This blog post does not contain any miracle exercise tips which will strip off your fat. These 10 fat burning tips are all about food and healthy eating – note: it’s no about weight loss, it is about losing fat and staying fit!
1. Eat a healthy breakfast within 15 minutes of waking up in the morning.
Your body metabolism is in its highest gear early morning and will digest good healthy food easily and not store it or convert it into fat. Body metabolism decreases as the day progresses. Your breakfast should therefore be the best meal of the day.
2. Plan your meals based on your activity levels.
An idling car does not need much fuel. If you are going to have a busy, active day, eat more depending on how busy or active the day is likely to be and vise versa. If you have a problem controlling the quantum of food you eat, buy yourself a portion control plate, portion control bowl and portion control scooper.
3. Create five mini meals
out of the other two meals and everything else you might consume in between. These five small or “mini” meals should be consumed at regular intervals. The fifth meal should be consumed roughly two hours before bed time.
4. Follow the food pyramid chart when planning your meals.
Only food that is on that chart should find its way into your plate. An occasional (no more once a month) portion of pizza or a pastry is fine.
5. Eat fruit as a meal on its own.
Fruit should not be consumed along with your meal instead, make a meal out of fruit and consume it on its own. Fruit should be cut and eaten fresh – never out of a carton or can. To be effective, fruit should oxidize and break down in your stomach not in a blender or in a factory.
6. Healthy food, activity and common sense form three sides of the good health pyramid.
Remove any one and the pyramid collapses. Even if you are retired, stay active so as to utilize the energy from the food you consume. Staying active means incorporating at least 30 minutes of full body movement exercise daily. Above all, use common sense in planning what to eat and when to eat and eat food that is in the food pyramid in portions indicated in the food pyramid.
7. Drink lots of water.
Your body needs roughly one glass of water every 90 minutes that you are awake. Consciously take it, taste it, swirl it around your mouth and swallow slowly. Water is life – enjoy it.
8. Sleep 8 hours of sleep – it is essential.
Sleeping is not a waste of time. Your body needs eight hours of sleep in order to complete the daily maintenance activity. During your sleep, bone and tissues are repaired and everything else is replenished and ‘topped up’. Anything less than eight hours means the maintenance cycle was not completed. Sleep cannot be bifurcated at your convenience – it needs to be eight hours at a stretch.
9. Buy fresh and buy local.
Plan to shop for groceries and fruits no less than once a week. Twice a week or more is even better. Irrespective of whether or not there are any preservatives and additives, do not buy canned or processed foods. Food begins to decay the moment it is cut into pieces. Also, buy local. Your stomach may have problems digesting exotic foreign grown food.
10. Cook fresh and eat fresh.
Always cook your meals daily and eat the cooked food on the same day. The lesser the time lag between cooking and eating, the better because food begins to break down and decompose the moment it is cooked. With every passing hour, the cooked food whether refrigerated or not, loses its nutritional value. This has been clinically proved. Also, every time you reheat the food, it loses even more nutrition. So cook fresh, eat fresh.
Finally, when you stand on a weight scale, all the weight you see is not fat.
Body fat is like cotton – it weighs less but occupies more weight. If you sincerely follow the 10 tips I have stated here, you will slowly but surely get back into shape.
If you’re not so much into healthy eating alone, browse our exercise and weight management content section for more staying-active tips 😉