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For many reasons, men, like women can get out of shape and add some weight. In most cases, weight gain in men is manifested in their mid-section, particularly on their belly and boobs.
While you cannot zone out the areas you want to lose weight, you have the power to cut back on your weight and achieve a sculptured body shape.
However, losing weight for men is not as easy as it sounds. Remember there is a difference between losing weight and losing fat. Though they follow the same path, losing weight is more than just achieving some lean muscles. Other ways to lose weight including re-evaluating your diet, working out, among others.
Fortunately, in this epic guide, we have compiled a comprehensive report on what it takes for men to lose weight fast. Our guide is simple to initiate as it revolves around two major fitness aspects; dieting and exercising.
Get the Right Diet
Here, we have a mantra that says “you cannot exercise a bad diet.”
But what defines a bad and a good diet?
The answer to that is quite individualistic, but if you are looking to lose weight, the answer boils down to the number of calories in your diet. This is not up for debate; you cannot lose weight if you are not in a caloric deficit diet.
Numerous studies indicate that calories are the number one driver for weight loss as long as your consumption is in line with your weight goals.
Eating fewer calories than you burn, is a sure-fire way of losing weight.
Caveat for Men
However, if you are a man looking to lose weight, you will consistently get frustrated by the calorie information on blogs and fitness magazines, because most of it is tailored for the women.
What about men?
Men, unlike women, have more pronounced muscle mass. To sustain the extra muscle mass, men require more energy. Even for the similarly sized women and men, men will always need extra calories, as indicated by the greater average V02, Max.
Creating a Nutritional Plan and Tracking your Intake
Many people do not know how to create a nutritional plan, and a set of the diet plan according to the weight goals. While it`s not an exact science, it`s not easy to develop a comprehensive plan.
But, I`m going to teach you how.
The first step to tracking your calories is to track your intake. Thankfully, we are not in the pre-historic period, where you need to carry a pen and a journal. We now have technology.
You now need a smart device such as a watch or phone, which can support a fitness app such as MyFitnessPal. Aside from having a huge food database, the fitness app will do all the work of tracking nearly all your calories.
Numerous studies indicate that subconsciously tracking your calorie intake will help you in consuming lesser calories.
Setting a Calorific Deficit for Fat Loss
For you to cut down on your weight, and slim down, you will need to create a calorific deficit for weight loss.
In a nutshell, this is to mean that you will have fewer calories than you burn for effective weight loss.
As a general rule, men seeking to lose weight should aim at cutting approximately 500 calories daily or 3500 per week. Nonetheless, if you are seeking to lose weight faster, you can double the calories burned.
Nonetheless, the numbers might change significantly depending on various factors such as age and activity level.
For instance, if you are consistently working out vigorously or engage in hard, demanding labor, you can as well consume more calories and still slim down.
Food Choices
Calorie monitoring does not limit the types of food you can take, provided you are hitting your nutritional target. However, as a rule of thumb, always follow the 80/20 rule; your chief sources of calories should come from whole foods, minimally processed foods, lean protein, and high-fiber veggies.
The benefit of monitoring your calorie is a powerful yet underrated weight loss procedure for men as it allows men to enjoy foods they love in moderation, and only consume a moderate calorie deficit, which realty reduces cravings.
Aside from weight loss, it promotes optimal health, but more importantly aids with long-term adherence, which is key to achieving your weight goals.
Getting Physically Active to Burn more Calories
You are almost aware that physical exercises are essential for burning calories and weight loss.
While physical activities are good for your health, they only provide 20-30% of your weight loss goals. The diet does the 80%, and you cannot exercise yourself to a calorie deficit. Moreover, not all exercises are suited for weight loss.
So what kind of weight loss exercises should men do?
Despite their marginal contribution, exercises are handy in increasing body strength and bone density, flexibility and mobility, cardiovascular health, and provides positive hormonal effects such as boosting the production of testosterone.
Various exercises are used to boost weight and fat loss in men include;
Strength training. Strength training is more than just light weight/high reps. We are referring to lifting serious weight that is going to challenge you.
Strength training helps in the building of muscles and offers the best progress you can have. When it comes to weight loss, it allows your body to maintain lean muscle tissue, keeps the metabolism elevated and shapes your body.
Metabolic Conditioning. The purpose of this workout is to pack as much training density into your exercise. As a result, it forces your body to work extra harder, shedding more fat and burning more calories.
HIIT. HIIT is instrumental in boosting the growth hormone production in the body. As such, it helps in muscle building, fat burning and boosting libido.
Cardio
Cardio is an awesome exercise mode for losing weight. However, it should be the light to moderate forms that do not exceed 80% of your maximum effort.
However, it does not match strength training in stimulating muscles, and should therefore not be used as the sole training mode.
Avoid these Exercise Pitfalls
Though exercise offers an excellent way to cut weight and improve on your general wellbeing, you should perform them gradually, and without haste.
Here are some of the exercise pitfall you should be aware of;
- Avoid doing too much of the exercises to avoid injuries or burn out
- Performing exercises that you do not enjoy can result to lack of motivation
- Performing the same workouts will eventually result to boredom
Bottom Line
Losing weight for men fast is simple, provided you follow the above dietary and exercise rules.