Body fat is necessary for keeping our body organs and central nervous systems functioning properly.
The essential fats in the body also cushion and insulate the body organs, but too much of it is stored in the abdomen, and it can lead to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other lifestyle diseases. That is why it is important to lose fat if you want your organs to function properly.
Losing fat requires different processes such as the right amount of calorie intake, efficient metabolism, calorie burning, and timing. When you want to lose fat, you need to focus on proper diet and working out. To burn fat faster, your calorie intake should be much lesser than your output. There are very many ways that are effective in burning fat, and they have to be used effectively for best results. If you want to lose fat and keep it off entirely, it is best to make it a lifestyle to lose fat rather than having a program that will only work for a period of time and make you return to your previous habits. Get something that you can maintain for years without straining or even forcing yourself.
Below are 15 ways that you can use to burn fat:
1. Take lots of water – water is the medium in which most cellular function happen, so it is important to keep the body hydrated. Water has no calories, so take more, at least 8 glasses per day. Drinking cold water makes your body expend the calories that you take from food so as to make the body reach its normal temperature of 98.6 degrees.
2. Reduce calorie intake slowly – although you should take fewer calories than you burn, reduce your intake gradually so that the body doesn’t think it is starving which in turn reduces the metabolism process and burning of fat. You can vary your calorie intake every other day so as to outsmart your body as it continues to burn fat without lowering your metabolism.
3. Reduce starchy foods – these foods give the body more than it requires for energy and glycogen stores and if excess, it is stored as fat. To burn fat fast, reduce the amount of carbohydrates such as potatoes, pasta, bread and pasta you take per day to 3-5 servings. After 3 pm it is best to take less of starchy foods as the body uses less energy as the day ends.
4. Take more proteins – high protein intake will help maintain the muscle mass and increase your metabolism which are effective for burning fat. Your body burns faster when you eat proteins rather than carbs and fats.
5. Vary your exercise – doing the same type of exercises with the same intensity and duration each day will make your body adapt quickly, and it will not be effective with time. As you exercise, it is best to vary your workouts on different days, the intensity and time of day and this will keep your body off balance enough to go to the stored fats much easily. You can interchange your cardio with lifting weights as each works differently on burning fat. Lifting weight involves building muscles which come after burning calories and fat. Choose to use free weight rather than guided machines as they help build muscles faster which burns more calories.
6. Stay off the scale – when you lose fat, you will build muscle, but when you weigh yourself, your weight is just the same. This may lead to frustration seeing that you have not made any progress and it will make you stop your quest to burn fat. The best thing is to look at yourself in the mirror, how you feel and how your clothes fit and this will motivate you to continue with your lifestyle. Use a tape measure to take measurements, and you will see much difference in time.
7. Take more healthy fats – healthy fats from avocados, fish oil, peanut butter, olive oil and eggs take longer to be broken down by the body, and they help control blood sugar levels, hence reduces your craving and makes you feel satisfied for longer. They also help one to lose fat, build muscles and recover faster after the workouts.
8. Eat 5-6 meals per day – when you eat more times, there is an increase of thermogenesis, which is the production of heat in the body and in turn leads to burning more fat and calories. It also helps in preventing the body from going into starvation mode, which happens between meals and it causes the body to start burning the muscles for energy instead of the stored fats and slows metabolism. The meals should healthy and balanced and in small portions.
9. Eat a full breakfast – breakfast is the most important meal of the day as it keeps you moving throughout the day and re-energizes the body which was starving all night long. Ensure that it is balanced so that the body gets more energy to use instead of using muscles to give you energy.
10. Do away with junk foods – most of the junk food contains a lot of calories, which when not used by the body is stored as fat. Eating healthy meals such as vegetables and fruits which contain fewer calories makes the burning of fat faster and has less effect on insulin.
11. Limit your sugar intake – although sugar replenishes the muscles after training, any excess sugar that the body does not convert to energy is stored as fat.
12. Drink black coffee before training – the caffeine the coffee makes the body to rely on fat as fuel instead of glucose. Don’t add any sugar or cream as these are extra calories which you are trying to do away with.
13. Take green tea – green tea is known to be an effective fat burner as it works by increasing the metabolic rate and make insulin response more effective hence making the body store less fat.
14. Don’t rely on fat burners – although the fat burners will help lose fat, they will not change your eating habits. Use the fat burner together with proper diet and regular exercises.
15. Get enough sleep – when you sleep the body relaxes and keeps your hormone balance in check which in turn increases your metabolic rate and allows the body to function well. Not getting enough sleep interferes with the hormonal levels which are responsible for enabling us to lose fat. Sleep deprivation also causes one to crave high-calorie foods, increase the amount of stress hormone, cortisol, as the body is fatigued.