Losing weight and specifically reducing body fat is something which at some point most people will try to achieve. Many people may have recently experienced a very festive Christmas and New Year period. If you’re one of these people, you may have eaten and drank like there is no tomorrow, and this may have led to some undesirable weight-gain that you want to lose. Below I have summarised 5 ways that you can burn fat and work towards your fitness goals.
1. Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is a very powerful lifestyle change that can help you burn fat. The great thing about intermittent fasting is that it does not require any dramatic changes to your lifestyle. With intermittent fasting you will be able to continue to eat in a healthy way. You will just be consuming all your food in certain windows, whilst fasting for the rest of the time. So for example, a 16:8 intermittent fast would mean that you would fast for 16 hours in the day and you would eat all of your food in an 8 hour window. We have already done a very in-depth article on intermittent fasting which you should check out to see the full benefits!
2. Calorie Deficit Diet
I have been going to the gym for a number of years. At the beginning, I was working out but then eating whatever I wanted. For a lot of this period, I stayed slim but was never in amazing shape. It was only after a few years that I learned how crucial diet is for achieving your desired physique; 70% of your gym goals will be achieved in the kitchen!
So if your desire is to burn fat and lose weight then you need to tailor your diet around this goal. To lose weight you want to be burning more calories than you consume; therefore creating a calorie deficit. Trying to work out the number of calories you burn in a day is not simple and most people aren’t sure what this number is. A great tool which I use to estimate the amount of calories I burn daily is a calculator created by fitwatch.com. You can check it out here. Once you know the amount of calories you are burning daily, then you can create a diet that is made up of less calories than you burn. This will lead to weight loss.
The more of a deficit you create, the faster the weight loss will be. However, try not to create too much of a deficit as this is not healthy. In addition, if you create too much of a deficit you may crash and just end up eating everything and anything in sight. Create a diet that is reasonable for you and one that you think you can stick to. Cut out bad carbohydrates, fried food, sugar, alcohol and stick to good carbohydrates, lean meats and vegetables.
3. High Intensity Interval Training
High intensity interval training (HIIT) is a method of training where the workout is split between intervals which are done at maximum intensity, and intervals which are done at a slower speed or complete rest. HIIT is much more efficient than normal training at a continuous pace; it will help you burn fat very quickly. An example of a HIIT workout would be running on the treadmill for 30 seconds as fast as you possibly can, then following it by 30 seconds at walking pace. Alternating between these speeds for a total of 10-15 minutes will be very difficult but will also prove to be a great workout.
One of the major benefits of HIIT is the after-burn which it creates. Once you have completed a HIIT workout, your body will continue to burn fat for the next 24 hours! HIIT in comparison to steady cardio will help you retain muscle. This means you will be burning fat only from your cardio session, instead of fat and muscle.
4. Resistance Training
Resistance training is great because it burns calories itself. It has also been shown that similarly to HIIT, it creates an after-burn. This means you will continue to burn calories after your workout. When you combine weight training with cardio, it helps to ensure that you burn fat and not break down muscle. This is key because you do not want to spend time losing weight if it is muscle. Researchers from Penn State did a study on the weight loss of three different groups: one with no exercise, another with aerobic exercise only and a third group with aerobic exercise combined with weight training. The group that combined resistance training with aerobic exercise lost up to 40% more weight than the other groups.
5. Natural Fat Burners
There are a number of foods and drinks which naturally boost your metabolism and help you burn fat. Green tea is one of the drinks that will help you shift your metabolism into overdrive so you can lose weight. Grapefruit is an example of a natural thermogenic. It takes a lot of energy for your body to digest grapefruit, therefore it speeds up your metabolism. When your metabolism speeds up it will use more energy and aid weight loss. Similarly to grapefruit, cinnamon is a spice that will speed up your metabolism and help you burn fat. Our recent article on how to boost your metabolism in the morning lists some more great ways to give your metabolism a kick start in the early hours to aid weight loss.
In addition to intermittent fasting, HIIT and the natural fat burners listed above, it is important to combine them with working out. If you combine a good diet with working out, then you will see results within weeks. Working out does not need to be in a gym either. You can always save time and money by doing home workouts!
I hope you found this article on ways to burn fat useful. Make sure you share it with your friends and family so that they can benefit from it also! 🙂
Author: Dillan Patel
I am a fashion enthusiast and the Fashion Director at Bon Vita. My vision is to spread Good Vibes Only #GVO through the faculty of fashion.
I believe that looking good plays a critical role in feeling good; when you feel good you’re in a better state of mind to manifest your desires!
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