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Melting The Fat Away This Summer

With Doug Caporrino

Summer is right around the corner; are you ready to put on that swimsuit? If not, here’s great news! It’s never too late!

Follow these 5 simple steps to improving your body!

Carry a Notebook and Pen

Make sure you write down everything you eat and drink at the time that you ate. If you have the leftovers off your friend’s plate, write that down. If you share a meal with your loved one, write it down. Writing down what we eat and drink forces us to be aware of what we consume on a daily basis. It also gives us an easy way to track our intake and decide what changes are necessary to make.

Ask Yourself a Question

Every time you start to eat or drink something, ask yourself one question: How is this good for my body? Am I eating it purely for the taste? Does my body experience a sudden rise in energy after I eat this? Am I stressed and I need this before I can feel good? If you’re eating purely out of emotion, figure out what you would need to satisfy that emotion. Take a nap, read a book, meditate, yell at your boss, call a friend. Don’t eat because you’re feeling bad.

Eat to Lose Weight

That’s exactly right! If you miss meals you will not burn fat. Two things help the body use fat - protein and cardiovascular exercise. Your body is like a furnace that needs to keep fueled so it can work. What happens to a furnace if it stops getting the wood or fuel it needs? It slows down and eventually burns out. The same is true for your metabolism. You need to keep it fueled so it keeps working harder and harder. People have long believed the misconception that the less they eat the more they’ll lose. Initially a “meal skipper” will lose pounds but it will be only water weight. The only way to continuously burn calories is to regularly feed the body.

Drink Water

Our energy levels are greatly affected by the amount of water we drink. It is estimated that over 80% of our population suffers energy loss due to dehydration. It has been medically proven that just a five percent drop in body fluids will cause a 25% to 30% loss of energy in the average person; a 15% drop in body fluids can result in death.

Water is what our liver uses to metabolize fat into useable energy. An increase intake of healthy water will help metabolize and shed stored fat, resulting in more energy, less fat and a healthier look and feel.

Use It to Lose It

We need to use our bodies to burn calories. Leading a sedentary lifestyle is the number one reason people become overweight.

With the warm weather approaching, now is the time to get outside and do something! Play with your children. Take the family pet out for a run. If you are confined to the house because of household duties then make them fun. Turn vacuuming into a race. Take two steps at a time when going up stairs. Have fun with whatever the chore might be.

Keep in mind that the body goes into what is known as “after burn” following exercise. Because you have spiked up your metabolism, your body will burn on the average an additional 15 calories for every 100 calories that you burned during exercise. To reduce body fat you must expend more calories than you are taking in. You can do this by eating less, burning more, or a combination of the two.

Finally, to help you fine tune your caloric intake; you should lower your empty carbohydrate consumption and increase your protein intake. Cut out processed foods and starchy carbohydrates such as white bread and pasta. For the carbohydrates you do eat, emphasize complex sources such as oatmeal, brown rice and yams. Also, eat at least 1 gram of protein for each pound of body weight while you’re trying to cut body fat. This of course, applies to the active person, not someone who leads a sedentary lifestyle.

If after following these helpful hints you still have problems getting those washboard abs, then it’s time to take a look at portion control. “Supersizing” is one of the biggest traps that we fall into today. Fast food restaurants, movie theaters and food stores have all made it incredibly attractive from a price viewpoint to supersize. The only one that wins here is the seller. You as the consumer end up eating double the amount you needed just because it was a bargain. Don’t fall into these traps!

Last but not least, we as a society are addicted to sugar. Sugar intake has reached an all time high in this country. The average American consumes about 158 pounds a year or 34 teaspooons a day! Three quarters of the excess sugar we consume is hidden in processed foods including flavored yogurt, flavored oatmeal, granola bars and other health food imposters. Make cookies a weekly treat, not an everyday treat if you really want them. Read nutrition labels to limit foods that list sugar as one of the first three ingredients, or foods that contain several types of sugar, such as sucrose, high fructose corn syrup or glucose. By all means stay away from soft drinks. They’re loaded with hidden calories unless you opt for the diet kind which is laced with NutraSweet. (I can write a book on the down side of NutraSweet, but that’s another story).

Practice a little bit of discipline on a daily basis and stay focused. You can achieve the body you want this summer and for a lifetime!