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By Vic Magary
It’s easy to get lost among all of the programs, pills, and potions that boast the latest and greatest fat loss fix. But the truth is that fat loss does not have to be complicated.
If you want to lose weight, all it comes down to is the following four rules of fat loss:
1. Eat Real Food
So what do I consider “real food”? Here’s a tip – if you can’t eat it raw or cook it with nothing more than an open flame and a pointy stick, then it’s not real food. And that basically leaves us with vegetables, fruits, meat, nuts, and seeds. Eat all of the vegetables you like – especially the green leafy kind. Eat a few pieces of fruit each day, being aware to limit quantities of the sweeter fruits like pineapple, melon, and bananas if weight loss is your goal. Have 1 – 3 servings of meat per day, keeping your quantity per serving to no more than the size and thickness of your palm. Eat a small amount of nuts and seeds, and by “small” I mean about 6 almonds per serving for most people working on fat loss. And that’s it – no complicated formulas, no tedious calorie counting, just real food in appropriate quantities.
2. Train outside of your comfort zone
Yes, any exercise is better than no exercise at all. But if you want the most effective fat loss training, it’s going to take more than simply walking on a treadmill. In fact it’s going to take some huffing and puffing. It might even involve the occasional feeling of dizziness or nausea as you flirt with the upper limits of your true fitness capacities. And that’s ok! Think about the exertion level that we used to experience for basic survival. . . How hard would your heart be pounding if you had to stalk an elk for you next meal armed with nothing but a spear? What kind of explosive movement would you engage in to escape being the next meal of some large hungry beast? With our desk jobs and televisions, our bodies crave the hard “workouts” that were once integral to survival.
3. Allow for adequate rest and recovery
In the point above I talked about training hard. But the level of exertion is relative to the individual – it must be tempered according to your own personal fitness capacity. Your training must also be buttressed with corresponding periods of rest and recovery. The most basic of this is sleep! Rather than give you a specific number of hours you need, I’ll just say this – get as much sleep as you can. It’s also good to periodically take days off from training to allow for your muscles to recuperate between sessions. Reducing your stress level is also important – so take a walk outside, meditate, play with your dog, or what ever else helps you release the pressures of life.
4. Repeat
Yep, the three things above (eat real food, train hard, and rest) are all there are to fat loss. But the “secret sauce” is consistency. You have to view your new health regimen as a way of life and not as some get-thin-quick scheme. Sure, I regularly help people lose over 20 pounds in only 31 days. But what happens after the first 31 days? That’s up to you. . . but if you go back to eating prepackaged crap and sitting on the couch all day, of course your weight will go back up. Once you reach your ideal weight, you can follow the old “80/20” rule for the most part where 80% of the time you stick to your diet and exercise plan and 20% of the time you allow yourself some wiggle room. But if you see your weight creep up to 3 pounds or more over your preferred weight, it’s time to lock things back down to 100%!
I’m the first to admit that weight loss is not rocket science. If you follow a consistent plan of eating real food in limited portions, training outside of your comfort zone, and allowing for adequate rest and recovery, you’ll be on the right path to fat loss.
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