So you want to know the secret to an effective fat loss strategy, that really works?

I’ll tell you exactly how in these next 5 points.

The human body is the most complex organism on the planet and so improving your health including fat loss should take this into account. It’s more than calories out and calories in or going ballistic in an exercise class.

Rest assured that these methods work and with continual fine tuning will work to keep the fat off for the rest of your life!

• Change your traditional carbs for above ground vegetables BUT you must also include healthy fat and protein with every meal.

Many people tend to overeat carbs. They taste great and some are highly addictive. The reality is that as most of us live sedentary lives outside of the gym environment, we just don’t need that amount of glucose/glycogen and therefore we convert it to fat for later as a survival mechanism.

The solution is to restrict below ground vegetables and grains. Replace them with above ground vegetables which are very high in nutrients but lower on carb calories. The secret to making this work, is to fine tune your macronutrient ratio of fat, protein and carbs so that it works for you. We do this on an individual basis for our clients so that they never feel restricted, have optimal recovery nutrients, can stabilise hormones and always feel satiated.

• Quality food

In this fast paced world, many people are still opting for the junk food out there. You may automatically start thinking of fast food as junk but actually there is a lot of misconception in what makes food ‘junk’.

High quality food: Vegetables that are consumed within a few days of being picked to ensure nutrients are still there, meat and fish that are from farms (or wild) that offer quality of life for the animals and fish, fats that are non toxic (fats essentially absorb toxins from their environment).

The bottom line on this subject is that the less nutrient dense food you eat and the more toxic you become, the fatter you’ll get.

• Avoid ‘starving’ yourself

You must eat at regular times. This is an absolute must for so many reasons, too many for this short blog. So what I will do for you is simplify… The moment you deprive yourself (especially women) of food, you will teach the body to store fat next time you eat and it’s very difficult to reverse this. It’s that simple. The human body is built for survival and will do anything necessary to survive. Follow the 3 R’s: Eat right, regular and create a routine.

• Gut health optimisation

If your gut health is out of shape, rest assured, you will be too. Your gut is responsible for digestion, hormones, brain health, recovery, immunity and intolerance. All these things contribute to gaining fat, so make this an absolute priority for gut optimisation like we do with our clients.

• Your training

Many people are confused on this topic and so this will be a longer section…

There’s been a lot of hype recently on super hard fat burning HIIT workouts, bootcamps and the like. They can burn up to 1000 calories and people are left feeling like they can eat anything and still not put on weight. This may be the case for some… for the short term. For the long term, it’s a problem and here’s why:

Anyone can ‘smash’ someone in a workout and burn many calories. I can come up with a workout that could (with someone capable) burn 2000 calories in a workout but the result (if not performed correctly and without the right scheduled rest in a dedicated program for that person or small group) for the average person on hormones, ligaments, joint cartilage, faulty recruitment mechanisms and wear and tear, will be a nightmare for the body. Read this article to see what I’m talking about HERE

The truth for effective training, is that most muscles have a different percentage of a certain muscle fibre type and so certain exercises need to be performed with the right tempo (especially total time under tension) and repetition range for that muscle: Number one for effective improvement to that muscle and number two, to prevent compensatory muscles from taking over which will harm the performance (form) and thus increase wear and tear of joints and connective tissue. The trouble is, most of the time when training hard and incorrectly, you won’t feel harm being done because endorphins are an incredible pain killer (thats why they are also released in women during child birth). Anyone training for fat loss needs to couple these methods with stabiliser training and stretching specific muscles in a scientifically designed program for the individual (or at least scientifically designed for a group) to keep the body in balance and healthy!

To protect yourself hormonally (if your adrenals are overworked, this will lead to fat gain again in the future and worse, adrenal exhaustion) with workouts, you’ll need a combination of varying intensity through the weeks. No one should hammer themselves every workout (and many actually overtrain in one session), not even elite world class athletes, it’s physical and emotional suicide. Make sure you have a protocol that takes into account the intensity, rest days, active rest days and weeks off. This will increase longevity without burn out and thus, further fat loss.

Another area for effective workouts on fat loss is to be there. What I mean by this is actually BE there, in the set, focused on the muscles, on your breathing, on the intensity, on the quality of movement! What we have so much of these days is what one of our very focused clients Rebecca says, is “distraction training: maximal calories burned with little awareness, thought or attention to the body”. Think about it as mindfulness for training… as Arnold Schwarzenegger famously mentioned something along the lines of “the worst mistake you can make is going to the gym and going through the motions, you haven’t got your mind inside the muscle. Only when having total focus on every single rep, will you look like a champion”. I completely agree and many classes teach this dissociated training when in fact they should be teaching associated training, YOUR true mastering of your mind and body connection and having a relationship with it. After all, it was being unaware of your own body/mind connection that the majority of the time makes you gain fat in the first place.

When you are in touch and focused, you will not only be doing seriously effective fat loss workouts but workouts that will improve your function, ability and keep burning calories days after the workout.

Just take a look at the Olympians this year, amazing physiques and effective, focused scheduled training methods.

Enjoy the mastery of your own body, after all, it is yours!

Rupert Hambly