At some point in our lives, most of us will want to know the most effective ways to lose fats. There are countless articles out there on this topic, some giving as many as 25 tips to lose fats quickly. It can get confusing and overwhelming and I having gone through this myself, I thought I will share the top 5 steps that worked for me in my journey to lose fats quickly and sustainably, and achieve my aim of becoming a leaner and healthier me. Of course everyone is different and it is important you find a routine that is tailored to your body’s needs. The tips I am going to share were developed over months of experimentation based on what worked for me, although they are rather generic and would probably be applicable to many as well.
Step 1: Have a well-rounded workout routine
Develop a workout routine that includes both cardio and strength training. For many years, I focused primarily on running to keep lean. That was sufficient when I was in my 20s. Once I entered my 30s however, I found that I have hit a wall and stubborn fats began to build up at different parts of my body. I tried mixing in circuit training largely with bodyweight but found that to have limited effectiveness as well.
At the beginning of 2023, I started training with Ritual Gym which focused on functional training. I saw some progress, but it was slower than I hoped and in an attempt to speed things up, I decided to try a new gym (Fitstop) in 2024, where the workout programme incorporated significantly heavier weights as compared to Ritual. I have been training with Fitstop for about 4 months now and I observe noticeable changes/ improvements. Not just physically with more well-defined muscle contours, but also in terms of endurance, strength and general energy.
There is a popular science behind strength training to explain this. Strength training builds muscles which occupies a smaller volume per unit mass as compared to fats, creating a leaner physique. Muscles have the added advantage of being more energy consuming than fats. This increases your base metabolic rate and burns calories long after you’ve stopped exercising. Besides building muscles, strength training also has loads of other related benefits.
I read this in a TikTok post before (can’t remember which or I would credit the post) which I thought was a really apt description of cardio vs strength training. It likened cardio to day trading, where you’re in for the quick and immediate wins. Conversely, strength training is like responsible investing, where returns take time to be realised but is more sustained. So if you haven’t yet incorporated strength training in your workout routine, don’t be afraid to explore that and be consistent in pushing yourself to lift and squat heavier weights. I wish I had realised this earlier!
Step 2: Develop a motivating force – join a gym community
There is a lot of inertia when it comes to working out. Reasons such as the gym is too far, I have no time, I’m self-conscious about working out in a group are all too common and it’s important to address them. Fortunately though, such reasons will only plague you at the start, before you’ve built a habit around working out. I myself used such reasoning, and managed to procrastinate for a year until the frustration of not seeing any results got overwhelming and I was compelled to act. Strangely enough though, this stopped becoming a problem 2 weeks after I committed to going to the gym regularly. As much as I’d like to credit that to self-discipline, it’s really a combination of these 3 factors:
a. The presence of a strong gym community. This is particularly apparent for class-based gyms. If you attend classes at a consistent time of the day, you start bonding with other regular gym goers. Gym really can become quite enjoyable and you look forward to working out together..
b. Being held accountable by your gym membership fees. Everyone needs some external motivation at some point and if you are paying good money for your gym membership, you are more likely to push yourself to adequately utilise it.
c. Seeing results. If you work out consistently for 2 weeks, especially following a class-based programme, you will definitely see results. This generates a positive feedback loop, encouraging you to keep up the routine.
I am a big believer of joining a gym, especially a class-based gym to lose fats quickly. However, there are other gym models available and if you are unsure of which gym to join, I have another post that talks about my top considerations in my gym shopping journey.
Step 3: Do not focus on calories intake
It is popular belief that in order to lose weight/ fats, one must drastically cut calories. I am not entirely bought into this idea for 2 main reasons. Firstly it’s unsustainable, especially if you drastically cut calories i.e. go on a fad diet. Your body will at some time protest and your mind will give in, leading you to eat with a vengeance. And if your body has been in a calories deficient state for a prolonged period, it will go into preservation mode and start storing the calories as fats. This is counterproductive to what you’re trying to achieve – to lose fat and get lean quickly.
Secondly, if you are exercising more, especially if you incorporate strength training, your body actually needs the additional calories and protein for sustenance and to build muscles. In the absence of that, the hard work you put in at the gym could come to waste (god forbid!). You’ll also find yourself hitting a snag at the gym, unable to progress in lifting heavier or pushing reps.
What I recommend instead is to focus on, and possibly even increase, good calories intake. Make fibre and protein the bulk of your diet, topping up with your favourite choice of carbs to feel satiated. Feeling satiated is crucial to making this sustainable. Remember you’re in this for the long-run and you need to make sure you’re not miserable. Because when it’s a case of mind over body, the mind rarely wins when it comes to food. I’ve tried several times and failed spectacularly, which brings me to my next point.
Step 4: Do not try to cut out junk food entirely
Everyone of us have a guilty pleasure when it comes to food – chocolate, fried chicken, spam fries, truffle fries. I have basically listed all of my favourite junk food and a life without them isn’t a life worth living. It comes back to the question of sustainability. Allowing yourself to consume them occasionally is more effective in establishing a long-lasting habit than trying to go cold turkey. For the majority of us, we are likely to fall back to our old habits within 3 – 4 weeks, following which you might start questioning your self-discipline or feeling upset with yourself which isn’t helpful in your journey to lose fats quickly.
Step 5: Do not obsess over what the scale says
Very often people equate losing fats to dropping weight and use that as a key measure of success. This cannot be further from the truth. Muscles are denser than fats i.e. the same volume of muscles weigh more than fats. If you are building muscles, for the same body size, you will definitely be heavier but leaner. If you obsess over the scale, you will feel disheartened very quickly and conclude that your efforts aren’t worth it. This could lead you to give up on the habit of working out and eating well that you have built over a couple of months. Habit building is, in my opinion, the most crucial but difficult step in the journey to lose fats quickly. It would be a shame if you let some arbitrary measure invalidate all your hard work.
It might sound counterintuitive but losing weight quickly is a marathon, not a sprint. The key to keeping it up is to build sustainable habits you are confident of keeping, without taking joy out of your life. Give it a try – it might be difficult in the first 2 – 3 weeks but I promise it will get easier and become a way of life before you know it.