How To Lose Body Fat: 5 Do's & 5 Don'ts

12/09/2021

Let's get lean, shall we?

In this blog post, I am going to share with you MY PERSONAL TOP 5 do's and don't's of burning extra body-fat, without eating boring food and camping out at the gym!

Let's dig right in with my back-to-basics boot camp!

Getting leaner is as hard or as simple as we make it.

The simple side looks like this...

  • increase energy output (exercise)
  • decrease energy input (food)
  • do both of those within 'balance'

The foundational things that most of us have heard many times are the things that tend to fall by the wayside when life gets busy. Yet these simple tasks, repeated daily makes the magic happen!

Since 'checklists' are life... I've designed a top 5 DO's and DON'Ts

5 DO's

  1. Water
  2. Eat Real Food
  3. Fasted Cardio or HIIT training
  4. Cut Complex Carbohydrates @ 2pm
  5. Lift Weights

5 DON'T's

  1. Drink fru-fru drinks
  2. Juice Cleanse
  3. Overdo Cardio
  4. Over restrict calories
  5. Skip Sleep

Let's Dive Deeper....

WATER:

Water is the primary essence of life! Most of our bodies are made of water. Think of water as your bodies cleaning agent. Water helps to move food, blood, hormones, etc. thru our system. Not drinking enough clean high-quality h20 can result in weight gain as 'sludge' builds up in our systems.

How much water should you drink? The easy rule is half of your body weight in ounces. However, if you're 300lbs, that's unrealistic. Start with 2-3 liters and work your way up to a gallon to a gallon and a half, depending on your size.

EAT REAL FOOD:

Eat real food, not food-like substances. One downfall I troubleshoot frequently with my clients that are on the go is the amount of 'processed healthy snacks' they consume. Human-made food is low in nutrients. Also, as a general rule, if you can't pronounce the ingredient, your body doesn't easily process it!

FASTED CARDIO OR HIIT TRAINING:

Let's make our cardio minutes count! Research shows that fasted cardio is ideal because exercising in a fasted state increases both lipolysis and fat oxidation. This means your body is breaking down fat cells to use them for energy. HIIT training stands for high-intensity interval training. I like to tell my clients, it's hard, it's fast, and then it's done! HIIT has many benefits which include increasing your metabolism, lowering your resting heart rate, lowering blood pressure, and also lowering your body fat!

CUT OUT COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES AROUND 2 PM:

Unless your workout is late in the day, go ahead and eat your last complex carbohydrate around 2 pm. Veggies are fine of course, but nothing complex after 2. What this does is allow your body the opportunity to use up the carbs you've eaten so far that day, so that nothing is left to store at the end of the day when you lay down to sleep.

LIFT WEIGHTS:

Don't make the mistake of becoming a cardio queen. Here's how this works. Cardio workouts typically burn more calories than weight lifting, BUT your metabolism will stay elevated longer after lifting. Also, building muscle tone or mass helps your body burn 4x more calories at rest than body fat does.

DON'TS

FRU-FRU DRINKS:

If you're focused on fat loss the stop it already with the fun drinks. Lemme explain, the sugar-free fat-free latte from Starbucks still has plenty of calories and loads of chemicals. You're favorite kombucha, or adaptogenic herbal ashwagandha drink from your local health store is also loaded in sugar and calories. While yes, they may have their health benefits, they don't help with your fat loss journey.

JUICE CLEANSE:

Oh, me, oh my. While juice cleanses have nutritional value for sure, they're loaded in sugar. No one ever sits down and eats 5 oranges, 2 apples, 10 stalks of celery, and 2 lemons at one sitting. It's too much, and so is the sugar from that juice. Eat the fruits and veggies, this ensures that you won't overdose on the sugar and calorie intake and you will benefit from the fiber.

OVERDO CARDIO:

Cardio does help burn fat, however, our metabolisms quickly go back to normal. Too much cardio actually leads to muscle loss. The more muscle you lose the slower your metabolism goes.

OVERRESTRICT CALORIES:

Too few calories won't help you burn body fat. If you aren't giving yourself the macronutrients that your body needs it will steal them from your muscle tissue, and your body will downgrade your metabolism.

SKIP SLEEP:

If you're trying to burn body fat then you better take your sleep schedule seriously. The hormones leptin and ghrelin that control hunger and stress regulate themselves while we sleep. Pay attention to the nights you don't get enough sleep, you will see that you are hungrier the following day.

Have BIG goals, but not sure where to start? Check out our 7 Day Food & Fitness Fix


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