Not only is burning off some fat going to help your self-esteem, but it will also help you live longer. Ignoring all the talk of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, lowering your body fat will help you move and sit more comfortably, protect your joints and your back, and can help you feel really good about looking after yourself.
That being said, it ain’t easy. If it were we would all be flashing our 6-packs morning, noon, and night.
1. Stop drinking so many calories
This isn’t exclusive to alcohol, but we as a nation drink way too many of our calories. Sugary drinks, booze, fancy coffees, energy or ”sports” drinks, even plain old orange juice, they’re all packed with calories and sugar. And since you’re drinking them, those calories don’t seem to fill you up the way food does.
It may seem boring but stick to water as much as possible.
2. Drink more water
Just to hammer this point home, drink a butt load of water to keep your body hydrated and feeling full at all times. Drink a glass of water with every meal and keep your metabolism online.
Plus it’s free!
3. Eat more
Oh yeah, we’re telling you to eat more in order to reduce your body fat. By that, we mean more greens… sorry. Add a fistful or two of veg to every meal. Spinach with your omelette, broccoli with your chicken, a load of leaves on your burger; all of these are nutrient-dense but low on calories and will help you feel fuller without being fattening.
4. Sleep!
Your muscles grow and recover while you’re sleeping, so if you’re smashing out sessions at the gym but burning the midnight oil you’re not going to see the benefits from your hard work. Plus you’ll be knackered, won’t be able to train as hard the next day, and are far more likely to eat more in order to stay awake.
5. Lift some weights
A six-pack cannot be achieved by cardio and crunches alone, so you’ll need to pick up some weights in order to rev up your metabolism a bit. Adding 1.5kg worth of muscle to your body can potentially burn an extra 1,050 calories a week, according to a study by the University of Michigan.
If you’re not bothered about building muscle and getting bigger, then train for strength with big, compound movements such as the power clean and squat. That way you turn every workout into a fat-burner.
6. Low-intensity cardio
Now I know what you’re thinking, “But you’re always going on about high-intensity training!” And while HIIT is often our go-to form of cardio, don’t discount the benefits of some steady-state cardio.
Low-intensity steady-state (LISS) cardio lowers the stress hormone cortisol, which has been associated with increased fat storage. It also burns calories (obviously) and can even be used as active recovery the day after an intense training session.
7. Fill up on fibre
Fibre is great at keeping you regular and is an important part of every bottom’s day-to-day life. But wait, there’s more. Research has shown that fibre can boost your fat-burning by as much as 30%. Add whole grains and fruits to your diet and aim to eat about 25g of fibre per day.
8. Spice up your life!
SLAM IT TO THE LEFT! … sorry, got carried away. Developing a taste for spicy food can give your metabolism a serious boost. So add some chillis to your next stir-fry and some paprika to your next batch of homemade burgers to torch some extra body fat while you eat.
9. Get plenty of D, vitamin D
Vitamin D is essential in order to preserve muscle tissue and is best obtained from your food, so we recommend getting your D orally. Giggle. Which is good because depending on sunshine would be frustrating as hell in the UK.
You can get 90% of your recommended daily intake from a 100g piece of salmon. So eat plenty of fish, eggs, milk and cereals to get your intake up.
10. Fat-burning workout once a week
Add a fat-burning workout to your weekly routine, something that will have you sweating, burning calories, and building muscle.
We’ve got a load of ’em, so sign up to our weekly workouts to get them sent straight to your inbox once a week.
This article first appeared on our partner site, GayFitnessUK
