Losing weight is something that takes time, whether you’re doing it through diet, exercise, or a combination of both…as well, whether you’re on this journey alone or have a trainer that can guide and support you on your path.
While there’s no way to rush this so it happens overnight, what if there were ways you could maximize your fat loss so your efforts went even further? The good news is that this may be a reality if you’re willing to change a few things about the way you live and workout. If you’re curious about what you can do to get started, keep reading to learn the top three simple changes you can make listed below. They have been effective for helping many people burn more fat and may be helpful for you as well.
1. Work on Building Muscle
Even if aerobic exercise is what you stick with on a daily basis, it’s important to try to fit in some muscle-building workouts as well. Why is this important? Because your body will burn more fat while resting when you have more muscle within it. In fact, studies have shown that hours after you finish a muscle-building workout you burn more calories than you would doing any other type of exercise. What’s even better is the fact that the muscle can help ramp up your metabolism so you continue to burn fat and calories at a faster rate all throughout the day.
To get started with building muscle you don’t have to spend hours at the gym lifting things that are far out of your comfort zone. Instead you can do something like push-ups, pull-ups, or squats so your own body weight provides you with resistance. If you want to stay in the gym and utilize those tools, consider working with a trainer to learn more about lifting weights. They can teach you the basics as well as the proper posture to use while lifting. By incorporating this a few days per week, you’ll likely find that you burn more fat and feel better as well!
2. Monitor Your Heart Rate
When you’re working out, how much attention do you pay to your heart rate? While you might know it’s elevated, it’s unlikely you know how fast it is unless you’re regularly tracking it. The benefit of paying more attention to your heart rate is he fact that you’ll know when you’re in the fat burning zone. To determine when you’re in this zone, it’s beneficial to start with having a heart rate monitor. This makes things a lot easier and takes much of the work out of tracking your own pulse. Once you have this, figure out your max heart rate and fat burning zone, which can be done in the following steps.
Step 1: Calculate 220 – Your Age (for example 220-25 years old is a maximum heart rate of 195)
Step 2: Multiply your max heart rate by .7 to determine the highest your heart rate should go (using the example above, 195 x .7 = 136.5).
Step 3: Multiply your max heart rate by .6 to determine the lowest your heart rate should go (using the example above, 195 x .6 = 117).
Once you have these numbers, you’ll know the range that you have to stay in (which is 117-136 beats per minute using the example above). When you begin working out, track your heart rate to make sure it’s staying within this zone and you’ll be maximizing the amount of fat that you burn. However, watch closely because if you go above this you will only burn off what you’ve recently eaten and if you go under this you will be burning as much fat.
3. Try HIIT
HIIT, otherwise known as high intensity interval training, has become popular with everyday exercisers as well as professional athletes. This is because it’s an effective way of boosting workouts to build endurance, strengthen muscles, and maximize the rate that fat is burned. Before you learn how to do this type of training, it’s important to know that it can help you burn abdominal fat very well if you stick with it. However, most experts recommend that you only do this twice per week in order to allow your body the time it needs to recover.
To get started with this, you’ll need to do short periods of fast-past exercise during your workout. For example, if you were out jogging for an hour, you might want to sprint for 30 seconds every 2 minutes followed by one minute of fast-paced walking. The amount of time that you do your intervals will depend on what you’re comfortable with, but they should become more intense as you become more conditioned in the future. The good news about HIIT is that you can do it with any type of exercise out there, so it’s something you can easily incorporate into your workouts.
Getting Started with Changes
To get started with these changes, start by creating a schedule of workouts that you enjoy doing. For example:
Monday – Treadmill running for 60 minutes with HIIT intervals every 3 minutes
Tuesday – Weights for 30 minutes
Wednesday – Rest Day
Thursday – 1 hour of swimming
Friday – Treadmill running for 60 minutes with HIIT intervals every 3 minutes
Saturday – A long walk with pushups
Sunday – Rest Day
By having a schedule like this, it will be easy to fit in the changes that are listed above. You can change the schedule every week or as you explore different workouts, which means having a lot of flexibility with the way you workout and how you maximize fat loss. Just make sure to track your heart rate with your most intense exercises so you stay within the fat-burning zone and make the most of your workouts.
Maximizing Fat Loss in Daily Life
The three options listed above for helping to maximize fat loss have been found to be effective for many people who exercise and practice healthy eating on a daily basis. However, it’s important to remember that they do not produce pounds and pounds of extra fat loss per day. By having realistic expectations you’ll be able to enjoy your progress and the little boost that these changes may offer. The key is to stick with the exercise and diet that you’ve selected so that even without these changes you’re still working towards a healthier body that’s conditioned and in shape. Also, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s always good to consult with a fitness or personal trainer, as well as your doctor to ensure that whatever plan you implement is done safely.