on the other hand are those who take responsibility and control of their exercise regime, nutrition and lifestyle.

Fat Loss Fact # 2
CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOR! Fat loss isn't under the control of a higher power or the magical fat loss fairies. It's based on simple CHANGES IN BEHAVIOR. If you continue to participate in behavior that is not favorable such as the weekly takeaway, pizza and ice cream with the other half or you continue to buy 'just one' bag of cookies with the weekend shopping. You are not giving yourself a chance.

Simply get involved in activities that are going to be positive and push you in the right direction. Steer clear of anything and anyone that will potentially get you off track. Put yourself first and change your behavior, change your mindset and this will help you change and improve your body.

Fat Loss Fact # 3
SET FAT LOSS TIME SCALES! Loosing body fat isn't going to happen magically overnight or within the space of a few short weeks. Don't let yourself be fooled into thinking you can achieve rapid fat loss if you are 'REALLY GOOD' over the next 3-4 weeks. I always smile when clients will ask me how much will they lose if they are really good over the next few weeks.

Straight away I like to stop a person when they start talking like this and address their mindset. You must develop the right mindset and that means thinking long term, making changes in behavior that are long term and ultimately focusing on achieving and maintaining long term fat loss.

How quickly you lose will depend on how much you have to lose, your gender, genetics to a certain extent and your previous training background amongst other factors. Just be patient and remember that it's not a race to lose the weight… but a lifestyle change to lose it and keep it off!

Fat Loss Fact # 4
FAT LOSS WILL BE FASTER FOR GUYS! Since I mentioned gender being a factor above, I want to point out that it will be a slower process for females to lose body fat than males. SORRY LADIES! Wish I had better news for you but I don't. If you've ever watched shows like the biggest loser you will have seeing that the men always have the higher weekly weight loss numbers. That isn't because the females don't work as hard or as disciplined. It's got to do with hormonal differences and the fact that males will have more muscle mass and muscle is what drives your metabolism.

Fat Loss Fact # 5
RESISTANCE TRAINING! You must not be resistant to resistance training. As I pointed out above 'MUSCLE' is what drives your metabolism and metabolism as we know is the rate at which one burns fuel in the form of calories.

When fat loss is the goal you must attack the muscle via resistance training, whether it be by using barbells and dumbbells, body weight exercise or kettlebells, it doesn't really matter too much, just make sure you are resistance training and doing so at least 3 times per week.

Resistance training will help you achieve faster. When we attack the muscle via resistance training we cause muscle fibers to become damaged. Not only do we expend a bucket load of calories whilst performing the resistance work itself, but also the muscle needs to repair and this repair process is calorie costly. Pretty sweet right!

Fat Loss Fact # 6
CARDIO TRAINING! Cardio is a must for those seeking fat loss. Problem is that most people don't know what cardio training is. Keeping it simple cardio training is anything that will elevate hear rate and respiration. This can be achieved via low intensity and high intensity activities.

The problem with training at low intensities (<30% max) is that it can be counterproductive! Too many people start training like endurance athletes for fat loss, going for lengthy runs, etc. All you will achieve by doing this is improvements in endurance via improved energy conservation.

By all means, move and move a lot. 3-5 hours per week isn't going to drastically improve your body! There are 168 hours in the week. So if you train 5 hours per week you still have 163 hours to accumulate fat and be lazy. MOVE AROUND - Take the stairs, ride the bike, walk the dog, do some sprints, play recreational sports, lift things, do it all.

BUT when you go to the gym, go there to lift weights, perform bodyweight exercises, circuit train and engage in other high intensity activities such as intervals.

Keep the low intensity activities for you non gym days and if you want to go for a long walk, do it outside. Don't go to the gym to walk on a treadmill at 3mph when you could do so outdoors.

Remember that lower intensity activities, such as walking and jogging have almost no after burn effect. Meaning that you simply increase your metabolic rate 'SLIGHTLY' whilst performing the activity but afterwards your metabolism returns to it's normal setting to carry on your daily tasks. So train using high intensity work 3-5 days per week and outside of that you can add in low intensity work if you want to and provided you have the time to do so. Just realize that the low intensity work is not a must, nor a priority.

Fat Loss Fact # 7
YOU CAN'T OUT TRAIN BAD NUTRITION! Again I wish I were able to tell you that you can eat what you want, whenever you want and still achieve the fat loss results you want… but you can't. Nutrition is and always will be the KEY factor for the fat loss seeker.

Now this article is not going to be about fat loss nutrition, but you MUST address your nutritional habits and make changes, even if they are only small at first. Remember you need to expend more calories than you consume. Problem is that most people here this… start eating like a rabbit, eating bland tasteless foods, never feel satisfied and usually cut back so much that they don't provide the body with enough nutrients.

Your body not only seeks calories, but it primarily seeks nutrients from those calories. That's why all those 100 calorie snack bars, etc on the market are useless crap. YES they may be low cal but they have no nutrients in them. They are nutrient poor food choices and you need to be consuming nutrient rich foods. Much better to consume a 150 calorie bar that is loaded with nutrients than a 100 calorie bar that is nothing but a sugar bar disguised as a health bar or fat free weight loss bar.

You can still occasionally eat some foods that are not ideal for the fat loss seeker by using strategic cheat meals BUT 90% of the time, or more, you are going to have to be very disciplined with your nutrition.

With your clean eating plan you will need to spend a little time experimenting with your foods and ingredients in order to spice up your dishes so they are satisfying. Like I said above, you don't need to eat bland foods for fat loss, it just takes a bit of time to learn how to take basic nutrient rich foods and turn them into tasty, yet still healthy, dishes.

Fat Loss Fact # 8
LONG TERM CALORIE REDUCTION! The important thing to recognize is that it takes a LONG TERM reduction in calories. Periods of calorie deprivation for 3 days in a row then a massive influx of calories at the weekend will NOT result in fat loss. Any body fat you did manage to lose in those few days WILL, contrary to popular belief, quickly be replaced at the weekend leaving you back at square one.

Fat Loss Fact # 9
MOST SUPPLEMENTS SUCK! Over 90% of supplements on the market today are useless and just a complete waste of your time and money. The supplement industry is a multi billion-dollar industry and that's partly because of their marketing campaigns that prey on people who are desperate and easily fooled into believing the marketing hype.

Apart from a quality multivitamin and mineral supplement, fish oils and possibly some whey protein powder (for convenience) you really don't need to use any other supplements. Even these three I have listed here are not a necessity.

STOP hoping and looking out for the new magical berry from the Amazon or the latest fat burning pill or potion. It's so crucially important that you accept the fact that fat loss.

Fat Loss Fact # 10
FAT LOSS ISN'T EASY! I hope this last one doesn't come as a surprise but fat loss requires hard work and discipline, both in and out of the gym.

As soon as a person accepts this fact (that fat loss is hard) fat loss becomes a lot easier because now the individual can focus on what needs to be addressed in order to achieve some real fat loss. They can forget about finding the 'MAGIC BULLET' for fat loss… as there is none. They can knuckle down and start training hard and eating clean in an attempt to lose body fat and get lean, so remember that hard bodies are achieved via hard work!

I hope you found this information useful to you and your situation. I now strongly urge you to take action, apply the information and take control of your fat loss goals. This will lead to ultimately taking control of you life, allowing you to become and feel more energetic, so you can focus on the things in life that are most important to you.

By Ian Graham