Sunday, June 29, 2008

Burning the Fat Away - 6 Easy Tips

A key topic everyone wants to know about, especially come summer time when we all go to the beach to have fun and show off the hard work (or not so hard work) we put into our bodies.

Tip #1: Cut out the Fast Food
  • Don't eat anything from fast food restaurants, this includes pizza places such as Pizza Hut or Dominoes. These foods are packed with saturated fats which just help that spare tire grow.

Tip #2: Drink Lots of Water

  • Water helps to flush your system. Drinking a lot of it also helps take some work off the kidney's and liver allowing them to be more productive in turning glycogen into energy for your body.
  • A general rule of thumb it to take your weight and multiply it by .55, that is how many ounces of water you should get a day.

Tip #3: Eat Protein

  • Eat lean meats such as chicken, turkey, and fish. Don't forget to throw in some lean red meats they have some great amino acids that white meats or fish won't give you! Protein also takes a lot of calories to burn, so while you are taking in calories from the meat you are also burning some processing it.

Tip #4: Watch Your Carbs

  • While carbs are very tasty they can be stored as glycogen (fat) when they are not needed. Only eat carbs before and after you need them, such as a running or lifting session. Never and I repeat never eat them before bed, you body does not need carbs while sleeping so it will just store them.

Tip #5: Lift Weights

  • Weightlifting has been proven to burn calories during and even after the workout for up to 90 hours. Weight training helps to build strength, endurance, improve metabolism, and decrease stress.
  • Ladies weightlifting will never make you as big as the guys because you do not have enough testosterone in your systems so don't be afraid to do the same exercises as guys.

Tip #6: Cardio

  • We all hate cardio, its boring, it sucks, it takes too long. But it is essential to burning fat.
  • The best way to burn fat is in your 60-70% of your Heart Rate Max zone.
  • Your Max Heart Rate is calculated by (220 - your age - your resting Heart Rate), multiply this by 60% or 70% to get your target heart rate for your cardio.
  • Remember to do only 25-30mins of cardio, beyond that you might start burning more muscle than fat.

Follow those 6 easy tips and eat healthy and you will notice an improvement in no time!

Return: Busy Life

After a busy month, (family matters, full time job, and staying in shape) I have finally gotten time to come back and blog. This should be a reminder to all of you that no matter how busy you are you should be able to set aside time for yourself to stay fit and healthy.

In the upcoming posts I plan to focus on...

- Loosing Fat
- Gaining Muscle
- The Importance of Stretching
- Key Abdominal Exercises
- Items/Food to help with training and to treat yourself to for a job well done.

Again I apologize for being away.