Your Lifestyle Impacts your fat Loss
Your fat loss goal will be achieved greatly from the lifestyle you live outside of the gym
The gym is often the first port of call for an individual wanting to lose fat, which is understandable as training plays an important role in terms of fat loss for muscle retention however it shouldn’t be identified as a form of ‘calorie burning’.
If you spend 3hrs per week in the gym that leaves you with 165 hours in the week where you’re not training. These 165 hours are where you have a great opportunity to make progress.
So what measures can we take outside the gym to improve lifestyle?
Nutrition
Ensure you’re consuming the right amount of food and the right balance between macronutrients (protein, fats and carbohydrates). Diet plays a heavily important part in fat loss so being organised and under control with your meals will save you time and decision making throughout the day, not to mention it’s cheaper.
Activity
Whether you’ve been prescribed further training sessions, cardio and/or steps, ensure you stick to the plan. You can achieve your steps by taking more walks, this could be an extra 20 minute walk throughout the day or walking to more places around your neighbourhood.
Sleep
Getting a good nights sleep in terms of duration and quality plays a vital part in fat loss. With a lack of good sleep you’re missing out on recovery (which can impact your ability to train) and you may experience side effects such as moodiness, fatigue, lack of interest, increased hunger and cravings which can lead to poor food choices and a desire to eat foods higher in sugar (leading to a sugar spike and crash)
Hidden calories
this links in with the nutrition point above. Ensure that you’re aware of the ‘hidden calories’ throughout the day, maybe you had a couple of biscuits in the staff room, that extra latte, a small serving of birthday cake for your colleagues birthday, the few drinks after work etc. They all add up, it may not feel like they matter at the time but say you had a couple of biscuits with your tea and then you went out for a few glasses of wine that evening you could be racking up an extra 450-550 calories in one day. This isn’t to say don’t have these things, just make sure you track it into your day.