3 Weird Ways to Lose Body Fat

To say I lost weight unconventionally is just tipping the iceberg. In 10 months, I managed to shed nearly 40 pounds and over 10 percent body fat--two facts that had people asking "How did you do it?" They become even more perplexed when I told them the weird ways I lost body fat--by skipping breakfast, eating only two meals a day and rarely doing cardio.

Here's why these strategies actually work for losing body fat, despite what the media has been telling you.

#1: Skip Breakfast to Get Lean
It wasn't long into my weight loss journey when I began skipping breakfast--much to the chagrin of diet experts, who claim eating breakfast is necessary to rev up the metabolism. Unfortunately, scientific evidence shows us that this is a misunderstanding, and that people who do skip breakfast may make poor diet choices throughout the day, which causes them to gain weight--not the slowdown of their metabolism.

I've never been a big breakfast eater, so I skip it regularly, often because I don't feel physically hungry. Once I become hungry, I eat what I normally eat while making sure it's under my calorie deficit for the day. More importantly, I don't force myself to eat if I'm not hungry.

#2: Stop Doing Cardio

Diet experts often tout the importance of cardio to lose weight, but I rarely do it. That's because I do a lot of strength training, which actually gives me a higher calorie burn than cardio. Strength training also revs up the metabolism for longer, according to a study conducted by Southern Illinois University. This means I burn more calories even when I'm not working out.

So how do I work out? I keep it basic and simple, sticking to exercises that work multiple muscle groups, such as squats, deadlifts and bench presses. I also incorporate chin-ups and tricep pull-downs, which help make my arms stronger and more shapely.

#3: Forget Frequent Eating to Lose Weight

Personal trainers and diet experts claim that eating frequently revs up the metabolism--unfortunately, studies contradict these claims. Take the study reported by the British Journal of Nutrition, for instance, which showed nibbling patterns, also known as frequent eating, was not beneficial for raising a person's energy expenditure.

When I tried adopting a frequent eating regimen, it made me miserable. I was constantly hungry and irritable. Instead, I ate in a way that made my hunger less problematic. For me, that was eating two meals a day. This lessened my hunger and made me obsess less about eating, which, for me, resulted in less binging. This helped me shed more body fat.

The eating frequency that benefits you may be different. You may feel satisfied on five meals versus two. Maybe frequent eating benefits your lifestyle. The point here is to adopt a meal frequency that is best for you--never try to increase your meal frequency if it's not natural for you and makes you miserable. This isn't a jab at frequent eating--just the idea that you have to eat more frequently to lose weight. That's not the case at all.

While my methods are controversial, they worked. If you're trying to lose weight, keep in mind that you don't need to follow every diet rule in the book to lose weight--you simply need to find a plan that you can consistently stick to.

Source:
PubMed.com
Cambridge Journals