Sometimes as a longtime workout guy and a certified personal trainer for the past four years,
I take for granted the fact that not everyone — maybe a lot of not everyones — knows as much as I do about physical fitness, nutrition, stuff like that.
I tend to think that because I’ve known something for a long time, that it is fairly common knowledge.
Not always the case.
For instance, just the other day, a woman asked me what kind of exercise she could do to get rid of the fat in the upper back/armpit area. Unfortunately, the belief that one can target a specific area for getting rid of fat is one of those things called a “myth.” You just can’t do it.
When I told her you can’t spot reduce, she was surprised. To get rid of that stuff, you have to reduce overall body fat percentage, I said, and she was surprised again.
Hence, today’s blog topic: reducing fat.
Unfortunately, there’s no magic bullet.
No easy answers.
Simply put, you just have to put in the work and be patient.
A reasonable caloric deficit each day, along with regular exercise, is the basic prescription.
What’s a caloric deficit?
Consuming fewer calories in a day than your body uses for energy.
You don’t want to drastically cut back, just a little. One rule of thumb is to find out your daily total caloric requirement, then subtract 500 calories. Over a week’s time, that will result in a weight loss of around a pound a week.
I know, I know … losing weight and losing fat are not necessarily the same thing. Body composition (lean muscle to bodyfat percentage) can change quite a bit without a tremendous weight loss, because muscle tissue is a lot more dense than fat tissue, but we’re talking basics here.
A personal trainer/nutritionist told me a long time ago that if you drink a gallon to a gallon-and-a-half of water a day, you will lose around two pounds of fat a week without doing anything else. Just drinking the water.
Do some research and give it a try.
Let me know how it works, and if you have any questions.
You can do it!
