Fiture: The Ultimate Fitness Blog

How to Lose Body Fat by an expert in her craft… Tamara Watt. A very good friend of mine :)

HOW TO LOSE UNECESSARY BODY FAT & THE HOW- TO- ON ACCELERATING FAT LOSS

•             The optimal way to ensure fat loss is going to be correct calorie intake and correct calorie expenditure.

•             Lifting weights will dramatically increase the amount of daily calories you burn.

•             Getting a good night’s sleep, is crucial to fat loss success. It will help in regulating your appetite during the day

•             You should first consider meal timing before choosing different types of food.

•             Carbs and fat are not all good or all bad. Learn which you should have.

•             Protein is necessary for muscle growth, satiety and yes FAT BURNING!

As someone new and just starting out with the goal of fat loss, you may feel as though there is a significant amount of confusion surrounding what you need to be doing to lose body fat.

Few people may start out by simply increasing their exercise as much as possible, while others start cutting back on what they eat. Both methods can be effective for promoting fat loss, but typically a combination of both is what’s best.

If you’re new to exercise you are in the perfect position. WHY? Because it is likely that just a few small changes will spark some initial fat loss (meaning it’s not going to be a great deal of work for you right now to start seeing results).

Fat Loss Principles

Portion Sizes:

At first though, you can likely see some results simply by focusing on shifting the composition of your meals, which should automatically lower your daily calorie intake. Protein and Green Vegetables should be consumed at each meal for Optimal Fat Burning energy and Satiety. Your goal should be 4-5 meals per day, spaced between 2-4 hours per meal. To increase this even more, set your water goal intake, at 1oz per pound of body weight, WHY? You may or may not know this, but water is mother nature’s “Natural Fat Burner”. This will increase your results even faster

Aim To Walk More:

Making dramatic changes to your workouts right off the bat often backfires because it leaves you feeling overwhelmed, sore, tired, and sometimes even injured.

Instead, aim for a moderate approach to your cardio training by adding a bit more walking throughout the day. That in itself should help burn a few more calories each day, increasing the results you see. Therefore, Optimizing Fat burning throughout the day and week.

Keep in mind that exercise does not need to always be intense in order for you to see progress. Every little bit will add up over time, so making an effort to simply be more active throughout the day will go a long ways towards you getting to where you want to be.

Start Lifting Weights:

In addition to your cardio training, if you haven’t been lifting weights regularly, now is the time to start. Lifting weights will help to boost your metabolic rate, increasing the amount of calories you burn on a daily basis.

Plus, it’s also going to help tone your muscles to a larger extent, giving you the defined look you’re going for. Be sure you are making an effort to consume both protein and fibrous carbohydrates (green vegetables) before and after your weight lifting workouts since this will be important for you to recover properly and see results from the program. Starchy Carbohydrates, are best handled by the body to break down, after your workout, some of you may not like to hear that and want to consume them whenever BUT, if you truly want to crank up the “Furnace” per say, keep your highest amount of Starchy Carbohydrates, Post Exercise (be sure your fats are under 10 grams at this meal, making sure your body is Primed and ready to “BURN”

Too many beginners think that by skipping eating around the workout they will experience a greater rate of fat loss, but this isn’t the case. You need to Fuel your Body correctly, and by doing so you will reap the benefits of your disciplined effort

If you’re Hungry Eat More Protein-Based Snacks:

Chances are at some point or another you’re going to get hungry for a snack. Common snacks that most individuals turn to are unfortunately very high in carbohydrates, sugar, or fat, making this less than optimal for fat loss results.

For example, one popular choice is a cereal bar. It seems small, low in calories, and easy to transport. While all of these things are true, on the negative side, it doesn’t really provide you with much in the way of nutrition, and can cause certain problems that would possibly leave you wanting more food.

A better option is to choose your snacks based on protein, as this is what will help keep you satisfied for a longer duration of time. Protein also causes the greatest increase to your metabolic rate, further making fat loss that much easier. With that being said, your goal is 3 whole meals (meat) and 2 Protein shakes per day. This will give you lots of variety and satisfaction in your daily meals. Making it that much easier to adhere to, and your goals will be reached at a much more rapid pace

Be Sure Your Sleep Is Adequate:

Finally, you’ll also want to make sure you’re getting enough sleep throughout the day. When you’re not sleeping enough, you’re more likely to find that your appetite gets out of control and you may wind up binging on foods you didn’t intend on eating. This is that Hunger Hormone called the Grinlin hormone, When stress levels rise and little sleep is a common routine, you will more than likely notice your cravings for sugar are higher, and that you seem to be noticeably more hungry and even mood swings seem to be a lot more noticeable and obtainable. YIKES!

Further, not getting enough sleep is going to leave you feeling more fatigued throughout the day, which also will cause you to put less effort into your workouts, potentially showing decreased results from them.  With that being Said, Look into a ZMA product (Magnesium, Calcium) or even a Valerian Root Extract. Take them as prescribed at night just before bed to help you relax NATURALLY therefore allowing you to sleep threw out the night. Waking up with more energy, stamina and a controlled appetite!!

Meal Timing:

The first stage is to increase metabolism. Now metabolism basically relates to how fast your body breaks down food into energy for your muscles. Someone with a fast metabolism is the skinny looking person who eats 50 times a day.

A slow metabolism on the other hand, relates to someone who eats only a few meals a day, but can’t seem to shift any weight.

Why does this matter? Well firstly, increasing your metabolism will allow you to burn more fat at rest. That’s right, doing nothing, burning fat. Sounds good.

Well, most people make the mistake on their diets of, ‘3 solid meals a day’. I constantly hear people saying, I only eat 3 meals a day and I am not changing no matter how hard I work. This is because your poor body has to survive 24hrs (including the time you sleep) when you feed it only 3 times!

These meals tend to be large unbalanced meals, which decrease the rate at which your body can break it down (metabolism).

By breaking your meals down into smaller portions, allows you to eat more frequently. What this does, is increase your metabolic rate (aka metabolism) so that it burns through the food faster. Because your body knows it’s getting food again in a few hours, it will burn through the current set a lot quicker than if you starve it by feeding it 3 times a day.

You can even shoot for eating 6 or 7 smaller meals throughout the day to send your metabolism into overdrive! This may seem like a chore at first, and even difficult, but you are not reading what’s written eat more MEALS, NOT more FOOD.