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How to achieve a total body transformation
When you think of achieving a total body transformation, you should visualize one thing...and that's a cupcake.
YUP, you got that right, but hear us out! And no, we aren't talking about eating one.
More times than not the fitness industry has fat loss backwards. The order usually looks like this...
Option 1:
-Restrictive diet
-A ton of cardio/HIIT workouts
-Zero strength training
Sure, this is one way to achieve your transformation. But, it's not the best way.
When it comes to the best EVIDENCE-BASED approach of a total body transformation you should visualize the cupcake.
Option 2 - aka visualizing a cupcake:
-Cake Batter: Nutrition that fuels you & enables balance in life and in the gym
-Icing: Strength training
-Sprinkles: Cardio
Why is this superior to cardio & restrictive dieting?
First things first, fat loss boils down to being in a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit is when you consume fewer calories than your body requires to maintain its current bodyweight. You can be in a calorie deficit by either eating fewer calories or moving more than you usually would.
Which means, it doesn't matter necessarily what you eat so long as you are consuming fewer calories in a day. And no, you do not need to be extreme by barely eating calories on a daily basis to achieve this deficit and yes, you should still consume more whole foods than processed foods. As for moving more, you can achieve this by jogging, dancing, walking, or even STRENGTH TRAINING!
Now that we've gotten the basics out of the way, let's breakdown why strength training is superior to cardio for fat loss.
When you only perform cardio for fat loss, think of jogging/HIIT workouts, you might lose weight, but eventually your body will plateau and will require you to do more of what you already are doing to get the same result for fat loss - meaning, you could end up with a slower metabolism. This happens because cardio puts you at risk of muscle burn. The reason why we need muscle isn't only to protect our joints, reshape our body composition, but researchers speculate how gaining muscle mass can boost your metabolism. Muscle tissue is metabolically active and needs constant refueling.
"Your metabolism dictates how fast or how slow you achieve fat loss."
Physique on the left: Cardio
Physique on the right: Strength Training
Case in point, when you build muscle, your body is required to burn more calories throughout the day to maintain that new muscle mass. Which means you are stroking the flames to your metabolic fire! Unlike cardio which eats away at your muscle mass and slows down your metabolism - causing you to always do more. Cardio, however, is still a tool and should be considered as the "sprinkles" to your fat loss journey!
So the next time you consider jumping into cardio for your total body transformation, visualize the cupcake model as it is evidence based and is the best approach to sustainable fat loss.
The goal shouldn't be just to achieve your goals, but it should be to sustain those goals for the rest of your life.
Ready to reach your total body transformation? Click the button down below and schedule your call today!