3 Effective Strategies to Boost Fat Loss

There is no single, right way to fat loss. No save-all-end-all diet plan. No magic pill. But if you’ve been trying to lose a few pounds and nothing seems to work, try these 3 strategies to boost fat loss.

I want to emphasize that even with every trick and tool in your back pocket, your #1 asset when it comes to fat loss is consistency. Learn the basics and make healthier eating, regular exercise and stress relief part of your daily, natural routine. These strategies can help, but only if you are doing the work.

Track Your Food

No matter how “on point” you think your diet is, it’s impossible to remember everything without writing it down. And if you don’t know exactly what you eat, how can you make changes that will get you the results you seek?

Tracking the obvious.

The what. What are you eating? Is it an apple, or is it apple sauce? Is it filet mignon or is it 80% fat ground beef burgers? Water, or wine? When it comes to losing weight, your answers matter.

The how much. How many servings of vegetables are you getting each day? How much peanut butter is really on that spoon? We tend to underestimate portion sizes regularly, which means that the number of calories we think we are eating on a daily basis is fat from the truth. You don’t necessarily have to using a scale or measuring spoons. Try this instead.

And the not so obvious.

The why. Why you eat food plays a bigger role than you might think. If you eat because you are hungry, you’re more likely to be giving your body the nutrients it needs without overdoing it. If you eat because you are stressed, bored, sad, mad, anxious, intoxicated, etc., you are more likely to overeat and consume more calories than your body needs. Tracking your food, and the reason behind the meal, can go a long way in uncovering emotions that trigger you to eat when not hungry.

The when. When you eat is often connected to why you eat (heyyyyyy, 3 pm snack time), but that’s not always the case. There’s a lot of hype around intermittent fasting, and the argument about whether you should or should not eat breakfast pops up frequently in diet media. If you’ve hopped on the band wagon simply to be able to call “skipping breakfast” intermittent fasting, dig in more. Eating at regular intervals, starting with breakfast, boosts energy, enhances your immune system, controls blood sugar levels, helps you make better food choices, and absolutely plays a role in weight loss.

The where. Do you eat dinner at the table, enjoying your food and the company you eat with? Or do you eat in front of your computer screen, oblivious to the taste of what’s in front of you and how much of it you eat before you look down at an empty plate? Paying attention while you eat and being mindful can go a long way in preventing overconsumption.

Finally, how do you feel? Tracking your body and brains reaction to certain foods can help you pinpoint the foods that make you feel good, and the foods that leave you feeling blah. Did you eat just because food was in front of you? Or did you start eating and overeat to the point of feeling sick? This is the kind of information that can help you make better choices in the future. In tracking how you feel, you might even discover n intolerance or allergies that you didn’t know you have.

N.E.A.T.

N.E.A.T. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis. AKA, all of the calories that you burn NOT in the gym, eating or sleeping. Getting up from your chair, walking, making dinner, doing laundry, walking from your car to Target…it takes energy (read: calories), to do these things.

And babe, it can add up!

And unfortunately, it’s really easy to forget about moving around more, especially if you work from a computer at a desk.

Think about it this way: if you spend 60-minutes at the gym, 4 times a week, that’s just 2% of your entire week! You spend far more time NOT purposefully working out than you do lifting weights or doing cardio. And while those activities absolutely play a role in your health and weight loss endeavors, the work doesn’t stop there.

Here’s what I tell my clients:

• Set an alarm to go off every 1-1.5 hours. When it goes off, get up from where you are sitting and move around for 5 minutes. Stretch, walk, do body weight squats, do some laundry, visit a co-worker…
• Park in the farthest, not the closest, parking space in the lot. Carry your bags in and out. Return your cart to the store front.
• Start your day with 15 minutes of movement. Not only do you get a bit of exercise in, but you get the chance to soak up a little Vitamin Sun (great for your natural circadian rhythm), and some quiet time with yourself, your s.o. or your pup 1st thing in the a.m.

H.I.I.T.

H.I.I.T. combines short bursts of close-to-maximum effort with rest and recovery periods at a lower intensity. High-intensity interval training has proven time and again to be one of the best ways to increase fat loss without sacrificing muscle or time. Study after study showing real results has pushed H.I.I.T. to the mainstream, and this is one trend I can really stand behind.

Why does it work for fat loss?

H.I.I.T. is an effective fat loss workout because it taxes your body’s “normal” systems (i.e. oxygen intake, distribution, energy use), in a more disruptive way than than steady state cardio, in less time. It takes more energy to return to homeostasis than after other forms of exercise.

Plus, there’s an after burn effect. High intensity workouts rev your metabolism post-workout, so you burn more calories even at rest.

There are a few important factors in H.I.I.T. fat loss success:

• Intensity matters. To really reap the benefits, you need to be working at at least 80% of your maximum effort. That’s a different level of work for everyone, but it all boils down to: you have to put in major work.
• Time is also important. While yes, a 20-minute interval session can be effective, the more time that you spend working at maximum effort, the more in-workout and post-workout benefit you will reap.
• Variability cannot be left to the wayside. While H.I.I.T. can boost fat loss, it shouldn’t be the only workout you do. Keep in mind that the more muscle you have, the more metabolically active your body is even at rest. Which means that you get more bang for your buck from that post-workout burn.

If you’re interested in trying it out, try this 30-minute Total Body H.I.I.T. workout that I posted back in March. You’ll find an option for beginners and more advanced fitness levels so no matter your current interval experience, you’ll find a fat loss workout for you.