HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST

Stop Weighing!

The best thing you can do for yourself is to stop thinking about “weight”; it isn’t helping! Check out this viral photo of an amazing transformation, the woman is ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME WEIGHT in the before and after (article). That’s pretty amazing right? For many, their optimal weight may not be too far off from their current de-conditioned weight. The health and joy of living in a body with a healthy minimal percentage of body fat is incomparable. For this reason, I seldom have students weigh themselves more than once every 3-6 weeks. For those having a sordid affair with their scales, I’ll even suggest they surrender them to me until that behavior has changed.

Do You Measure Up?

Weighing without measuring is always unhelpful. However, measuring makes all the difference in the world when tracking progress! I had a student in his mid-twenties, only weigh eight pounds less than when he began six weeks before, but his stomach was six inches leaner. If weight had been the only metric, he would’ve felt defeated! Taking measurements ensures we decrease and increase our body circumference in the right areas. Generally speaking, shoulders, thighs, and arms will increase while the belly (taken at the navel), hips, and neck will decrease.
The topic of which metrics to use would not be complete without noting that priorities change as the habit of training becomes one’s norm. Let’s be honest, most of us start this journey to look better naked. A fine goal no doubt, but once we get a taste of the iron, everyone begins to believe more in themselves, and sets higher goals. A woman I used to coach in Springfield MO started with the goal of doing one full push-up. Several months later she was hitting 6-8 push-ups regularly and setting new goals, including pull-ups!  Her body looked much different and she felt far better. She was shocked this was happening by focusing on strength training, and she even recognized how exhausted and miserable she felt after spin classes! Soon those were gone and progress continued more efficiently.

Now that you have a grasp of how to track and view progress, let’s dive in to why you began reading this;- to learn to lose belly fat. These are the principles that are universal to making this goal a reality.

Eat Less

Body fat is simply stored energy, in fact, it’s an amazing skill, your ancestors would be proud. Those who survived in the past, before our modern unhealthy culture, had to go sustained periods without eating, or eating very little. Thus, over a long time, the environment selected for those who had the ability to store extra energy when food was in a surplus, to be ready for when there was little or none.
To start using that stored energy we have to eat a little less than our resting metabolism each day. Whether keto, paleo, vegan, or any other approach, there will always be a healthy caloric deficit presence. This isn’t a drastic 1,000 kcal or less nonsense approach. A deficit of a few hundred calories makes a huge permanent difference.

Strength Training for Weight Loss

Strength training is second to none for reshaping the body the way we truly want. Remember that woman from earlier? Strength training! Is your brain freaking out right now wanting me to reinforce the unhelpful beliefs around cardio for fat loss? I’m not sorry to inform you that strength training is THE core component of a body re-composition program. Don’t believe me? Just look at gymnasts, zero “cardio” as most would define it, and by far the leanest, most powerful looking physiques possible.
Ladies, if you’re concerned about getting “too much muscle,” I can alleviate you of those fears too! Stick to lower rep programs with more rest, gain some serious strength and watch those Type IIB muscle fibers burn that stored fuel 24/7. Target training, such as the example of doing lots of crunches to lose belly fat is a myth by the way.  Focus on full body strength training movements to achieve your health and physique renaissance!

Get Healthy

What’s the opposite of being de-conditioned and overweight? Being lean, strong and powerful! Focus on what you want, as in, create the habits of your ideal-self. This means your nutrition approach will include veggies, and a selected range of carbs/fat/protein, based on the pre-determined course chosen.
Nutrition is arguably the first step of recovery and the other major facet of health is sleep. I’ll keep this short as I myself have two toddlers, am chronically sleep-deprived, and woken up in the middle of the night at least 1-4 times per night. Needless to say, I have extra pounds on due to my hormones being in a suboptimal state. I’ll have minimal control over this for another 1-2 years most likely, but I do have control over whether or not I’m sleeping right away at night or choosing to screen suck (flattering, eh?) on my phone or tv. Daily naps help, but at this stage, it’s the equivalent of a band-aid on a gun wound.
The point is yes, we all are overwhelmed by the pace and intensity of modern life as well as it’s effects on our behaviors. We also have control over whether or not we are practicing what is needed each day to act, rather than to be overwhelmed and reactive. When we are reactive and drained is when we will want too much caffeine, sugar or any other behavior that sacrifices long term happiness for an instant pleasure high.

Plan of Attack

Inevitably, when we are less healthy we are not consciously planning and preparing for successfully reaching our goals. The good news is, this is the easiest step to learn. All you have to do is find a principled based program, follow the recipe, and create the outcome.
You can find this at Vigor Revolution! All our programs are based on the principles of body and behavioral change. Learning to live fifty pounds lighter, removing five medications, quitting chronic depression, and compulsive unhealthy behaviors over the last 12-13 years, meant I had to learn the principles of health the hard way.