Lose weight - with these tips, you'll succeed this time!

Losing weight, shredding, cutting, slimming down—these terms are actually thrown at us all year round. We live in a society where diet culture is one of the most prominent things ever, and everything revolves around quick weight loss. There is an overwhelming amount of information available from countless companies about losing weight. Products that claim to stimulate weight loss and certain diets that supposedly promote it. On one hand, it's incredibly helpful that we can access so much information quickly through the internet and books, but on the other hand, it can be confusing! So, what are the myths, and more importantly, what are the facts about losing weight? To make it a bit easier for you to understand what actually works and what is just nonsense and/or a sales gimmick, I’ve summarized all the most well-known methods under the headings “do’s” and “don’ts.” This way, you can use this blog as a guide whenever you want to start losing fat!

“One company swears by method A, while another wholeheartedly believes in method B, but what really works?”

Do's!

Do you want to lose weight healthy and fast? Follow the tips below!

1. Counting Calories

We start the list with the most important "do" when it comes to losing weight: keeping track of your daily calories! Losing weight only works if you consume less energy than you burn each day. It’s crucial to count both the calories you burn and the calories you take in! This way, you can then adjust to the right ratio to start burning fat. The easiest way to do this is through one of the countless apps available today that focus on this. Examples of (free) apps include FatSecret, MyFitnessPal, and Lifesum. In these apps, you can add your daily activities and log everything you've eaten and drunk that day. Everything will then be presented to you in an easy daily/weekly overview. Want to calculate your body fat percentage? Do that here!

2. Losing Weight with Strength Training

An incredibly effective way to lose weight: strength training! And for three very important reasons:

• During strength training, you burn calories. Your body requires a lot of energy to perform strength exercises, resulting in calorie burning. An average person weighing around 70 kilograms will burn about 100-200 calories during half an hour of good strength training.
• Strength training helps you build muscle, which increases your resting metabolism. About 50 to 65% of your daily energy expenditure comes from your resting metabolism, or the energy needed for your body to function properly. Additionally, 15 to 25% of your daily energy expenditure is determined by your muscle mass, meaning that someone with a lot of muscle mass will burn significantly more calories daily than someone with less or little muscle mass. Therefore, increasing your muscle mass through strength training is incredibly effective for boosting your resting metabolism and burning more calories daily.
• Not only do you burn calories during strength training, but also for a good period afterward! This is known as EPOC, or Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption. Your body needs time to recover and build muscle after strength training, during which it requires energy to do so effectively. That extra energy means additional calorie burning! It’s really convenient that you continue to burn calories not only during your workout but also afterward.

3. Intermittent fasting & weight loss

By saving some calories during the day for your cheat meal in the evening, you can often easily stay within your daily calorie target to build lean mass! You can do this by, for example, combining your breakfast and lunch, while keeping your brunch high in protein but low in calories. If you then opt for a healthy snack in the afternoon, you'll feel satisfied throughout the day while still having enough calories (and room in your stomach) for your dinner! This tip is ideal during holidays or for your weekly cheat meal! To give you some inspiration for filling snacks that are low in calories (all around 200 calories), I’ve listed 5 examples below!

4. Help with Weight Loss

Achieving your goals on your own, especially as a beginner, can sometimes be quite challenging! Moments when your motivation dips, when you encounter obstacles while exercising, or when you have no idea what’s causing your weight plateau are common struggles during weight loss. Having someone by your side who can support you throughout the process, brainstorm with you, take care of creating schedules, and especially be a motivating presence during tough times can be incredibly beneficial! Even if it’s just for three months as a great step to continue on your own afterward. For example, consider scheduling a free consultation with one of our coaches!

5. Losing Weight by Walking or Running

In addition to training at the gym, it’s incredibly beneficial to stay active throughout the day. An average person weighing around 72 kilograms will burn about 40 calories per 1,000 steps. So, it’s really smart to increase your daily steps while trying to lose weight! Walking 10,000 steps each day adds an extra daily burn of approximately 400 calories! It’s very healthy to take a short break every two hours to walk around and drink some water. This way, you take your eyes off a screen, give your muscles and joints a bit of stretching/rest from a computer posture, get some fresh air, and burn some calories at the same time! Often, you return from such a short break with renewed motivation, creativity, and concentration, which will make your boss happy too ;-). It’s a win/win situation!

Additionally, running is an efficient way to lose weight. It combines cardiovascular activity with calorie burning, allowing your body to burn fat while improving your fitness. Plus, it’s incredibly accessible; you just grab your running shoes, step out the door, and ready, set, GO! You can also do this popular sport at your own pace and level. With a consistent running routine and a balanced diet, you can gradually get closer to your weight loss goals!

6. HIIT Workouts

HIIT workouts are becoming increasingly popular, and that’s not surprising! HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training, which refers to a workout in which you perform intensive interval exercises for a short period and alternate this with short breaks or active rest exercises. The goal of a HIIT workout is to engage as many muscle groups as possible in a short time while increasing your heart rate. The combination of these two goals leads to a boost in your metabolism, all in just 5-20 minutes! Additionally, just like with strength training, HIIT workouts also involve EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption). This means that even after your workout, you’ll continue to burn calories for recovery and muscle building. It’s an ideal training method to support weight loss!

7. Protein-Rich Nutrition

Protein shakes and weight loss - a good combination? Eating enough protein daily has three major benefits: it keeps you feeling full, is often very low in calories, and supports the maintenance and recovery of your muscle mass. Protein-rich foods will help you preserve or even build as much muscle mass as possible while losing weight, which can help you achieve a toned appearance. Additionally, protein-rich foods often provide long-lasting satiety, making it easier to resist snacking throughout the day. Lastly, it’s great that there are so many lean protein sources available, allowing you to stay low in calories while adequately nourishing your body! This is also referred to as high volume food: foods that are high in volume but still low in calories.

8. Volume Food

To dive right into high-volume food: it's incredibly smart to incorporate many of these types of foods into your daily meal plan. This way, you can eat a lot throughout the day, in large portions, without quickly increasing your calorie intake. Good examples of volume food include:

• Vegetables and snack veggies like: lettuce, spinach, cucumber, carrots, cherry tomatoes, stir-fry vegetables.
• Various types of fruit such as: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, tangerines, kiwis, apricots, grapefruit, and different types of melon.
• Different kinds of snacks: protein bars, popcorn, soup/cup-a-soup, rice cakes and corn cakes with lean toppings, low-fat yogurt with fruit, snack veggies with dip, low-calorie ice cream or protein chips.
• Various rice/pasta alternatives such as: broccoli rice, cauliflower rice, vegetable wraps, or zucchini spaghetti.
• 0% supplements: 0% syrup for waffles, pancakes, light sauces for your meals, flavor drops for your yogurt/coffee, and a cooking spray to save a lot of calories compared to olive oil or butter.

Don'ts

1. Detox / Weight Loss Tea

A flat stomach from detox tea!? Myth! Losing weight or detoxing with special tea is said by some to be the solution for a flat stomach, but unfortunately, the opposite is true. So what does detox tea actually do? Many types of detox tea contain substances that can have a laxative and diuretic effect. The combination of these two can make it seem like you appear slimmer as soon as you start a detox regimen; however, this effect is only temporary and can be extremely harmful to your body. Irritation of the stomach and intestinal lining, dehydration, muscle cramps, and even depressive feelings can occur with the use of detox tea.

2. Too fast, too low in calories

We often tend to want quick results, and the desire for more and more can become overwhelming. However, this mindset carries a significant danger that you need to be wary of: giving your body so few calories that it becomes undernourished. Your body needs a sufficient number of daily calories to function properly, including the proper functioning of your organs, brain functions, and even your metabolism!

3. Focusing Only on Your BMI

BMI—you’ve probably heard of it or read about it. BMI stands for Body Mass Index, which measures the ratio between your weight and height. It is an internationally used metric that has been known for years to assess people's health, but thankfully, it is being used less and less. Why? The BMI is not a very accurate measure of whether someone has a healthy physique. This is because it is based solely on a person's weight and height. Muscle mass weighs more than fat mass, meaning that someone with a lot of muscle will automatically weigh more on the scale and thus have a higher BMI. Unfortunately, this is not entirely accurate! A better indicator would be measuring your height, weight, circumference, and body fat percentage. Do this in combination with tracking your progress during training. You can best measure your body fat percentage and circumference with a body fat meter and measuring tape. When trying to lose weight, focus on lowering your body fat percentage while maintaining or even building as much muscle mass as possible.

4. Completely Skipping Fats, Proteins, or Carbohydrates

“Carbohydrates make you fat, and eating fats makes you fat!” These are phrases you’ve likely seen or heard before. However, this is one of the biggest myths about losing weight. The only reason you would gain weight is by consistently eating more than you burn. As long as you keep an eye on your daily calories and activity level, it’s really unnecessary to eliminate certain macronutrients from your diet. Doing so makes losing weight incredibly difficult, boring, and hard to maintain in the long run. Additionally, it’s crucial for the health of both your body and mind to get a balanced intake of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.

It’s important to ensure you get enough of all three each day! A good daily macronutrient ratio might be: 50% carbohydrates, 30% proteins, and 20% fats. This way, you can make long-term weight loss easier to sustain, get enough vitamins, fibers, and minerals, and enjoy a varied diet!

“A good balance and consistency are key!”

Hopefully, the above do's and don'ts have given you a clearer overview of what you can best apply to achieve your goals, and which methods or products you might want to avoid! Important: 'consistency is key'! Achieving your goals unfortunately doesn’t happen in one day or one week; it will require a longer period during which consistency, hard work, and a good balance are central. But remember: in the end, that longer period of hard work will definitely pay off!

"Never stop chasing your goals!"