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There is a reason our clients and family are bursting with excitement on news feeds and via text messages when the weight is gone. There is a strangely serendipitous feeling that happens when you receive an unsolicited compliment from a friend or family member on how great you look. The largest meta-analysis on weight loss success performed by the University of Alabama showed us that people who lose the most weight in the first weeks end up with the best results in the long term.
Therefore, losing weight fast will better impact you in both the short term and the long term. Your results will come in too slowly and not give you enough momentum you from moving forward. Both the science and common sense tells us this. Lots of protein, water, and low carb veggies at every meal. The reason comes from both science and personal experience. In fact, a recent study done by Current Biology took adults from 5 different countries through a calorie reduction weight loss program. They split the groups between those that did exercise and those that did not.
Shockingly enough, adding in exercise did not play ANY major role over calories burned or weight lost. And for those that saw changes, they were minor at best. Alex and I are still HUGE fans of exercise and all of the health benefits that come with it, so make no mistake there. We just believe that there is a time and a place for it. You want to lose a few pounds of belly fat in a relatively short period of time. Shoot, you'd even love a set of six-pack abs. That's great, because when you reduce your percentage of body fat especially when you lose visceral fat like belly fat , you reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and if you do it the right way, you improve your overall health and fitness.
So while losing some belly fat will help you look better, it will also make you healthier. Reducing your body fat percentage isn't easy, though. If it was, everyone would look like this. But if you follow the right program, you can. Stick to the following plan and reducing your body fat percentage -- and losing some pounds of belly fat -- is almost assured.
One, it's impossible to "spot reduce. It doesn't work that way. You can't remove subcutaneous body fat from specific areas of the body by doing exercises that target those areas. Doing hundreds of crunches will certainly strengthen your abs, but that won't reduce the amount of fat stored in your torso.
Want to lose pounds of belly fat? You'll have to lose pounds of weight.
Some will come from your stomach. Some will come from the rest of your body. That doesn't mean that we don't have certain areas where we're predisposed to put on fat. If I gain a few excess pounds, most seem to appear on my stomach. Other people tend to put on pounds in their thighs or rear. They're gaining weight everywhere, of course, but it seems to appear more readily in a certain area.
On the flip side, if I lose five or six pounds, my waistline gets noticeably less soft. But I'm still losing fat everywhere else: That's how it works. So don't fall for the spot reduction myth. If you want to lose pounds of body fat, you'll have to reduce your overall body fat percentage, which almost always means losing weight. Unless you're way out of shape, it's really, really hard to add significant amounts of muscle while also losing weight.
Which leads us to point number two: If you want to lose belly fat, you'll need to lose weight. If you stick to the following plan, you won't have to lose as much weight as you might think because your body will burn more fat for energy, but still. Reducing your body fat percentage will require losing some weight. Don't go into this thinking you won't have to lose weight, because that's the surest way to fail. Intermittent fasting -- here's a thorough guide to intermittent fasting -- is not a diet, although you can follow an intermittent fasting schedule in conjunction with a calorie reduction plan.
It's just a different way of eating -- and a great way to burn more fat and change your body composition and shift your muscle to fat ratio toward a greater percentage of muscle. Here's how it works. Once you start eating, your body shifts into the fed state. Even after you've finished eating, you stay in the fed state for roughly three to five hours depending on what you've eaten, how frequently you've eaten, your metabolic rate, and other factors.
When you're in the fed state, your insulin levels naturally increase, and when your insulin levels are high you typically don't burn fat for energy because your body doesn't need to tap into its fat stores -- what you've eaten gives it plenty to work with. After somewhere between three and five hours, your body stops processing its last meal. There's nothing left to absorb, so insulin levels naturally decrease.
Then, somewhere between eight and 12 hours after that last meal, your body starts burning stored fat. Why don't you start burning fat sooner? Biology is sometimes a pain in the ass; it's like our bodies will do anything to hang on to fat. So, when you're in the fed state, your body doesn't need to burn fat; it's like the door to the fat store is locked.
When you're in the fasted state, the door to the fat store swings open.
But it takes eight to 12 hours to get into the fasted state. Start your day with breakfast at 7 a. Fast for 16 hours, and you do. And that's how, over time, you can lose a few percentage points of fat even if you don't change your exercise routine and don't change what you eat; keep all the other variables consistent and intermittent fasting will cause you to lose fat.
Science says so; in one study , after eight weeks participants who followed an intermittent fasting eating schedule lost 3. It doesn't work that way. You can't remove subcutaneous body fat from specific areas of the body by doing exercises that target those areas. Doing hundreds of crunches will certainly strengthen your abs, but that won't reduce the amount of fat stored in your torso.
Want to lose pounds of belly fat? You'll have to lose pounds of weight. Some will come from your stomach. Some will come from the rest of your body. That doesn't mean that we don't have certain areas where we're predisposed to put on fat. If I gain a few excess pounds, most seem to appear on my stomach. Other people tend to put on pounds in their thighs or rear.
They're gaining weight everywhere, of course, but it seems to appear more readily in a certain area. On the flip side, if I lose five or six pounds, my waistline gets noticeably less soft. But I'm still losing fat everywhere else: That's how it works. So don't fall for the spot reduction myth.
If you want to lose pounds of body fat, you'll have to reduce your overall body fat percentage, which almost always means losing weight. Unless you're way out of shape, it's really, really hard to add significant amounts of muscle while also losing weight. Which leads us to point number two: If you want to lose belly fat, you'll need to lose weight. If you stick to the following plan, you won't have to lose as much weight as you might think because your body will burn more fat for energy, but still. Reducing your body fat percentage will require losing some weight.
Don't go into this thinking you won't have to lose weight, because that's the surest way to fail. Intermittent fasting -- here's a thorough guide to intermittent fasting -- is not a diet, although you can follow an intermittent fasting schedule in conjunction with a calorie reduction plan. It's just a different way of eating -- and a great way to burn more fat and change your body composition and shift your muscle to fat ratio toward a greater percentage of muscle.
Here's how it works. Once you start eating, your body shifts into the fed state.
Even after you've finished eating, you stay in the fed state for roughly three to five hours depending on what you've eaten, how frequently you've eaten, your metabolic rate, and other factors. When you're in the fed state, your insulin levels naturally increase, and when your insulin levels are high you typically don't burn fat for energy because your body doesn't need to tap into its fat stores -- what you've eaten gives it plenty to work with.
After somewhere between three and five hours, your body stops processing its last meal. There's nothing left to absorb, so insulin levels naturally decrease. Then, somewhere between eight and 12 hours after that last meal, your body starts burning stored fat.
Replace the white stuff with vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins. Extreme dehydration can lead to poor performance, increased heart rate and blood pressure, higher risk of injury, and brain, kidney, and vision problems further down the line. If you want to lose pounds of body fat, you'll have to reduce your overall body fat percentage, which almost always means losing weight. The same is true for "white fats" like butter and full-fat cheese. Sign up to subscribe to email alerts and you'll never miss a post.
Why don't you start burning fat sooner? Biology is sometimes a pain in the ass; it's like our bodies will do anything to hang on to fat. So, when you're in the fed state, your body doesn't need to burn fat; it's like the door to the fat store is locked. When you're in the fasted state, the door to the fat store swings open.
But it takes eight to 12 hours to get into the fasted state. Start your day with breakfast at 7 a. Fast for 16 hours, and you do.
And that's how, over time, you can lose a few percentage points of fat even if you don't change your exercise routine and don't change what you eat; keep all the other variables consistent and intermittent fasting will cause you to lose fat. Science says so; in one study , after eight weeks participants who followed an intermittent fasting eating schedule lost 3.
In another study , participants reduced their waist circumference by 4 to 7 percent. Other studies have shown that fasting can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Plus, who can ignore Jackman science: To play Wolverine, Hugh Jackman followed an intermittent fasting eating regimen to put on more than 20 pounds of muscle while also leaning out.
Proving it is possible to add significant muscle while losing fat. But it's really, really hard. The beauty of intermittent fasting is that there really is just one rule: Eat for eight hours, then don't eat for 16 hours. Some people choose to fast for 18 hours; try that if you want, but, jeez, it's a long time to go without eating.