What's The Best Approach To Weight-loss?

I bet you've asked yourself this question at least once. You're scrolling through Instagram, and you see your friend from high school who has a six-pack and wonder how they got there. 

Did they have a personal trainer? Were they born with great genes? Are they on a weird diet that you could never stick to? 

Maybe all of the above – but, more than likely, it took a whole lot of hard work, dedication, and consistency. 

But the thing is, there are so many opinions about how to lose weight – it can be hard to know what's best. 

Some people say you should cut out all carbs; others advocate for hours of cardio every day. 

So what's the truth? What's the best way to lose weight and keep it off? Keep reading to find out!

The Fad Diet Era

Fad diets have come into the world as a seemingly easy solution for fat loss.

One thing they all have in common is the promise of quick and easy results with little effort on the dieter's part.

However, these diets are often unbalanced and can lead to weight gain in the long run.

They can also be dangerous, as they may not provide all the necessary nutrients for optimal health and performance.

The most common fad diets are keto, carnivore, detox, vegan and raw food.

There is a lot to say about all of these approaches to nutrition, so if you fancy learning more, keep reading!

Last week we published our take on the Ketogenic diet VS IIFYM, so click here if that sounds like an interesting topic!

Excluding Certain Foods

Besides fad diets, there is another 'theory' about successful weight loss, and it is based on completely excluding certain foods from your plan.

Many people believe that excluding foods like bread, fizzy drinks, and sugar from your diet is the key to weight loss.

However, this is not always the case. 

Some of these "unhealthy" foods can be detrimental to your weight-loss goals.

Why? Because they might be your stepping stone of pleasure and enjoyment of food, leading you to stick to your plan!

And so, if specific diets and excluding foods from your nutrition plan are not the 'key' to weight-loss… What is?

 Let's start by understanding how the body works!

The Fundamental Principle

Losing weight is hard. It takes a lot of time and effort, and it can be frustrating when you don't see results.

But more often than not, it is so because most people focus on the wrong things when they're trying to lose weight, which makes the process even harder than it has to be.

There is one simple, fundamental concept for weight loss that cannot be worked around.

A concept that you can follow and get results for certain.

That concept is referred to as "eating in a caloric deficit."

When you eat in a caloric deficit, you are consuming fewer calories than your body is burning.

This creates a "deficit" of sorts and forces your body to start burning fat for energy to compensate for the deficit of energy.

It's that simple.

You can use a macro calculator like the one on precisionnutrition.com. You can get information for your maintenance calories and a suggested caloric deficit (around 500 calories per day less than maintenance.)

However, you should know that this is just an approximate calculation.

To determine the exact calories, you need to be in a deficit of 500 calories, and you need to experiment with food amounts until you reach the point where you lose about 1 lb per week.

And Some Details…

Calories are not the only important thing when it comes to weight loss.

Macronutrients matter too.

Protein, carbohydrates, and fat are all important for losing weight and keeping it off.

It's essential to have a balanced diet that includes these macronutrients.

Protein means recovery, fat means hormonal balance, and carbohydrates are simply energy.

Generally speaking, you should be aiming for 0.8-1g of protein per lb of body weight and about 0.45g of fat per lb.

After calculating protein and fat, the rest of the calories remaining can be used for carbohydrates.

However, don't over-fixate on calculating every bite that goes into your mouth.

Focus on being active, eating good foods in reasonable amounts, and getting good sleep.

Include Diet Breaks!

When trying to lose weight, taking regular diet breaks can be a good option.

This allows your metabolism to take a rest and avoid any potential plateaus.

However, a diet break doesn't mean completely neglecting your diet and ditching everything you've done so far.

It only means doing everything you've done thus far with a caloric deficit but eating slightly more so that you are at maintenance calories.

That is to say that during a diet break, no significant and drastic changes in weight must be observed.

A diet break can be taken every 3-4 weeks for 10-14 days, which should continue the normal deficit.

Conclusion

So, if you're looking to slim down and want to do it the healthy way, forget about all of those gimmicky diets that promise quick results. 

The only true path to weight loss is through a caloric deficit, consuming enough protein, fats, carbs, and exercising well.

We hope this post has helped clear up some of the confusion around weight loss – now, put what you've learned into action!