A friend and blog reader of mine sent me a message yesterday asking if I had any adice on how to lose 10 pounds and lower body fat. Yes!
I think this is a great question and deserves it’s own blog post.
First thing to realize is that losing ten pounds of weight is easy. Losing ten pound of fat is hard. Most peoples goal is to get leaner and lose belly fat. You do not want your weight lose to be muscle or water weight, so really you want to lower your body fat percentage.
Think about it. If you lose 10lbs of body fat and gain 10 pounds of lean muscle….guess what the scale doesn’t change but your body will be drastically different.
To lose and maintain body fat lose you will want to develop some healthy habits. Here is my advice to get started.
The 10 habits of 10% body fat:
1. Drink 16 ounces of chilled H2O when you wake up. This can increases your metabolism on average by 24%! Also make sure to stay hydrate throughout the day. If you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated.
2. Within 30 minutes of waking up eat at least 30g of protein. This will feed your muscles and also help kick start your metabolism.
3. Control your insulin level by saving carbs for the morning. Everyone has a different carb tolerance. You want to avoid white starchy and sugary carbs but also eating your carbs in the morning or early afternoon will give you the rest of the day to burn them off.
4. Exercise. You should have an exercise plan that involves cardio, resistance training and stretching. Everyone’s body is different, so everyone needs a different plan. I always recommend finding a professional trainer to help you create one that is customized to where you are at in your fitness journey.
5. Throw the junk food out. You can’t snack on what you don’t have.
6. Track and plan your meals in advance. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
7. Track your results. When losing body fat or maintaining it you need to know how you are doing. Get a scale that measures body fat. Most new scales have this feature. Just remember it will go up or down depending on when you are taking the measurement. I recommend taking it in the morning when you wake up. Also take progress photos every week.
8. Get enough sleep. You should be getting 7.5-8 hours a sleep. If it’s a day you’ve lifted weights on it should be 8-9h of sleep. This will help your muscles repair.
9. Move more and sit less. Your metabolism goes to almost nothing when you are sitting for long periods of time. Try working while standing or just get up and walk around every hour. Try walking somewhere instead of driving. Move more, sit less.
10. Be accountable. Tell someone what you are doing. This will help keep you focused on reaching your goal. Sometimes pressure is good. Heck start a blog and share it with the world!
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Ok I know there is a lot in the above list, but these are habits that will help you maintain a healthy body fat percentage if you apply them to your life. Remember success is not a straight line, so if you mess up, do not let it get you down. Just start again.
Live Fit & Stay Healthy,
Jon Felske