Want to burn more fat and feel great about your body again? These fat burning tips will help.
I made this video because I was having a conversation with a personal training client at our fitness facility in Brockhall Village. We were talking about calories and intake and different types of food that everyone eats.
So, I thought everyone could benefit from learning some quick and simple tips that can be implemented right away into your health, fitness and lifestyle regime that will bring you benefit if your main goal is weight loss and slimming down.
So, let’s get into the five best tips for burning body fat.
1. Eat Protein For Breakfast
I’ve always been a big promoter of this because it helps in lots of ways. If you steer clear of the usual toast (carbs) with jam or marmalade (sugar [carbs]) or the sugary cereal (also carbs) that so many of us eat in the UK and switch to a high protein breakfast.
Why protein?
It helps to switch on your brain and engage it for the day (no need to continually resort to caffeine throughout the morning to get started).
It also reduces your sugar cravings throughout the day and keeps you feeling fuller for longer.
I’m not going to go into depth about the best breakfast for weight loss because you can read them in the linked article. However, some examples include eggs (one of the most nutritionally balanced things we humans eat), fish or meat. (And no, there isn’t really a non-meat alternative: animal proteins and fats are on another level compared to plant-based proteins.)
I know not everyone else will like a nice bit of steak for breakfast like me, but there is some clear advice on the meat and nuts breakfast for satiation and the curbing of cravings throughout the day.
2. Earn Your Carbs
Your goal is weight loss.
That means helping yourself at each stage as much as possible through daily life. You’ve probably changed a few lifestyle habits and read about some information on nutrition and what food you’re eating.
If you’re not too sure what a carb is and how to manage them effectively then read the nutrition post above where I cover them. There are also links in that article for more in-depth information about carbohydrates and why they’re important too.
Carbs aren’t the enemy, but they do need to be controlled if you want to look and feel more confident when you’re standing in front of the mirror.
However, the truth is that carbohydrates are calorific, which means they contain quite a lot of calories that add to your daily allowance.
If you splurge a little and fill your plate with low quality carbs or you have a chocolate bar or two then you’re heading in the direction of going over the total carb intake you should have for the day.
Put simply: if you should be eating 1,500 calories in a day and you eat 1,501 calories then you’re going to gain weight. Yes, there are more factors that contribute, but it really is that simple.
Note: I’m not the world’s biggest fan of being in a club and counting calories and having “sins” or “points”. It’s not the ideal way to do things, but for this point it makes sense to talk about calories.
3. Drink Black Coffee Pre-workout
Before you head to the gym or fitness centre (or even our personal training studio for a fitness session with your Masters PT), drink a black coffee.
This helps to put your brain and body in the right frame and actions. You want to be mentally (and physically) ready for whatever you’re going to be doing while you’re there.
Drinking a black coffee will help you to increase your cortisol levels and your adrenaline, which is what you want to do to be ready for your workout.
Don’t add any sugar or milk to it though (the latter contains sugar too), as this will dampen the coffee’s affect on your system and you won’t get the most benefit.
Note: caffeine also releases fatty acids into the blood stream so it helps by helping the body put fuel into the blood stream (excess fat) to them use as to feed your muscles.
But, keep in mind that you don’t want to continue drinking coffee after your workout. That’s the time to eat some carbs.
4. Choose Interval Training Over Cardio
Lots of people who head to a gym stay in the “cardio” machine area: where the bikes, treadmills and rowers are.
They’re still following the long-held belief that doing steady state cardio – jogging on the treadmill or taking it steady on the bike while watching TV – is the best way to melt fat off your body. It isn’t.
The above is known in the industry as LISS (low intensity steady state cardio). Instead, you want to be doing some HIIT: High Intensity Interval Training (similar to the people in the above photo).
You can still stay in the cardio machine area if you want, but you’ll want to use the machines in a varied way: for example, if you’re using the rowing machine or the bike then you’ll be doing some fast actions followed by some slower ones, interval style.
Lower intensity cardio burns fewer calories than HIIT. For fat loss you want to burn extra calories, so choose HIIT.
Now, there isn’t anything wrong with doing some low intensity cardio like going for a walk or having a gentle jog. It’ll help improve your cardio vascular activity and help you open up your breathing, as well as increase your overall activity levels, but it isn’t going to help you burn as many calories.
5. No Carbs Before Training
Don’t eat carbohydrates before training (pre-workout).
They relax your body and chill you out (by producing serotonin). That doesn’t really make sense if you want your body to perform when you’re there working hard during a fitness session.
But, you do want your body and mind to be relaxing and repairing after you’ve trained in the gym.
So, after your workout (because that’s when you’ve earned them) have some. Just keep in mind not to overdo it with eating those carbs though: keep moderation in mind.
Tips To Help You Lose Weight
There you have it. Five easily implementable tips to help you burn fat and lose weight.
Now, there are many other things that go into getting the body shape you’ve always wanted in life, but that usually takes an individual approach.
If you’re serious about supercharging your motivation and looking great in the mirror then take a look at our bespoke personal training service page, and get booked in for a consultation with me.
