Fat Loss Simplified!

Are you confused about where to begin with weight loss?

There’s so much information out there telling you how to lose weight.

You’re bombarded with it everywhere you look – on magazine covers, food & supplement packages, gym billboards, and even right there on your phone as you scroll through social media.

And interestingly, they’re all telling you completely different things, leaving you feeling overwhelmed, frustrated & just confused.

But if you cut through all that bullshit advice & get down to the basic components of fat loss, you can get results like this:

My client, Peggy, focused on the simple basics of fat loss consistently for months & completely transformed her body!

I, myself, stopped listening to all the contradicting information around me & simplified my approach.

The results are quite obvious.

The most simple & basic components of fat loss are the ones that actually work.

If you want to:

– lose body fat

– get stronger & build muscle

– look lean, toned & defined

– be healthier overall

And get these results in a simple, systematic way, then you need to focus on the basic components of fat loss & forget everything else.

I’m going to lay out each component for you & explain exactly what you need to do with each of them in order to reach your fat loss goals.

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Component #1 – Calorie Deficit

The most important component of fat loss is eating in a calorie deficit.

In order to lose fat, you must consistently eat less calories than it takes to maintain your current weight.

You have to create a deficit of calorie by consuming less calories than you expend.

Your body burns calories in 4 ways and each component contributes a different amount to the total number of calories you burn (as illustrated below).

The first way is your basal metabolic rate, or the calories you burn to keep your body alive & functioning at rest. The second is non exercise activity thermogenesis, or the calories you burn doing everything active that isn’t eating, sleeping or structured exercise. The third is thermic effect of food, or the calories you burn to digest & process food. And the fourth is exercise activity thermogenesis, or the calories you burn while working out.

Your BMR contributes most (70%) to how many total calories you burn. NEAT contributes 15%, TEF 10% and EAT 5% to your total daily calorie expenditure.

When the total of these 4 components is more than how many calories you consume through food and drink, you’ve successfully created a calorie deficit!

Creating Your Calorie Deficit for Fat Loss

For fat loss, you need to eat at a moderate calorie deficit.

It can be tempting to cut your calories very low so you lose weight fast, but trust me…you don’t want your deficit to be too big. That’ll just lead to low energy, poor workout performance & recovery, a loss of muscle mass, intense hunger & cravings… pretty much just being miserable all around. Cutting your calories lower than necessary is how NOT to lose fat.

This process doesn’t have to be torture!

A moderate deficit will allow you to be consistent, maintain & even build muscle so you’re only losing body fat and just enjoy the process. The goal is the eat as many calories as possible while remaining in a deficit to lose fat at a slow sustainable rate.

There’s a couple of ways you can figure out your calorie deficit.

Method 1

1. Track your calories for 3-4 weeks.
2. Calculate your average weight at the end of each week.
3. At the end of 3-4 weeks, if your weight has remained the same, you know you’re eating maintenance calories.
4. Now you can subtract 300-500 from that number to set a moderate deficit.

Method 2

1. Multiply your goal bodyweight in pounds by 12.
2. Track your weekly average weight for 4 weeks.
3. If it’s staying the same, drop your calories by 100.
4. If it’s going down, keep going!

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Component #2 – Protein

The second most important component of fat loss is protein.

Protein is an essential macronutrient that plays many roles in the human body, including but not limited to:

• Growth & maintenance of tissues, which are in a constant state of turnover
• Enyzme & hormone production
• Immune health
• Makes up bones, muscles, connective tissue, skin, hair, nails & blood

Protein is crucial for good health and also plays a big role in fat loss.

Protein-rich foods are more satiating than carbs and fats. If you’re dieting, eating enough protein will help you feel full, reduce cravings and decrease the likelihood of you overeating.

Protein is necessary for building & maintaining muscle mass. When losing weight, the goal is for the majority of that weight to be pure body fat. For this to happen, you have to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. Along with progressive strength training, protein will help you spare your muscle mass while eating in a calorie deficit. Which will lead to improvements in your body composition – less fat & more muscle mass.

Protein enhances recovery from your workouts. When you’re strength training, you’re putting stress on your muscles & creating micro-tears in them. The repair of these tears is what makes your muscles stronger. Protein plays an essential role in the recovery process.

Calculating Your Protein Intake for Fat Loss

You can figure out your daily protein intake by multiplying your goal bodyweight in pounds by 0.8. That’ll give you how many grams of protein you should eat per day.

Foe example, if your goal bodyweight is 150 pounds, you’ll multiply 150 by 0.8. This gives you a daily protein target of 120 grams per day.

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Component #3 – Strength Training

We’ve got the nutrition part of fat loss down – eating in a calorie deficit & eating enough protein. And nutrition is by far the most important part!

But exercise plays a big role, as well.

The majority of your structured exercise should be made up of strength training (check out this article to learn all about strength training)!

Building strength in your body’s compound movement patterns (squat, deadlift, lunge, hip thrust, chest press, row, shoulder press & pullup variations) will help you preserve & build muscle mass.

Doing this in conjunction with eating in a calorie deficit and eating enough protein will ensure the weight you’re losing is pure body fat (instead of muscle mass and body fat). This is important for a couple of reasons.

First, it keeps your metabolism elevated. Let’s refer back to our handy TDEE chart.

Now this next part isn’t something that’s been proven, as far as I know. But hear me out!

Generally, less muscular people tend to move less. People who aren’t strong have a greater risk of injury, move less effectively and efficiently and are generally less healthy compared to strong, muscular people.

I’m taking a wild leap to say for these reasons, these people would be less likely to move as much as people who regularly strength train.

This would affect the 2nd largest contributor to your TDEE – NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis or how much you move outside of structured exercise). Again, a big hit to how many total calorie you burn daily.

Second, sparing your muscle mass while dieting will result in a better looking body.

Setting Up Your Strength Training for Fat Loss

Check out this article that guides you through the process of designing your own strength training program!

Strength train anywhere from 3-4 times per week to get the best results.

Your training program should be primarily made up of compound movements.

And your focus should be to progress in some way weekly!

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Component #4 – Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

Can you believe that all these activities you never really give a second thought to make up the most of your active calories?! Yes, NEAT even beats our how many calories you burn through exercise!

Setting Up Your NEAT for Fat Loss

All you have to do for this component is to make sure you’re leading an active life. Move around throughout your day. It obviously adds up and makes a huge difference! Tracking steps is a wonderful way of getting a good idea of how much you’re moving daily. Take a look at your average steps per day & work on increasing it by 1000 steps per week until you hit anywhere from 8-12K steps per day!

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Component #5 – Cardio, Group Fitness, HIIT

I’ll go ahead and preface this section by clarifying that I’m not telling you to not do cardio, high intensity interval training, participate in group fitness classes or whatever else you enjoy doing.

I’m also not going to tell you that these things can’t help you lose weight.

But I am going to tell you why these activities are the least of your worries when you have a fat loss goal.

As I explained before, your goal with exercise should be to spare your muscle mass. Cardio & classes will not help you do this. The only thing that will is progressive strength training.

The role of exercise in a fat loss program is not to burn calories to create your deficit. This is a shortsighted & inefficient approach for a few reasons.

It’s a heck of a lot easier & takes less time to not eat 500 calories than it does to burn 500 calories. And you’re likely not burning as many calories as you think through your workout.

Setting Up Your Other Activities for Fat Loss

Now, if you enjoy cardio, classes, HIIT or whatever else, do it! But don’t let it interfere with your strength training performance and recovery. And know it is not a requirement for fat loss.

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Bonus Components I – Sleep, Recovery, Stress Management

There are a few other components that are essential to the fat loss process. They are so important that instead of being within the pyramid, they support the entire thing.

Sleep, recovery and stress management are crucial for fat loss.

Although a calorie deficit is the only requirement, it won’t get you anywhere if you don’t focus on these 3 components. They all work together. If your sleep, recovery and stress are not taken care of, being in a calorie deficit will be that much harder.

These 3 components impact every single part of the pyramid.

Lack of sleep, poor recovery and high stress levels can lead to increased hunger levels and cravings, poor training performance, decreased energy levels and even a general change in your mindset. And these consequences impair your ability to remain in a calorie deficit, eat enough protein, build strength and muscle, keep your NEAT high and keep your head in the game.

Setting Up Your Sleep, Recovery & Stress Management for Fat Loss

Fat loss is a form of stress on your body. Give yourself the support you need by getting at least 7 quality hours of sleep per night, taking rest days from strength workouts, taking care of your recovery from your workouts and managing your stress in the ways that work for you.

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Bonus Components II – Sustainability, Consistency & Patience

Sustainability, consistency and patience are the last 3 components that also support the entire pyramid and that can make or break your fat loss success.

The methods you use to lose fat have to be sustainable. Otherwise, there’s no way you’re going to be able to stick with it long enough to see results. Take moderate approaches to each component that allow you to be consistent.

Because consistency is the determining factor of your success. Through this process, what you do most of the time matters more than what you do some of the time.

Good news, right?! You don’t have to be perfect…just consistent!

Be consistent in adhering to the components of the pyramid and you will see results. It won’t happen overnight, though.

Fat loss is a slow process – it’s meant to be. The slow process allows you to:

• Keep your metabolism, strength, fitness and energy levels elevated
• Undo habits that led you to gain weight in the first place
• Develop new habits and incorporate them as permanent lifestyle changes
• Learn what works best for you, your lifestyle and preferences

And all these benefits of losing weight slowly are what’s going to make it possible for you to easily maintain your progress long-term! So settle in for the long run and practice patience.

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Congratulations! You now know the most important components of fat loss. And equally as important, you know what to ignore! I hope this has given you some clarity on where to focus your efforts to achieve your fat loss goals. It really is this simple – dial in calories, eat enough protein, build strength, move more, sleep enough and be consistent and patient. Forget everything else and put all your effort into these components. Keep it simple, stick to the basic and you will reach your fat loss goals!

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As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please leave them in the comments section or reach out to me directly at jshahfitness@gmail.com or here. I will personally respond & help you however I can!