My top 5 tips for weight loss

The first tip I want to share with you may seem obvious but it is calorie deficit and this is the most important thing to implement when losing weight. Your body is a machine and like every machine we need fuel just like a car needs petrol. Our fuel comes from energy found in foods and drinks (calories).

We all have a BMR which is the number of calories we need to maintain our body weight and composition, and this would be all if we were to stay in bed all day doing nothing. We then have NEAT which is everything we do outside of training, walking to work, taking the stairs, moving boxes at the weekend etc. We have EAT which what we burn while we are training. And finally, we have TEF which is the energy used to consume, digest and store. So, in order to lose weight you need to come into a calorie deficit which is just a case of consuming less than your Daily Energy Expenditure. I usually say take away 20%-15%. For Example, say my Daily Energy Expenditure is 2400Kcals and I wanted to go into a 20% deficit I would consume 1920Kcals. Calories in vs calories out. You can go into a bigger deficit but prepare to be tired, grumpy and very demotivated – from personal experience I tried a 40% deficit for a short period and nobody including myself enjoyed a grumpy Josh!

My second tip to you is don’t cut a food group out, all too often you hear about Jane who decided to cut out carbohydrates and lost 6 pounds in 2 weeks, that’s great in terms of numbers. What Jane doesn’t tell you is that she has no energy to play with her kids in the park, she is incredibly demotivated with everything; her career, her training, her relationship, her family life. Then next thing you know Jane has a huge binge and is worse off than when she started. You cut out carbs, that’s your main energy source gone. You cut out protein, that’s your main muscle repairing source gone. You cut out fats, that’s another energy source gone and a source that helps to lubricate our joints. Have a balance, you can still have all the foods you want and still be in a deficit. Fact: more people actually gain weight after doing the Keto (no or very little carb) Diet than people who lose weight.

Number three is don’t waste your time with slimming products such as teas, coffees, fat burners, replacement shakes. There are so many ridiculous products out there telling you that drinking their special tea or shake twice a day the weight will just fall off you. Absolute rubbish, most of these products contain caffeine that will supress your appetite slightly and contain ingredients that raise your core temperature causing you to sweat more and ingredients that are effectively laxatives. Don’t get sucked into this nonsense!

Fourth on the list is to enjoy your training. My number one recommendation is my circuits class every Friday at 06:45-07:30 (shameless plug!!) On a more serious note as I mentioned in the first tip calories in vs calories out. It won’t make a difference in terms of weight loss what type of training you do. Weight training will increase your strength and muscle tone, Pilates or Yoga will increase your flexibly, mobility and core strength and then doing HIIT will increase your cardiovascular fitness. The point I’m making is every training type has its benefits, but if you enjoy doing sprint intervals, do sprint intervals, if you enjoy Yoga, do Yoga and if you enjoy a bodybuilding split, do a bodybuilding split.

The final tip I would like to share with you is that you don’t get fixated on the scales. A lot of the time when people say they want to lose weight what they mean is they want to feel more confident. This often means they want to freely take their top off on holiday and play with their kids without feeling embarrassed or go for dinner with their partner and not have to pull their top down to cover their bulge when they stand up. There are exceptions where people do need to lose a specific number on the scales but this isn’t always the case. Instead of worrying over what the scales say focus on measurements of your waist, your hips, your arms etc…

Be consistent, be healthy and be confident!

If you have any questions or you would like me to go into more detail please don’t hesitate to contact me – josh.eyre@hotmail.com

#stress #fitness #workout