Step 2 is now to add some movement.
I want you to think of movement as two things.
1. Just like driving your car is a way to burn more fuel, physical movement is a way to burn more calories. And so in order to increase the amount of body fat that we are loosing, we can decrease the calories (by not eating them) and /or increase the amount of movement that you do.
As we have already done the first part I would prefer to avoid reducing it even further and so in step 2 we are going to increase your movement instead.
(More on how to do this in a second)
2. The other way I want you to think of movement is a reflection of how you actually want to look and your physique goals.
If after we remove the unwanted body fat you want to have the physique of a marathon runner, lean slim and healthy, then the movement that you do must 100% reflect this goal. If however, you want to look stronger, more powerful and curvy, then we have to focus building and strengthen muscle tissue, which is going to require a completely different type of movement to support this goal too.
The first type of movement has long been by far the most popular because it gets the numbers down the quickest. And for those of you who love weighing yourselves, youwill almost always favour eating less and doing cardio more, because it is a sure fast way to get your overall bodyweight down.
But there’s a huge problem with this because losing bodyWEIGHT does not mean losingbodyFAT. And so whilst all the cardio bunnies are spending hours on the treadmills and eating little food, they certainly aren’t going to build any sort of strength through these methods, which is why in step two it is HUGELY important that we define the right type of movement for you because this will ultimately define your body shape and of course define you.
I have news for you. If you are not strength training on a diet 50% of the scale weigh that you are losing is muscle tissue and not fat. And so a huge reason to want to strength train whilst dieting is to signal to the body that you need to keep your muscle as it is in use, forcing it to prioritise the loss of fat instead.
Have you ever been to WeightWatchers? Or Slimming World?
The main reason why these two systems do not include any strength training is because their business model is all based on losing overall weight. And so any inclusionof strength training is going to counteract that weight loss on the scales as your going to get stronger, and so your end of the week weight loss numbers wouldn’t be as big as what they want it to be to keep you coming back.
Losing 10kg at WeightWatchers probably means you have lost 5kg of fat and 5kg of muscle tissue with it. But should you break your diet and put it back on, you put it all back on as fat. Meaning every time you YOYO diet you lose muscle and replace itwith fat, making it incredibly harder to lose fat the next time you do it and drastically change your boy composition in the process!
How do we avoid this? It’s time to ditch the scales and get strong!
We’ve done enough talking and so now here comes this months action points:
If we have done step 1 correctly we are going to be in a calorie deficit and the weight will be gradually reducing. The next thing we are going to do is add in step2. Remember I said there are TWO parts to movement? Heres what you are going to do.
Action point 1:
Walk 5000 steps per day as a baseline.
How?
Grab your iPhone and click on the heart icon. If set up correctly this has been tracking your every step from day 1. Spooky right? If not you can quickly set it up, or if on android you can download a simple step tracker app.
From here you are going to make sure you walk on an average of 5000 steps per day. This is pretty basic really and for many of you, you will be achieving this already. This is the movement I do not want you to increase right now, I simply want you to track it so we know where we are at.
This type of movement we are going to call your ‘non-exercise activity’. This is movement that you don’t necessarily class as training because it's generally unavoidable such as walking to and from work, up and downstairs, in and around your home. Just make sure it is at 5000 steps per day for now. and let's move to point two.
Action point 2:
This is where the big change comes in. Depending on your type of body transformation goals it will depend on what we add in here. I am going to assume for the most part you want to develop some strength and define some curves underneath the bodyfat.(If you want something different feel free to email me at robert@robertmcavoy.com and I will help you out, I just can’t cover every type in one article).
If this is your goal then we need to add in some strength training.
The type of strength training we add will relate to your lifestyle and what is sustainable for you. Not everyone will want to go into a gym right away or be able to afford a trainer to help them with this and so this can come in several different forms.
A. As a beginner to strength training with your own bodyweight will add enough of a resistance to get you started and there are endless routines online that can be done at home.
B. If you prefer getting out then there are endless strength-based fitness classes that you can attend that will also be a great start for any newbie wanting to get strong. (just be careful with your form!)
C. Finally, if you are past the bodyweight and class experiences (or you want to go right into the deep end) then you will need to move into the world of strength training inside a gym with proper resistance equipment. Without resistance, we cannot get stronger and therefore cannot get into the shape that we desire.
Doing part C will require a slight individual approach and so if you do need help inside a gym I recommend speaking to your local trainer, starting off with the machines inside your gym, or email me and I will be more than happy to send across a program for you to do (completely free).
Action point 3:
Ditch the scales. This is one you have to trust me on. I promise!
There is a lot that goes on when someone starts strength training. Soreness, recovery, strength gains, greater calories burned, and all of this will change the weight especially at the start. Things will go up and down but that is good, it means change is coming. If you trust the process then I am happy for you to weigh yourself and keep a record, as it will all balance out eventually. If however, you are going to freak out if the weight docent change or goes up, then you are the person that needs to put the scales away, just until the next time we speak, allowing your body some time to adapt to the new routine without you making your own adjustments too soon.
To summarise,
Step 1 - Keep your 300 calorie deficit
Step 2 - Walk 5000 steps per day
Step 3 - Include full-body strength training 2-3 times per week
Step 4 - If you are going to take it upon yourself to make changes then avoid weighing yourself for now.
and that’s it!
Remember, calories dictate body weight, movement dictates body shape.
Stay beautiful,
Robert
Robert McAvoy, CSCS UK Strength & Conditioning Coach Level 4 Personal Trainer
