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!

What Is the Difference Between Losing Weight & Losing Fat?

When most people say they want to lose weight, they really mean they want to reduce their body fat. If they really wanted to lose weight per se, their goal would be to reduce the weight of their bones, muscles, organs along with body fat … most likely not their real goal - or it should not be! Most of us want to preserve all but the body fat part.

So in reality, you want to reduce the amount of body fat you are carrying, but how much is healthy? If you are male, then you want your body fat to be around 10%; 15% for females.

Why the Scale is Your Worst Enemy

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you are trying to lose body fat, weighing yourself every day is frustrating at best. Because the scale measures your total weight, it can fluctuate up or down every time you get on the scale.

When you first started to eat fewer calories, you probably showed a significant drop in numbers on the scale. But because carbs bind to water, lowering your carb intake reduced the amount of water in your body, so the real loss was not body fat, but water loss – the water had fewer carbs to attach to. If you start eating more carbs again, your weight will go up proportionately due to water hanging onto the additional carbs.

As a matter-of-fact, you can lose body fat, gain muscle and your number on the scale can remain the same, even though you now look better. Why? Because a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat therefore your profile is much slimmer even though you weigh the same.

Measuring Body Fat

The only real way to measure body fat loss accurately at home is by measuring your girth in the same places each time with a pair of body fat calipers – the neck, chest, arms, waist and thighs. Your waist measurement should go down, but the rest of your measurements should go up.

Train for Success

The best overall workout strategy is a mix of cardio and strength training. Cardio burns more calories and thus speeds up fat loss, but it alone is not enough; without strength training, you’ll end up losing muscle. Through strength training, you’ll tone the muscle you have and build more. And because more muscle means you’ll burn more calories throughout the day, developing muscle mass is the key to long-term weight management.

Most likely your real goal of “losing weight” is to lose body fat and build muscle. Be sure to check back for our weekly workouts every Thursday to help you accomplish these goals!