What exactly is the role of fitness when it comes to fat loss?
Chances are you’ve heard a statistic quoted regarding fitness, nutrition and your results.
My guess is that you probably don’t like the statistics. (I don’t.)
So, what’s the relationship between fitness and fat loss?
The most common statistic I hear is that your results are 80% nutrition, and 20% fitness. I’ve also heard that nutrition can be as much as 95% of your results.
Whatever the true percentage, well, you get the point. If you’re trying to look sekksy …pay attention to what you’re sticking in your face.
But nutrition isn’t the ONLY thing that matters. After all, we know that exercise is good for us.
It’s highly unlikely that you know someone with an incredibly sculpted physique that doesn’t work out, but eats exceptionally well.
Which is exactly my point! Fitness DOES play a role in our results.
The main reason fitness professionals harp on these statistics so much is because a steady diet of pizza and soda will offset even the most rigorous training regimen.
And we are surrounded by people with less than optimal (“sucky” sounded harsh) nutrition who believe they just need to work out. These people likely spend a fair amount of time staring into the bathroom mirror after one week of activity.
This is the fitness equivalent of looking at the interest in your bank account after one month.
Yes, something happened. No, you can’t stop yet.
We know that strength training plays a significant role in maintaining, or improving, our body composition …specifically with lean muscle mass.
And, we know that when we stop exercising altogether, we can see muscle loss as quickly as 2 weeks.
A significant reduction in your activity level will have an effect on your body’s efficiency.
World renowned strength coach Dan John refers to this as a “metabolic derangement”.
Extended periods of inactivity will lead to unfavorable changes in body composition, muscle loss, impaired metabolic function, and other increased risk factors.
One of the primary reasons we use an InBody scale at No Limits Fitness is because this accurately measures an individual’s lean body mass and body fat mass. We know that simply losing weight shouldn’t be the only goal. It shouldn’t even be the primary goal!
Losing weight the wrong way ultimately leads to a rebound. Your body may become lighter, but it also becomes less efficient.
Nobody likes to lose 10lbs and then find 12.
If you lose weight, but your muscle mass decreases while your body fat increases…you’re much more likely to regain the weight simply because your metabolism has slowed down.
This is due to a negative change in body composition.
That sucks! So we start working out again. Then quit again.
We don’t sign on for the Yo-Yo diet, but it is far more popular than all the others combined.
And this is why your training plays such a vital role with fat loss.
Improvements in your body composition will likely lead to improvements with your metabolism. Meaning YOUR body has become more efficient.
The most important exercise is the one you’ll actually do…consistently.
Unless it’s the shake weight…that’s just weird.
So find a training plan, and a way of eating that fits YOUR lifestyle.
Consistency is the key…your February is much more important than your January.
Resources
http://www.otpbooks.com/dan-john-do-it-diet/
http://inbodyusa.com/blogs/inbodyblog/what-happens-when-you-stop-working-out/