These top tips for fat loss, based on my 22 years’ experience as a personal trainer in London, will help you towards your goal weight. You may already be doing a number of these, but everyone will find at least one item on the list that you can add to your regime.
1. Drink plenty of water between meals. A good rule of thumb is 2 litres a day, but the right amount for you depends on your body size, your activity levels that day, how hot the weather is.
2. Consume 2-3 portions of fruit every day, and vary the range of fruits you eat over the week. Different fruits have different strengths. For instance, mango is rich in soluble fibre, which lowers your LDL cholesterol levels and feeds the good bacteria in your gut. Blueberries are rich in vitamin C. Bananas are a rich source of magnesium, vital for converting food into energy, protein synthesis, regulating blood pressure, and a range of other functions.
3. Eat at least 4 – 6 portions of vegetables a day. Vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals, soluble and insoluble fibre, and phytochemicals.
4. Tell your friends and family that you’re on a mission to lose weight, and ask them to support you in your efforts. This will give you a psychological boost, as you’re no longer fighting the fat alone.
5. Goal-setting is powerful, so set a goal for your weight loss. Specify a number, set a deadline, then work out how much weight loss a week this means. You want to aim for 1-2 lbs per week weight loss. Make sure your weight loss goal is realistic and achievable. Don’t lose weight too fast or resort to starvation diets, or you’ll make yourself ill.
6. Don’t cut out all fats. Some fats are vital for your health (they’re called the essential fats), so eat oily fish such as salmon and trout, avocados (M&S sells very good quality ‘perfectly ripe’ avocados), almonds, pumpkin seeds, olive oil. All in moderation of course.
7. If you hire a personal trainer, make sure you get maximum value out of them by focusing hard on your PT sessions with no distractions. Keep a food diary and ask your personal trainer to assess your eating habits.
8. Make resistance exercises a big feature of your workout regime, it’s the best form of exercise to lose excess body fat. So pushups, squats, and dumbbell exercises are all good. When you build muscle-mass, you raise your metabolism 24 hours a day, as muscle is more metabolically active than fat.
9. Prioritise good quality sleep. Poor sleep leaves you too tired to exercise effectively, and also wrecks your hormone balance and thwart your weight-loss efforts. If you type in the word ‘sleep’ in the search box of the Fitness4London website blog, you’ll find several blog posts on how to improve your sleep.
10. Walk more. 10,000 steps a day is a good target. Walking burns a higher percentage of fat relative to other fuel sources, so make this a daily habit. Take regular breaks during the day and walk round the block or around your nearby park. Walk to your nearest Tube station rather than taking the bus. Walk up the stairs rather than taking the lift, and walk up the escalators on the London Underground.
If you need extra guidance, hire me as your personal trainer and watch the fat melt away!
(Dominic Londesborough is a personal trainer in London and an online nutrition coach)
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