By The most accurate way to lose body fat and alter the shape of your body, is predominantly achieved through diet. There is no form of exercise that can give you the body shape changes you want, unless you couple it with a proper diet. My answer will be based on diet and exercise together, in order to help you achieve the best results.
Let’s start with food, as it’s what you create in the kitchen that’s going to have the most profound effect to your health and body long term:
4 essential food alterations you have to make to change your body shape
- Eat more protein. Protein is by far the most effective macronutrient in weight loss and maintaining muscle mass. Protein boosts your metabolism by 80–100 calories per day. This is great news for those of us watching what we eat, as it will provide us with even more leverage to achieve our goals. The wonderful thing about protein is that it keeps you full for longer stretches, disabling any desires to snack or eat the wrong foods. Focus on high quality, low calorie protein options regularly, such as chicken, fish and eggs. These are great staples when trying to lower body fat, but do include higher fat meats to mix it up. Eat omega 3 rich salmon regularly to decrease inflammation.
- Eat cruciferous vegetables. These beautiful vegetables contain a multitude of vitamins and minerals, as well as the magical ingredient called fibre. Fibre increases the density of the food, making it extremely filling and even lower in calories. Green vegetable are your best bet, and including them with every meal will ensure you get your daily vitamin requirements, as well as reducing cravings and snack attacks. Include them with your protein sources.
- Drink 3 + litres of water per day. Making sure you are hydrated is important for your body’s performance in exercise. It also increases your metabolism by 24–30% over a 1–2 hour period. This will assist you in increasing your caloric expenditure during the day. You can also opt to drink 1–2 glasses of water before a meal, to encourage you to lose more body fat, as you will be eating less overall. This is a great strategy to test if your hunger signals are actually from dehydration – not thirst. Try this each and every day, making sure you meet your water quota
- Fast regularly. I absolutely love intermittent fasting, for both body fat loss and gaining muscle. This eating pattern is so easy to maintain, and does not require the dreaded caloric restriction we have all tried and failed at. All you have to do, is restrict your eating for a short, or long stretch, and then start eating again. This is the best and most effective way to restrict calories, re train your metabolism and decrease inflammation markers within your body. I urge you to try this.
Now that we have covered the absolute basics for fat loss and changing your body shape through dieting, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of weight and cardio training, to give you the best possible results for all your efforts.
3 key exercise you must do each week, to change your body shape and lose weight fast
- Weight training – focusing on compound movements. Multi-joint movements will give you the best weight loss and muscle building potential. These are squats, bench press, pull ups, lunges and deadlifts. They are the most challenging movements to perform with weights, but will give you the best results. The physical and mental challenge of lifting and pushing past your personal best weight is also great for your self confidence.
- HIIT intervals – both indoors and outdoors. In order to change it up with your training program, do both indoor and outdoor interval trainings sessions. These can be sprinting up hills (which is great for the lower body) or sprinting on an incline whilst on the treadmill. We cannot always train outdoors, but allowing the change of scenery keeps your workout more fun and interesting.
- Incidental exercise – be more active on a day to day basis. Most of us have a sedentary workspace, and we need to become consciously aware of the power of movement regularly. Get up and speak to a colleague, rather than call or email. Take the stairs instead of the lift. Walk to and from work, instead of driving, or get off a stop earlier than normal, and walk the rest of the way. These small changes every day, have a HUGE impact on your caloric expenditure. Learn to keep moving for optimal body fat loss, and also for your health.
I hope this has helped you get a few more ideas of how you can achieve a better body composition. If you would like to keep in touch during your journey, please do contact me on these various platforms if you need further assistance. I have plenty of other material on my blog or join me on facebook and instagram account. Please feel free to upvote this answer.
