12 Things You Should Never Do When Trying to Burn Fat

If you’re trying to lose weight, but you're really not seeing results in your fat burning regime, there are likely some things that you may be doing wrong. Exercising the right way to burn fat efficiently is important (see workouts on this blog for lots of ideas), but it is also important not to do the wrong things in the process.

Here are 12 things that can keep you from burning fat:

1. Not Eating Enough Calories – You should know how many calories you need to eat per day to maintain a certain weight. Choose to use your goal weight as your calorie range for best results. When you don't eat enough, your body may start slowing your metabolism to compensate, which is the opposite of what you want.

2. Eating Too Many Calories – Conversely, many people do not track their calories at all, and therefore they eat too many calories. Even if you eat only healthy foods, you can still eat too many calories and not burn fat.

3. Not Eating the Right Amount of Protein – You can both eat too little protein and too much protein. Shoot for about 20 to 30 percent of your daily calories to be healthy protein. Remember that you can get protein from vegetables, fruit, beans, legumes and nuts in addition to fish and meat.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

4. Not Eating Enough Vegetables – Try filling half of your plate with vegetables at every meal. The great thing about veggies is that they are very low in calories so you can eat a high volume of them without breaking your calorie bank. Plus, they're filled with fiber, vitamins, and other healthy nutrients.

5. Not Eating Enough Fruit – The sugar in fruit is not bad for you - as long as you don't over-indulge. When you feel like eating a snack or something sweet and you have the calories to spare, eat fruit. It’ll give you energy plus vitamins and minerals.

6. Not Eating Enough Whole Grains – Don’t give up grains just because you’re trying to burn fat. Steel cut oats, quinoa, cracked wheat, and other whole grains can be good for you in measured serving sizes.

7. You Drink Your Calories – To burn the greatest amount of fat, don’t drink your calories. Avoid drinking juice, sweetened coffee or tea, and other calorie-laden drinks in favor of fresh filtered calorie-free water.

8. You Eat “Calorie Free” Fake Food – Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can drink diet soda, and use fake zero calorie sweeteners and still burn fat. These additives can not only be dangerous but studies also show that people who use them tend to be fatter, not thinner!

9. You Avoid Exercise Entirely – You can’t burn fat and be a couch potato. Even if you have health issues that keep you from doing very strenuous activities, you can still use walking, swimming, or other gentle activities to get you moving and burn calories.

10. You Don’t Do Enough Cardio – Cardio is essential to burning fat. If you have health issues that prevent you from doing hard enough cardio, you’ll need to eat fewer calories to make up for it. But you can also try breathing exercises that can increase your oxygen intake and help burn fat.

11. You Are Too Stressed Out – If you have a lot of stress in your life, it will manifest itself as added fat, usually on your belly. Try to find a way to a way to de-stress every day. Try yoga, meditation or even prayer to take you out of your worries and calm yourself.

12. You Don’t Get Enough Sleep – Most people need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. It’s important that you schedule your life so that on most nights you can accomplish this task, because not doing so can affect your hormone levels and cause your fat burning to stall.

Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do when it comes to burning fat and losing weight. Being healthy is about taking action to do more of the right things, and fewer of the wrong things every day!

[Video] 15-Minute Fat-Burning Home Workout

Ready to burn off some of that extra fat? Throw this fast-paced bodyweight workout into your routine, and you'll burn fat fast, while getting a great full-body workout.

This workout requires no equipment, so you can do it anywhere, and it only takes 15 minutes, including a warmup and cool-down; now you have no excuse not to work out!

You don't have to join a gym this year to get fit. Just check back here every week for a new, fast, effective workout that will keep you in shape without spending hours exercising - and they're all FREE!  Bookmark your favorites for future reference, and rotate in a new one every week for added challenge and it will never get stale!

Now let's work out and burn some fat!

Supplement Your Workouts With Fat-Burning Foods

When trying to get rid of that holiday weight, it's important to eat the right foods, along with doing the right exercise. Believe it or not, there are foods that you can eat that will increase the amount of fat your burn and that, along with exercise, can turn your body into a fat burning machine that burns fat 24/7. Try adding these foods to your daily diet for best results.

1. Whole Grains (But NOT Wheat!) – Steel cut oats, and some sprouted grains are okay to consume in small amounts. One cup per day will be enough to fill you up and provide excellent fat burning properties. Wheat, on the other hand - even whole wheat - has inflammatory properties that can lead to weight gain, so it is best avoided entirely if you're trying to lose weight.

(Image courtesy of Jaime_Crespo at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

2. Grapefruit – Start your meals with half a grapefruit to take advantage of the fat burning effects and boost your weight loss.

3. Nuts and Seeds – Full of good fats, nuts can fill you up, give you added nutrition and improve satiety. Be careful, though; nuts are high in fat. One handful a day is plenty. Seeds like flax, sunflower, and hemp are lower in fat, high in Omega 3s and 6s and super good for you.

4. Hot Peppers – Add hot spices to everything you eat and watch the pounds melt away. The added heat produced with hot sauce and hot peppers has been shown to increase metabolism both during and after your meal.

5. Cinnamon – This spice helps thin the blood, boosts body heat, and burns calories and fat when added to your food. Try making a tea with hot water, lemon and cinnamon with a little honey to help it all go down.

6. Green Tea – Full of beneficial antioxidants and something called epigallocatechin gallate, green tea can boost metabolism and aid in burning fat. Be careful about the caffeine, and consume in moderation. A cup or two per day is plenty.

7. Berries – Great as an anti-inflammatory and full of resveratrol which boosts metabolism and aids in weight loss. They’re also low in calories, so eat all you care to.

8. Beans and Legumes – You can eat a lot more beans and legumes than you might think. They are high in protein and other essential nutrients. Aim to have a cup every day.

(Image courtesy of Viacheslav Blizniuk at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

9. Leafy Greens – You can eat a lot of leafy greens without ever having to worry about how much you’re eating. Prepare them without adding fat with some balsamic vinegar, shredded carrots, and salt and pepper and they’ll taste just like Mom’s. Or drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You should shoot for eating a pound or more of leafy greens each day.

10. Fatty Fruits – Yes, it may sound strange, but coconut, olives and avocado are really good foods to eat that will not only fill you up, but also give you added nutrition and healthy fat which will curb hunger and fill you up on fewer calories.

Burning fat is a full-time job, and adding these foods to your diet on a daily basis will make it a lot easier to burn more fat, faster. Start today with one food at a time, until you’re enjoying all of these foods every day.

For more information on fat-burning foods, check out the Fat Burning Kitchen.

 

Three Simple Tips to Burning More Fat

There really isn’t any secret to burning fat. It all comes down to two things: diet and exercise. But obviously there are hundreds of variations on these two things, and in order to maximize your fat-burning results, you have to do them the right way.

Here are 3 tips to get you on the right track:

1) Don’t Diet

Image courtesy of KEKO64 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

At least not in the traditional sense. When you restrict your calorie intake too much, your body senses you are going into starvation mode, so it responds by slowing down your metabolic rate in an effort to make the most of the food it is getting - which is the opposite of what you want.

Instead, eat more.

“What, I’m trying to lose weight and you are telling me to eat more?”

Yes, but you have do it right by eating healthy types and amounts of food. To keep your metabolism operating at peak efficiency, and to burn as many calories you can, eat six small meals, or three larger meals with a snack each in the morning and afternoon per day, consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables, protein, lean meats and just a few whole grains. This “diet” has a lot of bulk and will keep you full, but is not loaded with unhealthy processed fats, sugar and calories. 

2) Eat Breakfast

You’ve heard this before and it is still true – don’t skip breakfast. After sleeping all night, your metabolism is at its resting metabolism rate (RMR). It is working just hard enough to keep your body going. Unless you jump start it by giving it food to process within an hour of getting up, it will wake up slowly. The result is you could be missing out on several hours of increased fat-burning time. People who skip breakfast are 4 ½ times more likely to be obese.

Want more proof? People who got 22 percent or more of their calories at breakfast gained on average 1.7 pounds over four years. Those that got only 11 percent or less of their calories at breakfast gained 3 pounds – almost twice as much - during the same amount of time.

3) Get Up and Move!

This the other half of the fat-burning duo – exercise. And there are a couple of parts to it. The first part is the effects of extended sitting.

Researchers at Missouri University found that after sitting for 4 hours of more, your body reduces the amount of the enzyme responsible for burning fat and cholesterol. However, just standing up and moving about kicks it back in to high gear. If you have sit-down job, make sure you get up and move at least 5 minutes each hour.

The second part is the type of exercise you do and why it is important to your weight loss efforts. Cardio burns fat and the most calories, but usually just during the time you exercise; once you stop exercising, the calorie burn stops. In fact, if you do too much long-session cardio, your body can actually start to conserve fat and burn muscle instead!

However, strength training digs deeper and depletes the muscles of glycogen. So not only are you burning calories while exercising, but also afterward as your metabolism replenishes the energy source glycogen for your muscles.

Plus strength training builds muscle so you’ll also have a higher RMR and burn more calories while at rest. Of course the ultimate fat-burning program is a mixture of both cardio (preferably in short intervals) and strength training.

Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks, as we share some fun and easy ways to burn more fat while exercising.