Top 10 Weight Loss Tips That Burn Fat

As the number of overweight and obese Americans approaches three-quarters of all adults, dropping those extra pounds becomes a serious objective of many who are concerned with their long term health. For most, losing weight and keeping it off is a lifelong battle made more difficult with frequent on-the-run meals and failed fad diets.

Abdominal fat can be dangerous to health, as it increases the risk of heart attack, diabetes and certain cancers. Targeting belly fat has been shown to considerably reduce the incidence of health related concerns and provides for an improved level of self-esteem and confidence. Fortunately there are a variety of steps which can help with overall weight loss and specifically eliminate stomach fat. Create your own weight reduction program by choosing from these fat burning tips.

Tip 1. Eat Smaller Meals Throughout the Day

Eat smaller nutritious meals

Eating 2 or 3 larger meals per day causes the body's metabolism to stall as it's forced to process a higher number of calories. Eat 4 to 6 smaller meals each day and limit calories to no more than 300 to 400 at each sitting. Eat sensibly and avoid heavily processed foods in favor of natural choices including plenty of raw vegetables. Most important, never eat after 7 PM to allow complete digestion of your last meal before going to sleep.

Tip 2. Develop an Exercise Routine

To be successful in any weight loss plan, it's essential to incorporate an exercise regimen. It doesn't need to be strenuous, but must be done regularly on most days of the week. Use a combination of strength training and cardio to make it fun, and be sure to train for 20 to 30 minutes each session.

Tip 3. Eat at Home - Dine Out on Special Occasions

Most dieters have no concept of the excess calories they eat when dining out. Most restaurant meals include twice the number of calories as a home cooked meal. For weight loss to be successful, you must be able to control the healthy ingredients and quantity.

Tip 4. Drink Green Tea

Green tea is a known fat fighter

Studies confirm that drinking tea, especially the less processed green tea boosts metabolism when you're resting and specifically targets the release of stored fat. Brew the tea yourself to avoid the sugar added to prepackaged teas.

Tip 5. Drink More Water

Some dietary advocates promote the idea of drinking as much as 64 oz. of water daily. While the majority of studies don't confirm this, they do indicate the importance of drinking water through the day. Water reduces fluid retention naturally and promotes the release of toxins from the body.

Tip 6. Eat Slowly and Enjoy Your Food

Slow down when eating to allow your brain to send the satiety signal so you know when to stop eating. You should enjoy your food and chew each bite a minimum of 20 times to aid the beginning of the digestive process.

Tip 7. Cut the Sweets and Refined Carbs

Resist the temptation of sweets

All calories are not created equal. Refined carbohydrates and sweets are broken down immediately upon eating, providing an immediate surge of blood sugar and the desire to eat again in a couple of hours. Slow release calories from vegetable and protein sources require much more energy to metabolize and are less likely to be stored as fat.

Tip 8. Use a Smaller Plate

Most dieters don't even realize that the average dinner plate has gone from 9" to 12" in size. This means that 40% more food fits on your plate, and studies confirm that if it's on the plate, it's in your mouth.

Tip 9. Avoid Sugary Soft Drinks

The best place to begin cutting calories is in soft drinks. Each drink packs 150 to 200 calories, and most people consume several each day. Replacing sugared soft drinks with a no calorie substitute will result in losing 1 pound per week without any other changes.

Tip 10. Make These Changes Your New Lifestyle

Following these tips with the thought of short term weight loss can be beneficial, but it's important to develop a totally new lifestyle which incorporates most or all of these tips. Start by making these changes for 15 days, and be strict. You'll find that it becomes much easier as you go on, and the scale will provide encouragement.

All of these tips have been proven to deliver results. Follow as many as possible for maximum results, but don't let one or two push you away from your ultimate goal of permanent weight loss. Losing fat, especially from the midsection is critically important to living a long and healthy life.

Read More Expert Advice on Diet, Health and Nutrition

John Phillip is a Health Researcher and Author who writes regularly on the cutting edge use of diet, lifestyle modifications and targeted supplementation to enhance and improve the quality and length of life. Visit my Optimal Health Resource to continue reading the latest health news updates.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/John_L._Phillip/571991

Are Diet Drinks Making You Gain Weight?

Let's get right to the point, soda does not do the body good. "Pop", as it is popularly known as, is becoming the drink of the past, not of the future generations. Most people falsely believe that diet soda is helping them lose weight, but in fact, it is sabotaging their weight loss efforts.

I just read a study recently that stated that there is evidence that diet soda drinkers gain more weight than regular soda drinkers. This idea may be a shock to some diet soda lovers.

One of the first problems with diet sodas is the artificial sweeteners. These should be avoided at all costs, regardless of what they are in product wise. Some of these artificial sweeteners are used to kill lab animals in order to get body count ratio to humans to be within the "legal limit" for human consumption.

Artificial sweeteners fool your body into craving more carbohydrate based foods, which in turn makes you eat more carbs later, thus gaining more weight. Plus, one may think, since they have consumed zero calories, there is room for more. Not true! Studies show that diet soda drinkers eat more food because they subconciously believe that they saved on calories with a diet drink.

There is hope though in today's world for lots of alternatives. The first, most obvious healthy alternative to drink is pure water. If you don't however like the taste of plain water, you might put lemon in it. Lemon is the best cleanser on the planet, if you ask me. I once had the flu for 3 days. By day 2, I still couldn't keep anything down. I opted to start the master cleanser with lemon, grade A or B maple syrup, pure water, and a pinch of cayenne pepper, for the circulation, and some mint tea. I followed this for 7 to 10 days, without hunger pangs because my stomach was already so small because of not keeping any food down with the flu. I lost 20 pounds of water weight in 10 days. This can be modified, of course to upon waking, just drink a glass of fresh squeezed lemon water.

My favorite alternative to diet drinks is green tea, slightly steeped. I have found leaving the tea bag in for more than 3 minutes creates less of medicinal tang to it. I don't even wring out the tea bags, for it makes too srong of a flavor. I enjoy also some combos of black, green, red, and white teas, especially because of their antioxidant properties.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Maureen_Kurman