The 3 Components of Successful Fat Loss

If you have had difficulty losing fat in the past, it was likely due to one of three things:

- an inefficient exercise program or lack of exercise, period.

- failure to make the necessary changes in your eating habits.

- failure to change your mindset / lack of proper social support.


1. Let's start with the exercise aspect. It may surprise some of you, but the foundation of a successful fat loss program isn't how much cardio you do..... it's a proper strength training program. Increasing your lean muscle tissue will help you burn more calories, even after you are done exercising.

Doing resistance training with dumbbells, bodyweight exercises, cables, or whatever will give you a "defined" appearance. In contrast, you can find plenty of people who spend all their time doing long, slow cardio who have a "soft" looking body, without an attractive shape.

Doing strength training workouts using exercises that involve multiple muscles will burn a lot of calories. Exercises such as chinups, presses, squats, and lunges will do more to give you ripped abs than doing endless crunches..... ever will. The more muscles involved allow you to do more work - lift more overall weight.

This is where you build lean muscle tissue that gives you the shape that you want. Do these exercises with little rest in between and you will burn more calories and elevate your metabolism. Add in some interval cardio work and you will burn more fat in the long run.

Want more proof that you don't have to do long cardio for fat loss? Have you ever seen a fat sprinter? 100 meter sprinters never do long, continuous runs, yet they have extremely low bodyfat levels. They do short, intense periods of exercise and then rest before doing it again.

2. Failing to make the proper eating changes. There are many different ideas out there about how you should eat to lose weight. Notice I didn't say "diet." Diet is a four-letter word for many people and carries a negative connotation. No matter which one you choose, the bottom line is - you have to eat fewer calories than you are burning.

For some people, changing your eating habits are the toughest part. Let's face it. Life is stressful and it seems we're always on the go. Fast food is convenient, although rarely nutritious and always containing too many calories. A lot of people eat "comfort" food to help deal with this stress. Here and there, it's not a bad thing, but too much comfort adds up to extra fat deposited on your body.

Avoiding sugar and refined, processed food and replacing it with foods containing natural ingredients and fiber can go a long way. My past personal training clients who had difficulty making these changes didn't see the kind of results they hoped for, even with a good exercise program.

3. A change in mindset. To achieve your goals, any goals, requires the proper mindset. Changing your mindset and using the power of your mind to reinforce positive habits is vital to any weight loss program. Putting your goals in writing and visualizing how you want to look will help immensely.

Tell your friends and loved ones about your goal and get their support. Having someone else to hold you accountable can make all the difference. This is where programs like Craig Ballantyne's and Holly Rigsby's often succeed. They have forums available to answer questions and like-minded individuals all going through the same thing.

This is part of the success of a program like "The Biggest Loser." The support system of all those who know that they want and need to lose weight. Surrounding yourself with others who can give you the support and encouragement to make a permanent change in your body.

This kind of support can also make it a lot easier to avoid going on food binges and cutting back on the volume of comfort food that you eat. The end result is a better looking and healthier body, full of energy.