5 Essential Rules To Burning Fat
You can make losing body Fat unknowingly very difficult or very easy depending on your mindset and approach. The best way to burn body fat is to learn the 'How' and 'Why' of Fat burning processes in your body so you can apply rules to yourself with confidence, and give yourself the ability to adapt your needs to them.
Estimated Read Time: 6 mins.
1. Keep Insulin Levels Low to Burn More Body Fat
In the context of losing body Fat Insulin is vitally significant and you must understand it to gain control of Fat Loss. Insulin is a nutrient delivery and energy storing Hormone. When Insulin levels are high your body cannot burn Body Fat. Different Nutrients effect Insulin levels in different ways; the Fat in our food does not cause Insulin Levels to rise, Protein raises Insulin a little bit BUT Carbohydrate causes the biggest and most significant rise in Insulin out of any nutrient. In short, when you consume Carbohydrate your body cannot burn body Fat for the length of time your Insulin levels are high, only returning back down to low levels when Glucose from your food (Carbohydrate) has returned to manageable levels in the blood stream. Your priority for burning body Fat is to keep Insulin levels low as much as possible.
2. Eat Carbohydrate Later in the Day
Your metabolism will be most active during daylight hours, so it doesn't make sense to feed your body Carbohydrate (Glucose) for energy, when instead it can be burning your stored energy; your body Fat! If you hold off consuming Carbs until the evening you do 2 things: 1, You burn more body Fat and ensure the Glucose reserves you already have in your body become depleted and 2, During the 'Insulin low' when the Glucose from your evening meal(s) has been cleared from the blood stream you'll most likely be asleep. Basically, if Carbs are only eaten in the evening they are more likely to be stored in Glucose reserves rather than as body Fat, and any cravings you feel after consuming Carbs will happen when you're asleep. Note: It is not recommended to cut out all Carbs from the diet. Protein should be kept high, Fat at medium levels, and Carbs low - but still there.
3. Permanently Raise Metabolism for Sustained Fat Loss
Metabolism is a word that describes the ratio of nutrients and energy your body needs to maintain all the processes required to keep it alive and functioning normally. The more active you are the higher your Metabolism, as more nutrients are required for that added activity. Muscle gain has the single most expensive metabolic impact on your body out of any other process; Muscle fibers take a lot of maintaining both in energy and in nutrition. If you build muscle your body needs more energy, FACT - so the more muscle you have the faster you can burn Fat - this is a physiological principle you must take advantage off to live a leaner life. Building more muscle will permanently raise your metabolism so you burn more energy at rest. Take note of this fact in reference to the next point below.
4. Do Not Try to Only Burn Fat Inside the Gym
An hour long Cardio based workout, if it was especially intense might burn around 250-300kcals. 1 pound of Body Fat contains roughly 3,500kcals, which means you will have to do approx. 12-14 hours of Cardio to burnt the equivalent of 1 pound of Fat. It's an incredibly inefficient way to approach Fat loss. What is far more effective is if you approach is burning Fat while at rest, outside the gym. After a Cardio based workout your metabolism will be slightly higher for a couple hours, BUT a weightlifting workout can keep it as much as 30% higher for 24-48hrs after the workout ends - due to muscle repair/recovery. A much longer and more potent 'after-burn' affect. This means your body can consume 30% more energy than normal just at rest. If you need 2,500kcals daily to maintain your body weight, then after Weightlifting your body may need as much as 750kcals more than usual just at rest! That means when eating your normal 2,500kcals your body can burn the equivalent of 1 pound of body Fat in 4-5 days of elevated Metabolism just doing nothing. Train with weights 3-4 times a week with Intensity and you can ensure a permanent rise in Metabolism all week. No Calorie is created equal, click here to learn about correct nutrition.
5. Increase Food Volume
What this means is that you add plenty of watery greens to your meals so you fill up your stomach more at each meal. Foods that are Nutrient dense are by nature low in Volume - they don't take up that much space in our stomach. Considering we will be eating predominantly Nutrient dense foods during the day, i.e. meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy,- we may have to make up for the Volume of food that we had a habit of eating before but have now reduced due to the need to lose body Fat, i.e. Pasta, Rice, Grains etc. So, more watery greens can be the substitute so our stomachs can fill up and we can feel full after each meal. While not vital, having a lot of food Volume can really help mentally while on a Fat burning Diet.
In Summary:
1. Keep Insulin Levels low for as long as possible during the day.
2. Only Eat Carbohydrate in the evening.
3. Permanently raise Metabolism by building muscle.
4. Increase the after-burn affect with weight lifting, instead of just training longer/ more often.
5. Eat Nutrient dense foods with high Volume greens to feel full and nourished.
BONUS: Go To Bed Earlier
Keep your sleeping pattern closer in time with natural light patterns to increase sleep quality, improve hormone balance and Growth Hormone Release (go to bed earlier, wake up earlier). Growth Hormone is vital for growth, fat loss, repair and maintenance, and your Body Fat supplies fuel for these processes. If you have terrible sleep patterns then your body might not release very much Growth Hormone at all, limiting fat loss - which can potentially increasing other stress hormones that could contribute to Fat Gain! Fact: Growth Hormone mobilises Body Fat for use as energy.
Happy Lifting!
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