Losing Weight and Body Fat

Losing Weight and Body Fat

Are you one of those people who are having trouble losing inches off your waist? Do you want to look toned like Bruce Lee or like Gerard Butler and the Spartans from 300? Well I’m here to give you an idea on what to do, as well to explain the truth about really losing weight and give a brief description about weight loss pills.

Losing Weight and Body Fat

The truth is, in order to lose weight or fat you have to incorporate 4 things:

Determination and Commitment
Diet
Anaerobic (Weight) Training
Aerobic (Cardio) Training

Determination and Commitment

The first step into losing fat and having a well defined body is determination. You must be determined and mentally ready for the challenge to come. Not just physically but mentally. Because let’s face it, when put on a diet, the first day is hell, and by the second day you just want to get off it. Temptation is everywhere you look, whether it’s the TV, fridge, driving down the road to see Timmy’s, McDonalds, Wendy's or any other fast food place.

If you want to lose those stubborn love handles and bear keg, you must be determined to surpass plateaus, endure the many challenges ahead and be committed as well as open to various styles of training.

Diet

The 2nd step is to make sure your diet is fixed up. The 1st step in diet is to make sure you eat every 2 hours, have at least 6-7 meals a day all small portion. (This will boost your metabolism to further enhance your body’s ability to burn calories)

People always say eliminate carbohydrates from your diet because their bad for you. But I don’t have a problem with carbohydrates in my diet. Make sure you have whole carbs rather than white carbs. Whole carbs have been proven to have more nutrients than white carbs and is more beneficial. This site will explain further details about carbs.

Be sure to have protein in your diet of 6-7 meals. Protein is essential to eliminating fat and preserving as well as building muscle. Here’s a site that will explain how much protein you need depending on your body type.

Anaerobic (Weight) Training

Weight training is a must. But the amount depends on your goals.

If you want to be huge and big, you have to lift heavy and train longer than average.

If you want to be lean and toned, you have to lift high reps, low weight.

Strength/power (REALLY HEAVY WEIGHT 70-90 ) 1-6 reps, 2-5 minutes rest

Hypertrophy (Muscle Growth) (60-80 RM strength level) 8-12 reps, 1-2 minutes rest

Endurance/toning (20-60 strength level) 15-20+, 30 seconds to 1 minute rest.

I find that the best training for weights when trying to lose fat is that you try to have all 3 in your training schedule. But for me, I'm a powerlifter, so I really emphasis on strength training.

Strength and power training are the ones that make the muscle stronger, but not as big as if you train for muscle growth. So if you want to be lean but not bulky, I would emphasize on strength and endurance training.

Hypertrophy (Muscle growth) training is where your muscles get stronger (not as strong as strength training) but you gain size and mass. In the 1st few stages, you should focus on only muscle growth training and making sure your diet is up to par. Than when you are beginning to see the abs or notice you are getting leaner, you can add endurance and toning to your training.

Endurance and toning training are used as finishing touches really, unless you just want to be lean or you already have abs. Because if you only do endurance training without having hypertrophy or strength training, and the fact that if your diet isn’t good enough and you still have the beer keg, you won’t get anywhere.

Even though your muscles will be able to endure a lot, you won’t be able to see your six pack abs and lean cut arms.

All weight training should be anywhere between 3-6 sets.

In order to have a good weight training program, you must make sure you have it well balanced. And remember that what you eat counts as much if not more than how much you lift.

Aerobic (Cardio) Training

Cardio training is a must if you wish to lose those inches off your belly, but too much cardio training will make you lose muscle. Cardio helps in losing weight, but if you lose weight, you will lose some muscle mass as well. To avoid this and reduce muscle loss, make sure that you have some protein after your cardio sessions.

The ideal session of cardio is 3 times a week. But make sure it doesn’t go past 45 minutes. You should also make sure you’re at your fat burning heart rate to get the maximum results (Fat Burning Zone). This site will help explain it in better detail.

There are many kinds of aerobic training out there. They all have their benefits and some burn more calories than others. Also, depending on how intense your cardio session is can be a major role on how much calories you burn in one session.

There are 2 kinds of cardio training: high intensity and low intensity

The easiest way to put this is that high intensity is like running away from the cops, and low intensity is taking a pleasant jog around the block.

Sprints, biking fast and skipping rope fast is all categorized as high intensity, and jogging, biking at a slow pace and skipping normally are low intensity.

Generally high intensity is in short bursts and less time consuming because you’ll be tired after the 1st few sessions. Low intensity training is long and in my opinion boring and less effective than high intensity. But in the end they both work.

I mix them on my cardio days. For example on my jogs I would sprint from lamp post to lamp post (100M or so) than rest in between lamp posts and when I reach the next I sprint again. Another example is when I'm shadowing boxing I would quickly move one side than go all out on combos for 10 seconds than go back to normal shadow boxing and go back to all out.

This site will tell you the differences between the two in further and complex detail.

Weight Loss Pills

There are thousands of weight loss products out there. Some are expensive, some are cheap, but do they really work? Well let me ask you a question. If you built a house and didn’t have the roof, would the house be a house you or someone would like to live in?

Think of the house as your body, and think of the pills as the roof. You can’t take the pills without the house being already in good shape. But you can’t have the house in good shape without the roof. Weight loss pills work only if you let them, and what I mean is having the right diet, the right training and already have the right body fat percentage. (10-12)

So what I’m trying to get at is weight loss pills work, but they’ve been getting bad reviews because the consumer doesn’t use it right. For example some people who used it might have a diet that makes you gain weight. And the pills are trying to help you lose weight. So they both cancel out and you’ll end up just having the same old beer keg. So make sure your body is ready before you actually buy the pills.

Final Thoughts

I hope my article gives you a better idea on what workouts to include and an overall better understanding of exercising and weight loss.