When people talk about losing weight, what they really mean is they want to lose excess body fat. However some people go on a starvation diet and really deprive themselves. They can lose up 7lb in a week, BUT little of that is actually fat!
When you concentrate on losing weight rather than fat you can quickly exhaust your glucose stores (about 7lb) and get dehydrated, because you’re not eating properly. You might feel tired and grumpy.
Knowing how to reduce body fat will stop you making these kinds of mistakes.
Making a Decision
If you go out in your car to drive somewhere, usually you know where you’re headed. You’ve seen your destination in your mind’s eye, because you’ve been there before. If you haven’t been there before you look on a map or program your destination into your sat nav. Either way you know where you’re going.
If you get into your car to drive somewhere, and you don’t decide where that somewhere is, you end up back at your starting point pretty quickly.
What is it exactly that you want to see happen to your body?
If you said ‘to lose weight’, that’s the equivalent of ‘to drive somewhere’. Your brain has nothing to lock onto. You start off pretty aimlessly (probably trying to follow a diet), and fairly quickly you end up back where you started – any weight loss is piled back on.
How to reduce body fat successfully, involves deciding on a clear destination. Picture that in your mind’s eye, what will you look like? What will you be wearing? What will you be doing? What will people be saying to you?
Give you brain something to lock onto, where do you want to end up – exactly?
What Do You Eat?
You should only move onto this step once you’ve made your definite decision on what you want. It’s only then that making changes make long term sense to your brain. It needs a good reason to keep doing different things.
When it comes to what to eat, the most fattening food by far is refined and processed carbohydrates. These include:
- white flour and everything made out of it, e.g. white bread, white pasta
- processed breakfast cereals, e.g. cornflakes, special k
- white rice
- sugar
- remember soft drinks too
Potatoes aren’t great either.
These are all so fattening because they make your body produce loads of insulin. When you produce insulin you lay fat down.
Pretty much removing these from your everyday diet may seem like a big step, so start gradually by slowly cutting back and replacing with better choices.
These aren’t on the complete forbidden list – just keep them right down to a minimum. Make them an occasional treat rather than an everyday norm.
Burning More Calories
People today still have the hunter gatherer genes of the ancestors. There are still a few hunter gatherers populations left today. How do they burn calories and stay so lean? Broadly speaking they do 3 things.
Firstly they do a lot of low level activity, i.e. waling. On average they walk 10,000 steps per day. You can check what your daily average is by using a pedometer, and aim to increase it gradually if you’re a bit low.
Secondly they use their bodies in a way that creates a lot of muscle strength (without bulk). They mainly do this by moving their own body weight. Good ways for us to do that is by practising yoga, or doing exercises designed to build strength, e.g. squats, press ups, plank.
And finally they work out their heart and lungs by doing short repeated bouts of high intensity activity, e.g. sprinting, followed by rest. This type of activity burns a lot of fat. They don’t go out jogging or spend extended periods exercising – this type of exercise actually encourages your body to lay fat down!
How to Reduce Body Fat
So in summary, the most important things to do are:
- Decide exactly what you want, give your brain somewhere to go. It’s a good idea to make a plan of how you’re going to get there too!
- Reduce to a minimum the most fattening type of food – refined and processed food
- When it comes to exercise – mimic what hunter gathers do by doing plenty of walking, doing some strength training and doing short high intensity workouts instead of long winded jogging.
If you’re ready for the full program and up for learning in detail how to reduce body fat – invest in your health by getting involved with my online weight loss course, Uber Slim. You’ll learn everything you need to know and get the help and support you need to achieve your goals.
Have a great week!
Dr Julie
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