To Lose Body Fat

A very frequently asked question in the realm of weight loss is how to lose stomach fat. The first thing you need to know however is that it is nearly impossible to “spot reduce”, that is isolate fat reduction to one specific region of the body. In fact numerous studies have shown that trying to lose body fat in one specific area simply does not work.  You can build muscle in a target region but that will not reduce fat.   Aside from taking drastic measures such as surgery, fat reduction must be done to the body as a whole.

Fat on the stomach is considered to be the worst kind of fat when it comes to your health. Having excess belly fat greatly raises the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and even certain cancers.  The way to lose this fat however is not by doing a hundred sit-ups each day or by undergoing dangerous surgeries. The best way to lose belly fat for most people is with a natural, common sense approach using moderate levels of exercise, portion control, and most importantly, nutrition.

Exercise and Strength Training
When it comes to losing belly fat there are the right kinds of exercises and the wrong kinds. For instance, stomach crunches are great for building your ab muscles but are certainly not how to lose stomach fat. Yes, they will strengthen the muscles in your stomach and may burn a slight amount of the overall fat in your body but you aren’t likely see any visible difference in your stomach.

Instead, aerobic exercise like jogging or brisk walking is what’s truly going to burn fat, especially when coupled with proper nutrition.  Aim to incorporate 3 to 4 workouts per week for at least 30 minutes each.

Weight training exercises will not only build muscle but can also help burn fat. The main reason for this is that a good weight training regimen will increase the metabolism and your metabolism is what controls the rate at which your body can burn fat even while at rest.  Weight training that includes free weights three times a week combined with an aerobic workout routine can start producing results very quickly.

Nutrition
Even with a good strength training routine you won’t likely lose stomach fat if you consistently eat the wrong foods. In fact out of all the elements, proper nutrition is the most important factor when it comes to losing body fat.  By following the below tips for healthy eating you will be well on your way to losing that belly fat.

1. Stop eating junk food – Stop buying and eating things like sweets, chips, and fast food. Junk food is well named; it really is junk for your body.  Junk food typically contains high amounts of sugar and simple carbohydrates with little or no nutritional value.

2. Don’t eat processed foods. To build more muscle and lose more fat, 95% of your daily diet should be made up of whole unprocessed foods that are loaded with fiber and vitamins.  Now processed foods can often be disguised as unprocessed foods so if you want to be sure you’re eating the real thing, cook your own meals from scratch <gasp!> .  Unprocessed foods include things like:

· Proteins – skim milk, poultry, meat, fish, egg whites, cottage cheese
· Vegetables – spinach, broccoli, salad, cabbage
· Fruits (in limited quantities) – oranges, bananas, apples, pineapple
· Monounsaturated Fats – olive oil, fish oil, nuts
· Complex Carbohydrates – brown rice, oats, whole grain pasta

The irony is when you eat healthy foods you can actually get away with eating more especially if you are sticking to a regular exercise plan.

Staying Committed
The best way to stay motivated and committed to your fat loss goal is to track your progress. You can do this by measuring your waist every two weeks and by measuring your body fat percentage with either body fat calipers or a decent body fat scale. As you start to get healthier and burn fat, your waist should shrink noticeably and your clothes will fit better. Remember, success breeds success. If you see your diet plan starting to work, it will be much easier to keep it up so measure your progress but don’t be discouraged if you don’t see results instantly.  It may take as much as 6 weeks before you start to see an improvement but make no mistake you will see results if you stick to the plan.

Most people want to reduce body fat so that they look better and feel better about themselves. This is a perfectly fine motive to have but might I suggest a better one? Aim to lose body fat for better overall health. Yes it would be nice to look thin and sculpted but what’s really important here is to be in good health so that you can better enjoy your life and be a good role model to those around you, whether it be your kids, spouse, friends or oven coworkers.

Now before even thinking of how to reduce weight, it is important a person realize that the extra pounds did not happen overnight, and likewise will take some time to get rid of. Fad dieting or other extreme weight loss tricks that claim to reduce weight fast are unhealthy and should be avoided. Instead it is much better to change your exercise and diet habits, in other words your lifestyle. A doctor or nutritionist can help you set a healthy weight goal. Below are a few suggestions of how to reduce body fat.

Increase Water Intake
As the human body ages, the metabolism slows down. One of the easiest but often most overlooked steps in losing body fat is water consumption. Water helps the body shed excess pounds and fat by keeping the body hydrated, and thus increasing the metabolism. The faster a person’s metabolism is functioning, the easier it is to reduce fat.

Many health experts recommend a person drink at least 64 ounces of water everyday just to stay hydrated. A person who is overweight will probably need to exceed the recommended guidelines slightly if they want to give their metabolism a healthy boost. Experts recommend a person should drink about 1 ounce of water for every two pounds. This would mean if a person weighed 150 pounds he/she would need to drink 75 ounces of water.

As a side benefit, water can also make a person feel full and less hungry. The stomach does not differentiate between liquid or solids so a good recommendation is to drink a glass or two of water before every meal. This habit fills the stomach, making less room for solid foods and minimizing the risk of overeating.

Eat More Often
It may sound counter-intuitive but eating more often, actually helps you to reduce weight. How can this be? Simple. Eating five to six smaller meals a day keeps the metabolism high throughout the entire day which ends up burning more calories overall than consuming 3 larger meals. Some people think skipping meals helps to lose weight fast but in fact the opposite is true. By skipping meals, you put your body into “starvation mode” which absolutely kills your metabolism.

Cut High Fat and High Sugar Foods
Foods that are deep fried or high in sugar must be eliminated or drastically limited. Alcohol should also be cut back or completely removed from the diet though one glass of wine each day is probably fine. A person can help reduce the amount of body fat by making healthier food choices. For example, opting for a juicy apple to satisfy a sweet craving is so much better for your body thank chowing down on a piece of cake. Teas, especially green tea, black coffee (no sugar), and good ole fashioned water are great substitutions for pop and fruit juices. The last thing you need when trying lose fat is to drink high concentrations of sugar.

Regular Cardio Exercise Regimen
Lastly, exercise is a key ingredient to fat loss since it boosts your metabolism and keeps it high throughout the day. Cardio workouts especially are an ideal way to shed the extra fat. A 30-minute cardio workout three times a week is a good starting point, but if a person has the time and energy it is best to aim for four 45-minute workouts per week. Of course simply walking an hour a day can also shed body fat surprisingly well so if regular cardio workouts are not an option, walking 60 minutes a day can be just as effective.

If you’re wanting to know how to lose body fat but aren’t sure where to start, you’re not alone. Millions of Americans and people all over the world struggle with their weight every day. However, whether you are clinically obese or just overweight, losing body fat is actually not that complicated if you follow some basic fundamental rules.

Drink More Water
Firstly, you really need to considering drinking more water. It may sound simple but drinking enough water is vital in order to lose body fat and excess weight. Aim to drink at least 8 to 12 glasses of water throughout the day.  Without enough water your body will become dehydrated and your digestive system will not work as efficiently, resulting in weight gain.  That’s why it play such a vital role in shedding the fat. Just don’t be tempted to substitute juice or soda pop for water as the last thing your body needs is extra sugar running through your blood stream.

Eat Well
Proper nutrition is also key to fat loss. You need to eat right and when I say that I mean eating “real” food like fish, chicken, whole grains, and lots of vegetables (at least 5-6 servings per day). Eating enough vegetables is most important for nutrition, especially dark colored veggies, like broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, and kale. Avoid deep fried food and fast food in general. As for fruit, eating one or two pieces of fruit a day is okay but avoid drinking fruit juices; the last thing you need in your system, especially when trying to lose weight, is all that extra sugar.  Lastly, it probably goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway to be sure) that soda pop is definitely out as well for the same reasons.

Get Up and Move
Exercise in general will always help you lose weight if not simply for the fact that it burns calories and as most people know, if you burn more calories than you take in you’ll lose weight over time.  Exercise however also has many other benefits as well for your body such increasing flexibility and even reducing stress.  This is important because stress can actually prevent you from losing fat as it’s been proven to increase food cravings, especially empty carbohydrates, the worst kind.  As far as exercise to burn body fat, a low to medium cardiovascular workout such as a brisk walk or slow jog is probably the most effective exercise for shedding fat.

Build Muscle Mass
Finally, but equally important, you need to start building muscle mass. I’m not saying you need to become a bodybuilder but increasing your muscle mass through strength training will actually start to change your body’s metabolism and will as a result help you burn more fat even while at rest.  Using free weights is probably the most popular form of strength training as it’s both simple and effective.

Knowing how to lose body fat is the first step in your journey towards fat loss but now you need to act.  May today be the day you get started and change your body for good!

When trying to lose weight, you may wonder if there is a “Lose body fat diet” that you can follow and how much does it matter what types of food you eat when trying to burn fat?  Well, you may be surprised to know that even more than exercise, the largest factor in weight loss and especially with body fat loss is proper nutrition.

Proper nutrition is just so vital as this is what will be feeding your muscles as they grow and your fat is burned.  Without eating the right foods, your muscles will starve and you’ll find yourself back to where you started.

Here’s a great list of foods that should be part of your fat burning diet:

Skim Milk, which contains very little fat yet loaded with calcium acts as a metabolic trigger, boosting your metabolism.  Many studies have shown that those who daily consume low fat dairy products such as skim milk and low fat yogurt burn twice as much fat as those who don’t.

Whole grains such as whole grain cereal and whole grain bread are excellent sources of fiber and complex carbohydrates which help keep insulin levels low and your metabolism high.  You might have heard a lot of talk about how carbs are keeping you fat but this is not true at all.  Your body needs carbohydrates to function normally and starving your body of carbohydrates is no way to lose weight.  What you should stay away from are the processed carbs such as white bread.

Fish such as salmon and albacore tuna is probably the best meat for your body.  Not only is it highly rich in protein but is also a great source of Omega-3 fatty acids.  These fatty acids help keep your leptin hormonal levels down which as a result increases your calorie burn rate.

Dark colored vegetables such as tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, peppers, and asparagus are extremely healthy for your body especially if they are eaten raw or lightly steamed.  Dark colored veggies particularly contain large amounts of vitamins and minerals and vegetables are low in calories and high in fiber; the best combination for burning fat and feeling full.

These foods should definitely help you shed fat but instead of having a preset lose body fat diet, use the foods listed above as well as other fat burning foods and prepare yourself a variety of meals each day.  If you need ideas there are lots of great fat burning cookbooks you can buy.  The goal here is to change the way you eat so that it becomes part of your healthy lifestyle and no longer a “diet”.