It doesn’t take much time scrolling through Instagram to come across the sculpted butt of a social media fitness model, which only fuels the desire for a nice-looking, toned derrière.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to show off your butt and spend the time sculpting your tail end, it doesn’t always have to be a strictly aesthetic pursuit.
Your glute muscles are much more than something nice to look at - they help us maintain proper posture, support our lower back during lifting motions, and prevent knee injuries associated with running and lifting.
It’s time to shift the mindset around sculpting your butt! If you are aspiring to burn butt fat, sculpt your glutes, and gain strength in the biggest muscle in your body, this article is for you!
How to Burn Fat
Firstly, it’s important to establish that spot reduction is a myth.
It’s simply impossible to target fat loss to certain areas of your body. So, if you want to burn fat in your butt, you’re going to have to realise that the following advice is to help you burn fat on a whole-body level.
To burn 1lb of fat, a deficit of 3,500kcal is required - this is how much energy it takes to burn off 1lb of fat.
To achieve this, you must take in fewer calories than you burn off. Therefore, you must be in a calorie deficit of around 500kcal per day in order to lose 1lb of fat per week.
This is recommended as the safest, most sustainable way to lose fat. Any bigger deficits than this may be unsustainable in the long-term, and you risk re-gaining what you’ve lost and then some!
There are many strategies you can adopt in your day-to-day life to help you achieve this deficit, such as:
- Eating more fruit and vegetables
Whole foods like fruit and vegetables are low calorie and high fiber, helping to keep you fuller for longer and provide you with the essential nutrients you need for optimal health and wellbeing, thus fully supporting your fat loss goals.
- Eating more protein
Protein is required for the repair and growth of our muscles. It is also the most satiating macronutrient, helping keep you fuller for longer. Protein is definitely needed in adequate amounts to help grow and tone your glutes, so definitely don’t underestimate the role it will play!
- Decrease overall food intake
While you increase your intake of protein, vegetables, fruit, and whole foods, try to slightly reduce your intake of other foods such as highly processed foods, carbohydrates, and fried and sugary foods. This will help cut down on your overall calorie intake to further your chances of being in a deficit!
- Increase your physical activity
While you can decrease your food intake to help cut down calories, you can also increase your movement which will burn more calories.
Burning Butt Fat
The above points are the absolute fundamentals to losing fat. Dial in this advice and you will be well on your way to achieving your fat loss goal.
However, let’s focus more on your butt!
While we can’t really accelerate fat loss in that specific area, there are definitely ways in which we can sculpt and tone it to make it look more shaped and stronger, thus further complementing the fat you have lost.
The following butt-sculpting exercises can be done every day, or as part of your training routine to help your glutes gain strength and tone up:
- Squats
- Hip thrusts
- Bulgarian squats
- Lunges
- Sumo squat
- Deadlifts
- Glute bridge
Doing sets and reps of these exercises will really fire up your glutes, and as a result will optimize whole-body fat loss, increase fat burn, and strengthen and tone your glute muscles!
In addition to this, uphill walking and climbing stairs are also great exercises for your glutes, which are great options if you are limited on gym access and kit.
Take-Home Message
Whether your motivation is purely aesthetic, strength, functionality, or otherwise, strengthening and sculpting your butt is a goal many fitness enthusiasts strive to achieve.
Burning butt fat, and fat in general, takes consistency, patience, and determination.
With the right nutritional approach, alongside an effective training program with a focus on your butt, you can achieve your dream derrière!
