To Really Lose Weight You Need A Better Method Than Dieting

     The Westernized lifestyle is characterized by certain traits that combine and work against our health. People are at loss to understand why they continue to gain body fat and feel sluggish and tired. The often believe they have a slow metabolism (the body's engine) and they are likely correct. Some of the factors that conspire to undermine our metabolism and slow it down are:

?Eating only one or two meals each day
?Too many carbohydrates and too much fat
?Too much alcohol
?Not exercising, or choosing to perform only recreational type activity such as walking, jogging or cycling and avoiding strength training for muscle mass
?Too much stress and not enough coping strategies to deal with it

Living this type of lifestyle is a surefire way to erode your health away. As important metabolic control factors get out of balance you can gain excess body fat and it can create a cycle of further slowing your metabolism leading to even further weight gain. Then what generally happens when people realize they have a slowing metabolic motor they start to eat less of course and, that too can lead to an even slower metabolism still.

To turn this around, so you burn off body you need to increase your metabolism. You will burn more calories and lose more fat and even better you will be able to burn fat and build muscle all day long. The way to do this is with strength training exercise.

Strength training should be at the core of any fat loss program as it can boost metabolism up to 10 -15% after a training session. Muscle is metabolically active tissue and every pound of muscle you add will increase your body's calorie needs by 30-50 calories per day. This does not sound much but it adds up as the days, weeks and months tick by.

The fact is you lose lean muscle at the rate of around one half pound per year as you get older if you don't do anything to maintain it. A decrease in muscle tissue is a major contributor to the slowing metabolism people experience with age. The lean muscle that strength training helps you build will firm and tone your body like no other activity or exercise available. If you want to lose body fat strength training exercise must be a part of your fat-loss workout routine.

The other surefire ways to boost your metabolism is to eat 4-6 small meals every 2-3 hours throughout the day. Each of these meals should contain at least 20 grams of protein and the balance made up of raw and cooked vegetables.

Lastly add a couple of interval training sessions each week to really kick that metabolic motor into high gear. These are short bursts 10-20 seconds alternated with slow recovery periods. An example would be 15 seconds of sprinting followed by 30 seconds to one minute of walking. Repeat this 8-12 times.

By adding a proper strength training program set up by a fitness professional, interval training and mini-meals to your weight loss plan and you will burn body in the fastest way possible due to your increased metabolism. Sure beats dieting any day.

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