In the pursuit of getting skinny/lean/shredded people are quick to completely lose their minds. Nothing is too extreme to shed a few pounds. I've been there and done that, which is why I do what I do now.
Should I do a ketogenic diet? Should I eat low fat? Should I eat high protein? Should I do a detox? Should I do a cleanse? Should I cut out sugar? Should I cut out dairy? Should I go gluten free? Should I quit eating bread? Should I be vegetarian or vegan? Should I avoid this food or that food?
All of these questions are valid questions. We should certainly explore how to best optimize our diets to get the best results; however, they kind of miss the point. When asking these or similar questions, people tend to put the cart before the horse. The question we should actually be asking is:
What causes fat loss in the first place?
Let's have a very brief science lesson. Food contains energy that we need to live. We measure that energy in Calories. If we take in more Calories than we need, the body says, "Hey, I'll just save these in case I need them later." The body then stores those extra Calories as body fat.
Later, if we don't or can't consume enough Calories due to famine or more likely, a diet, the body says, "Hey. It's no biggie. I saved those other Calories from earlier." The body then proceeds to burn body fat to provide enough energy to last us until (hopefully) food is available again. We all know this but for some reason, we forget everything we've ever learned when it comes to losing weight.
With that science lesson out of the way, we all know how to lose fat. The ONLY mandatory rule in losing fat is you must create a caloric deficit. You MUST consume fewer Calories than you burn if you want to lose fat. There are several methods that can be used to create a Calorie deficit. Some of them are better than others.
As I mentioned earlier, all of the questions at the beginning of this article are valid questions. The answer to some of them is "yes". The answer to some of them is "no". The answer to some of them is "it depends". I've already covered some of them in previous articles. Scroll back up for the links. I will be covering the others over the next several weeks.
Takeaway
Don't be fooled by gimmicks you see on TV and the internet. If dieting fads were legitimate they wouldn't be forgotten after a couple of months. The unsexy truth that can't be sold on an infomercial is you just have to eat less Calories.
Thank you so much for reading. If you found this helpful, share it with your friends on Facebook. It helps us out more than you know. I'll be back next week with another fat loss topic. As always, God bless you AND your family and I'll see you next week!
