If you are looking to lose body fat but are frustrated with the lack of results despite all the work you are putting in, it might be time to shift your focus. In our pursuit for fat loss, so many of us get trapped in “depletion mode.” This is a mindset that revolves around how many calories you can burn and how little food you can eat. So, you hit the gym with the obsessive concern over depleting your body of more calories than you did yesterday (because the number on the scale still isn’t down to where you want it to be) while eating less and less food (and increasingly more bland and tasteless as well!). But, for all the misery you are enduring, your fat loss progress seems to be going nowhere.
What you also may not realize with this depletion mode is that even if you get to your desired weight, you will have to continue to eat the boring, calorie-restrictive diet and carefully calculate your activity levels in order to maintain your fat loss. To make matters worse, your body will eventually adjust to this new level, and you’ll have to eat even less and burn even more calories in order to not lose your progress. It’s kind of a brutal, self-perpetuating cycle that you will never be able to win.
Guess what? There’s a way around all this. Instead of using this depletion mode as your method to lose body fat, let me show you another way:
- First, let’s talk about food. Instead of eating less food, you just need to change the kind of food you eat. And, this doesn’t mean eating all low-fat, low-calorie, bland, boring diet food either. You can actually eat a rather rich, satiating diet and still lose weight. You just need a little scientific knowledge of how your body processes macronutrients and the food combinations that will get you the results you want. Of course, this is oversimplifying things a bit, but you get the picture.
- Second, there are lifestyle changes that can have a huge impact on your fat loss goals. You may not think of factors like anxiety, stress, and poor sleep patterns playing a role in the amount of fat your body stores and holds onto. But, these lifestyle components actually have a major impact on your body's ability to shed excess fat. The bonus to addressing these lifestyle issues is that they not only help with your aesthetic and physical goals, but they go a long way in enhancing your quality of life (and length of your life for that matter!).
- Third, we need to talk about muscle. Instead of exercising to deplete your calorie stores, try exercising with the intent of adding muscle to your body. Think of your body as a furnace and your muscles as the wood that fuels it. The more wood you have in the furnace, the hotter the fire is going to burn. Increased muscle revs your metabolism. The more muscle you have, the more energy you are going to burn, even in a relaxed state. This greater resting metabolic rate means you will churn through the food you eat plus your excess fat stores faster. And, remember that increasing muscle doesn’t necessarily mean you will increase in size and mass. You can gain muscle through an increase in density, where your actual size will stay the same (or even shrink as your body fat decreases and you achieve a more toned look).
Want to learn how to make all these changes and finally see some results? Check out my Bulletproof Ballerina Fat Loss options. Choose from these different levels to give you the blueprint you need to make real, lasting changes to your body:
- Fat Loss Game Plan - 21-page nutrition blueprint and Bulletproof Ballerina recipes
- Elite Coaching - monthly lifestyle and nutrition coaching
- Total Transformation - all three components of nutrition, lifestyle, and cross-training
So, if you are tired of spinning your wheels and torturing yourself with the usual depletion mode, take the leap and try something new.
Photo credit: Steve Vaccariello