Has anyone been finding it frustrating trying to lose weight recently? With Spring almost here and Summer just over 12 weeks away, is the stress and time left starting to get to you? I’m going to give you some tips right now that will guarantee weight loss in 4 weeks and tell you why this will work.
1. Cut the cardio- Have been trying to lose weight recently by doing some running, cycling, swimming, walking or aerobics? Did you lose weight at the start and haven’t recently? then I suggest you stop. The initial weight loss is just water and inflammation. The plateau is because long term cardio without weight training will not get you results. Weight training promotes growth hormone and testosterone which are the building blocks for fat loss. Cardio has been proven to eat into your muscle mass. There is a 2004 study in the Canadian journal of applied physiology that showed male rats that performed aerobic activity daily lost testosterone and even their genitals shrunk! So no thanks! Is what you should be saying.
2. Increase weight training to 4 times per week. A recent study showed the people who weight trained 4 times per week got 50% better fat loss results than those who did 3 sessions! I don’t know about you but i don’t mind training 4 hours a week as opposed to 3 if that’s going to happen. Do you know that 4 hours of exercise is equivalent to 16% of your week? Reduce your social media exploring by 50%, and read your emails once per week and I guarantee that you just found an extra hour in your life.
3. Eat at a deficit. The age old saying of in versus out has still been proven clinically to lose weight. If you are consuming less calories than your active metabolic rate then you will lose weight.
4. Have a cheat meal once per week . Research has still proven that refeeding your body after 4-6 days of dieting actually enhances weight loss results. Leptin levels drop after continuous dieting and plays havoc on your hormones and will slow your metabolism. A cheat meal rich in quality carbohydrates will get those back on track. Did you know that if you get the carbohydrate content right at your cheat meal that you will actually have less fat mass and more muscle the very next day? That’s no joke, it’s been proven clinically just no medical studies yet. The truth is that the more muscle mass that you have then the more carbohydrates that you need. But eating carbohydrates every day will maintain your muscle but stop the fat burning process. You may lose fat slowly over time due to the increase in BMR but we’re talking 4 weeks here. So a cheat meal will spice things up
5. Do interval training with weights. Since the 1990’s thousands of studies have found interval training to have 9 times the effect of weight loss than low intensity cardio. But remember the rat study? That doesn’t mean your pump class is high intensity or either is your Zumba Class. That will lead to shrinkage. I’m talking lifting heavy weights, use some heavy battle ropes, heavy lunges, squats, sleds and complex movements in a circuit format.
6. Get some sleep. Studies have shown that people who got 7 hours solid sleep at night got better results than subjects who got 5 hours sleep. Just that 2 hour difference is massive!
7. Reduce stress in your life. Eliminate things or people who are causing stress in your life. Surround yourself with people with like minded goals and actually make you happy. You are a subject of the 5 people who surround you. The stress hormone cortisol will stunt your fat loss results so get rid of those annoying, draining, whinging and junk food eating people in your life.
8. Ok…. so you’re training 3-5 times per week and doing and combination of cardio and weight training. Cut the cardio for 4 weeks and focus on interval circuits with weight training and tell me how much fat you lose in 4 weeks….seriously. The latest research that is changing the industry is on concurrent training. That weight training alone is far superior to weight training plus cardio for fat loss. I hope you didn’t just open a cycle studio when the fad hit a few years ago ? You could be in trouble soon.
And there you have it. Sleep,Eat,Train and email me how you are in 4 weeks time?
