Which diet works best for fat loss?
With the constant raging debate about which diet works best for fat loss, our Personal Trainers decided to give their take on which diet you should be following.
Keto diet / low carb -
Keto diets are high fat + protein with low carbs diet; only around 5-15% of calories come from carbs. They work because when you restrict carbs, you're also reducing the calories that comes with it which helps you achieve a caloric deficit.
From our experience working with our Personal Training clients, we noticed that Malaysians find it very hard to sustain a keto diet for long because of the presence of carbs in a lot of Malaysian foods, reducing carbohydrates from your diet may also affect your training quality because carbs are your body's 'premium fuel'
Vegan diet / high carb -
Vegan diets are generally high in carbs + protein and low in fat, for health purposes make sure your fat intake does not dip below 20% of your total daily caloric intake when following this diet.
Unlike carbs which are a non essential macro (your body can survive without eating carbs), if your fat intake drops too low you would experience health problems. Vegan diets work by reducing calories that come from fat helping you achieve a caloric deficit
The great news for people looking to start following a plant based diet is that more vegan restaurants are opening up in Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur making it easier to find food options.
Balanced diet -
A balanced diet features a balanced ratio of protein, carbs and fat. These diets are extremely flexible and our pick when coaching our Personal Training clients.
Most people are able to maintain this diet even with their busy lifestyle because it's allows the most freedom as compared to the other diets.
If you can create a caloric deficit following this diet, you can lose fat.
Intermittent fasting -
Intermittent fasting (IF) is more an eating style than a diet, where you eat only within an eating window. Intermittent fasting works to help you lose fat by restricting the amount of time you have available to intake calories.
There are different eating windows you can choose like 8:16 where you eat for 8 hours and fast for the remaining 16 hours and as long as you can achieve a caloric deficit, you can lose fat following this diet.
Takeaway:
All diets work to help you lose fat as long as a caloric can be achieved. Ultimately the best diet is the one you enjoy doing and stay consistent to for a long time.
