How to lose fat fast is not surprising what is on the mind of almost everyone who wants to lose fat.
Let us be honest here, very few people are interested in losing fat slowly.
First, I want to address some of the misconceptions about fat loss.
Because I think that the one thing most people are still confused about or do not attribute enough credit is the cause for weight loss itself.

Don’t Be Confused By All The Different Methods
People get confused over the countless different methods for losing weight that sometimes even are in contradiction with each other.
It is very easy to feel overloaded with information.
The biggest culprit is probably the weight loss industry itself.
They always seem to be marketing a new thing to either avoid or eat more of in order to promote weight loss. There always seem to be a new secret revealed just now that is the reason why you haven’t been able to lose weight.
That doesn’t make the industry bad or evil. They are just here to make money like any other industry is.
The Real Cause Of Weight Loss
Humans have been losing weight long before there ever was a weight loss industry, and the cause has always been the same and still is.
That is a calorie deficit.
Losing weight is essentially a question of energy balance i.e. eating fewer calories than what your body is using.
It doesn’t matter whether you are refraining from eating carbs, gluten, eggs, dairy, bananas etc., or if you stop drinking alcohol, or if you are only eating whatever thing the latest diet tells you to. It doesn’t matter if you are eating once a day or 8 times a day and it doesn’t matter if you are fasting X amount of hours each day.
The cause of the weight loss associated with whatever diet will always be the calorie deficit.
I am only aware of one exception to this, and that is a fat suction operation.
A good example showing that it really is the calories that matter is the American professor who did a “twinkies diet”.
This diet consisted mostly of processed sugary junk food, but he still managed to lose a lot of weight. The reason for this was, of course, a calorie deficit.
The Problem With The Mindset: Lose Fat Fast
Deep down everyone knows that losing fat is associated with going through an unavoidable and uncomfortable experience.
Knowing this, it is only logical to desire to minimize that experience by getting it over with as fast as possible.
However, if your benchmark of a fast fat loss is based on the statements used in marketing campaigns of some weight loss programs, then you likely have the wrong idea.
Even the fastest sustainable fat loss possible would seem slow to you (more on this subject below).
The extreme cases you see in marketing campaigns are exceptional and are definitely not only loss of fat.
Wanting To Lose Fat Fast And “Crash Diets”
The word “crash diet” is fitting for describing some of the diets that promise really big weight loss.
They are often too extreme and people who do them are either not able to stick with it and binge eat, or they regain the weight after the diet is over.
The problem with these diets is that they are too low in calories (sometimes just carbs) combined with a lot of intense cardio exercising.
If successful the result is a huge weight loss, but consisting of both losses of fat and muscle. There is also a significant weight loss due to less water retention. The body simply holds less water when fat and muscle is reduced.
Losing muscle is a very bad thing, even for those who would normally not care (this does of course not include you).
With the loss of muscle your metabolic rate drops. Not only do you end up weaker, but you also burn fewer calories. This increases the chance of regaining the fat when the diet is over.
Another terrible effect of such diets when they are over a longer period (at least a few weeks), is that the extreme calorie restriction and all the exercising “damages” the metabolism.
The body turns into what some describe as “starvation mode”. Without going into detail, you can simply think of it as the response of the body to the extreme calorie deficit. The body is trying to compensate by becoming more efficient or “turning down the knob” on everything that uses energy.
I would argue that this effect is not only something internal in your body but that it also makes you want to move less around.
This effect is not insignificant and persists for some time after depending on the time duration and severity of the diet. Of course, this also increases the likelihood of regaining of fat.
Fat Loss vs Weight Loss – Not Created Equal
When all this have been said, your natural response should now be that you want your weight loss to only consist of fat while maintaining or even building muscle at the same time.
In this post, I outline the concerns of how to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
In other words, you want fat loss and not just weight loss.
For a sustainable fat loss, that is one where you don’t risk burning off muscle mass, destroying your metabolism or regaining the fat, there is in my opinion really only one efficient way.
That way is a “moderate” calorie deficit combined with lifting weights.
Having this calorie deficit will for most people result in a weight loss of approximately 0.45 – 0.7 kg / 1 – 1.5 pounds each week, and if you are training correctly it won’t include muscle.
You then have to maintain that deficit for at long as it takes to achieve your goal. This could be anywhere from 1 month to 6 months or even more.
Hopefully, I didn’t just shatter your dream of losing 10 kg of fat in 2 weeks. However, that was never possible in the first place. Probably not even if you didn’t eat anything the whole 2 weeks.
It is important to note that if you already have a low body fat percentage this is most likely not going to apply to you. You have to use a lower deficit and accept a slower fat loss.
How To Be Successful With Your Fat Loss
Being able to consistently eat fewer calories than your body burns day after day for a long time requires having the right plan and being smart about all your food choices.
It requires determination not only to lose fat but also to find the way that is most enjoyable to you.
Because using willpower alone will rarely get you the results you want without making your life absolutely miserable or even threaten your sanity.
This is a topic in itself which I touch upon in this article.
How To Not Regain The Fat
When you have been in a calorie deficit and achieved your desired fat loss, it is crucial that you don’t get back to your old eating habits.
That will just result in regaining the fat. I cover all this and more in my awesome nutrition guide titled “The Awesome Nutrition Guide”.
Get the guide and an accompanying email course as a welcome bonus when you sign up for my email list.
[contact-form-7 id=”2610″ title=”Contact form 1″]Why You Need To Lift Weights
On a very basic level, the reason you need to lift weights is the reaction of your body to a calorie deficit.
When your calorie intake is lower than what is needed to sustain your body, you have to draw on your energy reserves. Your energy reserves also include muscle mass unless your body thinks otherwise.
Essentially you have to convince your body that all of your muscle mass is necessary. And to do that you need to provide the right stimulus.
This is so important for retaining your muscle mass, that I have created two specific posts on this subject.
If you want the in-depth explanation of why I think weight training for weight loss is your best option, then click the link.
I have also created a post on the more practical things on how to use weight training to lose weight.
Marcus,
I have struggled with weight gain in the last 10 years and so far the only things that has helped a little bit is exercising for 2 hours a day. To me that is excessive and I don’t always have the time to do it. I have changed my diet, eaten healthier but without that lengthy HITT style workout my weight has not budged.
I have to admit that I have not done any weights, only cardio. Do you think adding weights to my workout will make a difference?
Hey Matendi
To me exercising for 2 hours a day does sound very excessive! Even when I was training the most a few years ago, it did never reach on average 2 hours a day.
A lot of people are using HIIT style training to lose weight and it can work. But unless you really like doing HIIT workouts, I would not recommend it. In regards to using HIIT for weight loss, there are two concerns not many people are talking about which I think is a big problem.
1) Doing intense cardio workouts is exhausting which is not ideal when you already have lower energy levels from eating fewer calories, and 2) many people report that doing intense cardio makes them very hungry.
I talk about this in my other post.
What I would recommend to you, is that you stop all the intense cardio and instead lift weights 3 times a week and hit all muscle groups with compounds movements. Each weight lifting session should be around 45-60 minutes, and your exercise movements should consist of 3 sets and be around 5-10 reps.
In addition, whatever low intense activity you like to do and are already doing simply do more of that (like walking, riding a bike, cleaning your house, fixing your garden etc.).
This is one of the most practical posts on losing weight that we find out there, usually, most of the posts that I have read and tried losing weight with are not that great since I instantly put on weight as fast as I lost it.
I think the information you give here is worth trying and I can say that it would work since I have been through a lot of roller coasters when it comes to losing weight.
I hope this can help you out.
I know that this approach is making fat loss easier for many people including myself. If you are serious about it, I am sure you can make it work for you as well. In the future I will cover fat loss more, so if you found this useful check back later 🙂