A lot of fitness enthusiasts spend countless hours training and researching in search of how to lose body fat. There’s a lot of mysticism and wizardry around the subject of burning fat. The truth is, it’s actually a lot simpler than the supplement industry will have you believe. You don’t need to go out and buy 15 different pills and powders in order to burn fat and get fit, follow these golden rules, and you will be well on your way to looking and feeling better than you ever have before. Best of all when somebody asks you how to lose body fat, you’ll have some answers.
Before we take a look at some of the “golden rules”, let us remember that losing weight at the end of the day is going to come down to the old-fashioned “calories in, calories out” ideology. In order to drop pounds, you must be burning more calories than you are putting into your body. This is done by reducing daily caloric intake, as well as burning calories through exercise. That being said, let’s get to some critical tips and explain how to lose body fat by applying them.
How to Lose Body Fat: Drink More Water
I’m sure everyone has been told at one time or another that they should drink more water. Eight glasses a day right? Now, has anyone actually explained to you why water is so important? When understanding how to lose body fat, it helps to know how your body functions. Let’s take a look at the liver. One of the livers’ main jobs is to convert stored fat into energy for our bodies to use up as fuel. With that said, our liver also kicks into high gear in the event of water deprived kidneys, which need a lot of water to function properly.
In the event of water-deprived kidneys, the liver will need to work harder, and as a result of this, becomes less efficient at converting fat into energy. In the end, this will result in more stored body fat. At the minimum, you should be aiming to consume at least 8 tall glasses of water per day in order to ensure proper hydration.
How to Lose Body Fat: Carbs (the good, the bad, and the sugary)
If you ask some of the top trainers in the world how to lose body fat, many will recommend limiting your carbs or being strategic with when you eat them. Simple carbohydrates can be your worst enemy in the war against fat. When sugar (sugar is a simple, fast digesting carbohydrate) is consumed, it is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream. When this happens, you get a big spike in insulin, and as a result of this, your body is going to store whatever it doesn’t need as fat. Processed sugar, or table sugar, should be avoided at all costs. It has no nutritional value at all, and is only going to result in unnecessary (and unwanted) calories, as well as wacky blood sugar levels.
Everyone’s body is different, and therefore there is never going to be a “one size fits all” diet plan. If you’re looking to burn fat, trying a low-carb, high-protein and high-fat diet is a pretty safe start. Now, with that said, don’t cut out carbs completely! Your body needs them in order to function optimally, as well as store for energy while you’re working out.
Aim to get most of your carbs from clean sources such as oatmeal, sweet potato, ezekiel bread, and veggies. As one of the most critical tips (if not the most) when asking how to lose body fat, this should not be taken lightly.
How to Lose Body Fat: Train Like You Mean It
When most people think of how to lose body fat, they think of running for hours at a time on the treadmill. While this is a great way to get your cardiovascular health up, and burn calories, it is not the best way to burn body fat. Studies have shown that doing short, high-intensity interval style cardio training, burns significantly more fat than the traditional walking or running methods. Next time you’re doing your cardio, instead of spending an hour walking or running on the treadmill, try 20 minutes of high intensity interval style.
A basic example of this would be to start off with at an easy page for 2-3 minutes, and then ramp up the speed and run for 1-2 minutes straight, and then come back down for 1-3 minutes. When you train this way, you want to elevate your heart rate when you’re doing the fast paced, and bring it back down when your moving slower. This style of training causes your body’s core temperature to remain elevated for 24-48 hours after you’ve completed the workout, and as a result, will continue to burn calories even while your resting. This is what’s known as the after burn effect.
Now that we’ve covered cardio, let’s take a look at weight lifting. A lot of people have the perception that doing a high number of reps for every movement is the best way to exercise when looking to burn fat. The logic is there, more volume = more calories burned, but there are even better, more effective ways of achieving this. With building muscle in mind, we’re going to look at the same after burn concept that we just talked about for cardio, but apply a similar style of training to our weightlifting.
Instead of doing high reps, try instead working with heavier weights, in the rep range of 6-8, and limiting rest periods between sets to 30 seconds. This style of training has been shown to lead to an increased production of lactate, which in turn leads to an increase of growth hormone. Increased growth hormone will allow your body to burn fat much more effectively, as well as help with building muscle.
The Bottom Line for How to Lose Body Fat
In your search for how to lose body fat, you will find the most constant top priority to be your diet. Start there and by trying a low-carb and high fat/high protein meal plan. By keeping your diet in check and hydrating properly, your energy levels should eventually become strong and stable which will allow you to have effective training sections to torch body fat.