{"id":370797,"date":"2026-03-29T03:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T03:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/370797\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T03:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T03:38:09","slug":"how-to-lose-and-burn-body-fat-the-smart-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/370797\/","title":{"rendered":"How to lose and burn body fat the smart way"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all tried to lose weight<\/a>, right? You know the drill, lots of exercise<\/a>, very little food, constant checks in the mirror and on the scales. And while the old calories in versus calories out method certainly works, restrictive dieting and brutal, sweat-soaked workouts<\/a> can drain our resolve after a while. There\u2019s no wonder that only 10 to 20 percent<\/a> of dieters manage to keep the weight off, with some regaining up to 35 percent<\/a> of lost weight within 12 months.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d like to talk you through a better way to shift body fat. The science remains the same, but by treating fat as fuel instead of extra weight to be shifted, you\u2019ll hopefully have a happier, more fulfilling journey that helps tip the scales in your favour, for good.<\/p>\n

\u2018Fat\u2019 tends to be a bad word. Should it be?<\/p>\n

Wanting to slim down and lose some fat is fine if that\u2019s your goal. But we have to be careful that we aren\u2019t treating any and all fat as \u2018bad\u2019, or something to be shedded. \u201cFat gets a bad rep in today\u2019s society \u2013 and that\u2019s not really fair,\u201d says Alina Cox, co-owner of Fitzrovia\u2019s ClubQ<\/a> health club. \u201cWhile excess body fat is linked to a range of serious health issues,\u201d she says, \u201csome fat is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, fat helps with everything from insulation to fertility, regulation of the immune system and, yes, metabolism. It\u2019s so vital that Veronika Larisova, dietitian and co-founder of Chief Nutrition<\/a>, calls it \u201cone of the most essential molecules in the human body\u201d adding that \u201cstored body fat acts as a long-term energy reservoir while fat tissue is also involved in hormone production, releasing signalling molecules that help regulate appetite, insulin sensitivity, and inflammation.\u201d It also helps cushion our internal organs and forms an important component of cell membranes and the nervous system.<\/p>\n

In other words: fat is your friend. Now that\u2019s cleared up, let\u2019s get down to business.<\/p>\n

How to lose and burn body fat for fuel?<\/p>\n

The body relies on carbohydrates and fat for energy, with fat the preferred fuel at lower intensity. \u201cThe reason is energy yield,\u201d explains Cox. \u201cFat takes longer to break down than carbohydrates, but delivers significantly more energy per gram \u2013 9 kcal compared to just 4kcal from carbs. On top of that, fat reserves are abundant within the body.\u201d It\u2019s true, even a lean individual carries around 100,000 calories<\/a> worth of stored fat at any one time.<\/p>\n

When our bodies burn fat for fuel, they undergo a process called lipolysis, followed by fatty-acid oxidation. Stored triglycerides in fat tissue are broken down into fatty acids, which then enter the bloodstream and are transported to cells throughout the body where they\u2019re converted into energy.<\/p>\n

According to Adam Enaz, founder of Enaz Fitness<\/a>, the average sedentary person burns roughly 60\u201380g of fat per day through basic body functions and low-level activities like putting the kettle on. Put yourself into a calorie deficit (the keto diet suggests lowering carb intake to 50g per day to encourage fat burn) and up the exercise, though, and you can significantly increase your burn.<\/p>\n

Whichever approach you take, Cox is clear that you\u2019ll probably have more fun if you remember that fat is fuel. Don\u2019t just spend an hour walking on the treadmill, staring at the gym wall. Use those calories to work on your 10k PB, smash that V6 at your climbing gym, or practice your cricket overs instead, and you\u2019re much more likely to enjoy yourself, and stick to your fat loss goals.<\/p>\n

How much fat do I need to burn to lose 1kg?<\/p>\n

\u2026and, crucially, how can I speed up the process?<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 50 years,\u201d Cox says, \u201cthe clinical nutrition field has operated around \u2018Wishnofsky\u2019s Rule\u2019 that a deficit of 7,700kcal is required to lose 1kg of body fat. However, over the past decade that rule has largely been debunked as far too simplistic for real world fat loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue with assigning a generic calorie number to every person and body type, Cox says, is that how much fat we actually lose is impacted by a whole range of factors from body composition to initial reductions in glycogen, fluids, and even proteins which may move the scales, but don\u2019t actually amount to fat lost. \u201cWeight loss is never purely fat,\u201d Cox warns. \u201cIt also comes at the cost of lean mass, connective tissue and a small amount of bone density.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve all tried to lose weight, right? You know the drill, lots of exercise, very little food, constant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[499,103,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-370797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}