In this article we will discuss how to lose body fat without spending hours exercising at home or at the health club. The mainstream media would like to have people believe that they must workout to lose body fat, but that simply isn’t the case. Telling people they have to work out all the time to lose body fat sounds like a great way to sell expensive health club memberships and training packages, but why not save money and look to your diet instead.

2003: The Year That I Learned the Truth

In 2003 I experienced a back injury that left me almost completely unable to walk or move. I had always been a die-hard workout fanatic and was unable to exercise for the first time in 15 years. This was really bad timing too. I had just bought tickets for a trip to Mexico with 4 other friends and we rented a beach villa in a prime spot on the Gulf of Mexico. I had 5 months until the trip and was injured so badly it hurt to stand.

I was unable to do any exercises so I shifted all my focus to diet.

I felt I had about ten pounds of body fat I should drop to stay healthy, but I couldn’t work out at all in any way. So I had to look to my diet. I had to count calories and watch what I ate. To be honest I was skeptical that this would work. Before I’d got hurt, I lived for running and jogging. I would glue myself to my treadmill for months before the summer or a vacation just to be sure I would look fit once I was on the beach. I am great at getting lean through cardio and have never done this with diet alone.

I Dieted Down to 8% Body Fat in 3 Months

Losing body fat is one thing, but losing body fat when you are already pretty lean is tricky. Especially with diet alone and no exercise? So how did I accomplish this? My plan consisted of a protein shake at breakfast and lunch and then a salad with rice wine vinegar and grilled chicken for each dinner. It was a bland way to eat, but it worked well. For dessert, I would allow myself a Fuji apple a few nights a week.

How To lose Body Fat Through Calorie Counting, Not Exercise

The biggest thing I learned from my injury is that you can lose body fat if you restrict your calories in your diet strictly enough. For example, the average calorie count for an adult male is approximately 2,000 calories per day, so I ate about 1,200 calories, giving me an 800 calorie deficit each day. Think about it: how much exercise would you have to do to burn 800 calories? Now keep in mind, everyone is different, and so you don’t need to use such an extreme diet in order to start losing body fat. Cutting any number of calories regularly can help.

Exercise Does Help Your Body to Maintain Muscle

Unfortunately, there is a drawback to losing body fat by diet alone and that is in the form of some loss in muscle mass. You won’t lose a lot, but you will lose a little, if you are unable to do even basic exercise or training while you are on this diet. My story is an extreme example of how to lose body fat without spending hours working out, but it taught me that you can stay lean and trim just through diet and keep your muscle mass with light exercise, not hours in the gym.

 

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