”I want to lose fat”, It seems to roll of the tongue when we as coaches ask our clients what their goals are. More specifically, they tell us they want to lose fat in certain areas, like legs, stomach and arms. Unfortunately, I need to pop your bubble because, we’re unable to target certain areas when it comes to fat loss. It’s simply the genetics that you were given and what your body wants. However, if you target overall fat loss, there shouldn’t be a problem with losing the fat in those specific areas either. We might have to wait a little bit longer for our belly fat to dissapear than our arms, or vice versa, that’s up to your genetics.

This blog could end there, but I do want to give you some more information on how to go about losing fat in a sustainable manner. I have already written a blog on the benefits of eating more fats and the difference between losing weight and losing fat, you can check those out here and here. This blog will be more focused on some small tips and tricks that will help you get leaner in all the right areas.

All good things take time

I have talked about it before and it holds true for fat loss as well. The longer it takes to build up, the longer it takes to lose. You can look at that from two different angles. First, the longer it takes you to build up your weight/fat percentage the longer it will take to lose. Second, The longer it takes to lose, the harder it will be to gain back (which is obviously a positive). Even when losing fat ”the right way”, it doesn’t keep us from gaining it back if we don’t sustain it.

You’re only making it easier for yourself to regain your fat percentage by looking for a quick solution, rather than losing it over longer periods of time. Making smaller changes to your nutrition on a weekly basis will eventually accumulate into sustainable fat loss.

More fat to lose fat

As simple and weird as it sounds, it is true, The more fat we eat, the more fat we burn. If we continue to heavily feed our body with carbohydrates, how can we expect our body to use fat as its fuel source? Using fats as a fuel source is one of the few paths to losing fat, it doesn’t just magically disappear. Whether that is by using it as fuel during our daily lives, workouts, sleep, as long as fats are used as the primary source, we can start the process of sustainable fat loss.

Eventually fat loss doesn’t come down to cutting your total amount of calories, it comes down to where your calories come from. If your main food sources are carb heavy, it’s no wonder that your body uses it as its primary source.

Broken down carbohydrates are stored in the muscles, liver and cells as ”glycogen” only for so long. Glycogen doesn’t hold up forever and eventually turns into stored fat, not the ”ready to be used as energy” fats but the ”clog up the arteries” fats. Not all fats are created equal.

Insulin is the enemy

Besides taking away the ability of transforming fats into our primary fuel source, carbohydrates have a big impact on our insulin production. As has been discovered by doing multiple experiments, insulin is the main driving force of weight/ fat gain and obesity. So, carbs not only prevent us from using fats as our primary source but it actually makes the situation worse at the same time.

Check out more information on insulin here

Build more muscle mass, eat more protein

Although we are still not able to target fat loss, we could gain a little bit more muscle mass in those specific areas. Obviously, we do that by doing resistance/weight training and by eating more protein to supplement the recovery of those workouts. More muscle mass will increase definition in those specific areas and it will also stimulate more calories burned during a day. Protein not only allows for better recovery but less insulin production as well, which, as we have seen in the last paragraph is directly linked to weight gain.

Protein and fats will leave you feeling satisfied longer because they have less of an impact on our blood sugar levels. Our blood sugar level is one of the main deciding factors for us feeling hungry over time and the driving force behind insulin production. The more control we have over our blood sugar level, the less insulin production and more satisfaction after every meal.

6 nutrition rules to follow, part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of this series, nutrition rules to follow. Really what this blog should be called is nutrition rules that you COULD follow. There’s already enough people out there that will tell you exactly what you should be doing and how to do it. Instead, I just want to give you the…

by kees1996 2 July 202225 June 2022

6 Nutrition rules to follow, part 1

Welcome back to another blog where we cover the wide topic of nutrition. The reason why I keep coming back to different topics related to nutrition is because the nutrition space is filled with false and misleading information. My goal is to simplify the message and give you honest information. I never want to tell…

by kees1996 25 June 202225 June 2022

5 Steps to getting stronger

Welcome back to this week’s blog where we cover a topic that I am super passionate about and that is getting stronger. Why am I so passionate about it? Because it has never come easy to me. Even since the start of my fitness journey I have always looked at other people in the gym…

by kees1996 11 June 202227 May 2022