Episode 80- Top 8 Fat Loss Questions Answered
Episode 80 Show Notes
Ever feel overwhelmed by all the conflicting fat loss advice out there? In this episode, I’m answering the top 8 fat loss questions I get asked the most—from the best way to lose fat to staying motivated and avoiding muscle loss.
I break down the truth about calorie deficits, the most effective diets (hint: it’s the one you can stick with!), and why strength training should always come before cardio. Plus, I share my no-BS take on motivation, why hacks and shortcuts don’t work, and how to set yourself up for long-term fat loss success.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in your fat loss journey, this episode is for you!
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ How to lose fat without losing muscle (reverse dieting is key!)
✔️ The best diet for fat loss—and why sustainability matters most
✔️ Why strength training beats cardio for long-term fat loss
✔️ How to calculate how many calories you should actually eat
✔️ Realistic expectations for how fast you can lose fat
Resources & Links:
Listen to the Reverse Dieting Webinar: The Secret to Long-Term Fat Loss and Metabolism Health with Kimberly McDonough
Macro Tracking Made Easy – Check out my past episode on macros here
Listen to Episode 74. Cooking Oils and Fats: Their Health Benefits and Potential Drawbacks
Follow me on Instagram: @tiffanylwickes for more fat loss tips
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If you found this helpful, subscribe & leave a review! Your support helps me continue bringing you no-BS fitness and fat loss advice. Share this episode with a friend who’s ready to ditch the guesswork and finally see results.
Ready to start your fat loss journey? Click the link to join my coaching program, get personalized support, and stop wasting time on fad diets. Let’s do this together!
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Tiffany Wickes (00:02.478)
All right, let's go into some top questions people have about fat loss. All right, let's get started. First one is what is the best way to lose fat? All right, there are lots of different ways to lose fat. Okay, and I don't believe there's any one way that's better than the other, but this is just science. You have to be in a calorie deficit.
So I am doing the keto diet right now and the keto diet is not to lose weight. is zero vanity reasons. It's a proactive cancer protocol. And yes, I am losing weight on the keto diet. Is it because it's a keto diet? The answer is no, it is not. It is because I'm in calorie deficit. I did not intend to be in a calorie deficit, but let me tell you, it is so difficult to eat the amount of fat I need to eat.
to stay at around 23 to 2,500 calories a day and not to go over on protein or carbohydrates. Okay? It's, I mean, it's literally impossible for me unless I was willing to put like olive oil or avocado oil or one of the other oils I discussed in a few episodes ago. Just put it in a cup and drink it because I'm already drinking three different beverages a day with some sort of added fat, multiple fats to it.
be it MCT oil, butter, walnut oil, hemp oil, flax oil. Like I'm adding it everywhere I can. But at the end of the day, I am hovering right around 1800 and 1900 calories, which is really quite low for where I'm at. But like I said, I go over on protein or carbohydrates if I try to eat it in some sort of food form. So this is not ideal. I don't love this. Do I love that I'm losing fat? Sure.
That would be great, but I'm also likely losing muscle right along with it. So there's lots of different ways to lose fat, but I would say the best way to lose fat is going to be in a calorie deficit. That is the only way to actually lose fat. All right. How do you lose fat without losing muscle? All right. So preserving lean muscle and shedding fat is a huge concern for people because they want to look toned rather than just like be lighter on the scale. How you're going to do that is reverse dieting.
Tiffany Wickes (02:19.682)
I did a whole podcast episode on it. My fellow coach and I, Kimberly McDonough, we did an entire webinar on it. It's all on my website. Feel free to visit that. That's tiffanywix.com. And go ahead and download that whole webinar. Reverse dieting. That's going to be the answer to that. You have to feed yourself and you have to build your muscles up first so that your metabolic rate is higher while you're resting than the other way around. Because you can only drop your calories down so low and then you're like, now what?
You can't go any lower and then your muscles will not build without a caloric value behind that so reverse dieting That's the answer. All right. What's the most effective diet for weight loss? Okay, so lots of people have questions about keto intermittent fasting low carb Those are all pretty common and I would say what is most effective is what you're willing to stick with long term Okay, because there is no amount of fat loss that has is meant to be
It's not supposed to be simple. It's supposed to be sustainable. So if you can stick with a diet like keto and hashtag you probably can't because it's actually way more difficult than you think to get into an actual therapeutic ketosis. I can do a whole episode on that another time, but that is far more challenging than you might think it is. People think just like bacon and cheese. Let's go. Like no, there's a whole lot more to that and you're likely going way over on your protein.
and your body's using that as a glucose source. So it's very difficult to get into actual therapeutic ketosis and you would need a blood monitor to check those levels. And it's very low protein, very low carbohydrates, very high in fat. And like I said, incredibly difficult to get all those calories in. All right, intermittent fasting. That is a fantastic strategy right up until it's not. So yes, it can be effective for fat loss. It can be effective for autophagy and cellular repair.
However, if you're a person whose body is already stressed out, that is actually going to not work in your favor. So you would need a qualified coach really to help you make that decision. So low carb options, we do filter in low carb within our program here. And that is effective because it helps chew up all those extra glycogen stores you have. However, low carb is gonna look different for everybody. It really depends on who you are and what your health history looks like. If you have thyroid problems, you are not gonna wanna go super low carb.
Tiffany Wickes (04:45.198)
All right. But the best one is going to be whatever it is that you're willing to stick with. All right. How much exercise do you need to lose fat? Actually, you need a lot less than you typically think. So people are curious about the role of cardio versus strength training and whether I need to work out every day or if a few sessions a week will suffice. So here's my official answer on that one and the official answer of the faster way, which is who I coach with. Although I'm not speaking on their behalf, I'm speaking on mine.
Everything you do that elevates your heart rate to include walking up the stairs, walking outside, playing tag with your kids, jumping around, all of that is considered cardio. So you don't need a specific day that's like, here is my cardio day. Just get out and walk and live your life and then focus on strength training. Strength training should always come first. Okay. Once you build those muscles, they will have a higher metabolic burn and that's what you're after. All right.
So how many calories should I eat to lose fat? Again, this is all going to be independent body specific. You need to know how many calories you're eating right now in order to know how to get into a deficit and what your deficit should look like is gonna be based upon your goals. So if you're already only eating 1500 calories, we can't bump you any lower than that. Holy hell, guys, your basic metabolic rate is probably somewhere between 1000 to 1400.
That is just what your body requires to just live. If you weren't moving at all, just to exist takes like 1400 calories for people who are even moderately active. So you can't bump your calories down any further than that. If you're already eating only 15 to 1600 a day and you're not losing fat, that's because you need a reverse diet. So refer back to what I said a few minutes ago. All right. So how fast can you expect to lose weight?
Well, expectations on rate of fat loss are common. People want to know if they can lose it quickly or if it's going to be a slow process. The answer to that is how long have you been fat? Like how fat are you? How much are you wanting to lose and where are you wanting to lose it by? You can lose a lot of fat very quickly, but it can also not be to your benefit to do that. The slow, slower approach, the sustainable approach is going to win the race every single day. All right, so how do you stay, have a question. How do I stay motivated?
Tiffany Wickes (07:08.397)
you guys, I'm probably not the best person to ask that to, because I would just say like, just stop being a baby and just do it. Like just get it done. All right. You, your motivation is probably going to be based off of your current level of satisfaction. Okay. If you look in the mirror and you're like, wow, I don't like that. Then there's your motivation. Get your ass out in the gym and start training. Okay. If you are like, wow, that cake looks awesome. I want to eat.
six bites of it, when I told myself I'd only have three, go back to that mirror, stand in front of it and say, do I like the way this looks? And if the answer is no, that's your answer to the dang cake. Okay? It just makes, it just comes down to a decision and it comes down to being a mature adult who's willing to make the decision and then stick with it and stop canceling on yourself. If you say you're going to work out, then go do it. Just get up and start moving. The more you oxygenate your body with movement and with exercise, the more energy you will have to actually do it.
So motivation will also come if you have a plan. So many people want to lose fat. They want to get muscle. They want to do all this thing, but they have no plan. They're just scouring the internet and look at that YouTube. Actually, you know, they're watching 10 cat videos and they haven't done a single leg lift. You guys get, have to get a plan. This is why I love my program because it gives you the plan. it is.
Signed, sealed, delivered, has a pretty little bow on it. Everything is delivered to you. The fitness is delivered to you. The meal plan is delivered to you. The only thing you've got to do is actually, you don't even have to track the macros hardly. All you have to do is push a button and it puts it in there for you, or you can take a picture of your food and then that will do all the AI wizardry and then put that directly into your app so that you can keep track. And if you're curious about counting macros, that was a few episodes ago, go back and look at that one.
We'll put that in show notes for you to link it directly. It's a huge benefit to track your macros because it's just like having a household budget, all right? If you only pull in, you know, $2,000 a month and you're spending $3,000 and you're wondering why you're in debt, well, you're spending more than you have. The exact same thing exists with your daily calories. If you are eating $3,000 of them and you have only allotted $2,000 towards fat loss and you're like, why am I not losing fat? Well, because you're eating more calories than...
Tiffany Wickes (09:25.294)
what your body requires in order to lose fat. So yes, there is a science to it. No, it's not complicated, but yes, you should probably get a coach if you have zero clue where to start and you're spending all your time cruising through YouTube trying to find workouts or you're watching all these Instagram influencers give you just a snippet of their workouts and then you're trying to piece them together to put together a program. Like that's dumb. You're not going to be very
motivated to do that because it's going to take you 35 minutes when you could have just been part of the program and done the doggone workout in that amount of time. Okay? Okay. Love you. Mean it. All right. Are there any tricks or hacks for fat loss? Here it is again. The question really, what they really want to know is can I do this without actually having to put in the effort? No, you can't.
Anything that's worth doing is going to require a little bit of effort. It's certainly going to require some sweat from your brow and it's going to require you to stay dedicated to your goal. Okay, if you don't have that just intrinsically, like I want to do this, then it will help if you have an accountability partner. So if you're like, I want to join this program, kind of afraid to do it alone. Good, get a girlfriend.
Say, come on, we're doing this program together. You and me, we both chubby. We don't want to be. So we're going to do this program together and we're going to keep each other accountable. Every day we're going to be like, text me when your workout's done. All right. I have a small group that I have people in. And I say small in relation to the large corporate group that you can also be part of and is great motivational and all the things, but get a girlfriend to join the program with you. That way you're not.
alone and that you have an accountability buddy. I mean, I'm here, like I'm coaching my people. I am very accessible to my clients. Even when they're in the VIP program, I'm very accessible. They know with a quick text, they will have an answer and put it in the group. They'll have a bunch of other women there to rally behind them. It's fantastic when you have a support group, you have a plan and you have the intrinsic level of motivation to make the changes that are going to be required to create.
Tiffany Wickes (11:34.68)
physical change within your body and then emotional change and then you'll start feeling less bloated. You'll have your clothes fitting more loosely and you're be like, yes, I am getting ready for spring break and no time to waste, right? So go ahead and check the show notes for when my next coaching is going on. You can join any time and that app will be opened up and ready for you to start moving. As soon as I see a new client joins, I always get with them and I start moving them on towards success immediately. So yes, we have programmed start dates
for these rounds, but I will never, never, never just let you flounder while we wait for that start date. I just don't do it. I don't think it's, it's just not me. Sorry. It's against my moral code, I guess, to just let people sit and flounder. It's my trauma response is I over help. So there you go. If you guys want to get moving, get that link there in the bottom of the show notes and let's go. All right. Stay strong friends. Talk soon. Ciao.
keywords
fat loss, calorie deficit, keto diet, reverse dieting, exercise, motivation, accountability, weight loss strategies, sustainable diet, fitness coaching
summary
In this conversation, Tiffany Wickes discusses the essential principles of fat loss, emphasizing the importance of being in a calorie deficit. She explores various diet strategies, including keto and intermittent fasting, and highlights the significance of strength training over cardio. Wickes also addresses the role of motivation and accountability in achieving weight loss goals, providing practical tips for sustainable fat loss.