Eating to Lose Body Fat

One pound of body fat contains about 3,500 stored calories. You must reduce your caloric intake by 3,500 calories a week to lose one pound per week or increase your activity level to burn 3,500 extra calories per week. You must either eat fewer calories or burn more calories by increasing your activity level, or a combination of both—it’s that simple.
But don't expect getting lean, ripped, or shredded to be so easy. The first few days on a diet, you may lose several pounds. That's because your body takes the easy way out when it needs energy. It uses up your stored carbohydrate (glycogen).
Carbohydrates contain a relatively large amount of water. When you begin a diet, you can lose a lot of fluid—but no fat. You have a weight loss that only lasts until your next drink of water. Your body does other things to preserve body fat. When it has used up its carbohydrate stores, it will shift your metabolism into a slower rate. You will discover you are moving more slowly and have less energy because you have used up your carbohydrate (quick energy) stores. Our bodies have been conditioned, over time, to guard against famine and will do almost anything to conserve fat. If weight loss is not done properly, too much precious muscle mass will be lost. But, if you are persistent, as a last resort, your body will begin to use its fat stores for energy. Don’t look too long for easy answers when trying to lose body fat. You are going to have to “pay a price” if you are truly committed to getting lean. There are no fancy pain-free diets or state-of-the-art supplements that are going to do the bulk of the work for you. Don’t try to fool yourself. Don’t set yourself up for failure and disappointment.
If you want to lose excess body fat, the bottom line is you have to eat fewer calories than you burn each day. There are several ways to burn more calories than you eat. You can add more cardiovascular work to your training regimen. You can also simply eat less food throughout the day. You can even do a combination of these two strategies by doing more cardiovascular training and eating less food. How quickly you will shred that body fat will depend on how much of a deficit you create between the calories you consume and the calories you burn on a daily basis—and for how long you wish to go through the sacrifice and pain it takes to train and/or diet this way.
Although my advice doesn’t make the fat loss process a whole lot easier, it should make the process more simple. Without being distracted by constantly searching for unrealistic, quick-fix solutions, or super-duper supplements, you can now focus on the task in front of you, get to work, and achieve the results you truly desire.