Top Tips To Burn Fat
Nutrition is vitally important for losing weight. The right nutritional plan partnered with a tailored exercise programme will give you the tools to achieve the goal to loose weight.
If your goal is to loose weight – ideally you will need to loose body fat. Following is a simple 8 part guidance plan for you to combine with a tailored cardiovascular and strength training programme which your fitness instructor can produce for you.
Before you undertake any weight loss management you should contact your GP.
Calorie Calculation
A key to any weight loss programme is to roughly calculate your calorific requirements. Everybody has varying ones dependant on age activity levels and gender. But once you know how many calories your body requires a day you have a good benchmark to work to.
Step 1 – Calculate your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR)
To calculate your daily(RMR) take your weight in KG and use the correct formula suited to yourself in the table below.
Age Men Women
10-18 Weight KG x 17.5 + 651 Weight KG x 12.2 + 746
19-30 Weight KG x 15.3 + 679 Weight KG x 14.7 + 496
31-60 Weight KG x 11.6 + 879 Weight KG x 8.7 + 829
Step 2 – Calculate your daily energy expenditure (Without Exercise) by taking the (RMR) result from step one and multiplying it with the figure that suits you from the list below;
If you are sedentary – find you are sat most of the day or just standing. RMR x 1.4
If you are moderately active – find you take regular walks throughout the day, climb stairs or equivalent. RMR x 1.7
If you are very active throughout the day. RMR x 2.0
Once you have completed the calculation you have your basic calorific requirements for a single day – but remember this does not include formal exercise. Regular exercise will be an additional calorie requirement for your body over and above the figure you have calculated.
With the figure you have now calculated you can plan your diet accordingly. Use the nutritional information on food packets and ensure you eat a well balanced varied diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables! An important point is to remember that Fat requirements should only make up around 15 - 30% of your total calorific (not weight) intake.
Eight Part Guide to Fat Burning >>
Part 1
Eat Small Meals Frequently
When you eat frequently throughout the day, the body is encouraged to use the calories more efficiently as opposed to storing them as body fat. Ideally you should aim between 4 and 7 small meals balanced throughout the day. This frequent eating will increase your metabolic rate as every time you eat a meal your body has to use calories to digest and metabolise the food. Eating frequently helps you to avoid hunger pangs and keep blood glucose levels even. But remember keep these meals small!
Part 2
Reduce your calories by 15%
A 15% reduction in calories is only a small reduction and will seem very reasonable compared to some diets. However this reduction will produce a lasting success because it minimises any drops in your metabolic rate and allows you to retain your lean muscle tissue.
The problem with drastically cutting calories is that your metabolic rate slows. In effect your body converts to a starvation state and as such your body starts to stockpile fat and calories rather than burning them for energy – in essence it then becomes harder and harder for your body to burn fat. Your Glycogen stores (readily available carbohydrate fuel stored in your muscles, liver and blood) also quickly deplete causing fatigue low energy levels and hunger pangs. Cutting your total calories by 15% will produce a steady fat loss and you should expect to loose 0.5 – 1kg a week which is a safe fat loss.
Part 3
Fats aren’t all bad!
Do not cut out all fats from your diet. Some fats such as the omega oils are vital for good health. They also provide the crucial tools to help you burn fat more efficiently. Fish oils, olives, avocados and nuts all contain good quantities of these oils.
Keep your fat intake to 15 – 20% of your total calories, which is at the lower end of the 15 – 30% range by reducing the intake of fats your body doesn’t need. Avoid saturated fats which are found in red meats (except lean – i.e. turkey), full fat dairy products, butter, cakes, biscuits and chocolate. Also avoid hydrogenated vegetable fats i.e. margarine spreads, cakes biscuits and pastries.
Calories taken into you or body through fat can be far more easily stored as body fat than any other nutrient. Your body can far more efficiently store fat as fat in the body and would rather do this than convert protein or carbohydrate to fat. So avoid taking in high levels of fatty foods!
Part 4
Time Your Eating
To increase fat burning during exercise, avoid high intakes of carbohydrate within 3 hours prior to your workout. If you consume pre-workout carbohydrate (energy drinks, pasta, potatoes, rice, sugary food etc...), the muscles will burn carbohydrate as opposed to fat.
Carbohydrate inhibits fat burning as it raises insulin levels, this encourages the body to store fat rather than to fat burn. By exercising without a pre-workout carbohydrate intake you force the body to dip into its fat stores.
Another to tip is to leave at least 1 to 2 hours before eating and this will increased the residual fat burning effect of exercise - following exercise your body starts to replensish its energy stores, and after exercise its in an ideal fat burning state, so the body can readily draw on its fat stores to do this. However if you take in a meal with a carbohydrates the body will simply use this to replenish itself.
Part 5
Bulk up on Protein
Protein has the highest thermic effect of all nutrients. When you consume protein, about 20 – 25% of calories are lost to its own metabolism (intake and use in the body) and the rise in body temperature it causes.
Protein also has the ability to curb the appetite. It can switch off hunger and give a greater feeling of meal-satisfaction – thus alleviating hunger pangs.
Part 6
Fill Out Your Meals
Make your diet filling and satisfying by selecting those foods with high levels of water and fibre. Take a drink with your meal (water is favorite!) this will fill you further and assists in digestion – avoid alcoholic drinks (not just with meals but in general!), as alcohol provides a vast amount of empty calories and increases the bodies insulin levels putting your body into a fat storing mode.
Eat plenty of Fruit and Vegetables, they are generally low in calories and give you an abundance of vitamin, minerals and fibre whilst filling you up.
Include other fibre rich foods such as grains and beans. Fibre slows the stomach emptying making you feel full for longer and slows the absorption of carbohydrates into the blood giving a slower, gradual blood glucose rise.
Part 7
Don’t Cut The Carb’s
If you limit your carbohydrate intake too much you will be left feeling tired and drained – as such you will struggle to exercise. When carbohydrate is scarce, the muscles will convert protein into energy and this will cause a breakdown in lean muscle mass – something to be avoided. A very rough guide for carbohydrate intake varies between 250g – 450g daily dependant on sex, body weight and your exercise programme.
You should aim to consume most of your carbohydrates early in the day. And plan low Glycemic Index (GI) meals (pasta, pulses, rice, potatoes, starchy foods) these will give your body a slow release of energy and maintain blood glucose levels for several hours. Sugary foods have a high (GI) so avoid too much of these.
Part 8
Have a Treat
Just once a week – be strict! Allow yourself anything you like. This will keep cravings for unhealthy foods at bay and keep you on track for the rest of the time. Having a treat will relieve feelings of deprivation and means that you won’t get caught in the yo-yo diet spiral that defeats many dieters.
