Training

1. Weight training: Don't leave weight training out of your program! A good weight workout has an after-burn effect up to 36 hours after the workout! 4 to 5 intense 30-minutes-workouts a week wikk keep your metabolism at 100% 24/7!

2. Use more dumbbells: no modern hi-tech gym machine beats a pair of good dumbbells. More stabilizing muscles are used in free-weight training which has a double benefit: (1) You burn more fat by using more muscles. (2) You train these small stabilizing muscles and their cooperation between each other. This way you add more quality to your workouts than just "pumping" individual muscles without teaching them teamwork.

3. Kettlebell training also showed good results for a quicker weight loss as almost all principal muscles are used in these exercises. I'd say that 30 min kettlebell exercises burn 2x to 4x more calories than even dumbbell training. There are different sizes and weights. You could even improvise and build your own "kettlebells" from stuff at hand. I have used for long time 5-liter plastic water cans which could be used for dozens of different exercises. And you can adjust the weight, too, just by adding more water!!

4. Jog/run first thing in the morning. I found out that the jogging session doesn't have to be long. Even 10-15 medium-intensity workout 30 minutes before breakfast is enough to speed up your metabolism for the whole day. Plus, you won't be as lazy to wake up and go running when you know that the workout is not as "bad".

5. Know the reason. The aim of exercing in a fat-loss plan is NOT to burn as much fat DURING the exercise, but to speed up your metabolism just enough to burn fat constantly THROUGHOUT the day, 24/7. Moderation is the key. Overdoing just destroys your precious muscle mass that is dearer than gold while dieting: Only the muscles burn fat, nothing else. I feel pitty seeing all those peeps at the local gym spending hours at the treadmill and having worse results than me, who jogs 15 minutes in the morning and does 25 minutes weight training 5 times a week. Be clever.

Nutrition

1. Take at least 5/6 small meals a day. Split up those large dinners. Your metabolism (if you eat the right food) speeds up after each meal. By eating small throughout the day, you'll keep that engine running non-stop! After some time you'll notice that you get hungry every 2-2,5 hours automatically. That's a good thing! This means that your metabolism is at full pull! You may notice that you eat slightly more calories a day than before. Don't worry about that. As long as you eat healthy, the few extra calories don't matter.

2. NEVER feel hungry! Don't give your body a reason to store fat. It perceives even the slightest hunger as an indication of possible starvation and will save/store more fat "for bad times" at the first possibility (cravings to eat more / eat more junk-food). This is probably the most important but largely underestimated and wrongly done thing while dieting!

3. Drink good fluids, as much as possible: Water and tea. There are around 5 different theories of whoch I know that try to explain whydrinking more water helps you with weight loss. Maybe it's a combination of them all. However, I think, the most important reason is the following: When you drink much water, your kidneys adjust to water "abundance" and don't have any reason to store much water as a reserve. And with less water under your skin, you appear "leaner". Appearances, but a good quick-fix-tip ;)

4. Watch what you eat! There are tons of useful articles that will give you an idea what is "right" food. As a quick-fix I suggest to cut significantly on simple carbs and even complex carbs by adding much, much more fruits and veggies (fiber). Try to take the good complex-carbs before and after any physical activity and limit yourself to protein and vegetarian food n other times.

5. Guarana, green tea and coffee are good metabolism-boosters. Just use them in moderation. =)

Other

1. Keep your stress in check. Stress is known to trigger cortisol, the junk-food hormone, that destroys muscles and puts you out of equilibrium. It's pure evil!! So stay cool. Take yoga, classes, if neccesary. Go for a walk in the afternoon. Leave everything behind for sometime. Do something you like once in a while.

2. Work on your sleep patterns. It's said that fitness has 3 key elements: exercise, nutrition and rest. You need to pay attention to all three. By leaving one out, the equilibrium is broken and the process is slown down. The only tip I can give here is get enough sleep and, even more important, don't take too much sleep, which is far worse!! The most useful tip I've ever got was to wake up at the same time EVERY morning (yes, even weekends) and go to sleep when you're tired (variable time). This will keep you in a natural balance and provide you with enough rest proportional to the day's activities. In a matter of two weeks you will notice a significant power boost which, again, will help you to burn more fats off your belly.

3. Moderation and persistence is the key to success in any area of life. This is probably the most important advise I can give you. Master these and you'll master everything else! Good luck!

Copyright (c) 2007 Roman Semko