How often do we come across a diet that proclaims to be the 'best' for fat loss? It seems that now, more than ever we have hundreds if not thousands of these diets floating around. Unfortunately, this misses the mark when it comes to teaching people how fat loss actually works and how you can implement a diet that works for you.
The most vital thing to remember is that for fat loss to occur we MUST be in a calorie deficit. No diet will work outside of this equation where we burn more calories than we consume. This is the principle of fat loss, it is the foundation upon which all else will take place. Once you understand this, and how to make use of it, you can take back control and enjoy the foods you like without feeling guilty. A typical strategy involves figuring out how many calories you consume over the course of a day or week and then implementing a reduction of around 10 - 15%. For example, going from 3000 calories a day to 2550 equates to 450 calories a day.
Any diet can be thought of as a method, it is the way we go about fueling our bodies. What you currently eat is your diet, and therefore the way in which you store energy in your body. In other words, a diet is a way in which we choose to implement a calorie deficit. A popular one at the moment is intermittent fasting, which essentially is restricting your feeding window. Now some people do experience fat loss with this diet because it's much more challenging to consume 2500 calories in 3 hours than it would be to do so in 10 hours. But please know that none of this fat loss occurs without a calorie deficit. And yes by pushing your meals back, you might be burning more fat during the morning, but burning fat and losing fat are not necessarily the same thing.
The same thing can be said about low-carb diets, yes you probably do experience weight loss but remember you've essentially removed a macronutrient from your diet. That probably means less bread, pasta, chocolate (my heart breaks here, cookies, soda, alcohol, etc. Again, I am not saying
you should not make use of this diet if you'd like to but just understand that the diet itself is not some magic pill, you lost weight because you took in fewer calories per day/week. In fact, in most cases the weight you lose during the first few weeks on a low-carb diet is mostly water weight, not fat. For every gram of carbohydrate, you consume, your body stores 3 - 4 grams of water to store it in the muscles and liver (glycogen).
I think we forget how powerful personal preference is when it comes to improving our overall health and fitness, and this relates to diet as well. Think about it this way, if I told you that the only way you could lose fat was to do intermittent fasting, but you enjoy having breakfast (I love my morning cereals) and don't like pushing your meals back. How long do you really think you'd be able to stick to this way of eating? Maybe you enjoy your current diet, and would simply like to eat a little bit less during the week to elicit some fat loss, so we drop your overall calories by 10 - 15%. I think it is much more likely and reasonable to assume you would stick to this approach over a long period. This is not to discourage any from whatever diet they may be on, if it works for you and you enjoy it please stick to it. The biggest factor here is personal preference, DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU :) Furthermore, if you have been placed on a specific diet for medical conditions then please adhere to that, as you are under the guidance of a healthcare professional.
I should also mention that our weight will fluctuate throughout the year. We do not always eat the same meals, hormonal functions affect body fat, and there are social occasions like birthdays, holidays, and religious celebrations that will affect our eating. And do you know what? It's perfectly normal to put on a little weight now and again, life is also about enjoying ourselves. Yes, it is important to live healthy but healthy living to me entails balance. The problem is not in picking up a bit of weight, it is in not knowing how to lose it again. So to conclude there is no best diet for fat loss, only the best diet for you.
Comments