Fat melting and fat cutting are fancy terms used by companies who want sell their weight loss pills. There’s hardly any substance to such terms; however, what can happen with a good diet and exercise is fat burning. When you supply the body with extra calories than what it requires for its daily functions, it tends to hoard it up as fat in cells, especially around the belly area. With unhealthy eating habits, lack of any kind of physical activity, and unchecked portion control, slowly and steadily, the body tends to build up a considerable storage of fat which is a precursor to many life-threatening diseases. Fat burning is a very do-able process and you can push your body to burn more fat everyday and use up a majority of its fat store. In this post, we would list out ways to boost fat burning everyday to lose weight effectively and get healthier and fit in the process.
Science Behind Fat Burning:
For every process that goes on in our body, right from the beating of the heart down to a simple activity like breathing, we need energy. We get energy from foods sources in the form of carbohydrates, fat, and protein but our body uses carbs and fats as fuel to run the body. Carbs are majorly used to run day-to-day functions while proteins are used to repair damaged cells. All energy forms get supplied in the form of calories. However, when there is an excessive intake of calories, the body tends to store those calories as fat for future use. When your aim is to lose weight and burn fat storage, cut down your calorie intake by 500. For example, if your daily calorie requirement is 2000 calories per day, consuming 2500 calories will lead to fat storage of those extra 500 calories, whereas if you consume only 1500 calories, the body will turn to stored fat to meet up the calorie deficit.
What is Basal Metabolic Rate/Resting Metabolic Rate?
Basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the rate at which one burns energy even when he/she is in complete resting state. Resting metabolic rate is the amount of calories your body needs to perform its basic functions. Our body would spend that amount of calories even if you do not make any effort. When you indulge in physical activity, more calories get burnt, and that’s how “fat burning” happens.
10 Ways to Boost Fat Burning:
1. Always go for High-Protein Meal before Exercise/Workout: A high-protein diet would not only improve your performance during the workout session, it will also push your body to turn to fat stores to utilize as energy. On the contrary, when the meal is high on carbs, the body will turn to the direct supply of carbs/sugar achieved through the breakdown of a high-carb meal.
2. Switch to Low-Carb Diet: There is no need to completely go off carbs to lose weight, in fact, for a majority of people, cutting down a major food group such as “carbs” from daily diet is not even sustainable. What is doable is switching to a low-carb diet (Rati Beauty diet programs has various low-carb variations). Various studies have established that a person can burn 2 to 3 times more fat while staying on a low-carb diet. For us Indians, low-carb diet is a great option to lose weight and get fit.
3. Cut Down on Sugar: White sugar, is one of the main reasons why a lot of people are falling into the “obese” category. There is hardly any nutritional value to white sugar, whereas the side effects are many. Intake of sugar triggers the production of insulin, which unknown to many, is also a fat-storing hormone. When you snack on sugary stuff, you are encouraging the body to spike insulin to take care of that sugar, which would also trigger creation of new fat cells by this hormone. Cut off white sugar completely from your diet and notice the huge difference it makes not only to your weight, even your skin will glow.
4. HIIT (high intensity interval training): HIIT workouts are popular to burn fat when compared to cardio exercises such as walking or running on the treadmill. Even after you have finished HIIT routine, your body continues to burn calories because of increased oxygen consumption, keeping up the metabolism high all through the day. You would be surprised to know that you can burn up to 100 calories per hour for 24 hours after a 30-minute HIIT workout. HIIT also boosts enzymes that are responsible for fat burning and also decrease levels of fat-producing enzymes. HIIT exercises are great for busy women because they burn more fat and calories in less time. Here is a list of 7-Minute Fat Burning HIIT Exercises That you can Do at Home.
5. Increase Healthy Fats in your Diet: The “Eat Fat to Burn Fat” theory will work only when you consume healthy fats. When you don’t eat the right kind of fat, instead of losing weight, you would gain weight. Mono and polysaturated fat are considered healthy and aid in fat burning. Almonds, avocados, olive oil, nuts, coconut oil are all rich sources of healthy fat.
6. Fiber is important too: Fiber content reduces one’s appetite by slowing the movement of food through the gut. Since fiber has low glycemic index, it also does not spike up insulin and thus reduces the chance of extra calories getting stored up as fat in the body.
7. Lift Weights to Burn Fat: Lifting heavy weights encourages the body to not only burn more calories during the workout, it also has a longer “afterburn,” where the body continues to burn calories long after the workout is over. Afterburn consumes more calories, and that way, more fat storage is utilized, provided you are in a “calorie deficit.”
8. Mix Different Workouts: With cardio, mostly carbs are burnt whereas with strength training, weight training, and resistance exercises, fat is burnt. It would be prudent to mix different workouts to lose weight, build muscle, and get lean.
9. Boost Metabolism: Having a high metabolism means your body is burning a lot of calories at a faster rate. Boost your metabolism naturally with these foods.
10. Increase NEAT activities: Abbreviated as NEAT, it is the energy we use for everything we do in our day-to-day life except for when we are sleeping or exercising. Using the stairs instead of the lift, squatting on the floor to lift something up, walking while talking on the phone, every activity we do while being on our feet, comes under NEAT. Here’s a list of NEAT activities that you can do in your day-to-day life.
Additionally, include two to three cups of green tea in a day, lower sodium intake, increase minerals like calcium and magnesium, and make positive lifestyle changes to lose weight and geat healthy.
