Believe it or not, losing a little or a lot of fat involves pretty much the exact same concept – consistent dieting coupled with cardiovascular exercise and weight training. This is how the professionals do it, and it works. If you’re overweight, you might be hesitant to start a weight training program, but the benefits far outweigh any reservations you might have.
Weight training
It enhances your fat loss by increasing your muscle mass and more muscle means more calories burned (faster metabolism). It also it gives your skin a more tone, tight appearance, lowers your blood pressure, strengthens your bones, improves your agility, increases your flexibility, strengthens your immune system and gives you more energy and a brighter outlook on life.
If you’ve got a high amount of body fat, or you’ve not been able to successfully lose fat, you should think about looking for a complete, well-rounded program which not only focuses on dieting, but also includes adequate cardiovascular activity and weight training. If you’re already very muscular, and you just want lose a little body fat, then a fat loss program that includes regular cardiovascular activity and weight training is great for you.
What to do?
The best way to get ripped and maintain as much muscle as you can is to diet slowly. The reality is, once you’re on a low calorie diet, your body prefers to use muscle tissue for fuel rather than excess body fat. So, the slower you lose weight, the more likely you’re losing fat and not muscle. Ideally, you should aim to lose no more than 1lb – 1.5 lbs per week that is it. If you’re obese, then you should try to get rid of no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week. Any more than that and you’re sacrificing muscle.
Women do tend to lose fat at a slower rate than men, but do not let this dissuade you. Women simply store fat more efficiently than men because it is needed during and after pregnancy. As your body fat levels drop, you’ll notice that the fat loss comes off in reverse of how it had been put on. So, the most recent fat gains will come off first, while the old fat that’s been there for a while will take the longest to lose.
Keep in Mind
The most difficult fat to lose usually centers around the waist, belly and lower back areas for men, and the upper thigh and buttocks, area for women. The fat in these areas are the most difficult to completely eliminate. This sort of fat is difficult to lose because the low blood flow in these areas hinders the fat mobilization. So, if the fat can not be transferred into the bloodstream to be used as fuel, those love handles will never go away.
That’s why thermogenic supplements help to improve fat loss – they increase circulation into these hard to reach areas and mobilize the stubborn fat. Remember that you can’t spot reduce! What I mean by this is that you can not pick and choose the areas that you want to drop the fat and do exercises that work those areas expecting the fat to just magically disappear in those areas.
Your body doesn’t work like that. The only way to reduce the quantity of fat in certain key areas is by lowering your total body fat levels. As you lose fat, it is going to come off all over your body, not just in certain areas. If you follow a complete diet and weight training program for at least 12 weeks, you will start to see dramatic changes occurring with your body, and I’m not just talking about the obvious physical changes, I’m also talking about the psychological and physiological alterations.
Lower Body Fat
You can expect lower body fat (of course), increased muscle mass, increased metabolism, increased sense of well-being, more energy, lower bad cholesterol level, increased good cholesterol level, decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, deeper more restful sleep and most important, higher self-confidence. A calorie restrictive diet, which requires you to consume no less than 12x and no more than 15x your LEAN bodyweight in calories.
Regular cardiovascular activity for at least 30-45 minutes 3-4 times each week. Some recommend a moderate pace while other recommend a vigorous pace — it does not really matter as long as you’re exercising. Supplementing your diet with vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Vitamin C, L-glutamine, and a good multi vitamin are the bare essentials. Adequate dietary fat, including high amounts of Essential Fatty Acids (Omega-6 and Omega-3). Regularly monitor your progress. If you don’t monitor your progress you won’t know whether your diet plan is working! Looking in the mirror or just relying on the scale isn’t adequate. It will let you understand exactly if what you’re doing is working.
Final Tip
Finally, be certain the program you decide on is compatible with your lifestyle and schedule. You can have the best program in the world, but in the event you can’t implement it then it’s worthless. There are thousands of fat loss diets and workouts that will work, but the tricky part is finding one that is right for you and the specifics of your diet and schedule restraints.
