Good morning! How are you today? Did you have a good weekend? Mine was great. We ran errands on Saturday, including a trip to Costco. On Sunday, I got to rest a little. I put my feet up and watched a few episodes of Dexter. Seriously you guys, this show is addicting. I can’t stop watching!
My Sunday also included a workout. I wanted to try a new workout from the Les Mills Pump DVD’s I just bought. I’m so excited to start a new workout program. I’ve been doing Chalean Extreme for a couple of years now, and I need to mix things up. My body needs a shakeup, which leads me to today’s topic. Fat burning.
Many people exercise to burn calories. But burning calories doesn’t always mean burning fat. So if you want to rev up your metabolism and burn some serious fat, then here are some proven tips.
1. Turn up the intensity of your workout, early – Did you know that turning up the intensity early on in your workout can help your burn up to 20% more fat? Well, it’s true. After your warm up, bump up your intensity and give 100% (even if that means taking breaks later on in your workout.)
2. Lift weights – Lifting weights is a wonderful fat burner. Even though you don’t sky rocket your heart rate during a weight workout, lifting weights boosts your metabolism long after your workout is over. That means that you are burning calories even when you are at rest! So whether you lift heavy weights for a few reps or light weights for a lot of reps, as long as your lifting, you’re burning fat.
3. Try a HIIT workout – What does HIIT mean? High Intensity Interval Training. It involves short intervals of maximum intensity cardio, followed by a brief rest period. You can burn up to 9 times more fat by incorporating HIIT into your workouts! My favorite HIIT workout is TurboFire. It’s fun, it’s energizing, and it makes me sweat.
4. Don’t starve yourself – When most people think of losing weight, they think they need to starve themselves. WRONG! What happens when you do this is your body goes into starvation mode and holds on to every ounce of fat. In order to keep your metabolism revving all day long, aim to eat 5 – 6 small meals a day. My typical day consists of breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. This schedule keeps my metabolism burning all day. And if you’re working out with higher intensity, you’ll need to fuel that fire!
5. Get enough Omega-3 – Did you know that Omega-3 supplements are amazing fat burners? People who consume more omega-3’s, burn more fat than those who don’t. Since I’m not a huge fish eater, I add a food high in Omega-3′s to my diet daily. I also add in different types of nuts to my diet on a regular basis. Don’t be afraid of fat!
6. Stay healthy – This one is obvious…the more active you are, the better your body becomes at burning fat. So to keep your metabolism revving and your fat-burning furnace on fire, keep up with regular exercise and good nutrition and you’ll be a lean, mean, fat-burning machine for life!
Question: Do you have any other fat-burning techniques that work for you?
