Burning fat is a 24/7 activity – or it should be. A lot of people only think about fat burning during their workouts, but the truth is you can do a lot to maximize it at other times too.
Here are some easy-to-use strategies to maximize fat burning throughout your entire day.
During training
Most people spend too much workout time on inefficient exercises, spend too much time resting, and use ineffective training methods. A few simple changes can turn your slow-burning workout into one that torches fat like a furnace. You’ll also get fitter and stronger, faster than ever before. These changes include:
– Use compound exercises
– Do full-body workouts
– Do your strength training workout as a circuit
– Superset all your exercises
– Jump rope or hit the stationary bike between sets
– Do interval training instead of steady-pace cardio
– Do strength training before cardio
– End your strength workouts with 5-10 minutes of intense cardio
– Try fasted cardio: exercise on an empty stomach with a pre-workout kick
– Leave your phone in your locker so you won’t be distracted from your workout
At meal times
What you eat and when you eat it can have an effect on fat burning. While your diet should be healthy, and must produce a calorie deficit to force your body to use fat for fuel, there are a few other mealtime tricks you can use to maximize fat burning:
– Pre-prepare your meals so you have healthy food to eat at all times
– Exercise before your main meal of the day to maximize insulin sensitivity
– Eat spicy food such as chili or curry to increase thermogenesis
– Drink a large glass of water 30 minutes before eating to reduce appetite
– Eat protein at every meal to increase metabolic rate
– Reduce your carb intake to lower insulin levels
– Chew gum at the end of your meal to avoid having seconds or a dessert
– Eat from a smaller plate to make your meals look larger and more filling
– Build each meal around protein, vegetables, and healthy fats
– Replace 1-2 meals a day with a lean proteinshake blended with healthy fats like almond butter or coconut oil
During the day
Whether you are at work or school, there are lots of things you can do to keep your body burning fat at a faster rate than normal. As work or school can add up to eight or more hours of your day, this is a crucial time for fat burning that you cannot afford to ignore.
– Walk whenever the opportunity arises. The more you walk, the more fat you’ll burn.
– Good opportunities include walking to and from work or school, walking to see colleagues and friends instead of emailing or phoning, going for a walk at lunch time, parking your car on the far side of the car park and walking the rest of the way, and taking the stairs instead of the elevatoror escalator
– Stand up to take phone calls
– Work at a standing desk
– Have walking meetings instead of boardroom meetings
– Have a workout at lunchtime
– Eat a healthy, pre-prepared lunch to maintain your healthy eating diet
– Have healthy snacks in your desk or locker in case of hunger emergencies
– Break up long periods of sitting with brief periods of activity, eg a few reps of any bodyweight exercise
At home
Once the day is done, it can be tempting to relax in front of the TV. While you undoubtedly deserve a rest at the end of the day, vegging out on your sofa won’t do much to speed up fat loss. Change all that by putting these tips into action.
– Go for a walk before or after dinner
– Play sports with your kids, or play in your garden with your dog
– Do some chores, like gardening, washing your car, cleaning the house
– Do a set of squats or push-ups during commercial breaks on TV
– Replace passive forms of entertainment with something more active, like
sporting activities
– Do not eat while watching TV as you may end up eating more than you
intended
While you sleep
Sleep might be entirely passive, but it’s a crucial part of being healthy, and most people need between six to eight hours per night. However, just because it’s passive doesn’t mean you can’t rev up your metabolism while you sleep to burn some extra calories and fat.
– Consume protein before bed to maximize fat loss and stabilize blood glucose levels
– Turn down the temperature
– Use a non-stimulant fat burner
– Reduce the size of your evening meal – eat more for breakfast and for lunch instead
– Sleep in absolute darkness – light from lamps and electronic devices can disrupt production of melatonin, crucial for a good night’s sleep and proper night time metabolism
– Consume most of your carbs earlier in the day, and eat less before bedtime
Alone, each of these interventions will produce very small results. But when you start adding them together, miracles happen. See how many of these metabolism-boosting tricks you can use in a day to maximize fat loss and turn fat burning up to the max – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
