If you’re looking to shed body fat, there’s simply no getting around the fact that you absolutely must create some sort of caloric deficit. Any way you look at it, you MUST burn more calories than you consume. Now, it can get quite a bit more complicated than simple math would have us believe, but the fact remains–a deficit must be in place for fat loss to occur. But, there are many different ways to create a deficit, some more effective than others.
For example, if you’d like to create an additional 300 calorie deficit per day, you could simply skip your morning bagel (approx 300 calories). Fairly simple to do, unless you have some weird affinity toward bagels like I do. OR, you could walk for an HOUR on the treadmill and create the same 300 calorie deficit. OR, you could do a 10 minute high intensity interval training workout and create the same 300 calorie deficit. And here’s where things get a little more complicated than the numbers suggest.
In all three instances, you are essentially creating an additional 300 calorie deficit each day. BUT, scenario 1 sucks, scenario 2 really sucks, and scenario 3 trumps them all–bigtime. Why? Well, first, let’s say that you decide to create your caloric deficit soley by eliminating calories in your diet. By now, if you’ve been a follower of anything I’ve taught, you know that this will only result in some nasty hormonal consequences, leading to slowed metabolism and your body more or less canceling out the very deficit you are trying to create. As far as scenario #2 goes, there are several issues. First, 60 friggin’ minutes to burn 300 calories??? That’s a LONG time to invest to burn less than a tenth of a single pound of fat (assuming that all calories burned are from fat, which they won’t be). At that rate, if you wanted to burn a pound of fat, you’d have to walk for close to 15 hours.
Wow.
Count. Me. Out.
The second problem with scenario #2 is that there is virtually no “afterburn” effect, so once the session is over, so is your calorie burn–metabolism goes right on back to it’s slow ways. Now, with the third scenario, you’re investing much, much less time, but have the added benefit of the “afterburn” or elevated metabolism for the entire day (and sometimes even into the next day). Which brings me to the question — how are you burning your calories?
Are you trying to “diet” the pounds away? Are you hoping to walk away 5, 10, or even 20 lbs — that will probably take you a few years (of walking). Or have you embraced the power of intense exercise?
If you haven’t figured out the answer, hit me up…..
You could certainly see your skills within the paintings you write. The arena hopes for more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart. “Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.” by Sir Winston Leonard Spenser Churchill.