The Eight Rules That Will Help You to Lose Fat and a Prescription for Fat Loss

Losing body fat is really not much of a science. However, infomercials that appear on television as well as articles written in fitness and bodybuilding magazines with less than up to date information have created a great amount of confusion in regards to the subject of fat loss.

In an effort to eliminate this confusion, I will share the 8 rules of fat loss.

Fat Loss Rules

Below are the eight rules that need to be followed in order to achieve maximum permanent fat loss along with increased muscle tone.

Fat Loss Rule #1: Consume less calories than your body burns for five to six days a week.

That is right. You need to consume approximately 500 calories less than what your body burns (maintenance amount) as if you do not create a caloric deficit, no matter what you do, you will not lose fat!

However, it is important that over the weekends you increase your calories by 500-700 over the maintenance amount. This is necessary in order to prevent the metabolism from slowing down.

Fat Loss Rule #2: Watch the mirror and pictures, not your weight scale.

Be more concerned with the way you look in the mirror (or in pictures) and your waist size rather than with your total body weight in the scale as such measurement does not distinguish between the amount of fat and muscle that you have.

Most of the time, bodybuilders who are just starting out tell me that they need to lose anywhere between 20-40 pounds of fat. However, I would not be nearly as concerned with the weight as I would be with the way you look in the mirror and your waist size. The reason for that is the fact that as you begin your weight training you will start gaining muscle mass and as a result, the scale may not show any weight loss.

Therefore, just concern yourself with the way you look (pictures are a great way to track this) and stop obsessing about your weight.

Fat Loss Rule #3: Concentrate on weight training exercise for losing fat.

Yes, you heard right. Even though I constantly hear the line "I will lose the fat first by doing cardio and then gain muscle after all of the fat is gone", this is not the best way to lose fat! The reason for this is that by using cardio as your sole source of exercise you will lose equal amounts of fat and muscle. The end result will be a smaller but still fat version of yourself with a lower metabolism (due to the muscle loss).

Gaining muscle is really the secret to permanent fat loss as the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest on any given day. In addition, gaining muscle is the key to achieving the firm good looking body that everybody wants but dieting and cardio alone will not give.

Fat Loss Rule #4: If possible, attempt to exercise first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

I really love exercising first thing in the morning on an empty stomach as I always get the quickest fat loss results that way. The reason for this is that your body's glycogen reserves have been exhausted due to the overnight fast, so the body has to rely on burning fats for fuel. Besides, that way I have the rest of the day to eat, recover, and grow.

However, if you do not like to weight train at the beginning of the day, at least try a quick 20 minute intense aerobic activity (this could be a quick stationary bike ride or a vigorous walk) as well as 5-10 minutes of abdominal exercise done in superset fashion.

That gives you a total of 25-30 minutes of aerobic work that jumps starts your fat burning mechanisms early in the day.

Fat Loss Rule #5: Eat smaller more frequent meals throughout the day.

The first thing that most bodybuilding dieters do is that they start a crash diet where they only eat once or twice a day as well as increasing cardiovascular activity. Again, this is a sure fire way to lose muscle and lower your metabolism. As we already know, less muscle and a lower metabolism is not the way to get to your bodybuilding goal.

In order to keep the metabolism going at full speed and the blood sugar levels under control to keep energy levels high and cravings away, 5 to 6 small balanced meals a day is the way to go. When I say balanced meals what I mean is that each meal should contain all of the macronutrients (carbs, protein and fats) in a specific ratio.

While metabolisms differ, I have found that a ratio of 40-45% Carbs, 40-35% Protein, and no more than 20% Fats is generally the best way to go. This ratio is optimal for keeping insulin and blood sugar under perfect control. In addition, this ratio creates a favorable hormonal environment that leads to muscle growth and fat loss.

[Note: If you need help with what foods provide carbohydrates, which ones provide protein and which ones provide fats, please visit my article on Characteristics Of A Good Nutrition Program.]