One question that popped up in my mind after a 10-pound weight loss was that, Am I
losing fat or water or muscle? After a lot of research, it was clear it’s hard to get a
concrete answer, its fair to say it could be all of it in a combination of some form. When
you are 100 + Pounds off your ideal weight you want to shed weight to get to close to
your ideal weight, and its double whammy if it were all fat. Unless one gets a liposuction
done one can never be certain that it was all fat.
That said, there are few things we can keep in mind to shed weight in the right manner.
- There are no shortcuts to getting healthy. It’s a lifestyle change it takes time and effort.
- Losing weight requires a lot of discipline and hard work. You need to earmark a specific time for your workouts and keep at it day in and day out.
- Strike a balance between your daily calorie deficit and work out regime. A good work out regime will approximately give you a 500 – 600 calories burn a day and you need to complement that with a calorie deficit of 500 calories. That would give you approximately 1000 calories. Effectively, if you keep up this regime for 4-5 days you are likely to lose a pound
4 days X 1000 Calories = 4000 Calories
1 Pound = 3500 Calories.
- Look at your food composition. It’s important to get Macro Nutrients right. Macronutrients are Protein: 40%| Carb: 30% | Fat: 15% | Fibre: 15 % .This should put your body in weight loss mode. To lose fat its important to increase Protein and Fibre intake and moderate fat and carbs. For instance, being an Indian our foods are high on fat and carbs( rice & wheat) low on proteins and fibre. All I did was to moderate my rice intake and increased my protein and fibre intake.
Re-look at your food composition, while calorie deficit is good , you need to keep your macro nutrients in balance.
Currently, this work in progress for me, haven’t got my food composition right yet but
getting better by the day. Frankly, this is hard but one needs to increase one’s awareness
of food composition and strike a balance.
By the way, I’m sharing what works for me. In case you are following a diet plan with a varying proposition of macronutrients, do exercise your discretion. There are no hard and fast rules here as long as it makes you healthy and fit.
And to be sure your weight loss is mostly a fat loss, take a look at your weight loss trend. if it’s mostly downward on a fortnightly or monthly basis then you are on the right track. In case you experience sudden weight gain or hit a plateau. Feel free to tweak the rule and the rule is
Exercise More | Reduce Bad Food | Increase Good Food | Drink Water|
FRIPPD 