7/3/13

Killer Ways To Maximize Your Fat Burning In The Gym

Hey, we all want to shed some pounds and get back to the body that we had when we were younger and didn't appreciate it but it takes discipline, planning, and dedication to make that happen. All too often people shed 10 or 15 pounds and then seem to stop losing weight. There is definitely a reason this happens and it should not be seen as failure or an excuse to give up on your weight loss goals. Here are 7 absolutely killer ways to maximize your fat burning routine and help ensure success with your weight loss goals.

1) Anaerobic Exercise

If you think you can just run laps or pedal that fat away, think again. Muscle tissue is what burns the most calories in our bodies and you need to life weights in order to create bigger muscles that will burn more calories. Now although aerobic exercises such as cycling or swimming are also necessary, the fact remains that building bigger muscles is the best way to lose weight and keep it off. This is because you are creating a more efficient calorie burning machine by lifting weights which will ensure you success with your weight loss goals. 

2) Warm-up and Cool Down

Warming up before exercising and taking the time to cool down afterwards with some light exercises are not generally seen as essential to a fat burning program. However, the reason why a lot of people tend to give up on their weight loss goals is because they failed to see the progress they hoped for when they began. An injury, even one that only lasts for a few days, can set your weight loss goals back by weeks and lead to a loss of stimulation. You need to plan an extra twenty minutes into your weight lifting routine for these two essential activities or you risk injury and derailing your weight loss plan.

3) Diet, Diet, Diet

This should not be a killer way to maximize your weight loss goals but it is. The reason for this is because people tend to think of losing weight in two ways: diet, or exercise. Hey, these two go hand in hand and you are never going to maximize your fat burning routine in the gym unless you take care of your body outside of the gym. Stop thinking of meals in terms of three: instead, think 5 meals with smaller portions. The FDA recently developed a new food pyramid with this very idea in mind and you should check it out before starting your fat burning program because it can save you a lot of time and energy if you get the diet part figured out before even stepping into the gym.

4) Plan Workouts

The body is the most complex machine on the planet and you can't just hope to step into a gym and jump on a machine or some weights and think that you are going to see the results you want without knowing how they affect your body. The ideal exercise routine is done only 3 or 4 times per week and only for 30-45 minutes at a time. You cannot work your body more than this because it will actually cause your muscles to break down which means you will be burning fewer calories, and therefore, not maximizing your fat burning routine in the gym. If you have any doubts about what kind of routine is ideal for your goals, don't be afraid to consult an physical trainer to help you set up a program that is best suited for you.

5) Nutritional Supplements

If you really want to maximize your fat burning routine in the gym, then you need to consider using nutritional supplements. Now I am not talking about those crazy supplements that promise to burn fat for you while you sit and watch tv! I am talking about essential fatty acids, amino acids, whey protein....things that will truly maximize your workouts that you can't always expect to get in the foods you eat every day. Again, consult a physical trainer if you want to know which supplements are best for your weight loss goals.

6) Set Weekly Goals

I know that this just seems terribly obvious but the truth is that most people are not thrilled with the idea of working out so it is easy for them to skip a session or indulge in some pizza and think that they will make up for it next time. Listen, next time never comes and when you stop seeing the scales go down, the motivation just seems to stop. By setting weekly goals, you can track your progress and make it that much more likely that you will adhere to the goals when you see things are not going as expected.

7) No More Late Night Snacks

This one may not seem to make sense, but I assure you that it will help maximize your fat burning exercises. The reason is your metabolism. When you eat right before you go to bed, it throws your body off and you probably notice that you awaken and don't feel hungry. Then, you skip breakfast entirely or only snack on a bagel or something on you way into work. 

The result: the body goes into conservation mode. This means that it slows down your metabolism and that means you are burning less calories throughout the day. Plus, it increases the likelihood of snacking and basically just sets the scene for a bad cycle. Eating five smaller portioned meals per day also has to do with your metabolism as it has been found that metabolism remains highest when there is a consistent supply of food in the body. You might not believe that late night snacking affects the way your body burns fat when working out, but it does.

Now some of the things listed above are obvious while some just seem silly. And yet, taken together and consistently adhered to, these 7 little ideas will maximize your fat burning in the gym and get you to that body you can see in your mind but not the mirror far quicker than if you just go about things in a disorganized and inconsistent manner.

Ways to Burn Stubborn Body Fat

Eat less ... lose weight?!? Here's the other stuff you can do to get leaner.

1) Don't diet to extremes. Reducing calories by 15-20% a day will almost exclusively burn fat while larger cuts in calories will burn a combo of muscle tissue and fat. Muscle drives the metabolism - calorie burning. If you're currently eating 3000 calories, reduce to 2400-2550, but do so according to smart guidelines like those laid out in The Living Health Weight Loss Audio.

2) Graze all day. Professional athletes and models eat all day long yet keep their total calories under control. The grazing method, 5-6 small meals, elevates the metabolism. Each time you eat, the metabolism increases, and over a 6-10 week period, that increase can parlay into another 2-3 pounds of fat loss.

3) Increase Protein. Carbs, protein and fat - are equal in their efficiency to be stored as body fat, but protein exerts a greater metabolic boosting effect than carbs or dietary fat. When calories drop, protein saves muscle which helps keep the metabolism elevated. Aim for 1.2 grams per pound of bodyweight daily.

4) Play with Carbs. Carbs help retain metabolic boosting muscle yet they can stimulate fat storage. Following a modified low carb diet - staggering your carbohydrate intake is one of the most effective ways to jump start your 
metabolism and to burn stubborn fat fast (as outlined in Maximize Your Metabolism and the Living Health Audio Program.) 


5) Go Backward. One reason fat loss comes to a halt; the body downgrades its metabolism to meet its dwindling intake of calories. The solution: dramatically increase your calorie intake once every 2-3 weeks. The one day splurge "re-sets" the metabolism by restoring thyroid levels, the calorie burning hormone that declines with dieting. 

6) Skip the Late Night Carbs. Carbs eaten before bedtime are more likely to be stored as body fat so focus on lean proteins and fiber based vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and salad fixings. The lone exception: if you train late at night and your goal is to build muscle mass, you'll need the carbs to replenish glycogen and support growth. 

7) Go Fish. When calories are controlled, the inclusion of omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon, trout and sardines may promote speedier fat loss. One study revealed dieters who ate fish on a daily basis lost more weight than those who ate fish just once a week (Am Journ Clin Nutr 70:817-825, 1999) 

8) Go Spicy. Red peppers, the spicy ingredient in Mexican and Indian dishes contains Capsaicin which can increase the metabolic rate by effecting the Sympathetic Branch of the Nervous system. Spiking your chicken dishes with red might be a small benefit or you can gulp 5 to 10 encapsulated grams of Capsaicin from your local health food store. (Journal of Nutrition 116:1272-1278, 1986.) 

9) Don't Be Cardio Crazy! Radically reducing calories slows the metabolism short circuiting fat loss. Same is true with radical caloric expenditure. You know: 2 cardio sessions a day. Excess cardio slows the metabolism, promotes a loss in muscle and even can lower testosterone levels. For real results, stick to 4-6 sessions a week, 30 - 45 minutes at a clip and maintain a high level of intensity.

10) Separate Cardio From Weight Training. What happens when you do cardio first and follow it up with weight training? You don't build as much muscle density. How about cardio after training? You risk overtraining and the negative hormonal milieu that can stifle the metabolic rate. The best scenario; hit the cardio in the morning - on an empty stomach - get in a few meals and return to the gym later in the day to build muscle density.

11) Serotonin Control. Serotonin is a brain chemical that helps controls hunger. Guess what? It can take a nose dive with dieting. ( R.J. Wurtman and J.J. Wurtman, "Brain serotonin, carbohydrate-craving, obesity, and depression." Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology 398 (1996): 35-41.) One way to prevent a drop; smaller, more frequent meals.

12) Garlic Chicken! Mother Earth's flavor enhancer stimulates adrenaline and uncoupling proteins (UCP). Adrenaline triggers fat breakdown and UCP, located in metabolically active "brown fat", increase calorie burning. Garlic also controls cortisol levels which can supports muscle retention while dieting. For best results use fresh raw garlic in your salads or on your other meals, but if you can't handle raw garlic then use fresh bulbs in you cooking or give supplements a try. (Oi Y, et al., Allyl-containing sulfides in garlic increase uncoupling protein content in brown adipose tissue, and noradenaline and adrenaline secretion in rats. J Nutr 129:336-342,1999.) (Wang HX, Et al., Natural products with hypoglycemic, hypotensive, hypocholesterolemic, antiatherosclerotic and antithrombotic activities. Life Sci 65:2663-2677,1999.) 

13) Sip Green Tea. Green tea contains caffeine and polyphenols called epilgallocatechin gallate which have been shown to increase calorie burning. These special calorie burning compounds help burn an extra 100 or-so calories a day, about equal to a brisk walk. In maximizing fat loss, every calorie counts. (Dullo, A.G., et al., Efficiency of a green tea extract rich in catechin polyphenols and caffeine in increasing 24-h energy expenditure and fat oxidation in humans. Am J Clin Nutr, 1999. 70(6):p.1040-5.) 

14) Fat? Yes Fat! To rip up, you have to eat fewer carbs, but on occasion - say once a week - you can add a little healthy fat, 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, some red meat, walnuts or cashews. The reason? Dietary fat can make the body more effective in using and burning fat - as long as calories and carbs remain under control. (Thomas CD et al. Nutrient Balance and Energy Expenditure During the Ad Libitum Feeding of High Fat and High Carbohydrate Diets in Humans. Am J Clin Nutr 1992;55:934) 

15) Thyroid Support. Irony of Ironies. When you eat less and try to dump body fat, a lot of times the metabolism adapts and burns quite a bit fewer calories. One way to get around the slowdown is with phosphates. A combo of 537 mgs of calcium phosphate, 107 mgs of potassium phosphate and 25 mgs of sodium phosphate given to strict dieters yielded a 12-19% more elevated metabolism than dieters who did not use phosphates.

16) Write It Down. This one seems simple, but it's one of the most overlooked tips in shedding fat. Dieters who record what they eat, meal by meal, day by day, not only make better choices, but cheat less and eat fewer total calories. Writing it down "keeps you honest" and is a tool for reminding you that getting lean is a day by day process.

How to Naturally Turn Your Slow Metabolism into a Fast Fat Burning Machine

When Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays come around where I eat more than usual, I never feel guilty about how much I had eaten. The reason is because I've learned how to train my metabolism to burn enough body fat to allow me to have more "cheat" days. I'm not saying to eat anything and everything once you increase your metabolism (this is unhealthy), but what I am saying is that once your body is use to being in the fat burning mode, the guilt of eating "fattening" foods on holidays is not there (at least not for me). Whenever I feel that my metabolism is slowing down, I don't worry at all because I know exactly what to do to get my metabolism back on its fat burning track. Once you understand how powerful your metabolism is when you feed it energy (continuous small meals throughout the day along with exercise) and how powerful it is to burn fat, you will experience guilt free "cheat" days too. 

Increase metabolism for easy weight loss and fat burning

Metabolism = the amount of calories our bodies burn per day.

To permanently lose body fat weight, you must increase your metabolism. In order to increase your metabolism, you must do weight training exercises to condition your muscles and feed your metabolism by eating regularly throughout the day.

A slow metabolism results in less fat loss

When we lose weight, we also lose protein from our muscles. The faster we lose weight (by cutting down too much on our calorie intake), the more protein is used for energy; and when you lose too much protein from your muscles the result is a slow metabolism. This happens because your muscles need protein to grow and stay strong. When protein is taken from your muscles, you lose muscle tissue. Muscle tissues are metabolically active and burn calories (even at rest). Your body needs calories to feed these metabolically active tissues so that it has energy to continue to burn calories. The calories that are burned also come from the fat that is stored in your body. So in other words, the more calories you eat, the more energy your metabolism has to burn the fat that is stored in your body. Without the calorie intake, your metabolism has no energy therefore it will slow down and you will burn fat at a very slow rate (if you burn any at all). Having energy is not the only reason for a fast or slow metabolism. You see, when you significantly cut down on your daily calorie intake, your metabolism burns calories slower to prevent your body from starving. Being that your body now doesn't know when you will feed it; your body will store the calories to be used later. The calories that are stored, are stored as fat. 


Increase your metabolism and lose more body fat weight than water weight

When you lose protein from your muscles, you not only lose muscle tissue, but you will also lose water. Protein holds about 4 times its weight in water. To lose 10 pounds of body fat, you would need to burn 35,000 calories (3500 calories = 1 pound). If you lose those 10 pounds in one week do you honestly believe that it was body fat? The answer is no, only about 2 pounds was fat and the rest was water (Do not be fooled by what the scale says!) When you increase your metabolism, your body has a reason to hold onto the protein (remember protein holds water) and use the energy to burn fat.

Yes you will lose some protein from your muscles even if you lose weight the right way. The key is to provide your muscles with enough protein each day so that it can not only replace your protein loss, but use the extra protein to help build new muscle tissue and stay conditioned. 

Eat more food to increase your metabolism

Protein helps build muscle, but carbohydrates are your body's main source of energy. When your body has a deficiency of energy (carbohydrates) and takes the protein from your muscles as energy, the protein is converted to carbohydrates before it's used as an energy source. Therefore, when you eat, you must have the right amount of carbohydrates and proteins in your body so that energy can be used efficiently. You must also eat more frequently to fuel your metabolism all day long. Eating at least 5-6 small meals each day will give your metabolism the continuous supply of energy it needs to burn fat longer and faster. If you are short on time and not able to cook, do not resort to eating junk food as one of your meals; instead opt for a good meal replacement product to satisfy your body.

Exercise to increase your metabolism

Exercise in general burns calories. Weight training will help you to increase your metabolism because that is how you condition your metabolically active muscles. Whenever you increase your physical activity, especially through exercise, you must increase the amount of calories you consume each day. Remember, the more energy (calories) you give your muscles, the more energy it has to burn fat that is stored in your body. Also remember the less energy you give you body, the more protein will be taken from your muscles to be converted to carbohydrates as energy, which leads to a slow metabolism.

Best Ways To Burn Fat

The best ways to burn fat will be different for each unique individual, as we all have different metabolisms, and different physical characteristics. Nevertheless, there are some common principles which can be applied to anyone, and it these that we shall concentrate on here. The methods given here are tested over time, and among the best ways to burn fat.

Method 1
The most obvious form of exercise you can perform is still one of the best ways to burn fat, and that is simple running. This running can be done indoors on a treadmill, but you will probably burn more calories by getting outside. If you do your running in the countryside, across country and often on hilly terrain, you will be working your body hard, and in a healthy environment.

Method 2
There is no doubt that skipping is one of the best ways to burn fat, if not the best. Successive generations of boxers have incorporated skipping into their daily schedule, and these are people who can afford to be at anything below peak fitness. If you practice skipping for twenty minutes, you will probably find it the hardest 20 minutes of your training career!

Method 3
One of the best ways to burn fat is to know what you are setting out to do All physical exercise takes effort and determination, and you are far more likely to succeed if you can know what you have to do to reach your target. On average you need to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat. There is also a formula which says if you multiply your weight in pounds by 13, you will find out the number of calories it will take for you to stay at your current weight. If you play around with the numbers a little, you can get an idea of how many calories you need to be taking in each day to lose the fat you want to lose. From these formulae, you can work out a reasonable plan for burning fat and losing weight.

Method 4
The best ways to burn fat will always be ways you are likely to stick with, so if you are keen on intense sport, take advantage of this. Even if you only perform the activity in short bursts, you will still be burning calories. There is a lot of running and exertion involved in virtually any sport, and most have practice drills which you can perform alone. Doing something which gives you a challenge, and which you find satisfying, will give you the drive to push through the bad times and carry on.

These four methods are the best ways to burn fat.

Two Great Ways to Burn Fat Fast

Everyone who ever tried to lose weight has probably tried just about everything they could to do it at one time or another. With all of the gimmicks, fad diets, useless pills, and "secret" exercise methods out there it can be frustrating trying to get rid of unwanted fat.

Now everyone knows that there really is no secret method or trick to losing weight. Everyone knows that proper diet combined with exercise is the only real way to burn fat but there are a couple of things you can do to help speed the process up a bit.

# 1) Exercise first thing in the morning.
Studies have shown that exercising first thing in the morning can burn as much as 3 times more fat than exercising any other time of the day. One of the reasons for this is because your body's main energy source during the day comes from carbohydrates. When you sleep for 6 to 8 hours your body uses the majority of its carbohydrate stores as energy for the various bodily functions that take place during sleep

In the morning your body doesn't have any carbohydrates left for energy and so fat becomes the prime energy source. When you exercise right away in the morning before you eat breakfast so you don't give your body any carbohydrates to use as energy, you will burn mostly fat for energy and that is the prime goal.

Also when you exercise in the morning it boosts your metabolism up throughout the day which means that even during the day you will burn more calories and lose more weight. Evening exercise will still burn some fat but you will have a higher carbohydrate store so you will not burn as much plus when you go to sleep at night your metabolism slows down and so you won't burn extra fat for as long after exercise.

One last reason why exercising in the morning is good is because aside from burning more fat and having increased energy levels during the day, you will have your workout out of the way and not have to do it after a long day at work.

#2) Always eat breakfast.
Eating breakfast will help to boost your metabolism while skipping breakfast and waiting until mid morning or lunchtime will make it slow down considerably. Another thing to consider is that waiting too long to eat after you wake up will make your body break down muscle tissue (catabolism) for the protein it will be looking for.

When combined with morning exercise, eating breakfast is like a double dose of fat burningbecause when your body gets a morning meal, it is like putting a log on your metabolisms fire. Breakfast kicks your metabolism into high gear and makes you burn even more fat than you did during your exercise session.

By eating breakfast you also are much less likely to have those mid morning doughnuts or whatever you can get from the snack machine when you get to work. Breakfast combined with morning exercise is the best 1-2 punch you can give yourself for maximum fat burning and energy.

Remember; exercise for at least 30 minutes first thing in the morning and eat a good breakfast about 15 to 20 minutes after your workout and you will burn a lot more fat and lose a lot more weight both during exercise and throughout the day as well.