7 Fat Burners
01.18.11
We know that for many, weight lose can be a struggle. But be assured you don’t have to turn to drastic measures – extreme diets, cumbersome pills or crazy gadgets – to drop a healthy or significant amount of weight. Celeb trainer and nutritionist David Buer has found several foods and activities that can help you shed the extra pounds. Buer identifies seven fat burners aimed at getting you those much-wanted results.
No. 1 Go Green: Green tea contains a powerful antioxidant known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which has been shown to elevate metabolic rate for increased lipolysis, making it easier for the body to burn fat. In addition to boosting your metabolism, green tea also helps regulate blood sugar levels, which then helps to reduce those food cravings that everyone is tempted by while trying to maintain a healthy diet. Research shows that three to five cups of green tea per day is optimal and can potentially help you burn an additional 70 calories per day, which can amount to seven pounds per year.
No. 2 Hydrate: Drink a minimum of one half of your body weight in ounces. Staying well hydrated improves endocrine (hormone) function, liver function, boosts metabolism, controls appetite, suppresses cravings and decreases fluid retention. These all play major roles in improving your body composition and maximizing weight loss.
No. 3 Short and Sweet: Let’s trade in your long drawn out boring cardio for the excitement, challenge, convenience and supercharged benefits of High-intensity interval training also known as HIIT. The benefits of this type training are directly related to a high level of intense activity packed into a small window of time in turn forcing your body to spend the rest of the day expending additional energy to recover. This is commonly referred to as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). That simply means you’ll consume a greater amount of oxygen recovering from this type training than if you’d just performed a traditional boring, steady paced cardio workout. Instead, you’ll spend less time in the gym, accelerate your metabolism, burn more fat, improve your endurance and of course boost your weight loss potential.
No. 4 Get Your Z’s: Try to get at least six to eight hours of sleep every night. Adequate amounts of sleep allow you to maintain healthy leptin and growth hormone levels that will aid reducing carbohydrate cravings, improving workout recovery, energy and reducing stress levels. A combination of all of those factors will make a dramatic impact on your body’s ability to burn fat, build muscle and overall health in a positive way.
No. 5 Spice It Up: Incorporating spices, such as chili powder, cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper, ginger, and cinnamon, to your favorite meals and snacks has been shown to not only speed up your metabolism by as much 30 percent for short time periods of time but also helps regulate blood sugar levels, improves digestion and controls appetite.
No. 6 Shop the Perimeter: Try to focus on primarily shopping the outer perimeter of the grocery store. That’s where you’ll tend to find fresher, healthier, nutrient rich foods with fewer added preservatives or chemicals. Foods like fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, dairy products, meats, grains and organic natural products are located along the outer aisles and should be the foundation of your diet.
No. 7 Be Different: Shake your training up. Our bodies are pretty amazing at adapting to any situation or a new type of stress. So by varying the types of exercise, sets, reps, rest and intensity, along with incorporating fun outdoor activities, you’ll keep your muscles guessing and help ensure great results without getting bored.
David Buer is an Atlanta-based personal trainer with more than 12 years of experience helping individuals from all walks of life achieve their health and fitness goals. He is often called upon by popular celebrities, world class athletes and active business professionals for his expertise in weight loss management, general fitness, functional strength training, corrective exercise, sports performance training, nutrition and body sculpting. Some of his celebrity clients include, media mogul Tyler Perry and actor Joey Lawrence.
