the most effective way to lose body fat???

lashleyrivera

What type of cardio us best to burn body fight?? running? Stair master? Elliptical? Etc...also when trying to lose body fat what is the most important thing to watch in ur diet..sodium? Fat? Sugar? Thank u for ur help:)

jalara

Lift weights, eat low fat, high protein, and a healthy all-around diet. Make sure you're getting lots of water as well.

jalara

Lift weights, eat low fat, high protein, and a healthy all-around diet. Make sure you're getting lots of water as well.

Lilchichi

i think running is the best way. the easiest. also most effective . you want something run a gurented

sarahsmom1

I do not think it matters what you use . You need to keep you heart rate a the rate that is determined by your ht, wt, gender and age mine is 132 so if i keep it at a constant 132 I will lose body fat no matter if I'm running , jogging, jumping swimming etc

Smokechic

Agreed with the above post....you must keep your heart rate. To get a whole body burn, you must keep it up for a straight 45 minutes. Pick what you like the most or mix it up to keep you from getting bored.

_Bro

Here's a cheat sheet of things that I culled from various places that I attribute with some of the good results that I've had so far:

1. High intensity interval training (HIIT) - There have been studies that reported that following a 20 min HIIT program lost about 6x more bodyfat then a group that followed a 40-min cardio program

HIIT on the elliptical is awesome -- you can easily vary the pace without having to alter any of the controls. Furthermore, having alternating levels of intensity is much more mentally engaging (for me) as I was focused in on my routine and not doing the hamster dance on the treadmill.

2. Make sure you are drinking enough water. If you are not hydrated your performance will quickly fall off.

3. Bring your own tunes. Several studies have indicated that you'll train harder and longer when you are listening to the right music (for you). Don't do the TV thing..

3. Mix it up. If you get bored with whatever cardio machine you are doing some variety (rowing, running, elliptical, etc) to the cardio time.

4. Avoid sugary foods before training. The insulin spike will reduce the possiblity of your body tapping into FAT STORES during your training.

5. Drink green tea. All kinds of research shows that this a great thing to add in to your fat loss plan. In fact there has been some evidence that sipping on green tea while exercising caused a 10% increase in abdominal fat loss than those that drank a placebo; I am talking about green tea brewed -- not some sugary drink

6. Keep your protein intake high. Protein is critical for both gaining muscle and loosing fat.

Last but not least. Get enough ZZZs. Put simply if you are not sleeping enough you will decrease your glucose tolerance -- more likely to store sugar as fat.

Hope that helps!

runningneo122

If your joints can take it running is the most effective other than swimming. The keys are:
Move your whole body.
Heart rate at or abt 80% of max.
30 minutes continuous effort.
Eat back ALL your exercise calories.

If possible do it first thing in the morning on only a caffeine boost. This is called "fasted cardio" and is most effective b/c your tank(stomach) is empty and the body will burn fat for the energy to exercise. Wait 20 minutes for the caffeine absorption and go to it. Cardio raises the metabolism for as long as 19 hours after the finish. Muscle built will burn more calories at rest(yes, even when you're sleeping). A protein drink within 30 minutes of finishing helps w/ muscle repair and soreness. Eat protein w/ every meal to keep your insulin from spiking and causing a "crash" later and making you feel more hungry than you should.

I did this last year and lost 16 pounds in 6 weeks after I was up to 30 minutes per day. An overexercising injury sidelined me and the weight didn't come back right away. I got back to running a few days B4 New Year's and joined here on 01/03/11 and have lost 4.5 pounds as of this AM. Look at my diary if you like.

_Bro

Those are good points as well!
I had great results with fasted cardio + recovery with good carbs (low GI --IE Oat Meal) + Protein.

runningneo122

My weightloss/exercise/running reasearch after my injiuries(from lack of knowledge) led me to: Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto. Here's a review: http://www.fitnesstipsforlife.com/burn-the-fat-feed-the-muscle-complete-review.html

I swear by this book. Posters on here are either citing it themselves or ditto-ing my remarks regarding it.

Another good posting on here is titled something like: "The 51 things that burn fat faster"..... Very good read. It encouraged me to see I was doing all those things correctly.

lashleyrivera

is. There a way I can do a fasted cardio if I workout during the day, that's what my schedule allows for..and by caffeine u mean coffe or tea or nething? These r all very helpful!

runningneo122

Fasted is only first thing in the AM. You shouldn't be awake more than a couple hours without eating. If possible start working toward 4 meals a day and then 5 per day eating smaller portions of course and spacing them every 2.5 - 3 hours apart. If you usually skip b/fast ...stop doing that. Eating gets the metabolism going and eating small meals every three hours keeps it going b/c the body needs about that much time to digest that size meal. It gets done digesting meal 1 and here comes meal 2 and so on. The fasted cardio gets the metabo pumped up to a high level and it stays up for hours and dwindles throughout the day.

_Bro

Well if you do it first thing in the AM your coming out of your longest period without food (SLEEP).
If you can't do this for whatever reason just try and make sure that you're not coming off a high intake of carbs/sugars before you workout..

The basic idea being that muscles usually get their energy from carbohydrates but if you haven't eaten before exercising, your body doesn't have many carbohydrates in reserve. That forces it to burn fat instead.

Caffeine helps you focus and raises the HR. So coffee (no sugars) or green tea is great!
You can also make your own iced green tea and have it ready in the re-fridge.

Just make sure that you assess your tolerance level and stop if you start feeling dizzy.

runningneo122

Well if you do it first thing in the AM your coming out of your longest period without food (SLEEP).
If you can't do this for whatever reason just try and make sure that you're not coming off a high intake of carbs/sugars before you workout..

The basic idea being that muscles usually get their energy from carbohydrates but if you haven't eaten before exercising, your body doesn't have many carbohydrates in reserve. That forces it to burn fat instead.

Caffeine helps you focus and raises the HR. So coffee (no sugars) or green tea is great!
You can also make your own iced green tea and have it ready in the re-fridge.

Just make sure that you assess your tolerance level and stop if you start feeling dizzy.

Well said.

lashleyrivera

So I am in school from about 9 to 3 every day...I eat bfast at about 730 then I will eat my snack/ lunch at about10 or 11 I usually do my workout at about 345p..when should I eat my last meal...I think its kind of a big gap from my lunch til my workout, should I just drink some tea or coffee at around 2?

TrainerRobin

The bottom line is that the best way is to (1) eat healthfully at a calorie deficit, (2) burn calories via cardio and (3) build lean body mass with resistance training.

And, y'all may be as disappointed as I was to learn this, but all of the current research is consistently disproving the old theories that when you eat matters. Yup ... that means that whether you burn the 500 calories (just an example) on an empty stomach or a full one, you still burn only 500 calories. And if you eat most of your calories just before you go to bed, which used to be thought to be taboo, if the calories are the same as they were if they were distributed among many small meals, they're still the same calories and the net results are the same. So much of these things that we used to hold as truths make total sense from a layman's perspective (I personally endorsed, for years, the theory of keeping the metabolism running efficiently, like a woodstove, by adding just moderate amounts of fuel all day long, instead of only in two or three big meals). But ... all of the research is disproving these old beliefs.

One recent extensive study actually had hundreds of people eating all of their calories (yuck!) late at night and then going to sleep, while the others were eating in six small meals across the day. They ate exactly the same food/calories and exercised the same, and the results showed no significant difference in changes to weight or body composition.

The good news is that we can relax a bit, and understand that calories in versus calories out is the main name of the game, and we can be a little less rigid about making sure our diet schedule and workout schedule fits all the rules we've heard over the years. I will spare you with the detailed, geeky aspecst of the research, but will add that there are other, incidental benefits of eating smaller meals over the day -- individuals tend to avoid getting too hungry and overeating at the next meal (and a couple of other benefits) but the numerical difference (in terms of affecting weight loss or gain) just hasn't held up to research. That said, there is no reason NOT TO do some of these things if they help you adhere to your program. Just remember they aren't fundamentally successful to your progress.

For maximum benefit, workout and build your lean body mass. I am the ONE trainer at our gyms who will, at any time, do a body fat calculation for anyone, any time they want (free!) so they will know their body composition as it changes. That really helps folks who don't see the scale drop. I provide all of my clients with a form that we fill out with the date, their weight, their lean body mass weight, and their fat weight, along with their body fat percentage. To keep that mass up, let alone build it, it's essential that you do resistance training and push yourself. Body composition, not weight is EVERYTHING!

In terms of cardio, maximum benefit is derived by high intensity training (not the old "burn in your fat zone" theory) and by interval training. Caveat: interval training's benefit is the highest if you do it only twice a week. Once you up that to three or more times, the benefits gradually diminsh. So push yourself, get a little breathless, and sustain it as much as you can (although cardio,done in 15 minute or greater intervals [some very reputable studies say ten minutes or more], is just as effective). Yup ... that really does mean that if you do 15 minutes of high intensity cardio work four times a day, you will reap the same benefit of doing 60 consecutive minutes of the same training. That said, often people can work harder for only 15 minutes at a time and they end up burning MORE calories by splitting the cardio work up because four 15 minute hard core sessions are simply more "doable." The bottom line is that you'll burn more calories working at a more intensive level and that will result in a greater usage of body fat --your goal!

Hope that's helpful to you!

_Bro

Actually, I would say 30 to 45 mins before you workout..
This will give your body time to start processing the caffeine...

Good luck!

runningneo122

That sounds OK I guess.... Last year between two injuries I bought a T/M and started running anytime I had time and all I did was maintain. It didn't matter how much I ran every day, hence the second injury. That was when I did the research that led me to the book and learning that what I had been doing in the beginning(unwittingly) was fasted cardio. Try to switch your schedule if possible.... like get up earlier to get the run in. You are also quite close to your goal weight which makes it harder to lose the fat. A little weight training would help here as well. Up the protein if you add the W/T for muscle repair and to keep the metabo up. Lift the weights as hard as you can and don't worry about looking like a male bodybuilder. Females don't have enough testosterone to build mass like that. You will merely put curves in all the right places and you will be even more pleased with how you look. Another thing to remember about weight training is the scale will not show the loss as easily as measurements and BF% measurements w/ a caliper. Online you can get one for as little as $5.

lashleyrivera

The gym I go to doesn't open til 7 and by then I'm about to head out the door, so the only mornings I can do is sats:( but that's a good idea with the calipers, I haven't checked it so I have no idea what it is...the scale has stayed the same for 2 months its so annoying...it makes me feel like nothing is working...I weight train a little, but I know I can push myself more, I'm a whimp lol so I will say its too heavy and go lighter cause it starts burning ..I will work on that too..

EricInArlington

I do all of that except the green tea and sleep, Ill give it a try thanks

EricInArlington

Here's a cheat sheet of things that I culled from various places that I attribute with some of the good results that I've had so far:

1. High intensity interval training (HIIT) - There have been studies that reported that following a 20 min HIIT program lost about 6x more bodyfat then a group that followed a 40-min cardio program

HIIT on the elliptical is awesome -- you can easily vary the pace without having to alter any of the controls. Furthermore, having alternating levels of intensity is much more mentally engaging (for me) as I was focused in on my routine and not doing the hamster dance on the treadmill.

2. Make sure you are drinking enough water. If you are not hydrated your performance will quickly fall off.

3. Bring your own tunes. Several studies have indicated that you'll train harder and longer when you are listening to the right music (for you). Don't do the TV thing..

3. Mix it up. If you get bored with whatever cardio machine you are doing some variety (rowing, running, elliptical, etc) to the cardio time.

4. Avoid sugary foods before training. The insulin spike will reduce the possiblity of your body tapping into FAT STORES during your training.

5. Drink green tea. All kinds of research shows that this a great thing to add in to your fat loss plan. In fact there has been some evidence that sipping on green tea while exercising caused a 10% increase in abdominal fat loss than those that drank a placebo; I am talking about green tea brewed -- not some sugary drink

6. Keep your protein intake high. Protein is critical for both gaining muscle and loosing fat.

Last but not least. Get enough ZZZs. Put simply if you are not sleeping enough you will decrease your glucose tolerance -- more likely to store sugar as fat.

Hope that helps!

I do all of that except the green tea and sleep, Ill give it a try thanks