3 Underrated Ways to Lose Fat
By R.Davies, PhD・Bodyweight
Updated on April 06, 2026
Fat loss is the process of reducing body fat through sustainable changes to diet, activity, and lifestyle. This article explains three evidence-based methods that are often overlooked but effective for long-term fat loss results.
Instead of doing simple things that work, people tend to gravitate towards dramatic, fancy options.
Extreme diets, punishing workouts, expensive supplements, and 'revolutionary' innovations dominate headlines and social media. But never seem to work in the long-run, and disappear as quickly as they arrived.
Meanwhile, some of the most effective, sustainable, and evidence-based things you can do remain quietly in the background, delivering consistent results for those who follow them.
These underrated strategies don't promise an overnight transformation (because they don't).
But they'll create meaningful, lasting changes to your body without extreme sacrifice, unsustainable restrictions, or complicated rules. They just take time.
They all have robust, high-quality scientific evidence backing them. They work together, complementing each other. And perhaps most importantly, they can be adapted to virtually any lifestyle, budget, or fitness level.
Why are these strategies underrated? Partly because they lack the marketing appeal of the flashy quick fixes. Partly because they require consistency. And partly because their benefits compound gradually over time, making them less (immediately) gratifying than the more 'radical' approaches.
Get one email a day for the next 5-days. Straight to your inbox. Completely Free. Evidence-Based. No Spam.
You’re Enrolled!
We're preparing your course now!
Your first email should arrive in your inbox in a few minutes.
You're all ready to get:
- Evidence-based high-qualty content
- Sent straight to your inbox
- Each email is a quick 5 minute read, giving you clarity at pace
You may also be interested in our articles and guides. Scroll down to read more.
If you don’t see the email shortly, check your spam or promotions folder.
Dietary Protein
When people think of “fat loss”, they typically focus on cutting calories, eliminating carbohydrates, or avoiding fat.
Meanwhile, protein, the third macronutrient, remains overlooked, despite offering big advantages for fat loss.
Protein Increases Satiety & Appetite
Protein increases feelings of fullness. High-protein meals produce greater 'satiety' compared to high-carbohydrate meals with the same amount of calories [1].
Protein intake stimulates the release of appetite-suppressing gut hormones (e.g., GLP-1, PYY, and CCK) and suppresses the release of the "hunger hormone" (ghrelin).
These hormonal changes begin within minutes of eating protein and can last for hours, keeping you feeling fuller for longer.
So, by increasing your protein intake, you'll naturally eat less without having to rely on willpower or conscious restrictions.
Studies show that people who increase protein intake throughout the day tend to consume fewer calories in total.
Protein Increases the Thermic Effect of Food
Your body burns calories just digesting and processing the food you eat. This process is called “diet-induced thermogenesis” (DIT), and protein has the highest by far.
Somewhere between 20–30% of the calories in the protein you eat get used to digest and process it. Compare this to under 3% for fat and 5–10% for carbohydrates.
This means that of every 100 calories of protein you eat, only 70–80 kcal are actually available for your body to use. Whereas 97 out of 100 calories are fat are there to either burn or store.
Although this might seem like a relatively small amount of calories, it does compound over time, especially if protein comprises a large portion of your daily calorie intake.
More importantly, it requires little extra time or effort other than eating the protein itself.
Protein Preserves Muscle
When you restrict calories, your body needs to find the energy from somewhere. It can break down fat stores (the best option for health!). But it can also break down muscle tissue to use for energy.
Unfortunately, calorie-restricted diets often result in losing both fat and muscle. Research shows that people who consume high amounts of protein during weight loss lose less muscle (and sometimes none at all).
Why does this matter? Because muscle tissue is "metabolically active".
This means it burns energy continuously just to maintain itself. A kilogram of muscle burns around 13 calories a day. This is 2-3 times more than fat tissue does.
So, preserving muscle means you'll maintain a higher 'metabolic rate', burn more calories and make fat loss easier.
How Much Protein Do You Need?
The optimal amount of protein depends on your physical activity level, current body composition, and your fat loss goals. However, research provides some guidance.
To preserve muscle while aiming to lose fat, a 1.5–2.4 g/kg/day. So, for a 100 kg person, this translates to 150–240 g/day, or roughly 30–50 g per serving, across three to five meals or snacks throughout the day.
Most people can target the lower end of this range. Whereas older adults, those who are physically active and have a lot of muscle already (e.g., athletes), should aim towards the upper end of the range.
How to Eat Enough Protein
While total daily protein intake is the primary goal, it is easier to spread it throughout the day.
Start by increasing protein intake by 10–20 g/day until reaching your daily target. This gradual approach can prevent digestive problems and allow your appetite to adjust naturally.
Batch cooking protein-rich foods like grilled chicken, hard-boiled eggs, or legume dips saves time and eliminates decision-making.
Have convenient, ready-to-eat protein available for when you're busy and hungry. Canned fish, protein powders, Greek yoghurt, and pre-cooked lean meats are cheap and affordable options if cost is a concern.
Resistance Training
When people think about exercise for fat loss, they envision hours of cardio: running, cycling, or elliptical machines.
Weightlifting, meanwhile, remains overlooked as it is associated with bodybuilding and athletic performance rather than fat loss.
This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how weightlifting affects your body.
Muscle-Metabolism Connection
As we said before, muscle tissue is metabolically active. It continuously burns energy just to maintain itself, even while you're sleeping or sitting at a desk.
When you lose weight through diet alone or with low-moderate intensity cardio exercise, you tend to lose both fat and muscle, especially if you're not eating enough protein.
Losing muscle will therefore impact your metabolic rate. Every kg of muscle lost means fewer calories burned, making fat loss harder (it's known as 'adaptive thermogenesis' or 'metabolic adaptation').
This explains why many dieters hit frustrating plateaus or rapidly regain weight after losing it.
Weightlifting (and dietary protein intake) changes this equation by preserving existing muscle mass, or potentially adding new muscle tissue.
People who lift weights while dieting lose less muscle tissue and more fat [2].
Body Composition vs. Scale Weight
The bathroom scale often fails to reflect the positive changes that happen when you incorporate weightlifting into your fat loss programme.
You might lose a kg of fat while simultaneously gaining a kg of muscle. The scale wouldn't change, but your body fat percentage, waist circumference, strength, and physical appearance will.
This simultaneous process of losing fat while gaining muscle is called "body recomposition", and it should be the actual goal for anyone wanting to lose fat rather than just "lose weight."
Instead of obsessing over scale weight, focus on other things: progress photos, how clothes fit, belt notches, and strength improvements in the gym.
Waist circumference provides a particularly useful measure, as humans tend to lose fat from the abdominal region while gaining muscle around the appendages (i.e., legs and arms).
We've written a full article on better things to measure than your scale weight.
Weightlifting vs. Cardio: Different Tools, Different Outcomes
While cardiovascular exercise burns more calories during the activity itself, weightlifting provides superior, longer-term benefits.
The “afterburn effect” (formally called "excess post-exercise oxygen consumption") can increase your metabolic rate for hours after a weightlifting session. The process of repairing your muscles and growing them also requires energy for days after your workout.
This doesn't mean cardio has no value (because it does!).
It's just that weightlifting provides unique advantages that cardio cannot replicate, so it is advised alongside, not instead of, other forms of exercise.
Getting Started: Practical Advice
You don't need expensive equipment or gym memberships to start.
Begin with 'compound' body weight exercises like squats, push-up variations, lunges, planks, and other core exercises.
It's possible to build and maintain muscle using just your body weight, especially when you're new to resistance training (so no excuses!).
Start with at least two weightlifting sessions per week, allowing each muscle group at least 2 days of recovery between sessions.
If you're new to weightlifting or haven't been physically active, master basic movement first before adding weights. Learning proper form prevents injury and ensures you're targeting the intended muscles efficiently.
The key is consistency over time. The health benefits and body composition changes from weightlifting compound slowly but effectively over weeks, months, and years.
Read our articles on a beginner's blueprint to muscle growth, the principles of muscle growth and minimalist training for muscle growth for more detailed information.
Walking
If there's a single fat loss strategy that's more underrated than protein and weightlifting, it's walking.
This might seem almost absurdly simple — how could walking, something humans do naturally every day, be one of the most powerful fat loss tools?
Walking more in your everyday life increases something called your "non-exercise activity thermogenesis", NEAT for short.
NEAT includes everything from walking to work, taking stairs, fidgeting, doing household chores, gardening, and standing instead of sitting.
Research shows that NEAT can vary by thousands of calories a day for different people.
The differences in NEAT often explain why some people seem to “naturally” stay lean while other people struggle to control their weight (despite similar diets and exercise routines).
Walking represents the most accessible and sustainable way to increase your NEAT.
Unlike intense exercise that requires recovery and can be difficult to maintain, walking can be performed every day (or many times a day!).
We have a full article on why walking is better than running for your health.
The Benefits of Walking for Fat Loss
Walking burns calories, that's obvious. But the benefits extend far beyond this.
A 70-kilogram person can burn approximately 200-500 calories an hour while walking. While this might seem modest compared to more intense exercise, it is much easier to do.
Most people can easily walk for half an hour a day (across a single or multiple sessions) without fatigue, excessive hunger, or muscle aches.
That's potentially 250 kcal/day, which adds up to around 1,800 a week, which is the energy equivalent of burning one kilogram of fat every six weeks — just from walking.
Walking Preserves Training Quality
Another underappreciated benefit: walking doesn't interfere with other forms of exercise.
In fact, adding light walking to your routine can improve recovery from more intense forms exercise. It does this by promoting blood flow, reducing muscle soreness, and managing stress without adding any extra strain.
So you can walk freely, without worrying about it affecting your strength gains or muscle growth.
Health Benefits of Walking
Beyond fat loss, regular walking provides other health benefits.
Research links walking to reduced cardiovascular disease, improved metabolic health, better blood pressure, mental health and mood, reduced stress, anxiety and depression, improved sleep quality and cognitive function [3].
Its accessibility and low barrier to entry make walking more sustainable. You don't need equipment, special clothing, gym memberships, or skills.
You can walk regardless of fitness level, age, or physical limitations (with appropriate modifications). This sustainability means people actually maintain walking habits long-term.
Practical Implementation: Making Walking a Habit
Build walking into your daily routine rather than treating it as a formal exercise session.
Measure your current daily step count for one week. This establishes your starting point.
Research suggests 7,000-10,000 steps daily provides health and fat loss benefits, though more is generally better [3].
Increase gradually: Add 1,000 steps per day each week until reaching your target. Gradual increases feel manageable and allow you to make a habit out of it.
Add rather than replace: Walk during phone calls, hold walking meetings, park farther from destinations, take stairs instead of lifts, walk to nearby errands instead of driving, take a walk after meals, or walk during commercial breaks or between completing your desk-work.
Split it up: You don't need to take a single long walk to gain benefits. Multiple 10-minute walks throughout the day are just as effective (and often more realistic) for busy schedules.
You burn the same calories and get the same health benefits from two 20-minute walks as you do from one 40-minute walk.
Make it enjoyable: Listen to podcasts, audiobooks, or music you like. Walk with friends or family and socialise.
Explore new routes or neighbourhoods; change your surroundings to keep it interesting. Walk in nature when possible; research shows additional benefits from being in natural environments.
Use it strategically: Morning walks can energise you for the day. Post-meal walks improve blood sugar control and digestion. Evening walks can help wind down and improve your sleep.
Track progress: While not necessary, tracking steps or walking time can provide motivation and accountability. Many people find that seeing their step count encourages them to move more.
Compounding Results
Increasing dietary protein, lifting weights and walking all independently increase fat loss (and your health).
But more importantly, they also work well together. The sum is greater than the parts. Walking aids recovery. Protein supports muscle growth. More muscle means more fat loss. More muscle means more calories burned when you walk.
They all either support each other (or at least don't interfere with each other).
There are very few 'multi-component' interventions that do this. All three can be done together, immediately, at the same time.
Key Takeaways
These three simple strategies won't make headlines or go viral on social media.
They require consistency rather than intensity, patience rather than urgency, and commitment rather than perfection. But they work.
More importantly, they work sustainably, preserve your health, maintain your metabolism, and create results that last beyond a few weeks or months.
The science behind these approaches is robust and clear. The practical application is straightforward and adaptable to virtually any lifestyle. The compound effects over time are substantial.
Sources
1. Leidy HJ et al. The role of protein in weight loss and maintenance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Jun;101(6):1320S-1329S. PMID: 25926512
2. Hunter GR et al. Resistance training conserves fat-free mass and resting energy expenditure following weight loss. Obesity. 2008 May;16(5):1045-51. PMID: 18356845
3. Paluch AE et al. Steps per Day and All-Cause Mortality in Middle-aged Adults in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Sep 1;4(9):e2124516. PMID: 34477847
Published: November 15, 2025
Updated: April 06, 2026
Lead Author: R.Davies, PhD | Author Bio
Alphabet Guides provides independent, evidence-based information you can trust. Learn more about our Editorial Standards.
Disclaimer: The information on this website is for educational purposes only. It should not be used as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified healthcare professional.