If your new year’s resolution was to shed body fat for good but you haven’t been successful so far, there is still time to make progress before the year ends. It doesn’t mean that you have to follow a strict, unrealistic diet plan and spend more time at the gym – body fat can be lost with minor lifestyle changes, a balanced diet and moderate exercise 4-5 times a week.
For a balanced diet, here is what you should consider:
Drink a lot of water
Water is responsible for transporting and burning of fat and it is the place where most of the cellular transformation takes place. It is also free of calories, and can make you eat less.
You should drink at least 8-10 glasses of water per day. Try to drink more water between exercise sessions as you lose electrolytes and salt from sweat.
Eat fat to burn fat
This is now an old saying, but it holds a lot of importance in modern weight loss diets. However, eating fat doesn’t mean you should load up on packaged chips, ice cream or jerky.
If you want your body to get efficient for using fat for energy, incorporate good fats in your diet like Macadamia nuts, fish oil and flaxseed oil. Good fats also reduce bad cholesterol levels and promote hair growth.
Eat more protein
Protein promotes an anabolic response inside the body and is the main nutrient for building muscle. As body fat is the ratio of muscle to fat, increasing muscle mass reduces your body fat percentage.
Furthermore, eating protein right after the workout promotes fast recovery of muscles for the next session. You may not be able to eat a lot of protein in the form of whole foods after workouts, but protein snacks or shakes will ensure you get an ideal dose for recovering and rebuilding muscles.
L Carnitine
Some health experts are calling L Carnitine ‘the miracle weight loss supplement’. It works best when taken on an empty stomach followed by moderate exercise. The best time to take it is before morning cardio.
This nutrient has been found to promote fat loss as it converts fat into energy, so the calories that you burn on an empty stomach would mostly be fat calories.
Eat low calorie fruits and vegetables
You can get carried away when someone tells you to eat more fruits to lose body fat. The reality is that only low calorie fruits are going to help you. Options like banana, strawberry and Apple should be avoided as they contain high amounts of fructose.
The better fruit options include berries and black grapes. As for vegetables, you can eat the green ones as much as you want because even large servings of broccoli, asparagus, etc. contain very few calories.