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The Truth About Losing Fat

Many myths exist surrounding fat burning and weight loss. Topics such as eating late at night, meal frequency and low-fat, low-carb and vegetarian diets are all promoted as fat-loss methods by different individuals and groups. It can be extremely confusing trying to decipher fact from fiction. Fortunately, however, the truth is that losing fat is actually a relatively simple process, provided you follow a few key guidelines.

  1. Calories

    • Losing fat requires a calorie deficit, which means taking in fewer calories than you expend. To find out your recommended daily calorie intake, Harvard Medical School recommends multiplying your body weight in pounds by 15. This is roughly the number of calories you need each day to maintain your weight if you're moderately active. To lose weight, however, you need to eat less than this. It takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat, so to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, you'll need to subtract between 500 and 1,000 calories from your daily maintenance level.

    Food Choices

    • While calories may be the most vital factor in losing weight, the foods you choose to make up those calories are important too. Rather than opting for fad diets that cut out certain food groups, the American Heart Association advises making healthy, sustainable dietary changes. Your diet should revolve around vegetables and fruits, lean proteins such as chicken, low-fat dairy products, eggs, lean red meat and beans, whole grains from rice, pasta and bread, along with healthy fats such as nuts and olive oil. You can still lose fat eating small amounts of unhealthy food too, provided it fits your calorie allowance and you eat healthily for the vast majority of the time.

    Exercise

    • Another way to increase your calorie deficit is to up your calorie burn by exercising. While exercise certainly does burn calories, you can't out-train a bad diet and, according to the IDEA Health and Fitness Association, it is possible to be very active and still be overweight if you consume too many calories. Nutritionist Alan Aragon adds that another popular fat-loss myth is that low-intensity exercise is superior for burning fat, as you work in the fat-burning zone. While you may burn a higher percentage of calories from fat doing this, you actually burn fewer calories overall and get much less of a metabolic boost. High-intensity training and interval workouts are actually more effective for fat loss.

    Fat Loss vs. Weight Loss

    • Fat loss isn't necessarily the same as weight loss. If you're currently weighing yourself to check on your fat-loss progress, you could be selling yourself short. Muscle is denser than fat, notes trainer Tony Gentilcore, so if you're putting on a little lean muscle while burning fat, your body composition will change for the better, yet the scale may show that your weight hasn't budged or has even possibly increased. To get a true measure of your fat-loss progress, take photos of your physique, measure key body parts such as your waist, hips and thighs, or get regular body-fat assessments.

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