Have you ever wondered what may be holding you back from the
FASTEST fat loss?
Why you've only been able to lose fat at an "average" speed, if at all?
Well, the fact of the matter is this: there's probably certain things built in to the very diet and exercise program that YOU are doing, things that you don't even realize are inhibiting you from achieving the most rapid fat loss results.
Fortunately, you're in luck, because that's exactly what this article is all about—uncovering what I consider to be the top 5 fat loss "killers" plaguing diets and training programs alike, ultimately slowing down your results despite your most intense efforts.
* Limiting Factor #1: Your Metabolism *
In reality, it's not really your metabolism that's the problem, but rather the effect that most fat loss programs, particularly diets, have on your metabolism.
In order to understand this, we need to go back in time a bit to the day in which our "hunter and gather" ancestors roamed the Earth.
For those individuals, survival was king, and in order to survive, they had to do the whole “eating” thing just like we do.
Unfortunately, things weren’t quite as easy for this group as they are today. No supermarkets. No drive-through meal deals. Instead, when our primitive ancestors wanted a nice steak, they had to go find it.
This inevitably meant that there were plenty of instances in which our yester-year counterparts went without food for days at a time. And at other times, namely during the winter months, their bodies were forced to get by on very little food and calories each day.
And the reason why they didn’t die? There’s only one—the body’s natural defense against starvation.
Don’t get enough calories for an extended period of time? No problem, the body simply causes ”bad” hormones, fat storage enzymes, and hunger to all increase while “good” hormones, metabolism, and fat burning enzymes all take a dive.
Enter “starvation mode.”
Friend to our ancestors; anything but to the dieter.
You see, dieting, although planned, is nothing more than a lesser degree of premeditated starvation.
Go on a diet—any diet—and it wont be long until the body begins fighting for every ounce of your body fat. You want to lose it; your body wants to keep it. And guess what? Your body wins every time.
Sad scenario, I know.
* Limiting Factor #2: Inadequate Negative Calorie Balance *
There's no getting around the fact that if you want to lose fat as fast as humanly possible you have to create the greatest negative calorie balance possible.
But, at the same time you'll need to do it WITHOUT pissing off your body to the point in which it shuts down and begins to fight against your fat loss efforts (i.e. the "starvation mode" that we just talked about).
Indeed, it is a thin, fine line in which, unfortunately, almost all diets fall somewhere to the left or the right.
You have those diets that create a moderate calorie deficit, leading to moderate results (at least for short while). That's OK, but if we're talking about the
FASTEST fat loss, the deficit simply isn't great enough.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum we have "crash" diets and other severe diets which fail to take in to account ANY knowledge of the body and the regulation of human bodyweight and metabolism. A week or two on any of these approaches and you'll likely:
1. Lose muscle
2. Lose a bunch of water
3. Lose a bit of fat
4. Destroy your metabolism
5. Set yourself up to quickly rebound back beyond your original bodyweight
6. Achieve a "skinny fat" physique in which you're still carrying substantial body fat, only now with no muscle.
Awesomen't. (And by that, I mean, not awesome.)
* Limiting Factor #3: Zero Synergy Between Your Diet And Exercise Programming *
I honestly think this is the most overlooked area of fat loss. Most people simply pick a diet and then pick a training program, or vice versa, without ever really thinking how those two programs work hand in hand, or if they DON'T provide any additional benefit to one another.
Allow me to illustrate my point with a few mathematical equations:
1 + 1 = 0
1 + 1 = 2
1 + 1 = 3
And believe it or not, I actually did graduate first grade.
While not true in the absolute mathematical sense, all three of the above equations are representative of the results people achieve from their diet and exercise programs.
In each equation, think of the first number as diet, the second as exercise, and the third as the result achieved by the combination.
Or simply,
Diet + Exercise = Result
So, in the first equation, Diet + Exercise = Zero Result. Unfortunately many people are stuck in this boat because of damaged metabolisms and some of the reasons we've shared previously.
In the second equation, we have Diet + Exercise = The expected result (and additive effect of the two).
But in the third equation, this is where the magic happens—when diet and exercise team up to achieve a greater result than the additive effect of either of them alone. That's synergy—when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Unfortunately, most diet and exercise programs are respresented by one of the first two equations, because they simply aren't designed to work together in every aspect.
* Limiting Factor #4: Positive Energy Balance *
Positive Energy Balance simply is any point in your diet in which you consume more calories than you burn, ultimately resulting in those surplus level of calories being stored as fat.
This could be the result of a dietary "screw up" in which you fall off your diet completely or a "planned" cheat day which results in positive calorie balance.
Naturally, any time you are gaining fat on a fat loss program you are moving in the opposite direction of your results and in some way, shape or form, slowing your progress.
* Limiting Factor #5: Muscle Loss *
The unforatunate reality is that 99% of diets result in a significant amount of muscle loss. This has several bigtime consequences:
1. You're not going to achieve the LOOK you want by losing muscle. Most men would agree with that statement right out, but for women, allow me to demonstrate it's truth:
Those are both size 2 bodies. The difference? The one on the left looks OK while the one on the right is smokin' hot. The REAL difference? Muscle.
While the exact same size, the physique on the right is comprised mostly of dense, shapely, tone muscle, while the image on the left...isn't.
If you just want to be "thin" while still hiding behind your clothes because you're not 100% proud of your body, then losing muscle is a great way to get you there. But if you want to look great naked, believe me, you want to hold on to every ounce you have as you lose fat.
2. Losing muscle = decreased metabolism. Muscle burns calories at rest; essentially, it's the fuel that keeps your metabolism operating at full blast. When you lose muscle as you diet, not only does it slow your week to week progress by decreasing overall metabolism, but it also sets you up to easily and quickly gain back lost weight as a result of the cumulative decrease in metabolism over time.
A "smaller" version of the same body, decreased week to week progress, and long-term metabolism issues?
Count. Me. Out.
Do you want to overcome these 5 limiting factor and begin achieving the
FASTEST fat loss?
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