The 4th of July weekend is filled with BBQs, pies, cakes, drinks, and more BBQ followed by some cake and ice cream.
Plus! Everyone gets to enjoy my fireworks and parades. You are most welcome (yes, it is Independence Days. It’s the day I was set free the imprisonment of my mother’s womb).
Anyways, that’s a story in itself.
But we all know that you may have went a bit overboard and may be feeling like you need to re-boot your body into high gear. So with that in mind, here are 20 tips for you to Lose Fat Faster and uncover that six pack you know you have. Why not right?
17 TIPS TO LOSE FAT FASTER
1. Pushaways: I remember hearing about this great exercise during a conference in Las Vegas. It was to a question of what’s the first step to losing weight and the presenter shared a conversation he had with Mike Boyle, a well known strength coach, where Boyle shared this great exercise. While you are sitting down at the table eating, you place both hands on the sides of the table and push yourself back. Basically saying, stop eating so damn much. Self control, my friends.
2. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training): HIIT isn’t for the weak. In order for it to be beneficial, you have to go fo’ broke. There are many ways to do a HIIT workout. I believe HIIT is a surefire way to making your body a fat burning machine. The great thing about High Intensity Interval Training is that it’s time efficient and has a high caloric expenditure. Studies have shown that after HIIT will have you burning more fat and calories for up to 36 hours after your workout. Nice!
3. Resistance Training: I’m not a big fan for cardio, although it does feel good after you do it. But I am a huge fan of resistance training because it feels good before and after. Heavy resistance training is known for building muscle and burning fat. The more muscles you stimulate the more energy you need to use meaning the more calories expended. Pretty simple logic. Heavy resistance training will also make sure your body holds on to as much muscle as possible while you are doing ‘Table Pushaways’ and in a caloric deficit. The more muscle you have and build the more fat you can burn. Lethal combination right there.
4. Go Play: Jump in on the weekend hoops your friends play, or maybe some football in the park. Pick up some sort of sport. I have a few I’m looking in to such as; paddle boarding, surfing, and single man canoe. I know, lucky I live Hawaii. But you get the point. Taking up a sport is a great way to add time to burning extra calories and keeping you mobile, agile, hostile! (the good kind hostile). On the plus side for men, competition is known to increase your testosterone levels.
5. Lower Cortisol Levels: In simple terms, stop being so stressed. High cortisol levels causes your body to hold on to body fat, especially in the stomach region. It makes fat latch on to your body like a blood sucking leach, and becomes a pain in the ass to get off. A great way to de-stress while exercising is Yoga. Take up yoga, focus on deep breathing, release the tension in your body, and be prepared to sweat.
6. Stop Spot Reduction: Doing sit-ups will not give you abs, doing triceps exercises will not get rid of the fat on your arm that wiggles, and if you are trying to lose weight at your personal trainer is making you do biceps curls, get a new one. Instead of wasting time doing 1,000 sit-ups, use that time to be more efficient and effective by doing HIIT. Instead of doing triceps kickbacks and biceps curls, perform more compound movements such as push-ups, dips, pull-ups, and rows that use more muscles and you know what that means. More calories burned.
7. Progress Report: Taking self pictures every week is not superficial, vain, or narcissist. It’s the best way to show whether or not what you doing is working. If you go off of the scale, the number may be going down or up (whichever you goal is) but you may not be seeing the results physically and that can be discouraging. Strip down and take some pics. You don’t have to share it with the world, although if you are really serious, it will keep you very accountable and you will be surprised of the support you’ll get on your journey.
8. Ahonui. Patience. You have to be patient, although this is 20 tips to lose fat faster, don’t expect over night miracles to happen. Depending on your body composition, it may take longer to see physical changes. Instead, take not of how you are feeling internally. Do you have more energy? Do you feel less bloated? Do you feel lighter? These are the things you should also take into account.
9. Train with a group or partner: Competition is great. Although you are lifting or training with friends, you always end up trying to one up each other. Or at least it gives you an extra oomph because you don’t want to come off as if you are slacking. Plus, if you have supportive friends which are all going for the same goal then you will feed off of each other’s energy and hold one another accountable.
10. Make a meal plan: When I’m eating more on a whim, I tend to make back eating choices. But when I have an idea of what my meals will be and what I have, then I am able to create a meal plan that fits my goals. This takes some planning and if you have a spouse or living with family, this may be time for a meeting. Creating a meal plan won’t only affect you, but it will make a difference for those who are around you as well. You diet is a lifestyle change.
11. Less plate lunches and eating out: I know, plate lunches, are super ono (good), and you all have favorite restaurants. When you eat at home, you are in charge of what food you have and how you prepare them. Do you know why that tomato soup tastes so good at the restaurant? Because they put about 2 tablespoons of butter in to it with cream. It’s true. Going out to eat and finding an actual healthy meal can be a pretty frustrating task which will cause you to give-in for that double bacon cheeseburger with blue cheese and avocado. Yes, I’m guilty. Plus, eating at home is much more friendlier on the wallet.
12. Drink you H2O: One of the easiest things but can be the hardest, is to drop the soda and alcoholic beverages. It was amazing when I stopped drinking beer, the difference I felt and saw in my body were good enough for me to put it to the side. I still enjoy a few drinks here and there, but I’ve definitely lessened my beer drinking by far. Soda drinking for me is a rarity. I had a client who HAD to drink two 2-liter soda bottles a day. I cut her down to only 1 and she lost a tremendous amount of weight, down to a can, then to having soda couple times a week. Let’s just say, she felt like a whole new person. Soda and beer make your calorie intake spike up really quick when you consume them.
13. Eat your veggies: There’s a reason your parents told you to eat your veggies as a kid. Vegetables are anti-estrogenic (especially the cruciferous kind such as broccoli), meaning they fight against the hormone in your body that makes you store body fat. Each meal should have a vegetable. If you enjoy cooking like I do, then it will make you think of different recipes and ways for you to incorporate different types of vegetables.
14. Caloric Cycle/Carb Cycle: I’m a big supporter of manipulating your caloric intake through carb cycling. Your body is much smarter than many of you think. If you take in the same amount of calories on a daily basis, your body gets into a normal routine and your metabolism gets lazy which leads to fat loss plateauing. In order to keep this from happening and making your metabolism constantly doing what it’s supposed to do, you should manipulate the amount of calories you take in. You can refer to my post where I give an overview of Carb Cycling.
15. Eat more protein and lower your carb intake: I’m not here to bash on vegetarians. If that’s what you want to be, go for it. But please make sure you take in enough protein. If you are a meat lover, continue eating meat. I’m not swearing away carbs but most people eat way more than they should be which leads to the fat gain. Never eat carbs alone because it’ll spike up your insulin like crazy which makes your body more prone to holding on to fat which is what we don’t want at all. This also makes your body crave more of it. I know, carbs are amazing, but again, self control my friend. Protein and healthy fats makes you feel fuller for a longer period of time, and the thermic effect of protein is much higher than carbs and fats (it takes a lot more energy to digest protein).
16. Catch more Zs: Sleep is good. Naps are awesome. Sleep deprivation can cause all sorts of havoc on your hormones. Cortisol levels increase when you lack sleep which will make you crave more food while you are up because your appetite is going crazy. Most of the cravings that come will be for high carb and high fat foods which increases serotonin, a hormone which makes you calm and tired. Overall, make sure you get your sleep.
17. Get off your okole (ass): Without beating around the bush, some of you may just need a good kick in the okole to get going. No one can make you do anything if you don’t want to do it yourself. I’ve written up programs for many people but I can only do so much. If you aren’t ready to work towards your goal or are prepared to make a few changes, forget about it. You have to be honest with yourself and stop coming up with excuses. When you really want to accomplish something and fast, you’ll do whatever it takes.
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Feel free to add any other tips you feel could help others and ask any questions if there is anything you would like to me to expand on.
Mahalo. Aloha. A hui hou.