Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Heat Up Your Fat Burning Furnace

Food is the most important factor in burning off excess body fat. You have heard eating more fruits and vegetables will contribute to greater loss of body fat. Fruits and vegetables provides your body with more nutrients without all the excess empty calories which in many cases is stored as body fat. If you are not exercising often and at a high level of intensity this is one way to keep your body fat levels in check. Keeping your intake of lean meats in balance with your intake of starches will help to maintain balanced blood sugar levels keeping you in the fat burning zone. The whole idea is to always burn fat even when at rest. Having high blood sugar is counter productive to fat burning.

Exercise is next, which elevates your heart rate and respiration which starts the process of activating the release of stored body fat to be used as fuel for much needed additional energy. This is a critical part of the fat burning process. If however, you are only burning sugar it will be very difficult to reduce your body fat levels. Your objective is to raise your heart rate just a little higher than when it is at rest and to keep it there for a minimum of twenty minutes and building up to one hour or more at a time. Try to do this this at least five times per week by walking, bike riding or any form of aerobic exercise that you enjoy.

Lean Muscles is the furnace that keeps your metabolism running on high. Whenever someone says their metabolism is slow it is usually someone who is not doing any strength training or only does the bare minimum. Increasing this metabolic furnace is a must to keep the body fat from escalating. Almost everyone can benefit by training with some basic bodybuilding principles. Performing muscle building exercises for all of the muscle groups on your body a minimum of two times per week, three or four is better depending on your experience and fitness level. If you are not strength training you are not doing all you can to achieve your fat loss goals.

Roy Gutierrez is a personal trainer located in Tampa Florida. He has been helping his personal training and weight loss coaching clients achieve their goals for more than fifteen years. Get a FREE subscription to his biweekly newsletter, available when you visit http://www.stayfitafterforty.com

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