Ross Edgley: Fat Loss Beach Body – Part 1

It’s summer time, so as expected I’m inundated with questions from clients and friends all flocking to their gyms trying to get in shape for the Beach Season. So in a bid to try and answer all enquiries on ‘Fat Loss’ in one go and have people looking buff in their speedos and board shorts, I’ve written this article that hopefully answers every question I’ve been asked in the past month about Fat Loss.

Feature by Myprotein.co.uk Fitness Expert Ross Edgley

This 1^st article in a two-part series firstly deals with fat loss on its most basic level, the second article will look into how body fat is actually ‘burnt.’… enjoy!

‘In simple terms, how do you lose fat?’

In its simplest terms the one effective way to lower your body fat is:

Energy Deficit = Energy expended (exercise, metabolism, thermic effect of feeding) > (greater than) Energy taken in (Food + Drink)

This just means you need to be using more energy than you put in. Now although you can do it with your diet alone by greatly restricting calorie intake, it’s probably not best since research shows it’s often accompanied by an adaptive reduction in metabolic rate (resting energy expenditure) which then in turn makes fat loss very difficult (not to mention sending your muscles into a catabolic state where the body basically eats away at all that hard earned muscle.)

‘What can I do to increase my ‘energy expenditure’?’

The body burns calories in 3 ways, these are:

~ The Thermic Effect of Eating; this can be described as the calories expended by our bodies in order to consume food. Some foods require more food to digest, such as protein, which once eaten requires more calories to process than any other macro-nutrient (as well as making you feel fuller for longer.) Hence why most fat loss diets are high in protein and why it may be a good idea to supplement your diet with a ‘lean’ protein shake like Myprotein.co.uk’s Impact Whey Isolate, with as little as 0.2 grams of carbs and 0.3 grams of fat per 30 gram serving, I always use this supplement when ‘cutting up’ for a photoshoot.

~ Basal Metabolic Rate: put simply this is the amount of calories you ‘burn’ simply by doing nothing but staying alive i.e. if you lay perfectly still in your bed and did nothing but breathe. People metabolic rates vary with many factors, age, weight, sex..etc, but obviously having a higher rate will enhance weight loss. One means of increasing your BMR would be to supplement the diet with the supplement Thermopure, containing a blend of thermogenic ingredients studies reveal this supplement can raise your metabolism meaning you burn more calories, even at rest.

~ The Thermic Effect of Exercise: And it’s this last one which is the most important since although the other 2 do burn calories, it’s exercise that will be responsible for burning the most. Let me explain, at rest (meaning we do absolutely nothing) we expend about 1 kilocalorie (or 4 kilojoules) of energy per minute. Moderate intensity exercise will typically raise the rate of energy expenditure to around 6 kilocalories (25 kilojoules) per minute. So if you exercised for one hour at this intensity you would expend about 360 kilocalories (1500 kilojoules), burning up to 40 grams (2 ounces) of fat in the process. Although this doesn’t sound a lot, when exercise is performed on a regular basis (e.g. one hour every day) this mounts up to over 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of fat loss per month.

Ross Edgley – Biography

Ross began his career as an International athlete, playing Water Polo for Great Britain. During his 5 year career he had 26 International appearances, played all over the world, got a Sports Science Degree from the Loughborough University and even managed to find time to fit in several swimwear modelling campaigns as well.

Now since graduating from University and leaving the world of competitive international sport behind, Ross has gone on to write for a range of publications, fitness model for many different magazines, fitness advise celebrities such as World renowned TV Nutritionist Gillian McKeith, and more recently has moved into the world of television… producing, directing and presenting a lot of his own shows. Like “Welcome to the Fight Club“ a documentary in which Ross sets out to see if it’s possible to get into the ring and fight a local boxing champion after only after 3 hours of training. The documentary was shown on Sky and featured celebrity boxing coach Ricky English, the same man who trained Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Ray Winston.

Perhaps Ross’ biggest project to date was BBC’s Factual Entertainment Series ‘Tough Guy or Chicken,’ a show where Ross and 4 other young athletes travelled the world taking on some of the most deadly creatures and hostile places on the planet.

• Ross Edgley: Fat Loss Beach Body – Part 2
• Trevor Adams Eating Plan Helping You To Boost Your Performance
• Fitness Model Trevor Adams Tells Us Why Breakfast Is The Most Important Meal Of The Day
• Total Fitness Music Becomes A Favourite With iPod Joggers
• Supplement Your Workout – Are Supplements Good For You We Ask Trevor Adams Fitness Model