Top 4 Tips for Fat Loss

Featured Article, Fitness, Motivation
on November 11, 2014
how to lose fat
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Looking to see faster results with your fat loss program? It might be time to take a closer look at what exactly you are doing and make some necessary adjustments. Many people make small errors or simply aren’t following the absolute best approaches, which ends up costing them big at the end of the day.

So what can you do to transform your body into a fat-melting machine? Adhere to the following four commandments. By making these commandments part of your life, you can ensure faster results—and a slimmer, leaner you.

Boost Your Metabolism Post-Workout

Who doesn’t want to burn fat while they sleep? It sounds too good to be true, but this really can happen if you train wisely.

To keep heart rate pumping, always train using heavy weights and shorter rest periods. Also, when doing cardio, incorporate interval sprints into your routine. These tactics will not only scorch calories during your workout, but they will also help you to continue to burn calories hours after your workout session is over. Translation? Faster fat loss results.

By structuring your workout properly, you can burn up to two to three times more body fat due to your time in the gym. Make every minute count. Train smart.

Make Nutrition #1

Next, you need to make sure that your nutritional protocol is at the top of your priority list. Simply put, if your nutrition is not important to you, then you are not going to be seeing results any time soon.

Nutrition trumps exercise any day of the week as far as fat burning goes. You can put in the hardest session at the gym but if you come out and feast on a cheeseburger, you aren’t going to like the results you see.

Always put the effort into your diet first and once that’s perfected, then you can focus on improving your workout program. The two do go hand in hand, but nutrition must be first in life for optimal results.

Do Exercises You Don’t Like

Now, I’m not suggesting that you put yourself on a workout plan you absolutely hate doing—that’s a sure-fire recipe for burnout and boredom. But, in the workout that you do enjoy, challenge yourself to tackle a few of the exercises that aren’t your cup of tea. Hate push-ups? Force yourself to do fifteen. Hate sprints? Incorporate sprint intervals into your usual running routine.

The reason? Typically the exercises you don’t like are the ones that you should be doing—they will really challenge you by activating muscles you don’t normally use.

If this is the case, that also means they’ll be burning fat quickly and boosting your fitness level. Squats, deadlifts, burpees—all of those difficult, high-intensity moves are your best friends when you’re aiming to shed fat.

Realize the Importance of Rest

Finally, the last component you must not overlook when aiming to lose fat is the importance of rest. If you are not resting enough each week, you will burn out faster than when you are not dieting.

Dieting in itself is a stressor and will mean you have less energy available to recover from each workout you do. By resting before doing a workout, it ensures you come back to each workout ready to give it your all. This is much better than doing a 50 percent workout session because you’re too tired from the last one.

So many people make the mistake of doing more exercise while seeking fat loss, when really what they need is less exercise. It sounds paradoxical, but it’s true. When you rest, you allow your body time to recuperate and rebuild the tiny micro-tears in the muscles that occurred during the stress and strain of your workout. If you don’t allow sufficient time to rest, you won’t get stronger.

By keeping these commandments in place, you can feel good that you are heading in the right direction with your plan and you will be one step closer to maximizing results you can see.

About the Author: Shannon Clark has a degree in Exercise Science and is an AFLCA certified personal trainer. She has written on the topics of health, fitness and nutrition for almost a decade. Her insights are regularly published on bodybuilding.com, askmen.com and FitRated.com. FitRated is a leading fitness equipment review site offering insights on equipment, workout plans and weight loss strategies.