Queries like the one in you read in the heading would have been laughed at if this was the 19th or 20th century. But times have changed. Physical health’s collaboration with nutritional sciences has given birth to an entirely new discipline. Studies and researches tell us that it hoping for an accelerated weight loss is within the realms of reality. The findings of studies and experiences of professional athletes have led to the discovery of some amazing ways to speed up your weight loss and burn more fat than you are currently melting in the gym. In today’s discussion, we are going to talk about such ten methods that will help you for sure if you are looking to shed some weight and fat. One of them ought to work!
So, without further ado, let us begin!
1- Get your act together
The warning was a bit cryptic so let us decode the meaning as well. If you are at it for some time now, chances are highly probable that you have tried a lot of weight losing techniques but have never complimented them with any strength-building activities. So, it is about time you get your act together and focus on strength-building exercises as well. Top of the charts is, of course, lifting dumbbells and weight bars. Why strength training must be a part of your training program even when the major focus is on cardio? There are plenty of reasons for that.
Firstly, you are losing weight through your cardio but you still need to do something about that muscle mass you have accumulated after months of hard work. With the help of strength training, you can still preserve your muscle mass. Your effort won’t be evaporated through sweat! Secondly, since strength training is preserving your muscle mass, your metabolism will improve automatically. Hence, there is a greater chance to burn calories. Sometimes, you will burn calories while sitting on a couch! And thirdly, don’t you want a well-toned physique? For gym geeks, it is strong over skinny any day!
2- Increase protein intake
This isn’t even a tip, this is purely basic stuff. But again, we must explain the science behind this. Linking to the previous point, if you are losing weight, it follows logically that you must do everything you can to preserve your muscle mass. Diet is a major consideration in this debate. If you are aiming to shed weight and burn some fat, you must be prepared to eat calories in a quantity that is lesser than what your body is capable of burning. Complicated stuff but if you read it twice, the logic of this will dawn on you in a matter of minutes. Ok so coming back to the point about muscle mass, one way of preserving it is to enrich your diet with proteins. This has a twofold advantage: Not only are you burning more calories than ever but you also amp up the metabolic rate. Another important fact to be considered in this regard is the satiety value that is associated with proteins. Satiety value, in simpler terms, is the feeling of satisfaction after having a meal. Proteins surpass other food items quite comfortably in this index.
3- Sleep well
This shouldn’t even be a debate. But we have to talk about this because of a lot of enthusiastic gym geeks. We don’t know if you are one of them, but some people have a 9-5 gym and then hit another workout session at night. That is just a freak! But from a medical point of view, this is an incredibly dangerous habit as well. The human body isn’t a machine that can be operated without rest. It needs rest. And if you are hitting the gym despite being exhausted because of all the strenuous workout, this is just overkill. In the context of this discussion, it is even more important that you get a good sleep if you want to burn your fat. This is an interesting aspect, so let us explain it in detail.
If you aren’t sleeping, you are bound to have some cravings. This is natural and happens courtesy the hunger hormones. So explain this to us. If you are going to have midnight snacks and sugar-loaded desserts, how on earth do you expect to lose that body fat that has given you nightmares? How much should you sleep? Well, the ideal time is somewhere between 6-7 hours but you can customize your timetable as per your wish.
4- Know your fat better
This sounds weird but this is yet another aspect of this discussion that you are likely to find interesting. Let us ask you a question: what do you think about fat? What we want to know here is your perception of fat. Is it a cringe word for you or are you ok with it? Human psychology plays an important role in framing opinion and we live in cultures where fat doesn’t have a very outstanding reputation. Without going into a sociological context, this perception needs to change soon. NOT ALL FAT IS BAD. You need body fat for existence. It is as simple as that. Let us explain the importance of fat differently.
Suppose you put a blanket ban on fat intake. No lipids, simple or conjugated, saturated, or unsaturated find their way into your metabolic system. Have you thought about the consequences? They will be drastic. Your skin is likely to become dry as well as hair will turn coarse. Your digestive system will take a hit as well but most importantly, it is the endocrinal system that will be in a state of imbalance. Hence, a decent portion of your calories must come from fat as well.
5- Increase fiber intake
Fiber’s role in an athlete’s life is as important as you can imagine. The same follows for those who are trying to shed some of their body weight and fat. The weird thing about fiber is that your body cannot digest it but we still eat it and some of us eat it plenty. How is it digested? Well, it is a long story involving a few friendly bacteria living peacefully in our gut that we are thankful for but they are not a part of this discussion. For those who think fiber is overrated, let us reiterate the good things about fiber. For one, it has a great satiety value. Again, if you don’t feel satisfied after a fatty meal, you are likely to treat yourself with second or even third helpings. So, those who have fiber-rich meals are less likely to crave for more. This ultimately translates into low body fat. Also, since the bacteria that help us digest cellulose, the principal molecule found in fiber, becomes active, it accelerates the metabolic processes in our body as well.
6- Are you eating enough whole foods?
The meals of the modern-day have been heavily altered from what they used to be some decades ago. Now, there isn’t one meal in a day at least, which doesn’t feature processed foods. We purse our lips on the subject! No, what concerns is the domination of processed foods over the whole foods. Folks, if you aren’t going to let your diet become more organic, how do you expect to lose weight after gobbling up processed stuff all day and all night? It makes no sense. The packaged food that you are consuming is nowhere near the natural, whole foods with regards to nutrient content and freshness. Whole foods are on a whole different level! Legumes and fruits are likely to help you in your cause of losing fat rather than some tin you picked at your nearest store. Yes, we are old school and there is nothing wrong with that!
7- What about that cardio?
Ah, now there is going to be a clash of priorities here. Strength training v Cardio training. Which one is for you if you want to lose weight and melt some fat? Of course, the answer is strength training but there are some important points to consider in this regard. One, while you can’t be running for hours to lose fat, there is still some sort of cardio exercise that you need to busy yourself with. Second, why don’t you try High-Intensity Interval Training Cardio? If you haven’t heard about this type of cardio, let us introduce you to HIIT cardio.
Simply speaking, HIIT cardio is doing strenuous exercises that take a lot out of you for a short period. Then, you don’t repeat the exercise but take a rest much longer than the usual ones you take during a workout session. Believe it or not, you burn a great amount of fat if you follow this cardio protocol.
8- Allow yourself some cheat days
Ok so there might be a scientific side to all of this chatter about cheat days but we are going to talk from a purely psychological point of view here. When you adopt and adopt a training program that will alter your physique, you consider some of the food items as forbidden fruit. It takes a lot to give up on your favorite burgers or doughnuts, right? But once you discard such items that once made you happy, you begin to become annoyed or irritated. This is because you miss stuff that made you happy once! We are growing sentimental here but trust us, this is how this works.
So, what should you do to prevent yourself from becoming all moody and depressed? The answer is to cheat days. Allow your body and mind a treat after a while. We know you will feel guilty when you break the code but hey, you earned it! And in any case, you can take out a calculator and do some math as well. We are sure that the calorie intake wouldn’t be disturbed by a huge number.
9- Supplements can help you
There are some amazing fat loss supplements available in the market that can do their magic. If you are putting in all of your efforts and the results are disappointing, you can try these supplements as well. Sometimes, the combination can do wonders as well. What are some of the supplements that you can try? Well, the top of the charts is our old friend caffeine. The fat-burning properties of caffeine make it one of the most suitable candidates but then there is a relatively new product called Yohimbe as well. The extract has been used for centuries but its role in accelerating weight loss has gathered more popularity in recent times. There are some other supplements as well that is supposed to do the job as well, you can look them up if this topic intrigues you.
10- Patience is a virtue
Keep yourself reminding that it is not magic that you are expecting to do. Heck, pulling a rabbit out of a hat seems to be much easier a job than losing fat for some of us. By no means is it going to be easy. This will be a feat that you will have to accomplish by sweating for hours as you work on different aspects of your body. So our advice is: Be of the stout heart as the worse is yet to come if you are just beginning today!
Conclusion
Well folks, as you can guess from our tone, the time has come for us to bid you farewell. We wish we could add a few more tips here but the limitations of time and space force us to conclude this discussion here. Have you learned something new? If your answer is yes, that is all that matters. Also, again, we must reiterate the fact that you need to be patient when you follow any of the innovative ways that we have discussed in this article. Fat is a reality, it ain’t going to disappear in one night. But if you are persistent and hang in there, success is going to be all yours!
