If you were to ask any online search engine how to lose weight you would likely be met by a world of over-complicated, conflicting information. Likewise, in the real world many trainers will tell you so many different opinions that fat loss can occasionally come across as a fine art or rocket science.
The good news is you're not alone in your problem. In fact, well over half of the gym population in the UK and USA have no idea how to drop unwanted body fat, such is the level of confusion surrounding this controversial topic.
Bizarrely, despite the number of people who claim to need assistance with this particular issue, we have reached a point of information overload. With too much information, much of it conflicting, many gym users have reverted back to trial and error methods and trying to figure things out for themselves. There are a few scientifically proven methods you can use.
They consist of:
1. Get more daily protein in to your diet.
2. Stop cutting out carbohydrates and fats.
3. Get in your barn and find those old dumbbells. Lifting weights is highly recommended.
4. Swap out long aerobic workouts for shorter, more effective cardiovascular exercise like interval training.
An increase in your protein intake will work wonders for your body - particularly those who have fat loss goals in mind. Many people unfairly label protein, and particularly whey protein supplements, as a nutrient for people who want to get big and muscular. This is completely false, of course. Protein is your best friend when you are trying to cut down body fat levels. Eat around 1.5g per kilo of your body weight. So an 80kg person would eat around 160g protein on a daily basis.
Naturally, you will need to do more than just up your protein if you want to get results in a short period of time. Another move you should make is to stay well clear of the common trend to avoid carbohydrates and fats. Cutting out these vital nutrients from your diet is one of the worst mistakes you can make. Usually, celebrity diets are guilty of this mistake in a bid to shift pounds quickly. However, the key here is to remember that you aren't just striving for weight loss - you are striving for fat loss. When you cut out carbohydrates and fats you end up losing muscle, as well as piling the pounds back on straight after your diet finishes.
Now that your diet is finally on track, you will begin looking for ways to improve your existing exercise routine. Well, you can begin by heading into your barn and finding those old barbells and dumbbells you bought years ago.
As soon as people think about dieting, they couple that thought with cardiovascular exercise. For some reason, weight training is relegated to the status of afterthought, something which they later come to regret. Resistance training has been shown to burn considerably more body fat than steady state cardiovascular exercise, as well as helping you to take advantage of an increased protein intake and getting your muscles leaner for when you lose some body fat.
If you have never previously trained with weights at all then you should be able to enjoy fabulous results by hitting a three day program each week. Try to focus on full body workouts, beginning with the safety of the resistance machines in your local gym before moving on to free bar work when you feel confident enough to do so.
The other important aspect of any effective fat loss program is, of course, cardiovascular exercise. Just as many people wrongly believe that lifting weights won't aid fat loss, many people also wrongly believe that the way to build a better body is to spend two hours per day jogging on the treadmill. High intensity interval training, otherwise known as HIIT for short, allows you to complete your cardiovascular work in far less time and has been proven to burn more than six times the body fat of a much longer aerobic workout.
A combination of HIIT with a targeted resistance training routine is definitely a move in the right direction if you are learning how to lose weight that you can keep off forever once it is gone. It's easy to progress, unlike steady state cardiovascular routines, and it offers a much needed dosage of variety into your training sessions.
The good news is you're not alone in your problem. In fact, well over half of the gym population in the UK and USA have no idea how to drop unwanted body fat, such is the level of confusion surrounding this controversial topic.
Bizarrely, despite the number of people who claim to need assistance with this particular issue, we have reached a point of information overload. With too much information, much of it conflicting, many gym users have reverted back to trial and error methods and trying to figure things out for themselves. There are a few scientifically proven methods you can use.
They consist of:
1. Get more daily protein in to your diet.
2. Stop cutting out carbohydrates and fats.
3. Get in your barn and find those old dumbbells. Lifting weights is highly recommended.
4. Swap out long aerobic workouts for shorter, more effective cardiovascular exercise like interval training.
An increase in your protein intake will work wonders for your body - particularly those who have fat loss goals in mind. Many people unfairly label protein, and particularly whey protein supplements, as a nutrient for people who want to get big and muscular. This is completely false, of course. Protein is your best friend when you are trying to cut down body fat levels. Eat around 1.5g per kilo of your body weight. So an 80kg person would eat around 160g protein on a daily basis.
Naturally, you will need to do more than just up your protein if you want to get results in a short period of time. Another move you should make is to stay well clear of the common trend to avoid carbohydrates and fats. Cutting out these vital nutrients from your diet is one of the worst mistakes you can make. Usually, celebrity diets are guilty of this mistake in a bid to shift pounds quickly. However, the key here is to remember that you aren't just striving for weight loss - you are striving for fat loss. When you cut out carbohydrates and fats you end up losing muscle, as well as piling the pounds back on straight after your diet finishes.
Now that your diet is finally on track, you will begin looking for ways to improve your existing exercise routine. Well, you can begin by heading into your barn and finding those old barbells and dumbbells you bought years ago.
As soon as people think about dieting, they couple that thought with cardiovascular exercise. For some reason, weight training is relegated to the status of afterthought, something which they later come to regret. Resistance training has been shown to burn considerably more body fat than steady state cardiovascular exercise, as well as helping you to take advantage of an increased protein intake and getting your muscles leaner for when you lose some body fat.
If you have never previously trained with weights at all then you should be able to enjoy fabulous results by hitting a three day program each week. Try to focus on full body workouts, beginning with the safety of the resistance machines in your local gym before moving on to free bar work when you feel confident enough to do so.
The other important aspect of any effective fat loss program is, of course, cardiovascular exercise. Just as many people wrongly believe that lifting weights won't aid fat loss, many people also wrongly believe that the way to build a better body is to spend two hours per day jogging on the treadmill. High intensity interval training, otherwise known as HIIT for short, allows you to complete your cardiovascular work in far less time and has been proven to burn more than six times the body fat of a much longer aerobic workout.
A combination of HIIT with a targeted resistance training routine is definitely a move in the right direction if you are learning how to lose weight that you can keep off forever once it is gone. It's easy to progress, unlike steady state cardiovascular routines, and it offers a much needed dosage of variety into your training sessions.
About the Author:
About the author: Get expert advice on how to lose weight from top physique coach Russ Howe PTI. South Shields physique coach produces fresh content to his exercise and dieting blog every week for his followers.