1) Cardio Exercises – Do your cardio exercises frequently. These can be any exercises that work up your heart rate to the extent that you are huffing and puffing for at least 20 – 30 minutes. Do your cardio exercises 5-6 times a week if you want to reduce weight or 2-3 times a week for weight maintenance.
2) Build Muscles – Muscles burn calories even when you are not doing anything but resting. The more muscle mass you have the more calories you will burn a day and in the course of over a period of time, the calories you burnt will add up very substantially. Building muscle mass is one sure way of losing body fat forever.
3) Eat Carbs Early – Take your meals with carbs earlier in the day and cut down on carbs on later meals. This is to prevent unused carbs from turning into body fat when you sleep and to regulate insulin level.
4) Don’t be too afraid of fats – The fats in your diet that are bad for you are saturated and trans fat. So replace these bad fats with unsaturated fat and essential fatty acids (EFAs) and these good fats will keep your body fat and fat related diseases down. But do take your fats in moderation as after all, they are still calorie laden.
5) Complex Carbs – Choose your carbs. Avoid starchy and refined carbs such as pasta, pizza, white rice and white bread. Replace them with brown rice, brown bread and high fiber carbs like green leafy vegetables.
6) Food Portion – Decide how much you want to eat at each meal and then keep to it and do not eat anymore when that portion is consumed. Eat slowly to let your body signal to your brain that you are full. This usually takes about 20 minutes. Extra food means extra and calories mean extra body fat if the food is not converted to energy.
7) Avoid Canned Or Boxed Food – These food are usually high in trans fat, sodium, sugar and simple carbs all of which will help you to gain weight and body fat.
8) Eat Often – By eating often, say at every 3 hourly intervals, your body will think that food is abundant and therefore less likely to store body fat for emergency such as a famine. But do bear in mind to keep the portion small so as not to consume more calories than you expand.
9) Get 8 Hours Sleep – Research after research has shown that people with less sleep are more prone to being fat.
10) Do Not Skip Meals – Skipping meals will slow your metabolism and forcing your body to use your muscles for energy instead of your body fat. This is a vicious cycle, the less muscle you have, the more your metabolism slows down.
There you are. By committing to these 10 commandments, not only will you reduce weight but will lose your body fat forever.
