how to lose weight 3 Proven Strategies to Lose Weight Fast

Have you been trying to get rid of excess body fat for what seems like forever, but you are just not getting the job done? Maybe you've already discovered that racking up hours on long, slow, boring cardio type activity doesn't quite add up to fat loss. That is certainly the conclusion that ex-bodybuilding champion Carolyn Hansen reaches in her book Hot Metabolism.

If you have worked hard following the old weight loss model, and got little in return, you probably find that you are tired much of the time, feel weak and irritable, and you have likely convinced yourself that you just don't have the genetics required for a lean and toned body.

In fact, all you really need is a change of direction. So let's focus on newer and better ways to lose that body fat. The newer strategies focus on your metabolic health and what actually happens after your exercise session has concluded, as opposed to the old approach of focusing only on what happens during the session. An important part of this new approach is to take into account the state of your metabolism, which is essentially your body's engine, and which determines whether you burn body fat or store body fat during the course of the day.

We are going to briefly look at the three main strategies that can boost your metabolism and allow you to lose body fat in the quickest and easiest way possible.

[1] Proper Exercise Program

An exercise program of this type is one that contains at least 60 percent strength training exercises. The reason for this is that the ratio of lean muscle tissue to body fat determines how quickly your body burns or stores fuel. The higher the ratio, and the harder the exercise you apply to your muscle tissue, the higher the rate as which body fat is consumed.

This alone could alter the way your body burns fuel since, if you haven't been working your muscles with proper strength training exercise recently, it is likely that you have simply become under muscled. This means that your body's engine is smaller and burns less fuel. Even a few pounds loss of muscle tissue can cause you to become overweight.

Note that if you merely tone your muscles through moderate strength exercising you will not get big muscles. You will scarcely even notice the difference. But you will start to notice the difference in the size of your waist, hips and other places that are already larger than they should be. As you begin to lose body fat they will shrink. Muscle tissue is your very best friend and will give you that lean, toned tight looking body that you are aiming for.

[2] Interval Training

The rest of your exercise program should contain 1-2 sessions each week of short burst activity. This type of training burns more calories and elevates the metabolic rate more than any other form of cardio exercise. This means that you continue to burn more fat after your exercise session concludes than you did before it, especially when compared to long slow activity.

Although it takes less time, it is way harder to do this type of exercise, so you need to build into it. An example of short burst training would be 8-12 seconds of all out sprinting then 30 seconds to one minute of walking to recover. Repeat this process 8-10 or more times.

[3] Small Meal Eating Plan

The last piece of the puzzle is eating 5-6 small meals every 2-3 hours throughout the day. These meals should have at least 20-30 grams of protein as the core, and on top of this add lots of raw and cooked vegetables. Add a small amount of complex carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, or sweet potatoes. Prepare these meals the night before and take them with you wherever you go.

And that's all there is to it - these three strategies are guaranteed to help you lose body fat. It will not be perfect (nothing ever is) but continue to work at improving these areas, and over time you will not believe how effective they really are.

If you need a comprehensive overview of the metabolic regulation fat loss strategies discussed in this article, be sure to check out Carolyn Hansen's book Hot Metabolism, where she shows you how to take control of your body's fat burning mechanism for optimum results.