THE FAT LOSS RECIPE
"How to burn fat"
Preparation time: 6 - 12 months
Ingredients
Hard work
Dedication
Will power
4 x per week! Rest
Cooking Instructions
One of the age old questions "what's the
best way to loose weight?" is slowly
changing. Continually now I am asked
"I want to be healthier, how do I change my body shape" and "what's the best way to
reduce body fat?"
Now for the answer that some are not going to like; the best fat burner is increased
muscle mass. The fact is that increased muscle mass is the best, safest and in my
mind the only true way to 'burn fat'.
Fat just sits on your body taking up space because fat is not metabolically active.
Muscle weighs more than fat, but takes up less space and so you will be smaller and
look thinner if you have more muscle than fat. Also, muscle is metabolically active,
which means it will help you burn more calories even when you are at rest.
Many women are unsure about the incorporation of weights into a workout and
instead opt for pounding out the miles on a treadmill, cross trainer or other fat
burning program working at a nice and easy 60% of their max heart rate for hours on
end. I am sure for the right person this will have it's benefits and any cardiovascular
activity should not be written off, hey I'm a triathlete so I am well aware of the
benefits of cardiovascular activity! However if you are concerned that weights will
cause you to become a pumped up manly beast please think again as this is not the
case. Testosterone levels in women are much lower than in men and believe me you
have to work seriously hard to get that big. There are several effective methods that you can incorporate into your workout
program from circuit training, crossfit, Insanity and PX90, other HIIT and TABATA
type workouts or just a basic weights program at your local gym. To make it happen
you don't need a lot of time 30 mins will do or in some cases a lot less, it is more
about the intensity, however in order to make a change you do need to work for it.
There is no quick fix but this does stand the chance to be life changing. Now when I
say 4 times per week that is how often you should be exercising, resistance training
does not need to make up all of that but at least half. Rest is equally important a recent study by Penev et al showed significant reductions
in fat loss through sleep deprivation. Professor Penev added "if your goal is to loose
fat, skipping sleep is like poking sticks in your bicycle wheels." it seems we should be
getting a minimum of 7 hours sleep with an optimum rest time of 9 hours each
evening. Sleep retention can make you feel hungry and dramatically reduce fat loss,
so get plenty of rest.
So to get healthy start resistance work, join a gym, get a personal trainer or exercise
at home. Do it safely, get some professional help if you are not sure, work hard,
above all enjoy it and get plenty of rest!