When you want to wear your favorite pair of old jeans or a t-shirt which is now tight for that you do not have to worry about losing weight. What you need is to lose body fat. Weight will eventually reduce with the loss of body fat. Along with that you want to live a healthy lifestyle first thing that comes in your mind is to lose weight actually to have a healthy body you need to reduce your body fat, weight does not matter much. Its the body fat you should concentrate on reducing to the road to a healthy living.
In most cases it is easy to lose weight as at first, your body lose water. with few tricks and tips you can easily reduce body weight but to reduce body fat you cannot trick your body to lose body fat fast. As to lose 1 pound of fat you need to burn 3500 calories as it is not an easy thing that can be achieved in a day by everyone. You need to bring in lifestyle changes in yourself that will eventually help to achieve your goal of living a healthy lifestyle.
What is the ideal body fat percentage for men and women-
For men, your body fat should not exceed 24% over that you would be considered obese and should not drop it below 8% as most of us do not compete in bodybuilding competitions. bodybuilders only need to reduce their level of fat to the extreme levels of below 5
5% as they have to show muscle definitions. An average male body fat should lie between 10% to 24%.
For women’s ideal body fat should lie between 10% to 25%. they should not look lower than 8%.
Age is another the factor which determines our body fat as we age our body fat increases. That may not be an unhealthy thing it is just an aging process.
Here are the ways that will help you to reduce body fat
1. Clean your diet- Its a fact you cannot out-train yourself for a bad diet. You will surely gain weight if you are eating more than you are burning. To reduce fat your diet plays a more important role than exercise as when you want to transform yourself its 70% of the diet to should take care of and rest 30% is your exercise that will help to attain your goal.
First thing in all the diet plans are to cut all kind of junk food, sugar-loaded beverages, empty calories, processed foods, refined carbs and artificial sweeteners. That includes your pizza, burgers, cookies, fried snacks, energy drinks, colas and chips and many more anything that has preservatives you need to avoid.
A healthy diet should include all macronutrients and micronutrients. You should consume a balanced meal. Macronutrients include protein, carbs, and fats. That includes your lean meats, eggs, lentils, legumes in proteins. You should include complex carbs such as whole wheat grains, vegetables which usually take more time for the body to break down and use. This, in turn, provides you with a more consistent amount of energy and you should avoid simple carbs such as sugars that have empty calories in them. A balanced diet should also include healthy fat such as almonds, olive oil, coconut oil, and ghee.
Micronutrients are your minerals and vitamins which are required for maintenance of your body eighter you should get it from your foods if not you can consume supplements. Micronutrients include vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K.
2. Calorie Deficit- A burn more calories you need to be in a calorie deficit. It is the only way to reduce your body fat and weight. To be in a calorie deficit means you need to burn more calories than you consume. It can be achieved by either by eating fewer calories than your body requires to maintain the same weight or by burning more calories at the gym or doing some cardiovascular activity maybe dancing, playing a sport, doing yoga or pilates. As we have discussed earlier that burning 1 pound of the fat you need to burn 3500 calories that may sound impossible at the moment but if you break the calories by reducing 250 calories from your daily diet and you burn 250 calories by exercising daily you within a week you would be able to burn 3500 calories.
3. Indulge yourself in Strength Training- Strength training or resistance training helps you to develop muscle mass. The most common resistance training is your gym where you do body-weight training and as well you lift iron. When your body has more muscles it helps you to burn more fat from your body while you are exercising as well as you are resting. more the muscles in your body it increases your RMR (rest metabolism rate) which means you are burning more calories while resting.
Doing body-weight exercises, lifting weights or using gym equipment are a few easy ways to get started with strength training. You should do multi-joint exercises, such as bench presses, upright rows, bent-over rows, squats, and deadlifts. These compound exercises work more than one muscle at a time and promote fast muscle gain.
4. Include H.I.I.T- High-intensity interval training is a type of high-energy workout that combines bursts of intensity with short periods of rest to keep your heart rate up. It is known to burn 30% more calories and fat in a short space of time over doing cardio for long intervals.
An eg of HIIT on a treadmill do a 30 seconds sprints at 16km per hour speed it will increase your heart rate the jog for rest 30 seconds at a speed of 8 kmph this is one set do at least 10 sets of it.
Another eg of HIIT on a cross-trainer or a stationary bike at the gym you hit your maximum speed for 45 seconds and for rest 15 seconds rest. Repeat this set 10 times.
5. Increase your NEAT– NEAT includes all those activities that burn calories that do not include your calories burned during exercise, rest time and sleep. These are activities like walking to the office, walking to your gym, playing with a child, playing with your pets, standing while working, fidgeting and moving around. You can burn more calories by performing these activities than performing a workout at the gym for 2 hours. You can burn more fat by at least walking 10k steps daily which is approx 8.3 km.
6. Reduce your Alcohol- Drinking alcohol on a regular basis increases your body fat as these drinks have sugar in them. These are empty calories that do not provide any nutrition and by consuming them you feel hungry again. In most cases people while drinking eats junk food with it. You needs to quit the amount of alcohol you drink to reduce body fat.
7. Follow Intermittent fasting– Intermittent fasting is not a diet it is a method that helps you to reduce weight and fat. It follows a principal of fasting for long hours in a day and for the rest of the day you can eat anything. There is no restriction on what you should eat while on intermittent fasting but if you choose from healthy food choices you would be able to lose weight and fat from your body.
The most popular method of intermittent fasting is your 16:8 method which tells you are fasting for 16 hours straight in a day including your night sleep time. Within this period you can only drink coffee and water. In rest 8 hours you can eat a healthy meal. By following intermittent fasting you are reducing the number of meals you consume daily which eventually means you are consuming fewer calories than regular times.
8. More Sleep- Although everyone needs a different amount of sleep, most studies have found that getting at least seven hours of sleep per night is associated with the most benefits when it comes to body weight and losing fat.
People who sleep less than 5 hours have a tendency of eating more than a person who is sleeping for 7 to 8 hours. You need to at least sleep for 7 to 8 hours straight in a day.
9. Add probiotics to your diet- Probiotics are a type of beneficial bacteria found in your a digestive tract that has been shown to improve many aspects of health.
In fact, the bacteria in your gut have been shown to play a role in everything from immunity to mental health. increasing your intake of probiotics through either food or supplements may also help rev up fat burning.