Losing Body Fat The Intelligent Way

Losing body fat is not unlike many other processes in our lives. When we jump off the deep end and go to extremes were almost always doomed to failure. Instead, moderation again is the key to success.

It is a quite simple equation that in order to lose body weight, which is almost exactly another way of saying in order to lose body fat, we have to reduce our intake of calories. We just need to have a rough idea of how many calories you consume in an average day and then begin to tilt that balance in our favor.

It is critically important that you go slowly into this process. When most people attempt extreme changes in their eating patterns they find that the body reacts in a very mystifying way by actually reducing the number of calories that it needs in order to function properly day by day. If your body then kicks into what we call starvation mode, even though you are eating less you are not losing any weight. This starvation mode is usually the culprit.

The common view of losing weight is that we must immediately drop our average daily calorie consumption to 1000 calories per day or less. This is insane. Your body simply will not tolerate this without rebelling by slowing down your metabolism so that it actually needs fewer calories to function efficiently. You will also find it extremely difficult to stick with extreme changes in your eating patterns.

Body fat loss is accomplished by taking things slow and steady. During the first week in order to not have your body go in to the starvation response, it does not matter how many calories you have been consuming up to this point only reduce that approximate total by 10%. Depending on how committed you are to making this work you might even consider tracking your calorie intake for one to two weeks to get a reasonable approximation of how many calories you normally eat in an average day.

By making a series of smaller reductions in your daily calorie intake from week to week you will reduce the possibility of your body over reacting to the loss of calories. Logically it also makes sense that you will have sufficient willpower to stick with a series of small changes as opposed to one or two major changes in your lifestyle.

In the same way when we consider exercise do not instantly launch into a major exercise routine. Instead only exercise a little bit more during the second week than what you’d normally exercise. Again, it is important that we protect against the body making changes in the amount of calories it needs day by day.

In the second week you will want to take another 10% reduction in your calorie intake with just a small increase in the amount of exercise that you engage in during that second week. Yes, you are manipulating your body’s metabolism to your advantage and as you continue in this pattern you will find increasing success in losing excess body fat.

Tags: Weight Loss