Exercise Science

The ‘Real’ Facts About Burning Body Fat

In this age of information and so-called Insta Fitness “Experts” there is so much B.S. around when it comes to burning body fat. While methods and ideas change all the time we thought we’d take the moral high-ground and give you the facts. Please understand, this info is not the latest “get skinny fast” gimmick, just the facts that haven’t changed in decades.

So, let’s give you some REAL facts about fat burning to help you on your journey.

There are 7,700kcals (kcal=calorie) worth of energy in 1kg of fat. That means in order to burn 1kg of fat, you must have a calorie deficit of 7,700. Considering the average daily intake can be anywhere from 1,800-2,400kcals, it takes some time to burn that fat. People’s biggest mistake is not allowing the time for changes to take place within the body. Health and fitness is a lifestyle, not a temporary quick fix. Creating too big a calorie deficit to try accelerate the process will lead to injury or illness.

Here’s some quick maths to help you understand the fat loss process:

John, aged 35, burns 2,400kcals a day without adding exercise. His main goal is to lose weight. He does three reboots a week and burns on average 700kcals per session. He chooses a healthy 500 calorie daily deficit to attain his goals. So on his non work out days, John consumes 1,900kcal and on the days he does reboot, consumes 2,500kcals (2,400 + 700 = 3,100 – 500 = 2,500). John sticks to this religiously for 6 weeks. How much fat has he lost? Nearly 3 kilos of fat. Go John! Now this isn’t counting weight he will lose from fluid retention by tiding up his diet. Yes, he cut back on alcohol and consumed cleaner food in this period too, in order to hit his daily goals (The types of calories you put in to your body affect body composition too, but that’s a whole other conversation).

Remember you can’t out train a bad diet!

Math for those who like this stuff: 500 daily deficit x 7 days a week = 3,500 x 6 weeks =21,000/7,700kcals in 1kg of fat = 2.75kg.
Now I hear some of you say ‘3 kilos? That’s not much for 6 weeks of work…’ But it’s not just three kilos, it’s three kilos of pure FAT. As mentioned above, eating cleaner food will have other effects on your body, such as decreasing bloatedness, cleaner digestive system and increase in energy. Meaning total weight loss could in fact be more. Have a look at this picture of 2kg of fat vs 2kg of muscle and tell me 3kg fat loss isn’t much.

For anyone having trouble getting their head around the above information, talk to one of our skilled trainers here at One Fitness and they’ll happily help you on your weight loss journey.

 

---

NEED HELP GETTING YOUR FITNESS JOURNEY STARTED (OR RE-STARTED)?

Save $213 when you join One Fitness in November with our Small Group Training Offer.

 

FIND OUT MORE

 

 

---

TRENDING ARTICLES

10 Simple Tricks to Boost Your Metabolism >READ	What is Afterburn? The Scientific Answer. >READ