3 healthy fat loss tips

Many runners, especially when starting out, have questions about how to lose fat healthily while also improving (and not hindering) their athletic performance. In this article, nutritionist Mario Cotanda offers 3 tips for runners who aim to lose fat effectively and, in addition, improve their running performance.

3 tips for healthy fat loss and boosting your performance

Generally, losing fat or decreasing body fat percentage (provided it’s done healthily and, if possible, with the help of a nutrition professional) has the potential to improve your performance to a greater or lesser extent.

When we set out to lose fat, we need to maintain a prolonged caloric deficit; how long would it be necessary to maintain a caloric deficit to start losing fat? Generally, at least 1 month.

Below are 3 important tips that will help us maintain this healthy and sustainable state, always trying to steer clear of miracle diets or advice seen daily on social media, television, or other media.

1. Stay active beyond training.
2. Proper nutrition around exercise (before, during, and after).
3. Consume more whole plant foods.

To lose fat… stay active beyond training

Generally, there’s a somewhat distorted view of what constitutes an active lifestyle. People tend to think that simply including a training session is enough to lose fat, but this is far from the reality. When the overall context is a sedentary daily routine (working seated, driving everywhere, always using the elevator…), a single training session is not enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle or achieve goals like body fat loss.

Being active in your daily life will allow you to have a higher total daily energy expenditure, thus facilitating an energy deficit and, consequently, body fat loss.

How can I become more active in my daily life? There are many ways: taking walks (walking whenever possible instead of using the car for every trip), having active breaks at work (“active breaks” should be 5 minutes every 2 or 3 hours), or using the stairs instead of the elevator when you need to go up are some ways to increase your daily activity and thus your energy expenditure.

Therefore, don’t forget: if you want to lose fat, including a training session is not enough; you must strive to stay active throughout the day to increase your energy consumption and thus promote a reduction in body fat percentage.

To lose fat… nourish yourself well around exercise

Energy demands during exercise are considerably higher than at rest, especially during resistance training. Therefore, meeting these demands during peri-workout (before, during, and after) is important.

Some of the advantages of this practice compared to not consuming adequate nutrients during peri-workout are: improved session performance, better recovery for subsequent sessions, and better regulation of hunger/satiety mechanisms throughout the rest of the day. The latter will allow us to more comfortably achieve a caloric deficit and, therefore, as we mentioned earlier, lose body fat.

Something important to consider is that peri-workout intake will largely depend on the individual’s level, the characteristics of the session, and food intake throughout the rest of the day.

Below are some general guidelines for peri-workout intake:

• Before (1 hour prior to exercise): include a source of carbohydrates like one or two pieces of fruit. If a full meal has been consumed within the previous 3 hours, it would not be necessary.
• During: include a powdered carbohydrate source, such as maltodextrin, in your intra-workout drink (we’ll discuss this in future articles). Maltodextrin is economical and can be found in any supplement shop. 30 g per 500 ml of water is a good option. If the workout is low intensity, you can also include an easy-to-eat fruit like a banana.
• After: if you have the option of a full meal, it’s a great choice (include a carbohydrate source like whole wheat pasta, potato, quinoa, or sweet potato, a protein source like legumes, and accompany it with a good amount and variety of vegetables such as lettuce, tomato, carrot, cucumber, nuts, etc., including a fruit for dessert if desired). If a snack is more convenient due to your schedule, you can include, for example, a soy yogurt, nuts, banana, and raspberries.

To lose fat… eat more whole plant foods

Including more whole plant foods in your daily life has multiple benefits, including a reduced risk of disease and all-cause mortality.

Furthermore, for our current topic of how to lose fat healthily, we find that whole plant foods significantly increase satiety and therefore allow us to maintain a caloric deficit more easily.

Whole plant foods include: whole grains (whole wheat pasta, quinoa, brown rice…), vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, and tubers (potato, sweet potato…). The only consideration we should have is to avoid including these foods pre- and intra-workout due to their higher fiber content, which makes digestion difficult (if 2 hours or more pass since the pre-workout meal, there would be no problem).

Have you taken note? Now it’s time to put it into practice. Go for it!

 

Comments

Be the first to comment on this post!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comment *

Name *

Email *

Website

¡No soy un robot! *Captcha loading...