By Losing those last few KG’s can be really challenging. This is because our bodies get to a set point in our weight-loss journey – most likely due to the caloric restriction we are putting it through and the added activity we’re forcing upon it. Sooner or later, this approach begins to have the opposite effect on our goals. The good news is, you don’t have to keep decreasing your caloric range and doing endless exercise in order to make that transitional change. Here are some different strategies you may want to adapt.
5 super-fast ways to lose those last 5kg
- Eat more protein, rather than cutting calories. So many people mistakenly cut calories to an extreme rate, thinking that the less they eat, the faster results they will get. Long term, daily caloric restriction for years can have a very negative effect on your body. Remember that slashing calories long term will eventually lower your metabolic rate and eat away at your muscle mass. Then there is the need to use extreme amounts of willpower to fight off hunger. It’s a never-ending battle. It’s not worth leading a life where you are constantly hungry and unable to eat the things you love. Choose a different strategy by opting for a higher protein diet and decreasing your carbohydrates. The protein will allow you to become satisfied for longer periods of time and decrease the struggle and pain to fight off snacking. Plan all meals around high proteins sources, such as fish, meat and poultry. You can also eat eggs and yoghurt. Higher protein diets burn more calories by elevating your metabolic rate. The natural tendency to eat less will decrease your daily caloric rate naturally, as well as manage your blood sugar level. We want to do as much as we can to decrease sugar cravings, and eating protein is key.
- Get enough sleep and decrease your stress levels. Our bodies rely on many hormones to regulate our metabolic rate, and those hormones are greatly disrupted when we lack sleep or experience too much stress. Our bodies become a lot more insulin resistant and glucose tolerance drops. The body then shifts into fat storage mode. This cycle keeps repeating itself by making us feel hungrier and make poor food choices throughout the day. This can lead eating as much as 300 calories extra – just due to stress level increases! We must develop better sleeping and stress management habits to handle these times in our lives. Some of the following strategies can help you;-
– set regular bed times, even on the weekend
– keep devices away from you when you are sleeping
– make sure your room is dark enough to sleep
– regulate the temperature of your room as much as you can, so you are not woken up by extreme cold or heat
– use meditation daily to reduce hormone balance and drastically reduce your stress levels. There are many apps available for your phone which can help you do this. - Intermittently fast. Fasting is by far, the best way to lose body fat and maintain it for life. Now, this is not the same as caloric restriction, because you are opting to cease eating for a certain amount of time. The effects this has on the metabolism far surpass caloric restriction long term. It’s also a more effective way to lose weight – and it does not require you to miss out on eating the foods you love. I would recommend starting at the 12-hour mark, and then increasing the duration of your fast slowly, as you become more accustomed to it. The changes inside and outside your body will be profound. Not only will you decrease your body fat, but you will also increase your body’s metabolism, flush out toxins and most importantly, decrease your insulin. Insulin is the key to weight loss long term.
- Focus on weight training – not cardio. Long duration cardio sessions is an extremely ineffective way to create a fat loss environment long term. It also promotes a lot of stress on the body, which have a negative effect on fat loss. Too much cardio can also lead to loss of lean muscle mass, which degrades your metabolic rate. The unfortunate effect of this is that you will constantly aim to eat less and increase your activity and the duration of that activity because if you don’t, you will gain fat. The best solution to this problem is to slowly taper off long duration cardio and use strength training as your main form of exercise to increase your muscle mass and decrease fat stores. This happens slowly, but over time when you give your body the chance to adapt to weights, you will see a decrease in your fat stores and an increase in your muscle size, a more toned and shapely physique and an increase in strength. You can still get some great muscle building results by training at home, using body weight and also resistance bands.
- Use sprint intervals instead of long duration cardio. Sprint intervals are so effective at burning body fat and you don’t have to do them for a long period of time in order to get those results. The effectiveness of sprints is due to the immediate exertion it has on your body – which triggers fat burning. The intervals must be done to your full capacity, in other words, you need to go ALL OUT on the sprint and then actively recover. This should last you around about the 20–25-minute mark – and should leave you gasping for air. Although it is challenging and it’s very testing on your bodies capacity to keep up – it’s most certainly a lot more effective than an hour or two or steady state cardio.Please do try all of these strategies to help you pinpoint what could be getting in the way of your fat loss potential and give it time. Sometimes it does take a bit longer to lose that last bit of weight, and with the proper long-term strategies, you will be able to maintain this fat loss.
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