To lose excess body fat, you need to change your diet, exercise routine and lifestyle. You also need to make sure that your diet and exercise planning help you maintain lean muscle mass as you try to lose weight. It can be difficult to lose weight or body fat quickly; there are no tricks or special diets that can help you achieve this goal; the best method is to lose fatty tissue by slowly and regularly losing weight over a longer period of time. If you include the right type of diet and physical activity in your daily habits, you can lose weight by reducing body fat without losing lean muscle mass.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Follow a Healthy Diet
Step 1. Limit carbohydrates
Many studies have found that one of the best ways to lose excess fat fast is to limit the overall amount of carbohydrates you consume.
- To lose weight, you can follow different types of diets: low in calories, low in fat or low in carbohydrates. By cutting back on carbs, you can lose excess fat with better results than a low-fat or low-calorie diet.
- Carbohydrates are found in a wide variety of foods, such as grains, dairy products, fruits, legumes, and starchy vegetables.
- Cut back on carbohydrates that mostly come from grains. You can find the nutrients in this food group in other foods as well, so you can continue to meet your needs.
- You can also decide to limit the consumption of starchy vegetables or fruit particularly rich in sugar. Even if you cut down on this type of food, you can still eat plenty of vegetables and adequate portions of fruit each day.
- Try to reduce your intake of grains, potatoes, corn, peas, carrots, beans, lentils, bananas, mangoes, pineapples, and grapes. These foods are particularly high in carbohydrates when compared to others.
Step 2. Eat 1-2 servings of protein with each meal
In addition to following a low-carb diet, studies have found that eating a large amount of protein helps you lose weight.
- Protein helps support lean muscle mass and metabolism during the weight loss process. They can also make you feel fuller for a longer period of time throughout the day.
- Include at least 1-2 servings of this food group with each meal, so you can eat adequate amounts every day. One serving corresponds to about 120 g.
- Choose the leanest proteins to minimize calorie intake. You can eat poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, and lean beef.
Step 3. Eat 5-9 servings of non-starchy vegetables and low-sugar fruits
Both of these foods contain a large variety of essential vitamins, minerals and fiber. You can eat many of these nutrient-rich foods to help you balance your diet.
- Non-starchy vegetables are very low in carbohydrates, and very low in calories. You can eat 120g of firm vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts or asparagus, or green leafy vegetables like spinach or kale.
- Different types of fruits contain different amounts of sugar. You can eat 60g of low-sugar fruits such as blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries.
Step 4. Cut back on refined sugars and carbohydrates
There is a lot of evidence that excessive consumption of sugars and other refined carbohydrates lead to the accumulation of fat in the body, especially in the hip and abdomen area. By minimizing these foods you can more easily reach your goal.
- Industrially processed foods and those in restaurants are often low in fiber, protein and other healthy nutrients, which are instead present in poorly processed and whole foods.
- Processed foods include sugary drinks, ready-made or frozen meals, ice cream and other frozen desserts, pastries, chips, crackers, soups and canned meals, cookies and cakes.
- Cut down on this type of food as much as possible. If you can't do without it, at least try to take small portions, so you can eat them in moderate quantities.
Step 5. Limit your alcohol consumption
If you want to lose weight, you must also avoid alcoholic beverages. Studies have found that alcohol tends to increase fatty tissue, especially in the central area of the body.
- If you want to reach your goal faster, you need to exclude alcohol from your diet as much as possible.
- Once you have lost weight and are able to respect a correct diet, you can integrate a few small amounts of alcohol. Women should not exceed 1 drink (or less) per day, while men should have a maximum of two.
Step 6. Don't skip meals
It is generally not recommended to avoid a meal, even when you are trying to lose weight. This is especially important if, in addition to nutrition, you are also setting up an exercise routine for the purpose of weight loss.
- If you skip meals regularly, you risk reducing the nutrients you need too much throughout the day.
- While fasting may lead to some weight loss results, it is actually a loss of lean muscle mass and not excess fat.
- Try to eat regular, consistent meals. Schedule a meal or snack every 3-5 hours or as needed.
Step 7. Incorporate a 12 hour fast into your routine
Don't be scared - most of the time you will sleep. Reducing your meal time to 12 hours a day can help you lose weight, a study says. You will always have to take in the daily calories recommended for you, but limit your meals to a 12-hour period, for example having breakfast at 7 and finishing dinner at 19. Although the process is not yet fully clear to experts, this 12-hour fast. hours could push your body to burn fat instead of food.
Part 2 of 3: Entering an Exercise Routine
Step 1. Start interval training
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) has been shown to be effective in burning more body fat when compared to other types of workouts. Do a few sessions of this type of physical activity to more easily reach your weight loss goal.
- HIIT also helps to increase metabolism several hours after finishing the training session.
- To perform this workout, start with moderate intensity exercise for 2-3 minutes and then change to increasing intensity for another 2 minutes. Alternate different moments of moderate intensity with others that are more challenging.
- You can train this way on the treadmill or by running outdoors. Alternate shots with phases where you run at a moderate pace. You can also exercise like this on an exercise bike. For example, many spinning lessons alternate high intensity pedaling moments with more moderate ones.
- Some training equipment can be set up for interval exercise. However, you can always exercise this way by walking, running, swimming or cycling. Purchase a heart rate monitor to monitor the intensity of the interval phases.
Step 2. Include steady-paced aerobic exercises in your activity routine
These exercises, in addition to HIIT, are important because they offer several benefits, contributing to weight loss.
- Do cardiovascular exercises at least 5 times a week in minimum 30-minute sessions. This helps you stick to general health guidelines that recommend 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week.
- Do some warm up in the first 5 minutes and cool down exercises during the last 5 for each training session. Doing so helps your body recover after physical activity is over.
- Vary the different types of exercises. Choose two or three that you like and alternate them, so as to benefit both mentally and physically, strengthening the different muscle groups and burning fat.
- Some examples of steady-paced aerobic exercise are running, elliptical biking, dancing, aerobics classes, and cycling.
Step 3. Do strength exercises 2-3 times a week
You also need to incorporate strength or endurance exercises into your training routine. By building lean muscle mass you can speed up your metabolism and burn more fat.
- You can lift weights or use machines on non-cardio days, or include this type of activity at the end of short cardiovascular sessions.
- Strength training offers several benefits: it increases bone density, metabolism and over time also muscle mass.
- Among the strength exercises are those that use the same weight of the body, such as squats, lunges, push-ups and pull-ups. Consider incorporating these exercises, suspension training, or a few intense cardio classes into your routine.
Step 4. Allow 1-2 days to rest during the week
It is important to keep a "free" day to give your muscles 24-48 hours to recover and recover between weightlifting and cardio workouts. This is a key part of your overall physical activity schedule.
- Make your rest day actually active: Avoid sitting all day or being too sedentary.
- Try doing more toning exercises or activities like yoga, walking, or a leisurely bike ride.
Step 5. Sit less
If you can reduce the amount of time you spend in front of your computer or television, you can burn more calories throughout the day.
- Studies have shown that the usual activities that are performed normally every day can offer similar benefits to those of aerobic exercise.
- Try to go for a walk every day. In addition to cardio and strength exercises, go for a walk during your lunch break or after dinner.
- Also, you should make sure you move more generally. Walk while talking on the phone, get up during commercial breaks on TV shows, or walk more often to get to certain places instead of using the car.
Part 3 of 3: Lifestyle Changes
Step 1. Manage your stress
Research has found that prolonged chronic stress can increase abdominal fat or body fat percentage. If you can cope with tension better, you can lose weight and reduce excess fat.
- Also, keep in mind that chronic stress can make it harder for you to lose weight. When you are stressed you probably feel hungrier and want to eat sweets to find "comfort" through food.
- Try engaging in relaxing activities that help relieve tension and anxiety. For example, you can try meditating, going for a walk, listening to music, talking to a friend, or just scribbling.
- If you can't manage anxiety properly, consider seeing a behavioral therapist. This is a health professional who can give you guidelines and techniques to learn how to cope better with stressful situations.
Step 2. Get adequate sleep
Like stress, poor sleep habits can make it harder to lose weight and lose excess fat.
- Studies have shown that those who sleep poorly or not enough accumulate more fat in their body and lose more lean mass. In addition, the lack of rest increases the levels of ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and stimulates the appetite.
- Aim to get at least 7-9 hours of sleep every night. This is the recommended number of hours for adults.
- To achieve your goal, you should go to bed earlier or stay in bed more in the morning;
- You should also turn off all electronic devices (such as cell phones, computers, and televisions) before going to bed to help you sleep healthier;
Step 3. Weigh yourself at least every week
Some research has shown that regular weighing helps you stick to your diet better over the long term.
- Help yourself stick to your diet plan by weighing yourself regularly. Having this "date" with the scale can help you keep motivation high, as well as "stay on track" with nutrition and exercise routines.
- Try to weigh yourself 1-2 times a week. By doing this you can more accurately monitor the weight loss process.
- Remember that even if you want to lose fat mass, this reduction will reflect on an overall drop in body weight.
Advice
- Don't underestimate the positive effects of sleep and stress reduction. If you do not sleep properly and are tense and anxious, you can accumulate fat in the abdominal area. Try doing tension-relieving activities before bed to help manage your stress hormones.
- If you have never done strength training with free weights (dumbbells, barbells) or machines before, contact a personal trainer or sign up for a course to learn the correct way to perform these exercises. You should never lift weights more than you can handle and always focus on maintaining good posture.
- Always talk to your doctor before making any changes to your diet or physical activity routine. You also need to be sure that losing weight is safe and appropriate for you.
