Nutrition and Fat loss

Nutrition; effective advice for fat loss. 

During my years in the fitness industry one of the main questions i’m asked is how do I lose weight, what is the easy way? What are the tricks?

The first thing I try to address with people is change the pattern of thinking from losing weight in numbers on a scale and think more about losing body fat and maintaining (in well trained people) or in some cases (beginners) increasing muscle mass. 

The maintenance or increase of muscle mass is vital for health markers and functional abilities (Willoughby, Hewlings & Kalman, 2018). 

I also hear about people wanting to work off high calorie food eaten at the local take away the night before, unfortunately exercise alone is overrated for weight loss. You would have to exercise north of 250 minutes per week at a moderate intensity to have significant weight loss (Donelly et al , 2009). 

I think through experience and based off of modern lifestyle that is hard to achieve for people. 

Healthy check ins

Individuals can let the scales become an obsession and people tend to weigh in too frequently with inconsistent weigh in times, this can give you faulty data and can be disheartening leading to people giving up on their weight loss journey. I would recommend 1 weekly weigh in at the same time of day (morning, post toilet pre food) with a waist measurement as well as pictures to check in on body composition. 

How much weight to lose?

I notice that clients would like to start their diets with the most aggressive cut possible. Individuals with higher body fat percentages can go onto a higher calorie deficit but leaner individuals take on  the least aggressive cut possible as this is easier to comply with, long term and you tend to be able to maintain more muscle mass. 

Weight loss or body recomposition and its maintenance should be a lifelong endeavor and aggressive weight loss is unlikely to aid in the behavior change and can result in bounce back, individuals gaining more weight than before (Aragon et al, 2017).

Me around a year apart on the least aggressive calorie restriction

Diets like the ketogenic diet, low fat and Intermittent fasting have become more popular and these can be effective tools in weight loss. 

There are a lot of claims about the superiority of such diets but it is most likely that calorie restriction leads to improved health markers. So these diets allow you to reduce your calories by missing out a whole macronutrient group (Fats, Carbohydrates) or giving individuals shorter windows of eating (time restricted eating) (Aragon et al, 2017).

The hierarchy of diets   

Picture courtesy of RP

Calories in

The most important factor in weight loss is how many calories you consume and if you are at a calorie deficit, no magical diet can solve the overconsumption of food (Aragon et al, 2017).

Macros

The second most important factor is the content of the foods, Protein, Fats or Carbohydrates with protein being the most important for body composition with its muscle saving abilities and higher satiety levels (Aragon et al, 2017), Carbohydrates for performance and brain function purposes and fats for the vital functions they have in the body and taste as well as satiety factors.

Meal timing 

Eating at optimal times, fueling yourself pre, intra (during) and post workout, having a filling breakfast, eating the right dinner to set you up for the next day. 

Composition

Eating from healthier fat and carbohydrate sources as healthier sources of these macronutrients can become more important as time goes on and can lead to better body composition.

Supplements and Hydration 

Supplements are thing I am probably asked most about when it comes to improving body composition and unfortunately expensive supplements are the last thing you would need to worry about until you have the other factors mentioned above sorted, Protein powders, multivitamins and creatine are heavily researched and proven to work, but come last in the hierarchy.  

Recommended tools for weight loss

Personally I would recommend using the services of a registered nutritionist when getting on the weight loss journey.

Carbon is an excellent food tracking coaching app from Layne Norton, my fitness pal is also a handy tool with a big food scanning database where your goals can be personalised.  

Excellent reading sources are fat loss forever, a book from Layne Norton renaissance periodisation, Alan Aragon or Brad Schonfield are great to follow on instagram, two of the authors from the research cited below. 

If you are looking for diet advice or personal training in the Putney or South West London area get in contact  

References 

Aragon, A. A., Schoenfeld, B. J., Wildman, R., Kleiner, S., VanDusseldorp, T., Taylor, L., … & Antonio, J. (2017). International society of sports nutrition position stand: diets and body composition. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14(1), 1-19.

Willoughby, D., Hewlings, S., & Kalman, D. (2018). Body composition changes in weight loss: strategies and supplementation for maintaining lean body mass, a brief review. Nutrients, 10(12), 1876.

Kerksick, C.M., Arent, S., Schoenfeld, B.J. et al. International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 14, 33 (2017).

Donnelly, J. E., Blair, S. N., Jakicic, J. M., Manore, M. M., Rankin, J. W., & Smith, B. K. (2009). American College of Sports Medicine Position Stand. Appropriate physical activity intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain for adults. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 41(2), 459-471.