Do you workout regularly, eat pretty healthy and feel like you know what to do, but are either not doing it or still have a few pounds to lose? If so, you are not alone! Keep reading for a few tips that may help you lose the last ten pounds.
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I received a #Commit2fit assessment from a client who is frustrated because he does daily workout routines, follows a clean eating meal plan, but feels like she can’t get out of her own way in order to lose the last ten pounds.
To be completely honest, once you are already in good shape and you want to be in GREAT shape, you do have to be more strict because it isn’t as easy to make progress. This is the time when things like cutting back all sugar, timing your carbs, counting macros and going hard on cardio really does count. So these are the tips I have found in my experience, really help the most..
1. Make sure you are getting a solid 7-9 hours of sleep every single night. This is when our body creates HGH, lowers cortisol levels, allows adrenal glands to reset and recovery occurs. If you aren’t sleeping, you aren’t recovering and if you aren’t recovering you cannot build muscle or lose fat effectively. Go here to read more about sleep.
2. Make sure you are lifting 3 – 4 times a week, doing 3 – 4 sets of 8 – 12 reps, as heavy as possible. I usually suggest one or two leg days, a chest and back day and a shoulders and arms day, or something similar. It is imperative to work between 8 – 12 reps as that is scientifically proven to be the volume that will yield muscle growth, and you MUST go as heavy as possible for the given number of sets and reps to build muscle. And the only way to SEE visible muscle tone, is to have muscle.
3. Cardio should be high intensity interval training only. If you are already lean, steady state cardio will not help nearly as much with fat loss. However, 2 – 3 HIIT workouts each week will increase your cortisol levels temporarily which aids in fat loss, but little to no muscle loss.
4. You MUST be following a clean eating meal plan. Only a slight caloric deficit may be necessary, if at all, although this varies person to person. If you do not know how many calories you burn in a day, you should find out and be right around that number. You need calories to have the energy to lift heavy and build muscle. Also, when honing in on the last bit of fat, food quality is hugely important. If your gut isn’t healthy, you will struggle to operate at a high enough level to lose fat. Additionally, things like bison, shrimp, chicken, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, apples and almonds are far better fuels sources than cupcakes and chips and your body will do a better job at using these things as fuel and less apt to store them as fat.
Overall, the most important thing to realize is that when you just have a little bit of fat to lose, it’s less about losing ten pounds and more about building muscle. Typically when someone says to me they want to lose ten pounds, they usually don’t end up losing many pounds at all, but their body composition changes as they build more muscle, lose more fat and appear leaner without a significant scale change.
Do you need help figuring out the right clean eating meal plan and daily workout plan for you?
Go to Commit2FitCoaching.com/freeassessment and let me help you.
Your Coach,
Kyra
P.S. Everyone is different. Some people need more carbs, more food, different workouts from others. It’s all individualized which is why I run #Commit2Fit with personalized clean eating meal plans and workout plans. Everything should be custom and designed specifically for YOU.