A Scientific approach: Fat Loss

Fat loss? How to lose fat? Fat loss shortcuts? These are some of the most popular searches on the
internet. Well if you are one of those, who searches for these so called ''shortcuts'', let me make this
clear with you, that there are none. This blog is aimed at those who expect to lose fat by doing
hundreds of crunches and try to target fat loss for specific areas of their body, also to those people
who think fat loss is all about eating salads all day, not eating carbohydrates before bed, running
hours on the treadmill, drinking green tea and buying the so called 'fat burners' without even
knowing the ingredients in them. Also if you can't see your abdominal muscles this means you need
to lose more fat, not just do more crunches (scientifically crunches are not the best way to build abs,
but that's a whole another story by itself, learn more about it on our future article) Over 90% of
people are wasting their time doing these. How would you react if I say, you can get in your desired
shape and look the way you wanted throughout your life by eating your favourite foods and skipping
the tiring hours of cardio? After reading this whole article, you will become a pro at fat loss and
become a fat burning machine. Before we get started on how to lose fat we need to look at some
science, understand what is fat and how it is stored in our body.

In simple words fat is stored energy. Our body needs to store fat for emergency situations and
doesn't like to give it up easily. Fat plays a vital role in our body, not just providing us with energy
but also keeping us warm and helping in production of important hormones. One of the biggest
myths is that 'eating fat makes you fat'. Well no. Before we get into detail about how fat is stored we
need to look at another term known as calories. Calorie is a unit of energy (1 kilocalorie=4184
joules). Just like how a machine needs energy to produce work, our body needs energy to carry out
vital processes that keep us alive. Our body gets this energy through foods, which have calories.
Proteins, carbohydrates and fats make up calories. These are called macros (1g of carbohydrate = 4
cal, 1g of protein= 4 cal and 1g of fat = 9 cal). Our body needs certain amount of calories to function
properly this is called our basal metabolic rate or BMR. Our body burns calories equal to our BMR
even when we are resting in order to carry out crucial processes like breathing. Now our BMR + our
activity level makes up our total calories burnt in the day. This is called our maintenance calories.
Maintenance calorie depends on person to person. If the calories consumed by our body are more
than our maintenance calories then we will start gaining weight. These excess calories gets stored as
fat in our body. It doesn't matter where those calories came from, could be just carbs, fats or
protein. For every 3500 excess calories our body stores 1lb of fat. It doesn't really matter what foods
you ate or what time of the day you ate them. So meal timings are insignificant to your fat loss
journey. Now let's look at how to lose stored fact.

Caloric deficit

A caloric deficit is the only way to burn fat. A caloric deficit simply means consuming less calories
than what you burn in a day. Everyone burns a certain amount of energy (as calories) a day, even if
they are sleeping all day, this value varies from person to person, on their body type and daily
activity level. This is known as their maintenance calories (explained later on). If the amount of
calories consumed by a person in a day is the same as their maintenance calories then the person
simply won’t gain or lose any weight. One of the ways of creating a caloric deficit is by simply
consuming fewer calories than their maintenance. The other way is via doing some kind of exercises
(i.e. resistance training and cardio), doing an exercise simply burns calories and only calories, you do
not burn fat by just exercising, you need to make sure that you have burned enough calories through
exercises so that you are in a caloric deficit (exercises and calories are explained in detail later on). It
doesn’t matter where your calories come from (i.e. carbs, fats or protein), as long as you are in a
caloric deficit you will continue losing weight no matter what. A healthy caloric deficit should be of
12.5% to 17.5% of their maintenance calories. It is only recommended to lose 1-2lbs of body weight
per week. A bigger caloric deficit could be detrimental to your health. Your body will simply go into
survival mode and will start storing all the calories as fat instead. As simple as it may sound right
now it gets complicated, as I have mentioned being in a caloric deficit will guarantee weight loss, not
fat loss. There is a difference, you don't really care about your weight loss, we need to see a drop in
our body fat percentage (BF%). If macros are not consumed in the proper way, you will simply lose
weight (muscle) not necessarily fat. Losing muscle is detrimental to your health. To make sure to lose
as much fat as possible while maintaining our lean body mass, we need to set up our macros
accordingly. Let’s see how it’s done.

Figuring out you maintenance calories

Firstly you must figure out where your maintenance is one way to accomplish this is by looking at
maintenance calorie calculators online. This is yet the easiest and the fastest way to check your
maintenance calories. The other way is more complicated but at the same time it is very accurate. In
this method you have to eat a what you would usually eat in a day, keeping track of the calories
consumed and check your weight every morning for a three weeks, take the average weight of each
weeks for the three weeks and see, by how much your weight has changed. Also add up your daily
calories for three weeks. Now from here you have to do some basic maths to figure out your
maintenance calories. For example let's say the average weight from the first week till the third has
increased by 0.9 kgs and total calories consumed in the three weeks are 42000, we know 0.9 kgs is
equal to 2lbs, we also know that 3500 calories is the same as 1lb of body fat, so the person must
reduce their calories by 7000 calories to reach their maintenance. So now we subtract 7000 from
42000, which is 35000 then divide this by 21 (3 weeks = 21 days) to get your daily caloric needs
which in this case comes out to be 1666 calories a day (if you have lost weight instead of gaining, it
means you have to add instead of subtract, meaning you have to eat more food to reach your
maintenance calories).

Something to note over here, your body weight plays an important role in determining your
maintenance calories. As you start dropping weight your maintenance calorie levels will start to
drop. If you don't reduce your daily calories in such a way that it adjusts to your new maintenance
calories, you may start to gain weight again. Don't drop your calories as soon as you lose weight,
your body usually takes few weeks to reduce your maintenance calories.

Setting macros for fat loss

Protein is the building block for our body and it plays an important role to maintain and build lean
muscle mass. To make sure we only lose fat from our body we need to give our body adequate
amount of calories from protein. It is generally recommended to eat 0.4 to 1g (depending on your
activity level) of protein per lb of body weight. High protein diets are recommended while being in a
caloric deficit as our body is in a lack of energy and if not enough protein is consumed, our body
starts breaking down lean muscle mass for energy, also protein keeps us full for longer so you are
less likely to feel hungry, reduce cravings, so you are more likely to stay on track. Carbohydrates are
essential for maintaining our water levels in our body and most importantly provide energy. Fats are
also essential for our body to keep our organs warm and produce essential hormones like
testosterone.
 One way to set macros for your self will be by first figuring out your maintenance calories then
setting moderate caloric deficit for yourself, let's say about 12.5%, so you only eat 87.5% of your
maintenance calories. After you calculate your number of calories you need to eat (Lets call these
calories our deficit calories). We would want to eat about half of our calories via carbs, as they
provide us with the energy that we need. So divide your deficit calories by 2 to get the amount of
calories to be eaten via carbs. Lets say we want to eat 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight
(assuming we will be doing resistance training along with it, if you are not planning to do resistance
training then about 0.5g/pound of bodyweight is good enough), so multiply your body weight (in lbs)
by 4 to get the calories to be eaten by proteins and rest of your remaining calories need to come
from fat. Water is not really a macronutrient but it definitely is extremely important, especially in
high protein diets, where deficiency of water could be detrimental. Drink about 3-4L of water every
day, to ensure good health.

An example of setting macros like this could be: let’s assume John’s maintenance to be around 2000
calories a day, 87.5% of 2000 is 1750 calories, this will be his deficit calories. Dividing this by 2 will
give him 875 calories for carbs, so he will be eating 218g of carbs (1g of carb=4 calories). John’s
bodyweight is 150 pounds, so he will be consuming 150g of protein or 600 calories from protein (1g
of protein=4 calories). The remaining caloric needs need to be fulfilled by fat. The amount of calories
remaining is: 1750-(875+600) = 275 calories, hence he will be consuming around 30 grams of fats (1g
of fat=9 calories). Now from here it’s up to John if he wants to consume these macros or he could
drop his carbs and increase the fats or drop the protein and increase the carbs, according to his
needs/ likes (making sure he is not crossing over his deficit calories). John also needs to make sure
he consumes a good amount of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to keep his body functioning
well.

As we can see from the previous example of John, he is consuming 1750 calories, which puts him on
a deficit of 250 calories, but if John tires to do some extra activity (i.e. resistance training or cardio)
and burns around 200 calories, he will put his body on a deficit of 450 calories (200 from diet and
250 from exercises) this means, that day he needs to consume 200 extra calories to be in caloric
deficit of 250 calories. So deciding how you want to create a caloric deficit depends on you, whether
you do by not consuming 250 calories or by burning 250 calories or by a combination of both just
like John.

Note: our body has an impressive ability to adjust itself to a new stimulus. After we have reduced
calories to be in a deficit, our body will eventually turn our deficit calories into our new maintenance
(the main reason why you shouldn't drop your deficit calories too much) and the person or John in
this case will stop losing weight. This is called the 'plateau' in the weight loss journey. In order to
start his weight loss again we need to drop John's calories again by 12.5-17.5% of his new
maintenance and adjust the new macros accordingly. While calculating new macros it is advised to
keep our protein the same and slowly start by dropping off carbs and fats at the very end of the cut.

Cheat days?

Firstly let's not call it a cheat day; just say it's a re-feed day. As our body's metabolic rate will start to
drop after we have been losing weight for long time, in a re-feed day we eat an excess of calories
(1000-1200 above our current deficit calories) this helps in boosting our metabolism and ensure fat
loss when we get back on track. So yes re-feed days are necessary but only do it once in 20-25 days.
Resistance training

Just eating enough protein won't guarantee conservation of lean body mass in such a way that you
only drop BF%. Resistance training is needed along with it, and should be given equal importance.
Now contrary to previous beliefs where people only did hours or cardio hoping for fat loss, but they
only end of losing weight. This is because long sessions of cardio cause muscle loss (because while
running your legs constantly hit the ground). Most of the people that have lost weight by only doing
cardio, look exactly the same even after their weight loss, but just a bit smaller. To achieve that
toned look, resistance training is needed. Please move out of the theory that lifting weights a few
times a week will make you bulky, only if building muscle was that easy, everyone would be Mr
Olympia. According to science, females generally have lower testosterone (hormone responsible for
building muscle) levels than men. Yes, I agree running 45 minute straight on the treadmill will burn
more calories than a 45 minute weight lifting session but just on the spot. As soon as you step off the
treadmill and go home you stop burning calories. This is where resistance training comes in handy,
not only you burn calories while working out in the gym, but also after you go home, you burn more
calories in order to repair damaged muscle fibres. After a few resistance training sessions you would
have hopefully gained some muscle mass, this causes your body's metabolic rate to increase,
meaning your maintenance calories will be higher now, stating you can afford to eat more food
without worrying about getting fat and who doesn't want that?

Cardio and HIIT

Now I am not saying that we need to completely eliminate cardio. Even though you could conserve
muscle and loose fat just by resistance training, adding 15-20 minutes of cardio after your resistance
training, to your routine a few times a week will make your fat loss journey more efficient. The type
of cardio you do doesn't really matter as long as you burn the same amount of calories. Now
traditional way jogging on the treadmill for 15 might not burn as many calories compared to a 15
minute HIIT session, HIIT stands for high intensity interval training, here you work at a very high
intensity, for example for 45 seconds followed by a 30 second low intensity/rest period.

For example you go on the treadmill warm up with a very light 1-2 minute jog, now you are ready to
start your HIIT training. Use a timer on your phone (download a HIIT timer app on your phone) and
for the next 45 seconds set the speed of the treadmill so that you are running at 85-90% of your max
power output. After 45 seconds hop off to the side of the treadmill for 30 seconds or just reduce the
speed to very low and walk. Then after 30 seconds is about to finish increase the speed again and
repeat this for 10 rounds. Finish the HIIT session with a light 1-2 minute walk. This should take you
17 minutes at max and you will burn way more calories compared to standard cardio. Ever
wondered how a marathons runner physique looks completely different to a sprinters', how
sprinters have a very toned and muscular physique unlike a marathon runner who are very small and
skinny with little to no muscle mass. This is because sprinting is an example of HIIT, and marathon
running is like standard long session of cardio.

Note: Burning 100-200 calories extra 2-3 times a week is fine but remember if you burn a lot of extra
calories, you must increase your food intake to adjust your calories of that day so your caloric deficit
remains the same. And after a few weeks if you see a plateau in your weight loss then you may
consider adding 2-3 rounds more to your HIIT training or you could increase the frequency of HIIT
training by doing is 3 times a week instead of 2 or the simplest way is to drop your deficit calories by
100-150. Also remember to have a large gap between cardio and resistance training, don't lift
weights straight after cardio (your body will be depleted of glycogen and won't produce as much
power as it is supposed to, making your weight training sessions less efficient), best time to do
cardio is right after your resistance training. As your body doesn't require a lot of glycogen levels for
cardiovascular activities.

How to check your weight

You need to understand that your weight will keep fluctuating during your weight loss journey, this
is because your body weight depends on several factors like amount of water you are carrying, your
muscle glycogen levels, the amount of food you ate (as you could get the same amount of calories
from eating 300 grams of food or 1kg of food). If you find your weight to be higher someday then
don't worry and don't drop your calories. What really matters is that your average weight of the
week needs be slightly lesser than the previous week's. If it drops by more than 1 kg then you need
to increase your caloric intake. Make sure to take the weight measurements every day, first thing in
the morning and note it and find the average on the last day of the week or whenever your 7 day
period ends. If and only if your average weight has increased then you may drop your calories
accordingly, i.e. if it's a slight increase, the drop deficit calories by 150-200, then after a week see if
the average was less than the previous weeks, this means you started losing weight again. Just keep
going and remember that weight loss is not always a flat decline road that always goes down, there
are a lot of climbs, bumps and speed bump.

Supplements

There are so many advertisements from companies making supplements for weight loss that it is
very easy for someone to fall into the trap. You need to understand protein shakes don't make you
lose fat by magic; they just help us to meet our protein goals, which help us to build/maintain lean
muscle mass, which in long term may help us to increase or metabolic rate by a tiny amount. So take
a whey protein shake if you think it will help you reach your protein goals, as it makes it very
convenient to get 25g of protein through a shake, than eat 5-6 eggs and please don't think that
protein shakes will kill you, they only do what they are supposed to do which is providing protein.
Eat eggs and the protein you get is no different to what you get in the shakes. Now there are these
fat loss supplements so called "fat burners" let's take a moment to take a look at what kind of
"magic" they posses. There are 2 main ingredients in fat burners which make them work: caffeine
(main ingredient in coffee) and green tea extract. Caffeine increases our metabolic rate by little but
not in such a way that we can eat whatever we want, we still need to stay under our maintenance
calories in order to lose fat. Green tea only helps us to suppress our appetite a little bit so you don't
eat junk, but again not very efficient if you are having really bad cravings. This is literally how fat
burners work. Now it's up to you if you want to take fat burners or drink 2 cups of coffee a day.

Conclusion

We can conclude that fat loss is not weight loss. In order to lose fat, eat in a caloric deficit, ensure
you are eating correct macros by having adequate amount of protein. Eat clean or dirty, it's up to
you, as long as you are in the caloric deficit you will lose fat. Lift weights 3-4 times a week and do
cardiovascular activities a few times a week for 15 mins, after finishing your resistance training
session. You don't have to take supplements, but do if you think it makes reaching your goals
convenient for you. Weight fluctuations are normal, so stay focused and stay on track, don't worry
about missing a few days on your diet or training, just get back on track as soon as possible.

We wish you the best of good luck!

Regards- FlexConnextion