Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
-- Benjamin Disraeli
Have you been trying to lose body fat, but find it comes off at a snail's pace? Tired of losing a pound a month as you exercise and diet your brains out? If you're working out with efficiency and maintaining a slight caloric deficit, you can actually lose up to 1.5 pounds per week. Here's some metabolism-boosting tips that should help ignite some good, steady fat loss.
1. Increase your meal frequency. Eat more often, but don't increase your total calories. For example, if you eat three times per day, break those three meals into five to six smaller meals and eat every three hours. Food can actually help burn body fat when it's used strategically. If you break your meals into smaller feedings it helps to control blood sugar -- and puts you in a better position to lose fat.
2. Break up your workout. With family responsibilities, work, financial pressures, etc., the thought of exercise is an extra stress for many people. However, research has proven that two short bouts of exercise per day will actually stimulate the metabolism more than one longer bout. Go for a brisk 15-minute walk first thing in the morning before work and then another one at lunch time. Do this five days per week and I know you'll see progress at the end of 30 days.
3. Eat breakfast. I always stress to my clients to think of the body from the inside-out. The human body's main goal is survival. If it senses any type of emergency, it will do everything in its power to keep you alive. If you sleep through the night and then deprive the body of food in the morning, what do you think the body is sensing at this point? It senses a potential famine and then holds onto stored body fat to keep you alive. Remember, calories from food represent heat. Use the heat to rev your metabolism.
4. Cycle calories. This is a technique I've used on several clients with amazing success. For three days, consume your minimum calorie requirement based on your height, weight and goals. Then, on day number four, increase your calories by an additional 400 (nutritious foods only). For example, if you're losing fat by consuming 1,200 calories per day, simply raise your calories to 1,600 on day number four. This technique can actually get the metabolism racing and stimulate additional fat loss. Just remember that the additional calories come from good sources of protein, carbohydrates and fats -- not pizza.