Today I was asked by a client interested in accelerating the process of reducing body fat and what I would recommend. Shall I cut out carbs? Should I skip breakfast? The answer is simple, no. Why?

Ultimately its come down to one thing, well actually lots of things but for the purpose of this blog lets just say its one thing. Energy balance. When starting out in this industry I got massively caught up in the paleo (which has its place) then carb cutting which made me feel lousy then I would crash and go crazy on carbs having completely neglected them for as long as humanly possible. Fat-loss doesn’t have to be difficult, I take a flexible approach, I don’t restrict a macronutrient, feel bad if I finish a pot of hummus. I train hard during the week and I take a relaxed approach to tracking calories. MyFitnessPal which I wish more people would use is a great tool for this as well as providing information on what the food I am eating contains.

Energy Balance for those who don’t know it energy in (calories) and energy out (calories we burn daily). If we consume too many calories we put on weight, essentially stored ad body fat, if we are in a calorie deficit we lose weight. Its not carbohydrates or fat causing us to gain weight, its simply eating too much of anything.

One variable I always look to change first is output. Moving more throughout the week, whether its increasing cardio, walking from underground stations, increasing weekly gym sessions or swimming at the weekends.