Bye-Bye Bodyfat

[Jean-Paul]

Most dieters have tried scads of fad diets, and they're rightfully suspicious of the new fat-burning supplements on the market. As a new year begins, so does the barrage of infomercials touting fitness equipment, and health clubs offering too-good-to-believe advertisements to lure in new members.

It's all a blur of hype and does more harm than good, especially for those just getting started on a fitness plan.

I want to spare you from the hype and shed some light on how you can shed some fat. But it takes a combination of smart eating and consistent workouts. If you are ready to burn some bodyfat, read on.

Diet

Diet is at the top of our list. The first step is to reduce your total caloric intake. But remember that if you drop calories too low, the body, sensing a famine, starts to store fat more efficiently. To avoid this, it's best to eat at least five to six small meals a day. Starvation also decreases muscle size, reducing your metabolic rate. A body with a high metabolism uses most of the calories it consumes because it takes a lot to meet it's energy requirement, a body with a low metabolism has a lower energy requirement. Therefore rather than using most of the calories, the body easily exceeds its energy requirement and what is not used is stored in adipose tissue (fat).

Reduce your fat intake as much as possible. Try to get under 15 percent of your caloric intake from fat. Cut your carbohydrate intake as well. Most people, in fact, eat way too many carbs. On an average day you should not eat more than 60% of your calories from carbs—unless you are an endurance athlete who is "carb-loading" prior to an event. You don't cut it too much, because you must be able to maintain your workouts.

When I am trying to "cut up"—gym lingo for getting lean enough to see muscular details on the body like a relief map—I usually toggle between low carb days, on which I eat 15 to 20 percent less calories from carbs than usual, with slightly higher carb days on which I am back up to 60 percent total calories from carbs. If you do eat carbs, try to eat more complex carbs versus simple carbs. Complex carbs can be found in grains and legumes where simple carbs are found in fruits or foods sweetened with refined sugar. Refined sugar is the same as table sugar. Refined sugar is the "black sheep" of the carbohydrate family. Try to limit how much you ingest. An easy way to make headway is to cook your own meals as opposed to pre-packaged meals (TV dinners) or eating out. That way you can control what goes in your food, and there is no mystery about it. Try it. You may be surprised at the result of that alone.

Another important part of the diet is protein, and athletes need lots of it. Protein is the building blocks of muscle. There is a lot of controversy about this topic among health professionals. The goal is to retain more protein as either fuel or tissue than is excreted or stored as fat. The concern over high protein intake is the possible stress placed on kidney functions due to excess amounts of toxic ammonia which must be excreted. However, research has failed to prove any link between high protein intake and actual kidney damage.

Get your protein from low fat sources; skinless/boneless chicken breast, most kinds of white meat fish (not all fish is lean), and egg whites. There are also good supplements that can help in raising protein grams without too many calories.

Exercise

The next important aspect of decreasing body fat is exercise. Your workouts in the gym–men and women—should be intense. Women, don't worry about "getting big" from your workouts; it's not true. Remember that muscle is the tissue that burns fat. You have to gain muscle mass to increase your metabolism. You have to be genetically predisposed to gaining bulky mass and most women are not. Men have much more potential for muscle gain because we have a lot more of that wonderful testosterone, and even then we still have trouble putting on mass when we want to.

If you have never worked out with weights before it might be worth your while to hire a trainer or get a good workout partner (preferably someone with experience). It is better for safety and it makes your workouts more effective. Also when you have someone else to answer to you have less a tendency to miss workouts. Workout at least three days a week on weights and, again, it's important to work out hard!

Another training aspect that can expedite the loss of fat is to do some cardio. Those of you who do absolutely no cardio whatsoever, this means you need to start. But there are those who overdo it. A happy medium is best: Do 45 to 60 minutes on one of your days off from the weights.

If weight loss stalls, or if you seem to be losing muscle mass, cut down the aerobics for a few days and relax. If you do aerobics to the point of obsession—which is common in the post-holiday months—you will end up over-trained and probably not any leaner for your efforts.

Thermogenesis

When I was a wrestler in high school, we went to some rather extreme measures to drop weight before tournament. We would wear plastic trash bags on our bodies, and on top of that many layers of clothes. Then we would spit all day and do intense aerobic workouts in a steam room. Needless to say, there was not much body fat left on any of us around tournament time.

To my surprise, none of us died—especially in light of what I learned later. What I found out years later that most of what we did was not only wrong but even dangerous. However, part of what we did was actually right. We would sweat! It is called thermogenesis and it is very helpful in cutting fat.

Thermogenesis means that you raise your body's core temperature which makes it difficult for your body to form fat. Multiple layers of clothing during workouts can help you ease into heavy exertion without shocking your body unnecessarily—as you warm up, strip down; as you cool off, bundle back up. Be alert to signs of overheating—weakness, dizziness, nausea, muscle cramps, and fainting—and, instead of spitting, drink lots of water!

Losing body fat takes commitment. Don't expect overnight success. To safely lose unwanted fat, you should generally drop about one pound of fat a week. Any more than that and you will possibly lose muscle as well as fat. That could do some serious damage to your metabolism.

If you set three-month goals for yourself you should only plan to lose 12 pounds. It will stay off if you take your time and lose it slowly. I caution you to not pay too much attention to scales anyway. Remember that muscle weighs more than fat. You may gain some weight from doing resistance exercise. Have a qualified professional measure your body fat before you start your routine and have it checked periodically to monitor your progress.

No more excuses… Just get out there and do it!

Be healthy!