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How to Optimize Fat Loss over General Weight Loss

How to Optimize Fat Loss over General Weight Loss

You have probably heard that “You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.”

It’s true.

You can’t lose weight without consuming less calories than you burn.

However, I’m sure you don’t want to “lose weight”…you want to lose fat specifically.

To target fat loss, these are 2 important principles to follow.

  1. Be in a caloric deficit
  2. Focus on building muscle

But how do you put these principles into practice to maximize fat loss?

Caloric Deficit

First, reach a caloric deficit by decreasing your caloric intake and increasing your caloric output.

You’ll want to focus on decreasing your caloric intake with these 3 main concepts:

  • Portion control
  • Practicing nutritional balance
  • Implementing meal timing strategies

To increase your caloric output, workout 3-4 days a week for 45 minutes starting out.

You can gradually increase this to 4-5 days a week, but don’t try to increase your exercise routine to outwork poor nutritional decision.

…it never works long term.

By following Principle 1 – Be in a caloric deficit, you will lose weight. However, you don’t want to lose just any weight, you want to lose fat specifically. This is why it is also important to follow Principle 2 – Focus on building muscle.

Building Muscle

To build muscle, eat sufficient protein and consistently follow a strength training routine that is sustainable for you.

Without enough protein, you won’t optimize fat loss and instead lose more lean muscle mass in a caloric deficit.

With enough protein and a regular strength training routine, you will build or maintain muscle mass so the weight lost in a caloric deficit is fat, not muscle.

When you follow both principles together, you optimize fat loss.

Here is what one of our Small Group Members accomplished in 3 months following this advice:

  • -7.3% in Body Fat
  • -11.7lbs of Fat
  • +5.6lbs of Lean Body Mass
  • +3.7lbs of Muscle Mass

Calculators

The BMR Calculator will tell you how many calories you need to eat to maintain, lose or gain weight.

BMR Calculator

BMR Calculator

The Protein Calculator will tell you how grams of protein you need to preserve your muscle and lean body mass while in a caloric deficit. Start with the lower number and gradually increase it if desired results are not achieved.

Protein Calculator

Protein Calculator

Ready to create a sustainable lifestyle and

build the body you want?

David Minishian, MPH

David Minishian, MPH

Fitness and Nutrition Coach

David is the owner and coach at Sculpt Fitness in Long Beach, CA. The mission he has started at Sculpt is to educate, equip, and empower the local community to make the best decisions for their health. He has been coaching exercise and nutrition for over 10 years, helping clients create sustainable lifestyle to build the body they want. When he's not training, coaching or cooking, David is on an adventure with his wife and daughter or teeing up his next shot on a golf course.

The Most Effective Ways to Burn More Calories

The Most Effective Ways to Burn More Calories

The Most Effective Ways To Burn More Calories  

The most effective ways to burn more calories are going to come from the activities that cause your body composition to change. That does not mean an endless amount of cardio! That can, and most often does, get in the way of building muscle and losing weight in a sustainable manner anyways.

In This Episode 

  • [00:26] – Strength Training
  • [01:14] – Staggering Workouts
  • [02:20] – Moving More
  • [03:02] – Increase Intensity
  • [03:46] – High Protein Diet

When you start Strength Training, you tell your body you want a composition change. Your body begins to burn fat and put on lean muscle mass, which causes you to burn more calories through the day, further helping your body composition change. — David Minishian

Resistance Based Strength Training

When you are strength training you are changing your body composition. You increase the amount of lean muscle mass on your body and that naturally causes you to burn more calories throughout the day on top of the calories you burn actually exercising. An important thing to note: after a while of doing the same or similar workouts your body adapts and it becomes easier, meaning that you won’t be getting the same benefits you once were. You begin to burn less calories and gain strength slower, that means it’s time to up the intensity.

Stagger Your Workouts

Staggering your workouts help you get all the benefits of your workouts and recovery periods. It is better to spread your workouts evenly through out the week so you can take advantage of the effects of consistency. Your body burns more calories than normal up to 72 hours after a workout, so you want don’t want to go long periods of time not working out and going stagnant. If you are working out 3 times a week, you would gain more from your efforts if you have them spaced out, something like Monday, Wednesday, Friday instead of clumping them together like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. This also applies to your activity outside of the workouts, moving more in general will promote more calorie burn through physically moving more and staying busy so that there is less “accidental” eating.

High Protein Diet

Those who focus on a high protein diet actullay burn more of the calories they consume then someone who doesnt consume as much protein. Out of the 3 Macro Nutrients, protein actually requires the most energy, the most calories, to break down and digest. So outside of protein rebuilding the damage to your muscles to get stronger and burn more calories in a day anyways, it also helps you burn even more calories through digestion.

Ready to create a sustainable lifestyle and

build the body you want?

Watch

David Minishian, MPH

David Minishian, MPH

Fitness and Nutrition Coach

David is the owner and coach at Sculpt Fitness in Long Beach, CA. The mission he has started at Sculpt is to educate, equip, and empower the local community to make the best decisions for their health. He has been coaching exercise and nutrition for over 10 years, helping clients create sustainable lifestyle to build the body they want. When he's not training, coaching or cooking, David is on an adventure with his wife and daughter or teeing up his next shot on a golf course.

Why Your Hormones May Prevent Weight Loss…and What You Can Do About It

Why Your Hormones May Prevent Weight Loss…and What You Can Do About It

The Episode: Why Your Hormones May Prevent Weight Loss…and What You Can Do About It    

Your hormones won’t stop you from losing weight, but they may be a barrier you need to learn how to overcome. Whether you’ve been diagnosed with a medical condition or not, your hormones don’t have the final say…YOU DO! Here is a brief summary of how hormones function in regards to weight loss and what steps you can take to make your hormones work in your favor.

In This Episode 

  • [03:10] – The Role of Hormones
  • [05:49] – Promoting Balanced Hormones
  • [08:52] – Productive vs. Nonproductive Exercise

“For the majority of people, their lifestyle is promoting hormonal imbalances which impacts their ability to lose weight.” — David Minishian

The Role of Hormones

Hormones play two main roles in weight loss.

1) Hormones promote action or inaction. Do you feel hungry? Your hormones are saying you need to seek out food and eat. Do you feel lethargic? Your hormones are suggest you need to stop and rest. Our hormones are powerful drivers that impact our decisions. When hormones are properly functioning, they make the right suggestions to cue us on what the body needs. But when there are hormone imbalances, the body may make incorrect suggestions which lead to the wrong action. 

2) Hormones impact body composition. Hormone levels regulate the amount of lean body mass and fat mass each person has. They tell our body where to store energy and how much muscle tissue to build. Our daily activity, exercise routine, nutritional intake, and mindset can all impact our hormone levels. In fact, professional athletes, body builders and others seeking greater physical progress use hormones, whether legally or illegally, to gain a competitive advantage even at the expensive of their overall health.  

Promoting Balanced Hormones

To promote a hormonal balance that supports your ability to lose weight, there are a few key actions you can take:

1) Sleep 8-9 hours each night. When you don’t sleep enough, your body promotes more fat storage.

2) Eat 25-40 grams of fiber a day. If you’re not eating whole foods like fruits and vegetables, your body won’t send the signal to your brain saying, “Hey I’m full! Stop eating!” Making it more likely that you’ll overeat. 

3) Eat more smaller meals or eat fewer larger meals. You may find that one strategy works better to help you regulate your food intake without feeling hungry.

4) Drink 8 cups of water a day. When you aren’t hydrated, your body does not function optimally and the thirst you are feeling may seem like hunger, prompting you to eat even when you don’t need to eat.

5) Reduce processed food consumption. Specifically, limiting processed carbohydrates will keep your blood sugar and insulin levels in check. Chronically elevated blood glucose level cause excessive inflammation, which damages your body’s tissues and organs, and promotes greater fat storage. 

The Right Exercise

All exercise is good exercise. However, not all exercise is the best at accomplishing weight loss (or fat loss). Resistance Based Training does a better job at promoting growth hormone production to increase lean muscle mass and reduce fat storage. In addition to the increase in lean muscle mass, resistance based training also better regulates insulin levels and reduces insulin resistance which improves blood sugar levels. Cardio or flexibility based exercises are important too, but for weight loss they are of secondary importance. In fact, too much cardio may promote excessive cortisol in some individuals which may promote weight gain. Too much flexibility training decreases overall muscle strength and doesn’t promote weight loss specifically. 

Ready to create a sustainable lifestyle and

build the body you want?

Watch

David Minishian, MPH

David Minishian, MPH

Fitness and Nutrition Coach

David is the owner and coach at Sculpt Fitness in Long Beach, CA. The mission he has started at Sculpt is to educate, equip, and empower the local community to make the best decisions for their health. He has been coaching exercise and nutrition for over 10 years, helping clients create sustainable lifestyle to build the body they want. When he's not training, coaching or cooking, David is on an adventure with his wife and daughter or teeing up his next shot on a golf course.

Why Others Are Losing Weight When It Seems You Can’t

Why Others Are Losing Weight When It Seems You Can’t

Episode 12: Why Others Are Losing Weight When It Seems You Can’t    

A successful weight loss journey is not focused on torturing yourself with a restrictive diet that starves you. Food is not the enemy. Although there are no secrets to losing and keeping weight off, you can build a lifestyle that supports your weight loss goals and without cutting out all your favorite foods.

In This Episode 

  • [00:55] Long Term Calorie Deficit
  • [02:53] Fixed Mindset
  • [03:50] Growth Mindset

“When you learn to be in a caloric deficit long term, you will be able to lose weight consistently and keep it off.” — David Minishian

Long Term Calorie Deficit

People that maintain a consistent weekly calorie deficit do not focus on exercising 5+ hours a week, practicing fad diets that throw their hormones out of balance, or cutting out foods from their diet. The ONE thing they all do is practice a caloric deficit. However, there are two common mistakes people make trying to reach a deficit: 1) They eat more nutritious higher quality foods, but they still consume too many calories. 2) They yo-yo diet by severely limiting the number of calories during the week which leads to a drastic overconsumption on the weekends. To succeed at staying in a calorie deficit long term, you should focus on the quantity of food first, not cutting foods out, and maintain roughly the same caloric intake daily. 

Fixed Mindset

Having a fixed mindset creates barriers that make losing weight more difficult, for example viewing foods as either good or bad. If you have this view on food, you may find yourself struggling to “stay on your diet,” falling off track and getting back on track. This all or nothing mentality prevents any real progress, because in the long term you will always fall off track. You may get temporary results on a rigid diet, but old habits will eventually take over leaving you where you started, suffering from a bad relationship with food. 

Growth Mindset

A growth mindset will support the long-term journey of learning to incorporate the foods you love while reaching your goals. Foods are neither good or bad, they just effect your body in different ways. As you learn what keeps you on track, you’ll be able to create balance in your food intake and in your life. Knowing how to create balance leads to a sustainable lifestyle and avoids the cycle of starting and failing restrictive diets.

Ready to create a sustainable lifestyle and

build the body you want?

Watch

David Minishian, MPH

David Minishian, MPH

Fitness and Nutrition Coach

David is the owner and coach at Sculpt Fitness in Long Beach, CA. The mission he has started at Sculpt is to educate, equip, and empower the local community to make the best decisions for their health. He has been coaching exercise and nutrition for over 10 years, helping clients create sustainable lifestyle to build the body they want. When he's not training, coaching or cooking, David is on an adventure with his wife and daughter or teeing up his next shot on a golf course.

The Best Plant-Based Food For Weight Loss

The Best Plant-Based Food For Weight Loss

Episode 10: The Best Plant-Based Food For Weight Loss  

While going plant-based has many benefits, it can be hard to keep up your protein intake as you maintain a caloric deficit for weight loss. Here’s a few things you can add into your diet to keep calories down and still satisfy your protein needs.

In This Episode 

“While going plant-based has a lot of benefits, such has more fiber intake and having higher nutritional value for the amount of food; it does become difficult to have a high protein intake, especially while being at a caloric deficit to lose weight.” — David Minishian

Soybeans:

Soybeans are the only plant-based food with a complete protein profile and a high digestibility score. This means that you’ll absorb the full spectrum of amino acids from soybeans rather than needing to combine different plant-based foods together to get the full spectrum of amino acids.  While you can get all the protein you need using complementary proteins, it will be more difficult to stay at a caloric deficit and hit your protein goals without soybeans.

Edamame:

Edamame is an immature soybean that can commonly be bought in their pod or already deshelled. Each half cup has 9 grams of protein and 95 calories, which is fantastic.

Tofu & Tempeh

Tofu is soybeans that have bean processed and can be bought in different varieties and textures that can easily be added to dishes you already enjoy. Tempeh is a similar soybean food that is less processed and has both a higher caloric and protein content per serving. The change in nutritional value is due to the combination of different nuts and seeds that are commonly added in for flavor.

Ready to create a sustainable lifestyle and

build the body you want?

Watch

David Minishian, MPH

David Minishian, MPH

Fitness and Nutrition Coach

David is the owner and coach at Sculpt Fitness in Long Beach, CA. The mission he has started at Sculpt is to educate, equip, and empower the local community to make the best decisions for their health. He has been coaching exercise and nutrition for over 10 years, helping clients create sustainable lifestyle to build the body they want. When he's not training, coaching or cooking, David is on an adventure with his wife and daughter or teeing up his next shot on a golf course.

How To Lose Weight By Exercising Less

How To Lose Weight By Exercising Less

Episode 11: How To Lose Weight By Exercising Less    

You can exercise less than you think and still achieve significant weight loss. To do that, let’s go over the effects of exercise, how it alters our metabolism, and what you need to focus on to lose weight.

In This Episode 

  • [00:16] Exercise Effects on Basal Metabolic Rate
  • [02:34] Less Exercise, More Results
  • [03:40] Exercise vs. Nutrition

“Those with more body fat may find it more difficult to lose weight by exercising more.” — David Minishian

Exercise Effects on Basal Metabolic Rate

Exercise raises your metabolic rate. However, there has been some evidence demonstrating reductions in basal metabolic rates with increased physical activity levels. These outcomes are more prominent in those with more body fat who decide to partake in extreme bouts of exercise to lose weight. Instead of maximizing the number of calories burned, their bodies try to conserve energy, making it more difficult for those individuals to lose the body fat with more exercise.

Less Exercise, More Results

To maximize a weight loss goal, it is best to focus on increasing the amount of lean body mass. This is best addressed in a resistance training program, completing 3 to 4 workouts a week for 30 to 45 minutes. While cardio has its place in a weight loss program, resistance based training is more effective at producing more results in less time. Plus, resistance training delivers a toned, fit body.

Exercise vs. Nutrition

When creating your weight loss strategy exercise is definitely a fundamental part, but it is actually #2 compared to nutrition. The saying goes, “You can’t out-exercise a bad diet” and it is true. To lose weight, the amount of calories you consume should be roughly 500 calories less than what you burn each day. Don’t try to be much more aggressive than this to reach your goal. Maintaining a deficit of greater than 1000 calories a day will be difficult to sustain. Trying to drastically decrease your calorie intake or increase your daily activity will only result in a near impossible fight against your cravings to eat more. It’s tempting to think you can get faster results by eating less or exercising more; however, you’ll have more success by staying in a slight deficit where you can sustainably lose weight without fighting an uphill battle of against your hormones. 

Ready to create a sustainable lifestyle and

build the body you want?

Watch

David Minishian, MPH

David Minishian, MPH

Fitness and Nutrition Coach

David is the owner and coach at Sculpt Fitness in Long Beach, CA. The mission he has started at Sculpt is to educate, equip, and empower the local community to make the best decisions for their health. He has been coaching exercise and nutrition for over 10 years, helping clients create sustainable lifestyle to build the body they want. When he's not training, coaching or cooking, David is on an adventure with his wife and daughter or teeing up his next shot on a golf course.

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