3) Key 3 comes down to water intake. We recommend that you drink 1L/25kg of body weight. The reasoning for this is to keep your body hydrated, help the digestive process and to flush out any toxins in your body. All 3 reasons listed relate to fat loss in their own way so now it's time to break them down individually.
- Hydration
Keeping your body hydrated is essential in weight loss so you can perform at your best every time you step in the gym or complete a workout. Being de-hydrated will mean your body can not function how it was designed to and what will happen is your body will only perform at a small portion of its capacity. Only performing at a small portion then means only burning energy at a small portion. So you are essentially losing out on extra calories burnt just by not drinking water.
- Helping the digestive process
Now this may seem like a no brainer but something so crucial in weight loss is in fact how effectively food is broken down. If your body struggles to break down certain foods in your body all that is going to happen is you will become bloated and there is the risk that these foods can turn to body fat as they are not being used. The reason we become bloated is that the food is not being broken down and therefor sits in the stomach with no place to go. Over time the other foods you eat will sit on top of this unprocessed food. This can sometimes be an hour or even more. In order to help with digestion and speed up the process this food can be used by the body all you need to do is increase water intake. Drink 1-2 glasses of water with your meals and this will help the food to be broken down and used in the body.
- Flush out toxins in your body
Drinking enough water each day is an easy way to flush your body out of any toxins it may have. These toxins can be very harmful when we are looking at weight loss. At any stage when your body becomes stressed from having certain substances such as toxins in it the weight loss process will be slowed right down or even haltered. Your body functions best when there are no foreign substances in it so why not treat your body correctly and keep it toxin free.
4) Key 4 is looking at controlling your carbohydrate intake. This key also ties in with key number 5 which looks at nutrient timing. Carbohydrate is very simple and easy to understand. An easy analogy to use is seeing your carbohydrate levels as a tank that can be filled (the carb tank). It's made of up of your muscles and liver, hence everybody having a different sized 'tank'. We then will look at the carb tank as a water bottle. The top of the water bottle is your carbohydrate intake for the day. Once filled to the top anything extra will cause the water bottle to overfill. Same goes with your 'carb tank'. Any extra carbohydrate for the day will spill over the top and be stored in the body as unconverted carbohydrate stores. These will then be converted and held in the bodies fat stores.
5) So now we have covered controlling your carbohydrate intake it's time to look at using nutrient timing to your advantage. The easiest way to look at this key is by breaking down macronutrient portions per meal.
Meal 1, meal 2 and meal 3: Higher carbohydrate amounts, moderate protein and moderate fats.
Meal 4, meal 5 and meal 6: Lower carbohydrate amounts, higher protein and moderate fats.
You may still be wondering why we set macronutrient timings like this. The reason behind this is having higher carbohydrate meals at the start of the day is going to start up your metabolism very quickly and give you enough energy to get through your day. Switching over to high protein after lunch will keep you fuller for longer and also ensure you do not have any excess carbohydrates in your system when it comes time for bed (when you need energy the least right?). Having high protein after lunch will maximise the muscle recovery and repair process which takes place while you sleep. Above is a nutrient timing cheat sheet that is easy to understand and put into practice.
That draws to a close our article on Some Simple Keys to Fat Loss and hopefully by implementing these easy steps, you'll be well on your way to fat loss success!
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
