Short Term vs. Long Term Fat Loss
I believe there’s a big difference between losing fat in the short term versus staying lean for life.
When you’re focused on a short term goal with a deadline—the most important thing is to reach your target. Obviously you want to do that in the healthiest manner possible, but many times we overemphasize pushing ourselves as hard as possible, using our discipline to restrict ourselves and do whatever it takes to achieve the results.
Here are a few of the differences between short term and long term fat loss. Use some of these strategies whether you're in a maintain phase or when you want short term results.
How do you sustain long term fat loss?
-All about habits and lifestyle.
-Follow a high P:E (protein to energy ratio) diet to satiety (energy = fat and carbs)
-No forced fasting
-Fun training—challenge yourself and view it as a hobby, not torture
-Not too strict with diet—allowing more variety of animal foods
-Exercise as a daily habit
-Not constantly consuming new health info and overthinking
How do you achieve short term fat loss?
-Restrict your food choices: beef and eggs only (low carb, keto, carnivore diets)
-30 min of low intensity cardio daily—walking or light jogging
-Strength training 3x/week
-Fast daily—16/8 (Intermittent fasting of 16 hours of fasting, 8 hours of feeding)
-No carbs, no cheat meals
-Using lots of willpower
As you can see, the short term option will get you to your goal. However, when you’ve reached your goal, you want to find a way to turn it into a lifestyle. If you have 50+ lbs to lose, it may take months or even a year to get where you want to be. If that’s the case, you need to be wise about the habits you create. Your body is like a car—push it too much and it won’t work for you anymore. You have to coax and train yourself to follow new habits if you’re aiming for long term fat loss.
With my fitness and nutrition programs, we can focus on either approach (short term or long term fat loss) depending on what your goals are. It can be motivating for some to lose a big amount of weight at the start thereby generating a lot of momentum in the beginning and dropping body fat…but after that point it’s very important to sit down and focus on what the next step is for you. Either way, the end goal is sustainability and results that last.
If you are interested in getting started on your goals, don't hesitate to message me through the Contact Us tab or by emailing me at tyronpiteau@gmail.com.
Happy fat loss,
Tyron