1. Resistance training
This is the best way for weight loss and to transform your body – hands down. Strength training changes your body composition like no other exercise. Resistance training (any exercise which provides resistance to the muscles to work against – ie training with weights or using your own bodyweight) causes tearing of the muscle fibers and when your body re-builds them, they are rebuilt stronger than they previously were. You are actually impacting your body positively by introducing newer, stronger muscle, which means your body metabolism increases, resulting in you becoming more efficient at burning fat at all times.
2. Interval Conditioning
Also known as Interval training or High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) this is intense cardio training in short, sharp bursts that revs up your metabolism and fat burning capability as far as it can go. Any exercise that is high intensity such as sprinting or jumping rope qualifies as interval training, as long as the intensity is kept up consistently for a few minutes, then decreased for a few minutes (not slowed down to a walk) then again sped up to the maximum. The main advantages of this type of exercise is that you burn calories at the work rate not only while exercising, but for many hours afterwards, even when resting.
3. Drink water – and plenty of it
This is so important, yet so often overlooked. Your body is made up of 60-70% water, your blood is almost 90% water – so your body needs this vital ingredient to function correctly, for any number of functions such as regulating temperature, transporting nutrients, for digestion, lubrication of joints, to name just a few. So replenishing lost fluids is vital for not only your body to function correctly, but also to maintain performance. Dehydration is one of your body’s main enemies. Even a slight drop in your hydration levels decreases muscular and aerobic endurance significantly. It doesn’t take much. Look at it this way – if you lose more than 10-12% of your body weight in water, you could die. How much should you drink? 65-80oz a day.
4. Don’t skip breakfast
With our busy lifestyles, breakfast is probably the easiest meal of the day to skip. With so much to do in the mornings and the tendency to get up at the last minute as we feel so tired, it is tempting to do this on a regular basis. But this only results in hampering our attempts at losing weight. If you skip breakfast, you slow your body’s metabolic process down, resulting in less efficient fat burning at rest during the day. Remember that you haven’t eaten anything for 7-8 hours, so not giving your body those much needed nutrients early can result in you overeating during the day. A good breakfast made up of complex-carbs and protein will give your body the start to the day it needs to feel energized and full.
5. Use multi-joint exercises
I’m a big believer in multi-joint exercises. For fat burning, you get so much more for your ‘money’ (ie time) when you perform exercises that are multi-joint, than isolation exercises. Squats, lunges, push-ups, upright-rows, kettle-bell movements, any multi-joint exercise revs up your metabolism so much faster as so many more muscles in your body are engaged in one exercise, than say an isolation exercise like bicep-curls. Using these exercises frequently will result in lean, toned muscles, high calorie burn during and after the training session.
6. Don’t worry over weight loss
‘Obsessive scale disorder’ is commonplace when many people start a fitness and weight loss program. Weighing yourself too often is not going to give you a fair indication of your progress. If you need to weigh yourself, do it only once a week, no more. Remember, its fat loss that’s important, not weight loss. Weight loss is only important when the weight you’ve actually lost is fat – not weight loss through losing water or muscle. Concentrate on your physique, how you look and feel in your clothes and your body composition. If you are going to measure something, measure your body fat composition every few weeks – this is a far more accurate and representative measure of your fat loss progress.
7. Eat frequently
Eat every 3-4 hours. Starving yourself and restricting calories only results in your body slowing down its metabolism to conserve energy – a standard reaction of your body’s survival mechanism – not very efficient for fat-burning. Fire up your metabolism by eating regularly, so your body has to work to digest your frequent food intake. Foods that are of course nutritionally rich, lean protein, low fat dairy and healthy fats.
Ultimately, to lose fat, you have to commit yourself to a complete process – You must strength-train, eat the correct foods in the correct quantities at the right times, perform high intensity interval conditioning, and drink plenty of water. If any of these elements are lacking, your progress and results will suffer.
The goal here is to make your body a fat-burning machine, to burn calories and burn fat all over the body at a higher rate than normal, even when not exercising.
Thats why it’s important to know the fundamentals – to ensure safe, consistent weight loss.
To learn more, download your Fat Loss Myths Guide here.
