Fat Burning Tips
Written by HL on July 5, 2008 – 4:14 pm -
Eat less calories than you burn, i know it seems very obvious, but the truth is the excess of consumed calories is still the number one reason people still fail their fat burning goals, they keep eating all day long, even if it’s only small meals, your blood will always be loaded with sugar, and your body won’t burn fat. The extreme opposite are the people who almost don’t eat, hoping to lose fat simply by eating just one soup or just one salad a day. You have to lower the calory intake, but you can’t deprive your body from the necessary nutrients, or the body will hold on to the reserves (fat) and you’ll be sick for lacking important nutrients.
Eat high quantities of protein, yes protein burns fat, protein builds muscle, and protein is essencial in every vital function of your body. The best sources are fish, white meat, eggs, and beans. Other sources are skim milk, rice, bread and soy. I distiguished theses sources because milk, rice and bread are rich in carbs, and if you want to burn fat or keep lean you should reduce or cut the carbs. The soy is a different story, there are studies who say it’s almost the best food in the world, others say soy can be dangerous, specially to men, due to the fact that soy is very rich in estrogens. If you like soy and eat soy, don’t over eat it. Also eat a lot of protein but watch the calories.
Eat healthy fats, specially the ones that are rich in Omega3, the healthy fats burn fat, that’s right they reduce the fat in the body, and they clean your arteries and veins of the unhealthy fats. In other words the HDL (high density lipids) destroy the LDL (Low density lipids). HDL is also known as the good cholesterol and LDL is the bad cholesterol. The best sources are Fish, Olive Oil, and dry fruits like nuts and others. You’ll be burning fat and taking good care of your Health.
Reduce or cut the carbs, with two exceptions, fruits and veggies, because those are the kind of carbs that won’t make you fat, all the rest, cereals, pasta, potatoes and so on should be reduced or even cut if you want your fat burning or wish to keep lean. It has to do with the insuline spike produced by some carbs. The fruits and the veggies also have the advantage of filling you up and reducing the hunger.
Drinks lots and lots and lots of water, did i tell you to drink lots of water? I’ll say it again, drinks lots of water, 3L per day should be optimal. It helps to detox your body, it helps to burn fat, it helps to lose that subcutaneous fat and water under the skin, it will keep you in flushing mode, if you’re close to getting lean, you’ll see a huge difference when you do this. The ones not so close to getting lean, keep drinking water if you want to get there. the water also helps to fill you up and reduce your will to eat.
Good luck, be healthy, be happy
Posted in Fat Burning, Health and Fitness, Nutrition |
July 5th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Nice Site layout for your blog. I am looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes
July 6th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Hi Tom
Thanks for your visit, you’re always welcome, i hope you enjoy this blog
July 8th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Hi! I just stumbled across your website via Rusty Moore’s website, Fitness Black Book. And I have been reading your articles too, and can’t wait for more! THanks so much for it. Can I ask you though a question? I don’t really like lifting weights, as it’s boring to me for some reason. But I want to get lean and mean and healthy and fit for my type of body. But I am a small 5′7″ Asian male, 145 lbs, and pretty scrawny and look more like a boy than a man. I know I need a good cardio workout about 3x per week (I’m thinking of swimming in the pool freestyle mainly or maybe HIIT running). And I know I need strength training about 2x per week. But instead of hitting the gym and weights, can I substitute these with things like pullups, situps or planks, and pushups? Any thoughts? Thanks so much, and keep up the great work!
July 8th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Hi Pat
I’m glad you liked my site. Now answering your questions, swimming is a very good idea, because swimming gives you endurance, speed and muscle, it’s a very complete sport. You can do both types of cardio swimming, yes because you can do HIIT when you swim, HIIT can be done in any type of cardio, the principles are the same. About strength training yes you don’t need to go to a gym if you don’t like, there’s no point in doing something you don’t like, i too alternate months in the gym and other months training outside the gym, i like to lift weights, but i don’t like much being in a gym. You can do a lot of bodyweight exercises that will get you very strong, and fit. You can get really strong, did you know that many gymnasts can bench press the double of their own bodyweight without ever touching a weight? That´s true, you can get very strong without weights in a gym, it will take you time, but if you look at your training as a Lifestyle then you’re on the right track. You can do several forms of chins and pullups, use different grips, different tempos, the same goes for pushups, as things get easier you can start placing your feet in higher positions to make things hard, it’s always possible to find new positions and ways to make the exercises harder, you’ll find out that you don’t have as much strength as you could think, the same goes for many big guys at the gym, when they have to do bodyweight exercises, they see that their functional strenght is not that much. You can also do different forms of bodyweight squats, plyometrics and isometric exercises, you can do sprints and uphill sprints, you can use a backpack and put weights in to run and sprint, or to walk in the beach or uphills, carrying things is a brutal workout, that will give you resistence and strength. I don’t advice situps, i think they have an injury potencial for the lower back, like Rusty i believe that planks and vacuum stomach are all you need for your abs. Use nature as your gym, you can do many different things to keep you challenged and to improve in every aspect of fitness, aesthetics, strength, endurance, speed and flexibility. If you want to gain some muscle, don’t forget to eat a little more calories, but don’t over do it, just make sure they come mainly from protein, healthy fats, and fruits. Cut saturated fats and reduce the carbs. Also make sure you recover well, if you plan to train 5 days a week, don’t go on high intensity everyday and keep the volume low or you’ll overtrain.
Good Luck and let me know how you’re doing
July 8th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I do most of that and I STILL dont look like the photo.
(*sulks*)
great post….
MizFit
July 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Hi MizFit
Thanks, and you just need to look the best that you can be, i like your site.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Thanks so much HL! I really apprecaite it. Just one last question if that’s ok? I read in one of your posts that we shouldn’t be doing (full body) weight training more than 2x per week. But if I am not using weights, but doing things like you said pullups, pushups, planks, etc., does this still apply? I want to get lean and mean and cut. Right now my plan is to do HIIT swimming 3x per week for about 15-20 mins., maybe Mon, Wed, and Fri. (I’m in decent cardio shape already, it’s just that I have no muscle tone or definition, but look scrawny and small and skinny.) Plus 2x per week do about 30 mins worth of varying pushups, pullups, planks, etc. like you said, focusing on functional fitness, getting stronger, with low reps and low sets (I think you mentioned something like 5 x 5), maybe Tue and Thurs. Do you think this is a good starting plan? Thanks again, and no more questions after this, as I don’t want to bother you too much. Thanks HL!
July 8th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Hi Pat
You can ask anything you want to know, you won’t bother me, i made this site to help people reaching their goals. Now answering your question it seems like a good plan to me, 30 minutes of bodyweight exercises 2x a week plus 3x swimming is more than enough. Besides i believe that swimming specially with high intensity will build you muscle. You seem to be naturally skinny, if you over do it you’ll easily overtrain. Remember to eat correctly and to recover well, keep the volume low and if you feel tired don’t go on high intensity everyday.
Good luck and let me know how you’re doing
Helder
July 10th, 2008 at 4:11 am
Cool, thanks Helder, I realy appreciate it!