A Guide To Fat Loss For Athletes

When athletes have excess fat on their bodies, this can negatively impact your performance in your sport. However, you can’t approach fat loss in the traditional ways that most people do, since this will most likely affect your energy levels and make training a lot more difficult and draining. With that said, that doesn’t mean that it is impossible for athletes to lose weight and we will now look at how you can do just that.

One of the best fat loss for athletes strategies is to lose the excess weight during the off season. This is because during the on season, you will need to be in the peak of your physical fitness and it is very difficult to lose weight and achieve this at the same time. As a result, by focusing on fat loss during the off season, it won’t affect performance or fitness levels. Also, by working to lose fat during the off season, it will give you a lot more time to reach that goal weight.

Next, when it comes to losing weight, it is essentially the same for athletes and non-athletes. You will have to reduce the number of calories you eat so that your body turns to the fat for energy. The great thing about being an athlete is that you will burn a lot of calories on a daily basis, due to activity as well as higher muscle mass. However, you will need to accurately determine how many calories you need to eat on a daily basis to maintain your weight and then simply cut those calories by 150 – 300 calories to lose fat. You should not cut more than 400 or 500 calories per day since this will negatively affect your energy levels.

Thirdly another way for athletes to lose weight is to cut how much sugar you have in your diet and increase the amount of fiber you eat. It is important for athletes to eat enough carbohydrates so you shouldn’t go on a very low carb diet. However, this doesn’t mean that you should eat any and every type of carb. Instead of eating low quality carbohydrates in the form of sugary drinks, cakes, cookies, pasta etc, you should eat higher quality carbohydrates such as brown rice, sweet potato, lentils etc. These foods are much higher in complex carbohydrates and fiber and will help you to cut fat faster. Additionally, you should aim to eat more protein and spread your protein intake throughout the day.

Lastly, a final tip is to do resistance training or lift weights on a regular basis. When you attempt to lose fat, you will end up losing some muscle in the process. This is highly undesirable for athletes so you should strength train to build more muscle which will help your body to burn more fat. It is best to start with a full body weight training routine for a couple of months before transitioning into a daily split.

In closing, we have just looked at a quick guide to fat loss for athletes. These tips are a great way to start losing weight and before you know it, you’ll be in the best shape of your life.