Burn Fat, Fast

Everyone wants to burn fat, fast, especially during the summer months when clothing gets skimpier. While any type of exercise and healthy diet helps, there are a few simple steps you can take to boost your fat burning and exercises that actually promote the loss of fat.

Running and aerobic exercise may burn tons of calories, but they also can make it harder to lose weight.

All types of exercise burn calories, but some tend to get those calories from fat, while other use calories from both fat and lean muscle mass. Using calories from lean muscle mass actually can make it more difficult to lose weight. Aerobic exercises are known to burn tons of calories, but they aren’t effective fat burners because they burn calories from lean muscle mass. The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn, since muscle tissue requires more calories for maintenance. Strength training builds muscle tissue, while also burning a large number of calories, both during exercise and for hours afterward. It boosts your metabolism, too.

A diet high in protein is important for burning fat.

Increasing the protein in your diet can help you shed fat, while also reduce your appetite. Studies show that consumption of protein aids in building and maintaining muscle mass, which is critical to boosting your metabolism. Protein keeps you feeling fuller longer and that can help reduce your calorie intake, too. Increased protein in your diet can actually reduce the potential for belly fat.

Outside of the gym, healthy habits, like getting adequate sleep, can improve your fat burning.

People often fail to get adequate sleep. Studies show that lack of sleep can actually affect weight loss. Studies show that those who get at least seven or more hours of sleep a night tended to have less weight gain than those who slept five or fewer hours. Lack of sleep stimulates the production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone and reduces the production of leptin, the satiety hormone. That leads to overeating and weight gain.

• It might sound counter-productive, but eating more healthy fat can help you lose fat. It makes you feel fuller longer, because it takes longer to digest. Healthy fat is found in olive oil, avocado, nuts and coconut oil.
• Don’t forget the water. It’s easy to understand how sugary colas can increase belly fat, but studies show that even diet colas can. Switch out the cola for water and you’ll burn fat quicker.
• Eat more fiber. It fills you up and not out. It helps keep your digestive system running smoothly. Fiber is found in fresh fruits and vegetables and is the best reason for eating the fruit and not just drinking the juice.
• Remove sugar and refined carbohydrates from your diet. Studies show they not only play havoc with your blood sugar levels, they also can cause increased belly fat.