It’s that time of year again, the time where the pantry gets cleared and the gyms are flooded with Resolutioners looking to drop the extra pounds accumulated over the holidays. But before you go trying the same fads and quick fixes that keep you on the hamster wheel of chronic dieting, consider a more sustainable approach. Let’s go through some simple tips to help you lose some fat, and keep it off, this New Year.
Set A Realistic Diet Timeline
Contrary to popular belief, dieting is not a lifestyle—you can’t diet your way down to weighing zero pounds. A fat loss diet is a temporary restriction of calories to reach a certain goal at which point the restriction ends and you maintain the results. Having an endpoint prepares you mentally to work hard at your goal for a certain amount of time and then it will be over.
For most people, a 6-12 week diet is where to start. Less than 6 weeks and it's hard to see meaningful progress, more than 12 weeks and you're risking burning out and weight regain.
Choose A Smaller Calorie Deficit
With the renewed motivation of the New Year it’s tempting to drastically slash your calories in an attempt to lose as much weight as possible in the shortest amount of time. This may even work for a few weeks and you’ll see rapid weight loss. The downside to this approach is it almost certainly risks burnout and rebound weight gain. The slow and steady approach may take longer, but it gives you the best chance of losing weight AND keeping it off.
Aim for roughly a 250-500 calorie deficit per day. If you’re new to dieting or have struggled in the past, start at the lower end. A 250-500 calorie deficit per day would result in about a 0.5-1 pound of weight lost per week. This is a very realistic and achievable rate for most people and really starts to add up over the course of 6-12 weeks.
Eat More Protein
Most people attempting to lose weight aren’t interested in becoming a smaller version of their current self. They want to have shape, firmness, and to be toned. This requires having some muscle and your muscle is exclusively made of protein. So to keep your existing muscle, and to build more, you need to focus on eating more protein. For most people, depending on body size, this will mean around 30 grams of protein per meal. For context, this would mean roughly 3-4 oz of cooked chicken or white fish. The other added benefit of having more protein is it’s more filling, helping to manage hunger while fat loss dieting.
Choose High Volume Foods
The number one hurdle when cutting calories is managing hunger. So the key is to pick foods that are high in volume, meaning you get a lot of physical food to eat for relatively low calories. An easy illustration of this is to compare 100 calories of broccoli (about 3.5 cups) vs 100 calories of potato chips (less than 10 chips). Although the broccoli isn’t as fun, it makes a huge difference in how full you get from the same 100 calories.
In general, the best high volume foods to focus on are:
Lean Proteins (lean cuts of meat, seafood, vegan sources, Greek yogurt, eggs, etc)
Healthy Carbs (vegetables, fruits, and whole grains)
Healthy Fats (avocado, nuts, nut butters, olive oil, seeds, etc)
Just remember, there are no magic fat-blasting foods. If you hate brown rice try quinoa or sweet potatoes instead. Can't stand broccoli, choose a different veggie that you enjoy. Try to choose foods that give you the best combination of keeping you full, enjoyment, and ease to prepare—this will give you the best chance of sticking to your diet!
Consider Training With Weights
Outside of nutrition, resistance training is the best thing you can do to improve your body composition. Resistance training can mean using resistance bands and bodyweight movements if you’re a beginner, or lifting weights if you have more experience in the gym. Resistance training will drastically improve your fat loss to muscle loss ratio on a diet. Meaning you lose more fat, but keep the muscle that makes your body look firm, tone, and have shape. If you’re new to resistance training, as little as two days per week can make a huge impact.
For more details on how to train for fat loss, go to sratrainingsystems.com and download a free copy of the SRA Mini-Guide To Weight Training.
Losing weight can be challenging, but dieting doesn’t have to be impossible. If you can be consistent, patient, and master some of the basics you’ll give yourself the best possible chance of losing weight and keeping it off, for good.
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