7 Mistakes You Shouldn't Make If You're Trying To Burn Fat
People who come to my nutritional consultation do so for many reasons. Some for health reasons, others to improve their sports performance and others that simply seek to show off a better body. But most of them have one goal in common: lose body fat. In this video I want to tell you what are the...
7 Mistakes You Shouldn't Make If You're Trying To Burn Fat
When Daniela went to her first day of consultation, and after a long time trying an infinity of "miraculous" methods and restrictive diets in the fight against her extra pounds, she finally understood that she had been falling into several of the most common mistakes that people commit when losing fat:
1. Do little or no exercise
In order to lose body fat, the first thing you must achieve is a caloric deficit, or in simple words: expend more energy than you are consuming through your diet. There are two ways of spending energy: being alive (energy spending at rest) and moving (energy spending by physical activity). If your activity is limited to spending the day sitting in front of a computer, in the car, or in bed, the amount of calories needed to achieve an energy deficit will need to be very low. Imagine that you are on a 1,200 kcal diet but you only expend about 1,400 kcal per day; your energy deficit will be barely 200 kcal per day. At this rate, it will take you over a month to lose your first pound of fat. On the other hand, with the same 1,200 kcal diet but spending 2,200 kcal (eg: adding one hour of intense exercise a day), your deficit would now be 1,000 kcal, managing to lose one kilo of fat in just one week. Therefore, avoiding a sedentary lifestyle and increasing calorie expenditure through exercise is a very important strategy to accelerate your fat loss process. Remember that the only fat burner that exists is called "physical exercise".
2. Eat healthy, but a lot!
Today, thanks to the bombardment of information in the world of fitness, most people seeking to lose fat have included in their diet foods considered healthy, such as vegetables, fruits, oats, sweet potatoes, nuts, egg whites, chicken, fish and even protein supplements. However, very few people take into account the total amount of calories they consume at the expense of these foods, mistakenly thinking that, because they are healthy, they cannot cause excess calories. A classic example is snacking on a 20g handful of almonds (115kcal), versus snacking on a 100g sachet of almonds (580kcal), which would equal the calories of three and a half cups of pasta! Impressive, isn't it? And it is that when designing a good nutritional plan to lose fat, you should not only take into account the quality of the food, but also its quantity. We all have an energy requirement that can vary widely from person to person. Therefore, if you do not account for what you eat, you will be browsing blind.
3. Follow fad diets
The paleo, alkaline, detox, diet of the points, of the blood groups, intermittent fasting and a long etcetera. Following fad diets is a serious mistake, as it ignores the most valuable principle of proper nutrition: individuality. On the other hand, most of these diets are based on myths and theories that lack scientific validity, and whose benefits, if any, are limited to a certain group of people. For example, a paleo diet might be beneficial for a patient with a significant degree of obesity and chronic disease, but totally inappropriate for a healthy individual or athlete. Therefore, what worked for María's friend will not necessarily work for María, since each one of us has specific needs that depend on an endless number of totally individual characteristics such as age, gender, body composition, level of physical activity, daily routine, tastes and particular objectives.
4. Do not eat carbohydrates
Without a doubt, the most common mistake made by people who want to lose fat. There are many myths around the consumption of carbohydrates. Some limit themselves to eating them before a certain time and others avoid them altogether. The truth is that both behaviors are unnecessary and, in many cases, counterproductive. Carbohydrates, or sugars, are the main source of energy for your body, and the more energy you expend through physical exercise, the more carbohydrates you need (yes, even if you're looking to lose fat). Eliminating carbs will cause you to lose muscle, glycogen, and water , which will make it harder for you to lose fat. As long as the total amount of energy you take in per day is less than what you expend, you can lose fat without cutting carbs, especially if you exercise. It's just a matter of understanding which ones, how much and when to use them, depending on your energy needs and your training schedule.
5. Skip meals
Eating at odd hours is the main cause of what many describe as anxiety, which is nothing more than hunger. Going more than three or four hours without eating will cause your blood sugar (glucose) levels to drop, and the lower these levels, the more urgent it becomes to raise them again. This is why if you only eat three meals a day, separated by 5 or 7 hours, you will not be able to resist that dessert that passes before your eyes in the middle of the afternoon, or in the worst case, you will end up having a dinner worthy of a Spartan arriving at your house at night. For this reason it is very important to include snacks between your main meals, which will help you keep your sugar levels stable and allow you to better control your appetite during the day. Do the test!
6. Lose weight and not fat
Our body is made up of many components. We have muscles, fat, bones, skin, and other tissues. Each of them contributes to the total body weight, the one we see when we get on a scale. Of all these components, only muscle and fat are modifiable in the short term through diet and training. If you focus only on losing weight quickly, you will be at the mercy of restrictive behaviors that will lead to losing muscle instead of fat. In fact, losing weight is very simple. It is enough to stop eating and in a few days you will lose a large amount of weight at the expense of muscle and water. On the other hand, losing only fat is a much more complex process, which depends on an eating plan calculated specifically for each person. Therefore, you should pay less attention to the number on the scale and focus on losing body fat, which you can monitor with a qualified professional.
7. Make messes on the weekend
"I follow my perfect diet from Monday to Friday, but on the weekend I go out." Remember that Saturday and Sunday represent almost a third of our entire week, so falling into excess during these days can sabotage the progress you've made on previous days. Enjoying a medium burger with a zero-calorie drink and sharing dessert on a Saturday night won't stop you from losing fat. But a weekend of barbecue, pizza, double burger with extra fries, regular soda, ice cream, chocolate cake and alcoholic beverages, will represent a huge excess of calories that can slow down your weekly progress. In the end, the key is in moderation. If you're on a low-calorie plan to lose body fat, you can eat one or two meals outside of your meal plan over the weekend. Just stay away from excess fat, sugar and/or alcohol and you won't have to worry.
Additionally, remember that you should not put anything into your body that is not natural and healthy, such as injectable fat burners, pills of dubious origin, among many others. Just imagine torturing yourself with injectable fat burners and ultimately not working for you.
