5 Surefire Ways to Turbocharge Fat Loss
Like most things, fat loss is largely about mindset, with the mechanics being straightforward.
But the health and fitness industry loves making the simple complex.
That means you and I get primed to believe some pretty outrageous ideas.
Result?
Some folks claim they don’t know how to lose weight anymore – it’s all just so complicated!
So, with that in mind, here are five simple things we can start understanding and applying today.
These will put us back in the driver’s seat to achieve our fat loss goals.
The Best Ways To Speed Up Fat Loss
1. Note your calorie intake.
No matter how few calories you think you’re consuming, it’s almost always more.
We’ve all had this experience: you receive your monthly credit card statement, and the total is way more than you expected.
Sure, you remember the big spends, the 60” TV or the washer and dryer.
For the rest of it, you’re sure they made a mistake.
You check your receipts and find that all those little spends (the $4.99s and the “it’s only…”) sure add up.
And it turns out that the statement was correct all along.
Well, energy intake works the same way.
Calories habitually sneak in under the radar and always make it through.
They don’t simply disappear just because we can’t remember consuming them.
That’s why tracking your caloric intake for a week is one of the most important things you can do for your waistline and health.
It is that powerful.
2. Weigh yourself regularly to keep track of your progress.
Rapid losses (or gains) in weight almost always come down to nothing more exciting than changes in body water levels.
For example, a high-salt meal might increase your weight by 3-4 lbs. overnight.
That’s why it’s a good idea to weigh yourself daily after waking up and using the bathroom.
Start a low-calorie or low-carb diet, and the initial results can be just as breathtaking.
Studies have found that some people can lose as much as 15 lbs in only four days!
Unfortunately, very little of that weight loss will be from fat.
Fat loss is just a few ounces per day.
By weighing in daily, you’ll become familiar with how your weight can fluctuate and avoid the anxiety that weekly weighing can cause.
The bottom line is that fat is gained or lost in ounces daily rather than pounds.
So, don’t let those rapid fluctuations in weight either make or break your day.
3. Eat the right carbs—in the right amounts.
Short-term, transient hormonal responses (like spiking insulin) shouldn’t be extrapolated to long-term, clinically relevant outcomes.
OK, that’s a mouthful.
But here’s what many people think happens:
Eating carbs cause blood sugar levels to rise
↓
Rising blood sugar levels lead to increased insulin release
↓
Insulin blunts fat burning and promotes fat storage
↓
We put on fat
Therefore, consuming carbs makes you fat.
But all that ignores the two most important factors: the amount being eaten and the context in which it’s consumed.
That’s a fundamental mistake that folks who obsess about carbs and meal timing always seem to overlook.
Spiking insulin can be one part of a process that could lead to a clinically relevant outcome doesn’t automatically mean that spiking insulin is clinically relevant.
The bottom line is that eating carbs doesn’t automatically translate to fat gain or ill health.
Now, that sounds almost heretical, right?
But I recently completed a little N=1 experiment where I consumed 22 lbs. of white rice in just 31 days.
Interestingly, I lost weight, and my blood biomarkers (fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, Apo-B) were unchanged.
Of course, bestselling authors with a carbophobic agenda might not want us to believe that, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
4. Think of fat loss for the long term.
There’s only one way to lose fat.
I know, I know – search Amazon for “diet books,” and you’ll get over 100,000 results.
But there’s only ONE way to lose fat.
We have to be in a sustained, long-term negative fat balance.
That’s all there is to it.
But what does that mean?
Well, we can do only one of two things: store or burn body fat.
There is no “option three.”
Our bodies cycle between fat storage and fat burning for 24 hours.
Fat storage happens after meals, while fat burning happens mainly while asleep.
And whether we’re losing, gaining, or maintaining body fat comes down to the net result of all that storage and burning.
So, if we burn more fat than we store over 24 hours, we get a fat loss for that day.
Sure, it may only be a few ounces.
But if we string enough of those days together, we’ll lose all the body fat we want.
Ultimately, the net fat balance over days, weeks, and months matters, not what’s going on over short timescales like a few hours.
That’s how every diet works and how every person who has lost a serious amount of body fat did so—whether or not they realized it.
5. Continue to become aware of the type and amount of calories you consume.
Now, if fat loss ultimately comes down to a negative fat balance, what’s the deal with calories?
Well, first, the bad news…
We can’t accurately measure how much our fat balance is changing on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis.
Even if we have unlimited funds and access to a state-of-the-art laboratory.
So we can safely say there’s no wearable device, no smartphone app, and no online calculator that’s up to the job, either.
And until there is, we’ll need to use the next best thing available: count calories.
That may sound archaic, but here’s how I think about it.
Even if it’s state-of-the-art digital, the speedometer in your car isn’t 100 percent accurate.
It isn’t measuring vehicle speed, anyway.
It’s measuring how fast the wheels are turning.
That means things like tire tread depth, pressure, temperature, and even how many passengers you’re carrying introduce significant errors to the number you see on the dial.
But does that mean a speedometer isn’t worth having?
No way – it’s still a fundamental part of controlling the car.
Counting calories works the same way.
The bottom line is that the fewer calories you consume, the bigger the negative fat balance and the greater the weight loss.
Of course, we can’t pin this down to exact numbers.
Consuming 2441 calories daily will allow me to lose 2.74 pounds in 17 days.
It simply doesn’t work that way.
After all, the body is an inherently variable and complex system.
But counting calories is still the best proxy we have for fat balance and, therefore, the most powerful tool for weight loss we have.
Wrapping It Up
So there you have it.
Five surefire ways to hasten fat loss.
Now, we have to apply these ideas consistently, and you can eventually get the results you want.
If you found this article helpful, please click the share button below.