There are a ton of ways out there to lose weight. From the most basic of caloric deficit diets to the most advanced supplementation, there are many options for burning fat and slimming down. Let’s go through a few of the most common ways.
Nutrition
Calorie Deficit
The most important part of any weight loss program is to make sure that your calories in are less than your calories out. You’ll lose weight slowly at this point without any additional changes, but it will make a difference as long as you’re consistent.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting only allows a small amount of time for eating – usually around eight hours. This forces your body to use your body fat to fuel your body. Intermittent fasting is a great short term weight loss method, but research is still being done to test its effects on hormones in the long term, especially in women.
Carb Cycle
Carb cycling is exactly what it sounds like – you cycle how many carbs you eat on a given day. On training days, you’ll eat a full target of carbs. On rest or light days, you’ll eat 50% of your normal carb target. This helps burn fat on rest days and fights the metabolism crashes that normal low-calorie diets cause.
Stress Less about Meal Planning
Meal planning is great and helps you keep things healthy and easy. However, counting macros and calories every say can make you a stressed-out mess. Keep things simple and plan for the week ahead of time so that you’re not stressing about sticking to exact numbers. Keeping your plan light and stress-free will help avoid binges that can pull you down.
Training
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT is an easy way to burn calories and fat by boosting the amount of intensity in your cardio sessions. Instead of going for long and low intensity cardio like jogging, walking, or the elliptical, HIIT sessions use short bursts of intense cardio followed by longer periods of recovery for a period of time. HIIT raises the metabolism and improves your body’s cardiovascular health.
Dropsets
Dropsets are when you start at a heavy weight, rep until you hit failure, then drop the weights and rep again until failure. Continue dropping the weights until failure until you hit the lightest weights. Dropsets are especially fat burning because they are incredibly intense on your body and its glycogen stores.
Reduce Rest Time
Shortening the period of rest in between sets increases the intensity of your workout. It keeps your heart rate high and your metabolism working, burning more fat than if you were to give you body a longer break. If you normally take a 60 second break, start by dropping down to 45 seconds and see how your body responds. This shorter time period is better for muscular endurance and fat loss.
Supplements
Use L-Carnitine
L-Carnitine is a non-essential amino acid that is used as a fat burner supplement. It helps support endurance and performance. It is a non-stimulant, which means it’s a great option if you’re looking for stimulant-free fat burners that can be combined with stimulants and thermogenic supplements. It is thought to help convert fatty acids into fuel.
Use Omegas and CLAs
Omega fatty acids are useful for supporting overall physique and wellness. It’s also been shown to help you burn fat and gain muscle. Pair omegas with Conjugated Linoleic Acid, known as CLAs, for a superior fat burning boost. It is thought that CLAs support the metabolic activity at the cellular level, causing those who use it to lose fat faster. It is stimulant free and helps to support energy and fuel levels by burning fat.
Stimulants
Stimulants like caffeine and green tea extract help to improve fat breakdown while reducing muscle fatigue. This allows you to increase energy, endurance, and burn fat faster. Caffeine and green tea extracts are found in many pre-workouts, especially those made specifically for fat loss.
Heather Rider
