5 Simple Tips for Losing Body Fat

OK so you’re doing what the doctor/trainer/program instructed but you don’t seem to be losing any body fat. What is going on? Why can someone else lose it so easily but you struggle? First and foremost don’t complicate matters, fat loss is not rocket science and if you do too much research you may get analysis paralysis and get confused. Before you give up, make sure you are following these 5 tips for losing body fat and remember this should be a way of life, not a short term fix.

1. 1. Eat Less, Move More
      Sounds too simple? It is! The amount of calories you intake each day must be less than the amount you exert. If you start an exercise program, do not increase your food intake. I repeat, do NOT increase your food intake. Of course veggies are ok. But a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that a workout gives them license to eat more. Not true. You will NOT lose weight if you eat more whilst exercising. On the flip side, if you try to lose weight without exercising, you will lose muscle as well as body fat, leaving you smaller, but weaker and still not toned. This can lead to injury and difficulty sustaining weight loss.
   2. Exercise in the morning before breakfast or on an empty stomach
      What a gem this little tip is! It is scientifically proven that exercising before brekky (on an empty stomach) burns significantly more body fat. How? Because in order for your body to dip into it’s fat stores, it needs to be depleted of all sugars. By training 12hrs after you’ve eaten there is not going to be nearly as much sugar in your system to burn. This means your body taps into it’s fat stores much faster. In addition to that, your metabolism stays boosted for up to 15 hrs after you exercise, turning you into a fuel burning furnace. Think about it, this covers breakfast, lunch, and possibly dinner, ensuring you store less fat from each meal.
   3. Interval training then LSDWhen exercising, do the hard stuff first. After your warm up, do your interval training, or weight training component first. This will also help to deplete your sugar stores and trigger the body to burn fat. I suggest this takes up about 1/3 of your workout time. Then settle in for a steady long, cardio component. This should take up the remaining 2/3 of your workout and should be at about 65-75% of your maximum. This means you should be able to string a few sentences together but still be puffing.
   4. Keep your total fat intake between 40g-70g per day
      You must try to keep your fat intake down to 40-70g fat per day. Read the nutrition labels of your staple foods and add it up. Did you know that according to McDonalds nutrition table, 6 chicken Mcnuggets (15g fat), medium chips (20g fat) and a medium vanilla thick shake (18g fat) adds up to a total of 53 g fat. That’s pretty much your total daily allowance! Also, stay off the cheese/butter/mayonnaise as these are extremely high fat and tend to creep into the diet.
   5. Drink more water
      So many people mistake thirst for hunger. When you feel hungry drink a good 300ml of water (3 glasses). Also your body will find it harder to burn body fat when it is dehydrated. Every day: Drink 30ml for every kilo that you weigh; drink an extra ½ litre for every 30min of exercise; drink an extra glass of water for every alcoholic/caffeinated drink you have.

Remember that there is no secret to weight loss, and any person or product that promises a magic remedy is probably a sham. Follow the steps above and just eat well, sweat hard, and watch it come off.

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