The Best Way To Lose Weight
Wondering What The Best Way To Lose Weight Is?
One question I hear a lot of as a longtime personal trainer in Austin, is what is the best way to lose weight? It is a deceptively difficult question to answer. One could point to vigorous, calorie depleting activities such as rock climbing, swimming, etc, and suggest that they are the best way to lose weight is to undertake these activities. That seems logical, but it doesn’t apply to everyone, as not everyone should be rock climbing or swimming due to their imbalances, previous injuries, etc. There’s a lot to ponder when trying to figure out the best way to lose weight, so let’s break it down logically.
If you’re trying to lose weight, you first want to ascertain if it’s body fat that needs reducing, or water weight that needs expulsion. Our bodies are roughly 65% water in composition, so holding excess water is a very easy thing to do. For example, if you have a carb heavy diet, you will likely hold excess water weight because on average, the consumption of 1 gram of carbohydrates, facilitates the retention of 2.2 grams of water weight. If you are looking to shed some water weight, as some of my celebrity clients might need to do before a filming a scene or doing a photo shoot, we can manipulate their body’s water retention through water intake, carbohydrate intake, as well as exercise.
If you want to know the best way to lose weight for obese people, or even simply for folks carrying a few extra pounds around that isn’t water weight, a different approach is needed. This is where the fad diets, such as Atkins, for example, are very misleading. Atkins was based upon carbohydrate depletion, which as I stated previously, will reduce water weight, If your body is comprised of 65% water, approximately, there’s no way you won’t lose weight. The catch is that you’re not losing fat, but rather reducing your water weight. The problem is that the majority of people see the scale move south, and they think they have found a winner, while the truth of the matter is that they unknowingly manipulated the scale temporarily. The body can quickly adapt and render this form of weight loss a very short term effect. That’s why dropping water weight through the manipulation of carbohydrate and water intake makes sense for a photo shoot, but is irrational and ineffective for someone looking for a healthy way to get long term results. This also started the trend of ignorantly maligning carbohydrates as a bad macronutrient that is simply an indulgence and one that makes you fat. This is far from the truth, as carbs are your body’s optimal source of fuel. You can read the truth about carbohydrates here in my previous article, appropriately named, the truth about carbohydrates.
Let’s say you want to know the best way to lose weight that we know is body fat weight, as opposed to simple water retention. As mentioned, a different approach needs to be employed. This is where you have the internet “gurus” preaching about nutrition being X percentage of importance versus exercise, etc. Leave the hype train sitting at the station and forget miraculous wonder pills, powders, fads, and formulas. It simply comes to down to managing a proper diet, doing well timed cardiovascular exercise, and being very consistent with both. As stated in previous blog posts, the best way to lose weight, when referring to body fat, is to get up in the morning and with an empty stomach, get busy with your cardio workout. This way you’re burning fat and oxygen for fuel as opposed to the last thing you consumed. It could be a rigorous bike ride, a swim, a brisk walk, etc. What you do depends upon your needs, your abilities, and so on, just so long as you do something and of course, pair it with a sensible and balanced diet.
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