(BlackFitness101.com) What’s the key to losing weight – the kind that won’t come back? Burning fat. What’s the key to burning fat? There are a number of keys, that, when executed together, can produce outstanding results. It all begins with firing up your metabolism each morning and keeping that metabolic flame simmering throughout the day.
The key is to fire up your body’s fat burning mechanism. Think of your body as akin to a wood-burning stove on a winter day: you add most of the wood in the morning and sporadically add wood throughout the day, and at night the fire burns itself out.
The same goes for your physique. Breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like prince and dinner like a pauper.
Ultimately, the absolute best thing for initiating fat loss is a combination of resistance training and cardio conditioning. Those two disciplines are indispensable to the dynamic duo of building muscle and burning fat.
Following the four (among many) below guidelines for boosting and keeping your metabolism at a high level will assist you in burning fat and building your best body yet.
Activity One: Eat Less More Often
Portion control is very important to boosting and energy and burning fat. Why? Because more than anything else, portion control determines the rate of your metabolic activity (along with drinking water). To the body, a ‘meal’ can be something as simple as a banana or half of a turkey sandwich. The rule of thumb: eat your dinner on a salad plate. Eat your salad on a dinner plate.
Goal: Eat 5-6 meals (snacks per day)
Activity Two: Drink More Water
The lack of adequate hydration is often the biggest reason most people do not see their exercise program through to the end. No exercise program can be successful if it lacks a daily intake of water – it’s just that important!
Water acts as a lubricant for the muscles and joints; it helps to revitalize energy and it also aids in blood and oxygen flow during exercise, when muscles need it the most.
Goal: Drink 3-6 liters of water per day
Activity Three: Move Often
Trying to initiate some type of movement during the day is challenging, especially if you are tied to a desk for most of the day. Here’s the key: it’s not necessary that you do a drastic, heart-rate elevating type of activity while at work. Even if it’s standing up and sitting down every ten minutes, that’s a good start. Be as active as possible, especially after lunch. Walking stairs would be a great activity.
Goal: Target 10 minutes each hour for movement
Activity Four: Eat Breakfast
This is really the most important of the four activities. Breakfast jumpstarts the metabolic engine, even if it’s just a piece of low-glycemic fruit (does not lead to spike in blood sugar). Traditionally, though, breakfast is the caloric boost for the day’s activities. The more cals you ingest in the morning, the more energy boost you will experience the entire day. In fact, you can afford to taper the caloric intake after a good, hearty breakfast. Mom was right: breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
Goal: Prepare a breakfast bag if you are on the go
These four guidelines are key to burning fat!
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitefitnesscoaching.com.