How To Lose Fat For Beginners

Are you a true beginner looking for simple ways to lose fat?  Beginners need to approach fat loss a little different than someone who has repeatedly tried to lose weight in the past.  Why?  Because you're different.  You want to achieve success early and quickly and keep progressing.

By: Ed Scow, NSCA-CPT: Certified Fitness & Nutrition Expert to the True Superheroes - Busy Moms & Dads and author of Fat Loss To Go

I train a lot of newbie’s in my training studio. By that I mean I train a lot of people who have never exercised or worked out before, never paid attention to their diet, and have never really given much thought to ‘how to lose fat’ in the past.

Or another type of fat loss beginner is the person who has tried a couple diets in the past on the recommendation of a friend or colleague, or may have joined a gym a time or two, but never stuck to anything because they didn’t really understand what to do.

These are my favorite types of clients to work with because they’re a blank slate, plus they’ve been exposed to so many types of myths and misconceptions that it’s fun to see their reaction when I start telling them the truth and why they’ve been lied to.

So, what do I tell my beginners?

When it comes right down to it, how to lose fat for beginners really focuses on the basics.

That may not be sexy or glamorous, but it's what works and what gives you the best chance of quick results, and the opportunity to build on those results and keep moving forward.

It’s all about cleaning up the diet and focusing on the basic fat loss exercises and progressing on from there.

All too often I see and hear of clients that want to know how to lose fat starting off too intensely or trying to do too many things at once and they quickly burn out and give up.

So there’s one thing you should focus on...Focus on the basics first and progress from there.

Start writing down everything you eat or drink for an entire week. Then sit down and analyze it and see where your weak points are and where you should improve.

Do you skip breakfast and then eat a huge snack and lunch because you’re so hungry? Fix it.

Do you have a junk food snack in the middle of the afternoon or at night because you’re starving? Fix it.

The next thing a beginner needs to focus on when it comes to how to lose fat, is sticking with the basic fat loss exercises first before trying anything more advanced.

Stay away from the isolation movements like lots of crunches, sit-ups, biceps curls and triceps exercises and instead stick to full body fat loss exercises like push-ups, squats, and planks.

They will deliver a lot more fat loss bang for your buck and strengthen up all the weak points that fat loss beginners have.

Here’s an example of a 10-minute workout for beginners:

Warm-up for 2 minutes by doing a circuit of jumping jacks and medicine ball chops.

Then perform the following circuit 2-3 times.

1A) Push-up (or kneeling push-up) – 8 reps

1B) Bodyweight Squat – 10 reps

1C) Hip Extension – 10 reps

1D) Plank – 15-20 seconds

1E) DB Rear Flies – 10 reps

Perform that fat loss workout for beginners 2-3 times a week for 2 weeks, along with some extra mobility movement to help loosen up and strengthen your hips and shoulders, while also cleaning up your kitchen, and then move on to something different. 

Other 'How To Lose Fat' Articles:

How To Loes Fat  | How To Lose Fat If You're A Busy Mom  | How To Lose Fat For The Impatient  | How To Lose Fat If You're Too Busy To Workout  | How To Lose Arm Fat and Batwing Arms  |