How to Lose Weight in Brussels — A Practical Fat Loss Guide

A lot of people arrive in Brussels, settle into a new routine, and find that 6 months later the scales have moved in the wrong direction. Restaurant lunches, after-work drinks, less walking than back home. It's a pattern I see regularly with expat clients.

Fat loss isn't complicated in theory. The execution is where most people struggle. Here's what actually works — and in what order.

The one thing that actually drives fat loss

A calorie deficit. You burn more than you eat. That's it. Every diet, every method, every programme works because it creates a deficit — directly or indirectly. Keto works because cutting carbs reduces total calories. Intermittent fasting works because a shorter eating window makes it harder to overeat. The mechanism is always the same.

A deficit of 300 to 500 kcal per day produces 0.3 to 0.5 kg of fat loss per week. It's not fast, but it's real and sustainable. Larger deficits accelerate weight loss on paper but also accelerate muscle loss, hormonal disruption, and the rebound that follows.

Strength training first — not cardio

Most people start a fat loss programme by adding cardio. It's the wrong priority. Muscle is the most metabolically expensive tissue in your body — the more you have, the more calories you burn at rest, 24 hours a day. Cardio burns calories during the session. Muscle burns calories all the time.

3 strength training sessions per week should be the foundation. Compound movements: squat, deadlift, bench press, rows. Progressively heavier loads over time. This approach burns fat, preserves muscle during the deficit, and produces visible body composition changes that cardio alone never achieves.

Then add cardio — the right kind

LISS — Low Intensity Steady State

Walking, cycling, elliptical at 60–70% of your max heart rate for 40 to 60 minutes. At this intensity, the body uses fat as its primary fuel. It doesn't interfere with strength training recovery and can be done 4 to 5 times a week. 45 minutes of brisk walking daily adds 300 to 400 extra calories burned without any impact on muscle.

HIIT — High Intensity Interval Training

Useful for breaking plateaus or when you have limited time. 20 minutes of alternating maximum effort and recovery intervals. The metabolic effect lasts 12 to 24 hours after the session. The limit: 2 sessions per week maximum — more than that and recovery suffers, cortisol rises, and muscle loss accelerates.

The practical weekly structure

• 3 strength training sessions — Monday, Wednesday, Friday or similar split with 48h rest between sessions
• 2 to 3 LISS sessions — placed on rest days or after strength training, never before
• 1 HIIT session maximum per week — never the day after a heavy leg session
• Daily walking: aim for 8,000 to 10,000 steps — Brussels is walkable, use it

Nutrition: the 3 rules that matter

Protein first

1.8 to 2.2g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day. For an 80kg person, that's 145 to 175g. Protein keeps you full, preserves muscle during a deficit, and has the highest thermic effect of any macronutrient — your body burns roughly 25% of protein calories just digesting it. Build every meal around a protein source first.

Don't cut carbs, cut volume

Carbohydrates are not the enemy. Excess calories are. Reducing portion sizes across the board — slightly less rice, slightly fewer fries, one fewer beer — is more sustainable and less disruptive than eliminating entire food groups.

Track for 2 weeks, then adjust by feel

Most people have no idea how many calories they're eating. Two weeks of tracking with any app gives you a realistic baseline. After that, most people can manage by feel with the habits they've built. Tracking forever is unnecessary. Two weeks is educational.