Step by Step Guide for How to Lose Body Fat

We've all heard the statistics. As of 2008, the CDC reported that 64% of adults were either overweight or obese. The remaining 36% may not be overweight but many of them are actively working to maintain their weight. So does that mean that nearly everyone is either trying to lose or maintain their weight? I'm sure there are some people who aren't concerned but there are many reasons they should be. A healthy weight is key to preventing many diseases and chronic conditions such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and osteoarthritis.

Perhaps you're one of these people who are trying to maintain or lose weight. Perhaps you've tried over and over with various diet plans and you've even had some success but you usually gain the weight back. Losing weight and keeping it off may seem like an impossible dream. Don't give up. You just need a solid plan and the motivation to follow through with it in order to succeed. Follow this step-by-step plan for how to lose body fat and you'll be on your way to a thinner, healthier you.

The first step in your quest to lose body fat should be to assess where you are now. Get out a notebook and tape measure and enlist someone's help to get all of your measurements. Measure your waist at the belly button, the widest part of your hips, your upper thighs, and your upper arms. Now step on a scale and note your body weight. All of these measurements should go into your notebook along with the date. You'll be measuring and weighing every week to assess your progress.

One thing to keep in mind is that you should put more importance on your body measurements than on your body weight. This is because body weight can be misleading as you get more fit. As you increase your muscle mass, your weight could even increase slightly even as your measurements decrease because muscle weighs more than fat but it also is more compact. Your body will look smaller and more toned but your weight may not go down as much as you'd expect. In fact, your goal should be to maintain or increase your muscle mass while burning your body fat and this is not easy feat.

The second step in losing body fat is to determine your metabolic rate. This is just another way to say that you need to calculate the number of calories your body requires each day to maintain your current weight. The easiest way to do this is to use a calculator. Many are available Online but I like the one shown in the link above. It allows you to input your lifestyle activity level, which is how active you are on a day-to-day basis, as well as the exercise you do. For example, if you sit most of the day for your job, you'd input "sedentary" into the lifestyle area.

The number you get will be the calories your body requires to maintain your current body weight. This is a very important number to know. Without it, you'll be in the dark, even if you count the calories you consume because you'll never know how many calories you can eat and still lose weight. Record this number down in your notebook as well and keep it in mind throughout the day.

Ironically, this number will decrease as you lose body fat. So make sure that you take the time to recalculate your metabolic rate periodically to make sure you're still operating on a calorie deficit.

To lose body fat, you'll now need to pull together a plan for creating a calorie deficit each day. We all know that in order to lose weight, we need to burn more calories than we consume. If we do that on a consistent basis, we'll lose weight. What you may not know is that 3500 calories is roughly equal to one pound of body fat. Therefore, in order to lose a pound, you'll need to create a cumulative calories deficit of 3500 calories. The safest way to do that is to create a small deficit by reducing your calories from food and augment that by burning more calories from exercise.

For example, let's say that your body needs 2000 calories per day to maintain your current weight and you want to lose one pound per week. In order to do this, you'll need a cumulative calorie deficit of 3500 calories over the week or 500 calories per day. You could cut out 250 calories from food and eat 1750 calories per day and you could exercise to burn an additional 250 calories per day. With this plan, you'll be on your way to losing one pound a week.

Most people on a diet to lose body fat want to know what to eat. There are many plans available that provide full menu's, even selling the food. Likewise, there are plans that give you an allottment of points, such as Weight Watchers. These aren't really necessary unless you feel that you need the structure and support that a weight loss program can provide. To lose weight, I would argue that you simply need to do a few key things:

• Stay within your calorie goal: The best way to do this is to track the calorie content of everything you eat. Record it in your notebook, on an Online tool, or in an App. Be very careful of portion sizes. When you first start, measure and weigh your food so that you know how many calories you're eating. Also important is not to eat too few calories a day. A woman shouldn't go below 1200.
• Drink plenty of water: Water is necessary for burning fat. In addition, some diets, particularly those that are lower in carbohydrates, are dehydrating. You need to keep you body hydrated by drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day.
• Eat healthy fats: Healthy fats such as those found in avocado, eggs, olive oil, olives, and nuts, can aid in your weight loss efforts by keeping you full longer. In addition, fats are a necessary component of many hormones that help you lose weight. It may seem counter-intuitive, but eating fat can help you shed fat.
• Eliminate refined carbs: Try to stick to slowly digesting carbs that won't spike your blood sugar and trigger an insulin response. The reason is that insulin is a fat storing hormone. When you eat something with a lot of sugar, like a candy bar or even pasta, your body responds by releasing insulin in order to get the sugar out of the body. This results in storage as fat if you eat too much. Carbs that are okay include oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes, and some fruit such as berries and cantaloupe. Eat a lot of vegetables too.
• Limit alcohol: Did you know that when you drink alcohol your body prefers that as a fuel over everything else? In other words, your body will stop burning fat and will burn the alcohol first. This can be detrimental if you're trying to burn body fat. It's best to limit your alchohol to one drink a week but be sure to have something that won't kill your daily calorie intake. For example, a glass of wine or a light beer should be okay.

There are many different types of exercise you can do to lose body fat but the most common perception is that you'll need to do lots and lots of cardio. Actually, weight lifting is equally, if not more important for fat loss. You don't need to invest a lot of time but you do need to up your intensity. Whether you engage in cardio or strength training, keep the following in mind:

• Lift heavy weights: If you can easily complete 12-15 repetitions of a strength exercise you're not lifting heavy enough. Your weight should be heavy enough so that you're out of breath and unable to complete your last repetition with good form. Just makes sure you get some help with proper technique and form before embarking on a strength training program if this is new to you. Lifting heavy weights will increase your muscle mass and allow your body to burn calories even at rest. It will also give you a toned, shapely appearance. If you lose weight but don't maintain or increase your muscle mass, your metabolism could decline and you'll just be a smaller, still unshapely, version of your old self.
• Focus on short, intense cardio: On days you do cardio, practice what is known as HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. With HIIT, you'll only work out for about 20 minutes but you'll alternate periods of high intensity with periods of rest. This is a great way to boost your metabolism and is much easier to fit into a busy schedule than endless hours on the treadmill.
• Rest: Make sure that you allow 48 hours rest between strength training sessions for a given part of your body. For example, if you work out your legs on Monday, wait until Wednesday, at the earliest, to work them out again. The HIIT workouts will also be quite strenuous so you'll need to rest adequately between sessions. Only do one or two a week.

If, in your quest for how to lose body fat, you have trouble staying motivated, and who doesn't, there are many tricks you can employ. The first is to find a friend who is also trying to lose weight and go into this together. If you're there for each other, you'll be less likely to slip up in your efforts. You could also tell yourself that you're going to buy yourself a reward when you hit you goal weight. For example, you could buy a new pair of jeans or a new workout outfit. Putting up pictures that are inspirational to you is another way to stay motivated. Finally, joining an official weight loss program with weekly weigh-ins is a great way to stay with it. Knowing that you'll be facing your fellow weight loss partners and getting weighed in publicly can be a powerful way to stay motivated.

Good luck and don't give up!