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There must be 7 ways to lose body fat
By Christina | July 20, 2008
Admittedly, I am quirky. As I typed the title for this blog I was humming along to 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (a pretty old tune). So anyhow, that’s why the title is what it is and if you have heard the song than maybe this blog title and its contents will stay with you for a good long while.
Read each of the seven ways to lose fat and increase muscle tone, taking time between each, to think about how you will implement it into your daily life.
#1: Consume less calories than your body burns for five days a week.
In order to lose weight you need to consume approximately 500 calories less than what your body burns because without creating a caloric deficit you will not lose weight. On weekends, go ahead and allow yourself some indulgences a to prevent the metabolism from slowing down.
#2: Worry about the way you look in the mirror (or in pictures) and your waist size instead of monitoring your total body weight on the scale.
Scale measurement does not distinguish between the amount of fat and muscle that you have so do not focus reaching a particular number. I am often asked how to lose weight. I am rarely asked how to change the ratio of fat to muscle. I am really concerned with the weight as I believe it’s how you look and your hip to waist ratio that matters. The reason for my belief is that as you begin your weight training you will start gaining muscle mass. As you gain muscle mass you will put weight on. So what will happen here is that while your scale will tell you that you are still overweight and that your weight is not moving, you are actually making progress as you are losing fat and gaining muscle. Therefore, just concern yourself with the way you look (pictures are a great way to track this) and stop obsessing about your weight.
#3: Concentrate on lifting weights or doing resistance training, not excessive cardio, for losing fat.
This one goes against what many people hold near and dear as gospel truth. Even though I constantly hear the line “I will lose the fat first by doing cardio and then gain muscle after all of the fat is gone”, this is not the best way to lose fat! The reason for this is that by using cardio as your sole source of exercise you will lose equal amounts of fat and muscle. The end result will be a smaller fat version of yourself with a lower metabolism (due to the muscle loss). Gaining muscle is really the secret to permanent fat loss as the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at rest on any given day.
#4: If possible, attempt to exercise first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. (See how you feel with this one)
I really love exercising first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and have been doing it for 20 years now. I achieve my quickest fat loss results that way. The reason for this is that your body’s glycogen reserves have been exhausted due to the overnight fast, so the body has to rely on burning fats for fuel. Besides, that way I have the rest of the day to eat, recover, and grow. If you do not like to weight train first thing in the morning at least try a quick 15 minute intense aerobic activity (this could be a quick stationary bike ride or a vigorous walk) as well as 5 minutes of abdominal exercise done in superset fashion. That gives you a total short 20 minute aerobic workout that jumps starts your fat burning mechanisms early in the day.
#5: Eat smaller more frequent meals throughout the day.
The first thing that most dieters do is that they start a crash diet where they only eat once or twice a day. Again, this is a sure fire way to lose muscle and lower your metabolism. As we already know, less muscle and a lower metabolism is not the way to get to your goal. By eating small meals throughout the day your body is able to utilize almost 100% of what it takes in instead of storing the excess as fats.
#6: Let water be your main beverage.
Time and time again I have noticed that dieters start their diets with a sincere effort and even count all the calories of the foods that they consume. However, most totally forget about the fact that fruit juices, sodas and other beverages contain calories as well. Therefore, avoid any type of drink that contains calories and concentrate on drinking plain water instead. Water helps you to satisy what you may think is hunger. Dehydration often feels like hunger so before you take in more food than necessary, drink a glass of water.
#7: Pack your meals in advance.
One thing that totally kills dieters is going to work. Work, however, is not the culprit. The culprit is the lunch hour. Most people do not take a prepared lunch but instead opt to order in or go out. This is the kiss of diet death as most restaurants add fat and sodium to add flavor and keep you coming back.
