Different Types of Fat Loss

He's not going to lose too much weight this way!

Fat loss is just a matter of having a caloric deficit, this isn’t news (or at least it shouldn’t be news to you). You can create the caloric deficit 3 ways.

1. Caloric restriction

2. Increasing activity/exercise (without conscious attention to calories)

3. A combination of the previous points

Regardless how you create the deficit the fat loss with be the same. It’s probably easiest to focus primarily on restricting food intake and consider any extra exercise induced fat loss as a bonus.

Cutting 500-700 calories in a day is much easier than trying to do 500-700 calories worth of exercise.

So even though theoretically you could try to create a deficit with exercise alone, it is only as effective as your ability to maintain a consistent calorie intake close to BMR.

In other words, you can easily out eat a workout session, but you can never out workout an big eating session (but I think this is what so many people in the gym are trying to do)

The actual pattern of fat loss will be the same no matter what you do to get there, so it’s just up to you to find the best solution that fits with your life. I suggest Eat Stop eat and my soon to be coming out book (shameless plug! :)

John

Posted by johnbarban in Fat Loss
Tags: diet, Exercise, Fat Loss |21 Comments

21 Responses to “Different Types of Fat Loss”

  1. Cooper Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    John, do you have a release date for the book?

  2. johnbarban Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    Cooper,

    The goal is July 26th. It’ll be an ebook with a few things that go with it.

    JB

  3. MovieFX Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 1:27 pm

    Hope it’s the ‘in-shape/out of control’, etc, mentioned in previous podcasts?

    I had this thought today: If you had to kill and animal twice your size, skin it, build a fire, cook it and then eat it – and just it without sauce or desert – and you had to do this in the hours of daylight… how hungry would you have to be to ‘go get something to eat’ or ‘go on a lunch break’?

    One darn sight hungrier than when you last ate, that’s how.

  4. johnbarban Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    Movie,

    Yeah it’s based on the three levels of control theory. So the book is a journey through each level and how to arrive at the final stage of in shape and in control.

    There are technical ‘how to’ parts to it, as well as general ‘how to think’ parts to it.

    JB

  5. Jim Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    Also the exercise only approach to weight loss is only as good as your ability to do the exercise without getting injured.

    A lot of people don’t consider that if you plan a caloric deficit through exercise only and you get injured it’s game over for your caloric deficit. Much better to plan your caloric deficit through diet alone, barring the sudden onset of diabetes ofcourse ;)

  6. johnbarban Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    Jim,

    That is an excellent point and if you don’t mind it will be a topic of a new post. I’ll give you props for bringing it to my attention of course.

    JB

  7. jason Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 3:34 pm

    How were the estimated calorie values burned during exercise measured (or derived) in the first place anyway? And is this directly from fuel storage?

    I find it hard to believe we can burn more than 300-400 calories over our basal rate in an hour’s worth of exercise; otherwise our ancestors would have vanished looking for the next meal.

  8. usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    Jason, that’s an interesting and good point.

    Maybe our ancestors were better adapted for traveling distances without food, thus they lost less calories per the same distance traveled? Or maybe we are overestimating the effect of burning that many calories on our bodies (I bet obesity didn’t exist with our ancestors until they got better at finding ways to find/gather/grow their own food at a more frequent rate)? Or maybe when our ancestors did eat, they loaded up with a LOT of calories?

  9. Jeff Says:
    May 13th, 2010 at 5:44 pm

    John,

    I have 5 weeks until the beach:)! and need to lose 12 lbs. That comes down to cutting+ excersising 420 calories off each day. My question is this. While doing resistance training during that time, the 12 lbs should be fat, right? And saying that, I shouldn’t really lose the total of 12lbs because of the addition of lean mass, right? Not sure if i’m splainin’ myself very good.

    Thanks,

    Jeff

  10. AL Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 12:50 am

    Jeff,

    I would be surprised if you gained much lean mass in 5 weeks time without added help. Probably lucky to hang on to what lean mass you do have currently while dropping the fat.
    Just an opinion………….

  11. usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 1:53 am

    AL is right. If you’re lucky, you might maybe gain 0.5 pounds of muscle. Muscle grows a LOT LOT slower than you can lose fat. If you’re not already taking it, you can try using creatine. I haven’t looked too much into how creatine will affect your look though, e.g. if it just add muscle volume or if it will also add water to your skin, thus giving you a smoother, albeit larger, look. I’d actually like to hear what JB or someone has to say about that.

  12. Aaron Curl Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 6:54 am

    Yah, I prefer to eat less, more nutrient dense food than try to burn off a Big Mac Meal. I have been going in circles trying to convince my brother to stop eating so many stupid grains and pasta because he is a runner (most runners still believe this crap). I run with him and do not consume any grains and have plenty of energy. So just by eating paleo I eat less more nutrient dense food while my brother is eating more calorie dense food with horrible nutrients. And not to mention I am about 8% bodyfat while he is 10 or more and runs about 10 miles more than me a week.

  13. Jim Says:
    May 14th, 2010 at 8:11 am

    Interesting point Aaron. John do you believe in the concept of “nutrient dense foods?” I personally would assume that we would get sick of foods that were not “nutrient dense” very quickly as an evolutionary adaptation to ensure we eat a balanced diet.

    Brad Pilon’s video on protein rich foods showing that a piece of bread contains as much protein as an egg was eye opening and makes me wonder whether something like pasta may actually contain more nutrients that we suspect (like bread which is traditionally thought of as a high carb food aswell)

  14. johnbarban Says:
    May 15th, 2010 at 6:45 pm

    Jim,

    I don’t think the modern concept of a ‘balanced diet’ has anything to do with what might have happened as humans evolved. The modern diet is an artifact of the industrial revolution and not food scarcity (as would have been the norm during evolution)

    What are ‘nutrient dense foods’?

    JB

  15. Robert Says:
    May 19th, 2010 at 9:32 pm

    Can you elaborate a little bit as to what you mean by, “The actual pattern of fat loss will be the same no matter what you do to get there, so it’s just up to you to find the best solution that fits with your life.”

    What is “pattern” and what is “solution”? Is pattern cutting calories (or, creating a deficit) and solution is what calories (or, in what meals, with or without exercise, etc)?

  16. Waisthipanthighs Says:
    May 21st, 2010 at 11:43 am

    Great post John! It amazes me when I see people in the gym killing themselves working out on lunch break only to see them pickup a 2000 calorie meal from somewhere on the way back. I’d rather just reduce my calorie intake and workout to build muscle.

    -Thomas

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  19. danielwa Says:
    October 11th, 2010 at 6:20 pm

    I do the combination, but I think a point that is never made is that when someone does overeat, they stand a much better chance of burning it off if they exercise than if they don’t. Some people may not exercise and may have already cut down on what they eat and are not losing weight. When I was really heavy, I did not exercise sufficiently and all I did was to drastically cut calories and exercise some. I might lose some weight and I then I would stop losing. I would usually gain it back. Once I really started to seriously exercise, I started to lose a lot more weight than I did solely by cutting calories. I got down to the lowest weight I ever was at this height. I also count calories and find that I can eat over 3000 calories each day to maintain my weight of 158 at 6 foot. I find I actually lose weight even if I eat 3000 or fewer calories a day. I would never lose weight at this high of calories if I wasn’t active. I actually lost weight during the last holiday season even though I ate at lot at times, whereas when I didn’t exercise so much during this season, I might gain 20 pounds. It is unrealistic to think “I won’t overeat during the holiday season and I won’t exercise.” Everyone is going to overeat during this season, but lots of exercise will burn it off- inactivity can make a person gain a lot of weight. If a person exercises consistently everyday for at least an hour with an activity that raises one’s heart rate, such as swimming, bicycling or running, even eating a lot at times will be burned off, even if it takes several days. Everyone is going to eat a lot at times, and it is far harder not to out eat inactivity than not to out eat regular, consistent, intense exercise.

  20. danielwa Says:
    October 11th, 2010 at 7:56 pm

    I found this quote that seems very apropos from The Desk of Clarence Bass at
    http://www.cbass.com/ExerciseandWeightControl.htm

    This was first demonstrated in 1954 by world-renowned nutritionist Jean Mayer. He reported that animals exercising for periods of 20 minutes to one hour per day ate proportionally less than non-exercising animals. He concluded from this and other studies that when activity falls below a certain minimum level, food intake does not drop a like amount–and fat begins to accumulate. Apparently, this is one reason why the average person gains fat every year. A sedentary lifestyle throws the body’s appetite control mechanism off, causing us to eat more calories than we expend. That’s not to say that lumberjacks, marathoners, bodybuilders and other very active people eat less than sedentary individuals. They eat more, of course. The difference is that people who exercise have an easier time balancing calorie intake and energy expenditure. Dr. Robergs notes, for example, that Tour de France cyclists maintain or lose weight consuming more than 5000 calories a day.

    This quote perfectly fits me. When I was less active, I wasn’t any less hungry and I still wanted to eat as much as I did when I was more active. When I became more active, I didn’t really experience any greater hunger while I was obese- the exercise made my body want to shed the excess weight. Now that I have lost my weight, I might experience a little more hunger, but I generally don’t gain weight, even if I overeat at times. When I was less active, overeating easily caused weight gain. It is far easier to out eat a sedentary lifestyle than to out eat regular, intense exercise.

  21. danielwa Says:
    December 21st, 2010 at 8:08 pm

    I have decided I do agree with “calories in, calories out.” I think the easiest way to lose weight is not per se cutting calories, but rather exercising and COUNTING calories. One should look at one’s activity level and go to the online calculators and figure out how many calories you burn. If the person needs to lose weight, figure out what a 500-1000 calorie deficit at one’s activity level and carefully measure one’s food as count every bite one eats. Weigh oneself everyday and see how much weight you lose at a particular calorie level and exercise level. I found after going through this process that the number of calories I could eat was much higher than I thought. I found I lost weight at any calorie level less than 3000. I maintain my weight of 160 at 6 foot at 3400 calories. I didn’t out eat my exercise because I counted my calories, but I was far more satisfied with the number of calories I could eat since I exercised was greater than what I could eat if I didn’t. Counting calories was nice, because it taught me to eat the right amount of food- not too much, not too little. Cutting calories is a pain; balancing calories, while exercising a lot is not hard at all.

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