Gopherhead

Hello, Troy ( I adore your name, btw ) I also appreciate your subject line; wanting to lose fat instead of just 'weight' shows you have an appreciation of just what you need to do. Losing weight is not the same as losing fat. To do the latter you need to increase your metabolism in order to preserve the lean mass you have and burn fat. Unfortunately, you cannot choose where you lose the fat. This is called spot reducing and it's no possible. Your body will decided where the fat comes off of - it's preditermined by genetics. If you tend to accumulate it in certain areas instead of all over you'll probably notice you lose it from those areas, however, seeing that is where most of it is.

So how do you increase metabolism? Here are a few tips:

1. Eat more frequent, smaller meals and ensure they all contain some protein. Smaller meals will keep you feeling satiated and full and it will control your blood sugar levels - making it less likely you'll be tempted to binge or eat something you don't really want/need. Keeping your body supplied with protein on a regular basis will also help it to stay healthy, making it easier to burn fat. The very act of digestion will raise your metabolism - do it 5 times a day instead of 3 (or 2) and you're already ahead of the game. Remember to keep these 5 meals smaller.

2. Continue doing your exercises. If you can do your cardio first thing in the morning before you break fast - this will ensure you are burning stored fat as fuel as there is nothing in your system that can be used for quick energy. Keep workouts to under an hour; after this point it becomes counter productive if your goal is to lose fat and not just 'weight'.

3. Lift weights. Lifting weights will help you keep the lean muscle you already have and perhaps grow more - especially if you're eating protein with every meal. You want to lift heavy weights and you also want to keep these workouts to under an hour, again for the same reason listed in #2. The key with resistance work is intensity, not quantity. Doing 350 sit ups isn't necessary; if you get the correct instruction and use proper form and intensity 3 sets of 15 reps of crunches should leave you feeling the burn. Check out the book Absolution by Shawn Phillips, the man knows abs.

4. Avoid refined foods - anything that comes packaged or processed isn't necessarily good for you. If they had to do all that to make it edible, should we really be eating it? The biggest culprits are white flour and sugar - it's toxic to anyone trying to shed fat.

5. Definitely drink your water - aim for 2 litres a day (64oz). Water will help flush out the toxins and the fat - it will also help keep your skin looking great.

6. You need to eat a little less than you burn in terms of calories. I say a little because if you get active and start lifting weights you will have increased the number you burn. Unless you weight in the neighbourhood of 100 lbs eating 1200 calories is, IMHO, too low. It's always best to keep the caloric deficit as small as possible while still losing. Why? If you cut your calories too much you will send the wrong signal to your body. A food shortage will work against any fat burning you want to achieve in the long run. It's better to increase metabolism via exercise, small meals and weight training than to cut calories more and more.

Which brings us to your question:

It is a fact. To burn fat you need a caloric deficit, you need to take in less calories than you burn on a daily basis. The problem with this is cutting calories too much puts stress on your body. Stress cause hormones like cortisol to rise. Eating just 40% below your maintenance level of calories will cause a 50% increase in cortisol. Cortisol stops fat burning in it's tracks. It also causes lean tissue to be wasted; you end up losing 'weight', but it isn't 'fat'.

If you increase how much you burn on a daily basis by increasing energy expenditure (exercise) you do not run into this problem. But you must keep the exercise to 60 mintues (or cortisol rises). Caloric deficit brought about by exercise raises metabolism instead of lowering it, as caloric deficit brought about by caloric restriction does.

So what you want to do is figure out how much you burn on a daily basis, this is your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). From this you substract a percentage of calories, between 30 - 15%. This is enough to cause a deficit but not too much to put stress on your metabolism. By increasing exercise you can push this deficit further w/o jeopardising fat loss.

Figuring out your TDEE looks a little daunting but it's not. You can do it with a calculator (or you can google the formula and find an online calculator do it for you).

How to figure out your calorie needs:

The Harris-Benedict formula (BMR based on total body weight)

The Harris-Benedict formula uses the factors of height, weight, age, and sex to determine basal metabolic rate (BMR). This makes it more accurate than determining calorie needs based on total bodyweight alone. The only variable it doesn’t take into consideration is lean body mass.

This equation will be very accurate in all but the extremely muscular (will
underestimate caloric needs) and the extremely overfat (will overestimate caloric needs).

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Note: 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters
1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs.

Example:
You are male
You are 30 yrs old
You are 5' 8 " tall (172.7 cm)
You weigh 172 lbs. (78 kilos)
Your BMR = 66 + 1068 + 863.6 - 204 = 1793 calories/day

Once you know your BMR, you can calculate TDEE by multiplying your BMR by the following activity factor.

Activity factor

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or
2 X day training, marathon, football camp, contest, etc.)

Katch-McArdle formula (BMR based on lean body weight)

The Katch-McArdle formula accounts for LBM, therefore, this single formula applies equally to both men and women and it is the most accurate method of determining your daily calorie needs.

BMR (men and women) = 370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)

Example:
You are male
You weigh 172 lbs (78 kilos)
Your body fat percentage is 14% (24.1 lbs fat, 147.9 lbs lean)
Your lean mass is 147.9 lbs (67.2 kilos)
Your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 67.2) = 1821 calories

To determine TDEE from BMR, you simply multiply BMR by the activity factor

Continuing with the previous example:

Your BMR is 1821
Your activity level is moderately active (you work out 3-4 times per week)
Your activity factor is 1.55
Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1821 = 2822 calories

And above all, stay positive and focussed. This can be done and believing you can do it goes a long way to getting there.

Cheers,
Nat

__________________
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.