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.

Creatine: Know-How, Do's, & Do-Not's

Creatine, a very contested substance within the health and fitness community. Some claim it to have no benefit, others claim it to be the holy grail of supplements. This blog will hopefully get you started on your own research and even use of the product. The first thing to know however is that our bodies naturally produce creatine, however many people take it as a supplement because the body cannot produce desired amounts. The only creatine that actually gives real results however is research grade, this is called Creatine Monohydrate. Avoid at all costs any other form. Many sport scientists have concluded that creatine helps with the following.

• Gains in Fat Free Mass, including Muscle Mass


• Increase in Muscle Fiber size


• Increase in myosin (helps muscle fibers move)


• Improves Maximal strength/power


• Improves Sprint performance


• Improves performance during peak loading peroid
  

Creatine does this by loading itself up into the muscle fibers and retaining water used for cell growth & repair along with promoting the production of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) the source of energy for cells.

Creatine is a safe supplement but remember to stick to your diet and workout, if you are eating a high amount of water soluble fats then creatine will be packing in those fats along with the water. Creatine is a supplement and should be taken as one, it will not lead to any gains if you do not work out and do not eat healthily.

Omega 3's & Fat Loss

Omega 3 Fatty Acids, found predominantly in fish have been found to help with metabolizing fat stores. However this has been tested to work only when you are exercising, you cannot just take Fish Oil pills and expect to drop pounds. A blind study was done at the University of South Australia that tested what combining fish oil and exercise would do. It came up that the control group who took sunflowwer oil did not loose any weight, however the fish oil group lost and average of 1.2% body fat, this translated into a average loss of 4.4 lbs over the course of 6 weeks. These studies were done with self reported diets as well so there is an uncontrolled. While this is not a major decrease in fat it is a decrease.

Conclusion: With the addition of Omega 3 Fatty Acids to an exercise program it is possible to increase the amount of fat metabolized by the body.

How to Loose that Fat

This is every ones question these days. "How do I loose fat?" or "How do I get rid of this spare tire?". The simple answer is that you need a combined regimen of eating healthy and exercising. There are no, repeat after me, NO MAGIC FAT LOSS METHODS OR PILLS.

With that being said let us get back to the workout and eating plans. We will focus on the eating plan first, this is where a majority of your fat loss will come from. The first rule of thumb is when you wake up drink 16oz. of Water. A Swedish Research team discovered that if you do this once you wake up you will experience a 24% increase in metabolism for the first 90 minutes of your day. Now in our diet we want 40% Protein, 40% Carbs, and 20% Fats (mostly unsaturated). I will leave the calculations up to you but good foods to look into are.

Primary Foods:

1. Lean Meats, Chicken, & Fish
2. Whole Grains
3. Fresh Fruits
4. Fresh Vegetables
5. Low fat Dairy Products, remember to read the label

Foods to Avoid:

1. FAST FOOD or Restaurant Food
2. High Fat Meats
3. Bleached Grains
4. Canned or Frozen Fruits & Vegetables
5. High Fat Dairy Products
6. Anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup or High in Sugar

HOWEVER, let yourself have one "unhealthy" meal a week, this is to act as an incentive to keeping with your diet.

The workout plan is what will help you tone your body and ignite your metabolism. You will want to be doing both Cardiovascular and Muscular Loading in order to get the biggest benefit. An alternating plan of Cardio one day, Lifting the next works best. For cardio I prefer wind sprints as I get bored with distance. Here is an example windsprint routine for the first two weeks of your workout. As you progress, add reps to each set every week. By the end of the last set you should feel like you could not run another.

Cardio Workout:

1. Sprint @ 70% max speed for 60 seconds, 4 reps, rest for 180 seconds between reps
2. Sprint @ 70% max speed for 60 seconds, 3 reps, rest for 120 seconds between reps

On days that you do not do cardio you should be lifting. Since you are working your legs out the most when you run we will focus on lifting for the upper body, back, and abdominals. Here is an example workout for these muscle groups. For these exercises you should use weights that will leave you barely able to complete the last rep of the last set. Remember you can add weights to the back or abs exercises too once you become comfortable with them.

Lifting Workout:

1. Dumbbell Bench Press: 5 sets, 5reps
2. Dumbbell Flys: 5 sets, 5 reps
3. Dumbbell Curl: 5 sets, 5 reps
4. Tricep Extensions: 3 sets, 5 reps
5. Lat Pulldown Bar: 3 sets, 5 reps
6. Back Hyperextensions: 3 sets, 12 reps
7. Roman Chair Knees to Chest: 3 sets, 12 reps
8. Roman Chair Leg Lifts: 3 sets, 12 reps
9. Double Crunches: 3 sets, 15 reps

Try and Workout 6 days a week, with the 7th being your rest day. For examples

Cardio: Monday, Wed, Fri

Lifting: Tuesday, Thurs, Sat

Follow this plan and I guarantee you will see results. I have been using it for three weeks and i am already seeing great improvements.