5 Easy To Apply Fat Loss Tips!

     With summer fast approaching, many of you might be rushing to shed a few extra pounds before beach season. Now, lets get one thing straight prior to moving on, these tips will help to drop a FEW pounds quickly but won't work magic over night! If your goal weight is still off in the distance, add this advice to your daily routine and you'll definitely be closer to the finish line!

Tips to help unveil all the hard work put in over the winter...

1. Decrease Total Calories

• Decreasing calories is at the top of the list because in order to lose some weight you need to be expending more calories then you're consuming. 
• First, find out how many calories you need to maintain the weight you're at. This can be done by multiplying your bodyweight by 13-15 (ex. 200 x 13 -15 = 2,600 - 3,000 cals). This method isn't exact but it is good enough to get going!
• Take the number you get from the previous bullet and subtract 250 calories from the total, monitor your weight loss weekly to see if you're losing too fast or none at all.

    2.  Increase Protein

• Protein is essential for building muscle and losing fat.
• Structure your diet around healthy proteins (chicken, fish, lean red meats, eggs)
• Protein fills the body up quickly compared to the other macronutrients, forcing you to eat less.

   3.  Decrease Carbohydrates

• Unless you're an endurance athlete start to clear your kitchen of starchy carbs, potatoes, rice, bread & also processed boxed goods.
• Keep your grocery shopping to the outside of the store, do not venture into the middle....you'll rarely find anything useful there.
• Carbs are full of calories, the kind we'd rather not have when looking to unleash a jaw dropping six pack!   

   4.  Increase Vegetable Consumption

• Now this is where your carbohydrates should come from! Vegetables and some fruit!
• It is good to have vegetables at every meal, at least try to have one salad a day.
• Vegetables are packed with vitamins, minerals and many other vital nutrients! 

   5.  Keep Eating Fats....The Good Ones 

• By good fats that means; olive oil, flaxseed oil, FISH OIL, raw nuts, eggs, some bacon, avocados to name a few.
• These fats are essential to joint and many hormones throughout the body.
• Call me crazy but, when the correct fats are eaten, they do not make you fat, they actually can help in your fat loss quest!

You might notice that all these tips are centered around nutrition. This is because nutrition is the key when attempting to change body composition. Added in with hard work at the gym and you'll be amazed at how much you can transform!

- Brig Van Etten CSCS -