How To Burn Body Fat: The Hidden Pitfall
Ask anyone about how to burn body fat, and they’ll no doubt come up with several ideas which may include any of the following:
- Eat less
- Exercise to burn calories and increase metabolism
- Eat small meals, but more frequently
All of the above are very true. But, basically, all of the aforementioned are simply different means to the same end: ensuring the body takes in less calories than is needed to maintain the same level of fat.
You see, it’s all about the calorie. Calories in, and calories out. If you put more in than your body uses, it’ll gain weight, either in the form of muscle and some fat (if you are training with weights) or pure fat, if you’re not.
Most agree that roughly 3,500 calories are contained within 1lb of fat. Therefore, to lose 1lb of fat a week, you’d need to eat 3,500 calories less than your body needs to stay at its current level of fat.
So, if you set yourself the target to eat 500 calories less than your body requires each and every day, then you could rightly expect to lose around 1lb of fat in a week.
But… don’t blow it by being careless!
If you’ve done well all week long by eating 500 calories less per day, equating to 3,500 less in a week, and 1lb less fat, but then suddenly binge on the weekend and take in maybe 1,750 calories above your calorie maintenance level (which is easy when you slack off just a little, especially with soft drinks, cakes, biscuits, ice cream, sweets, and fast food etc.) then you’ve just eaten back half of the calories you’ve worked so hard to avoid eating all week… meaning… you should expect to re-gain up to half of the 1lb of fat you’ve just lost. And if you do this regularly… you are basically doubling the time it’ll take to lose the fat.
The motto here is: by all means, indulge from time to time, but be damn sure that you don’t eat above your maintenance level, or you’re just adding fat again.
