Whacking on body fat in five easy steps is easier than you think! In fact, most of us are more than half way there. Ok, ok, this is a little tongue-in-cheek, but amazingly not too far from reality.
1. Avoid Fat Like the Plague: Don't eat any added dietary fats, and try to eat as low fat as possible. "Fat free" labeled food will score big. In fact the only fats you should really indulge in are the fats that are residual in processed foods (accumulating a gram or two here and there). You'll quickly mess up your body, forcing it to convert all the carbs and protein you're eating into fat - thus slowing down your metabolism. Works like a charm!
2. Drink Lots and Lots of Coffee: Drinking lots of coffee - or any other highly caffeinated beverage that will jack up your cortisol (stress hormone) levels, thereby throwing off other hormones, leading to fat storage, particularly through the stomach area. For a greater effect, drink it throughout the day into the evening.
3. Sleep Less: You're "fine" on five hours of sleep - and besides, what's the big deal with our circadian rhythm anyway? I mean, that sleep/wake cycle we've evolved with can really interrupt late night TV. The extra wrinkles, suppressed immune system, dark eye circles and eventual weight gain that results from less sleep (quite possibly due to a killer caffeine habit) are a small price to pay for feeling sluggish and spent the next morning.
4. Eat Less Real Food and More Diet Food: Food. It's over-rated. Why waste the calories on a "healthy" handful of nuts or nourishing egg if you're "fine" without it? Besides, if you really need something, drink a diet soda or grab something packaged with the word "low fat" or "diet" from the nearest vending machine. By that time, your body will be in a freaked out stage of fight or flight, storing 10-fold of anything you actually do eat.
5. Do Non-Stop Slow/Steady Cardio: Even though more and more studies are showing that slow and steady cardio has a tendency to burn more muscle than fat, go ahead and do it anyway. I'm not talking any short, 45-minute or less bouts of exercise with strength training...I mean the continuous easy stretches of cardio that burn calories while working out, but have no greater effect on fat burn afterward.
My ebook, 20 High Energy Workouts is filled with interval-only workouts scalable to any fitness level. Why not download it and give a few workouts a try? If you want something more hands on, my 40-Day Shape Up will be open for business next week!
Want more tips like this? Or may a variety of tips that aren't as sarcastic? Hang out with me on Facebook. I’ll be posting some really great health and fitness tips over the next few weeks, and I don’t want you to miss out. See you there. Traci
