What’s the most important thigs to get right when trying to lose fat? Read on to understand the hierarcy of fat loss.
The oft-quoted maxim for the fitness industry is “move more – eat less” to lose fat. But, for a change, I disagree. First of all, it’s not that simple. Secondly, I think it places the emphasis in the wrong place. So instead, here is my Hierarchy for Fat Loss.
Of course it’s “borrowing” from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. But with a different end-goal. The end goal here is body re-composition. Losing fat and keeping it off. Although to be fair, it could also work for general health, well-being or optimising energy…
The Hierarchy of Fat Loss
Level 1
We start at the bottom. The MOST important thing to get right if you’re looking for fat loss is NUTRITION. It is fundamental (no shit sherlock, I hear you say…)
But really think of it like this: if you only have one free hour, what do you do? The thing you should do isn’t train or exercise. The thing you should do is plan your meals, ensure you have the right food, and prep your food (i.e. cook up a batch of protein or veggies.) How many of us are doing this consistently? Because I know lots of us are likely to think a workout is more important. So we work out and then we wing the nutrition bit, because we haven’t got enough time to prepare something nutritious.
Well, that’s doing it backwards. Because you can’t ever out-exercise a bad diet.
So getting your nutrition right is key: That means getting adequate portions of protein, fats, carbs and veg. That means ensuring we are keeping within a calorie deficit. But not too much of a deficit that it causes us to overeat in 2, 5, 7 days time. (Or when the children wind us up!)
So let me say it again: if you only have one free hour and your priority is fat loss: Food and Nutrition is your priority.
Level 2
The second most important is SLEEP! (yup, still not exercise!). I was having a conversation this time with a 121 client, about how the only time she could work out that particular 3 day period was if she woke up at 5am! Woah. Stop it!! Sleep is more important than exercise. Why? Because lack of sleep messes up your hunger hormones (see link here) causing you to want to eat more (and particularly making you want to eat more junk food.) It also elevates your stress, which again makes it hard to lose weight!
So you should never sacrifice sleep for exercise!
Level 3
It’s only at the third level, that we finally get to EXERCISE. And I’m going to be specific here: it’s not just any exercise. It’s about Lifting Heavy Sh!t. Only once we have nailed our nutrition and our sleep can we finally talk about exercising. Because if you’re not rested and recovered, then your workout will be sub-optimal.
Level 4
Here we’re talking about Activity Levels. Specifically it’s NEAT (Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. These are your daily steps, school run, housework, gardening or walks with the dog. This is a very important aspect of fat loss, but it really only starts to work when everything else is already in place.
Level 5
And right at the top is everything else: all the things that confuse and obfuscate weight loss. And that really many of us don’t need to worry about. Things like meal timings, or how to pair food together for optimal results, supplements, and arguments over which type of green veg is “the best” or which exercise will give you “the best 6-pack” or which food will help you fight fat.
Ironically, these things are often the things you read most about in magazines! [eye roll]
And of course this hierarchy of fat loss needs to be supported by your habits, your mindset, and your environment…
But that’s literally everything we cover in the nutrition course! You can check it out here.
