Burning fat becomes much easier when you focus on healthy eating and exercise habits rather than the bathroom scale. When you diet, you lose both muscle and fat but sometimes you lose more muscle than fat. Burning fat can be tricky so here are my 5 favorite tips to help you burn fat and keep the muscle.
1. Feed your body often - Most people attempt to lose weight by eating less. This usually leads to diet failure, binging or losing too much lean muscle. Instead, eat small meals 5 to 6 times per day. Plan your meals by writing down what you will eat every day. If you can, attach a calorie value next to each food item.
2. Limit sugar consumption - Sugar and simple carbs prevent fat burn because they spike your sugar level, which in turn causes your body to secrete excess insulin. Too much insulin prevents your body from burning fat. Avoid foods that spike sugar level such as desserts, high sugar fruits (watermelon, banana) and white flour products such as pasta or bread. These are simple carbs that make it very difficult for your body to burn fat.
3. Increase protein intake - Protein helps repair and build muscle. Because you need a reduced calorie diet to lose weight, increase protein consumption to limit the amount of muscle that you will naturally lose. Unlike simple carbs, protein does not spike sugar or insulin level which prevents fat burning, so eat protein snacks or a lean source of protein with one or two non starch vegetables.
4. Increase water consumption to a minimum of 10 cups per day - Water rids the body of waste products and makes it more efficient at burning fat. Keep a glass of water next to you at work and try to drink one cup every hour. You can also spice up the taste by adding Crystal Light or some other type of low calorie mix. Try drinking 7 cups of regular water and 3 cups of Crystal Light for variety that will help you drink more water through the day.
5. Vary the intensity of your workout from high to low - Whatever aerobic exercise you normally do, go all out for two minutes followed by a slow pace for one minute. Complete the three minute cycle 5 to 7 times. By varying the intensity of your aerobic workout from high to low, your body responds by burning a higher amount of fat. Also, you can reduce a 30 minute workout to 15 minutes (five cycles) and get nearly the same result.
Burning fat requires a good diet plan so make sure you have a good written plan that's easy to follow and incorporate the above tips to lose all the weight you need. Don't worry so much about the bathroom scale because the scale only measures total weight loss and not the amount of fat. Consider find a scale that also measures your percent body fat, that way you will know your real progress by measuring the decrease in percent body fat.
Dan Burley is editor and author of http://www.DietForum.com and has been helping people lose weight via the Internet for 10 years. Dan is a fitness guru and nutritionist who has spent a lifetime staying in shape and fighting overweight issues. When I discuss overweight and overeating issues it comes from the heart because I am prone to overeating and obesity. I pass on all my experience and battles to my website visitors andpersonal diet plan clients.
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