How to burn fat (in plain English please)

[Rex]

Every article or website I go to has a 2-3 page article on this with a bunch of rules, guidelines and tips, etc, and every different article usually has different advice. Is it really that damn mechanical and complicated?

Honestly, there is sooo much misconceptions, myths and different information handed out that it's confusing as hell. One site tells me the "fat burning" setting on treadmills, elypticals and training bikes is a myth and doesn't actually help you burn more fat. Another tells me that the best way to trim fat is to do cardio in the morning before you eat anything. Then another site says THAT is a myth and will just leave you feeling tired all day. Then one site tells me that the best way to burn fat is to do weight lifting mixed with cardio. It seems like there isn't just ONE way to burn fat but the rule of thumb I always learned was:


20 minutes (ATLEAST) of high intense cardio. Less than 20 minutes will not help you trim fat. Basically do 30-60 min of cardio 3-6 days a week. This and watching what you eat will make a difference over time. Right??


I'm getting more and more skeptical about what information to actually follow online when it comes to working out or staying fit because it seems like every trainer or specialist has something different to say. I think sticking to the most simple and basic information makes the most sense. All these mechanical, highly detailed articles confuse the shit out of me.

this article is an example of what I'm talking about:

http://weighttraining.about.com/od/fatlossweighttraining/a/fat_burn.htm

What ever happened to "eat healthy and stay active. exercise as much as you can". Why do they have to make it so confusing and mechanical? One article suggested closing your eyes while using an elyptical because it forces you to balance yourself, thus burning more fat or some ridiculous shit like that. What ever happened to good old fashioned exercise without all the new age, cooky methods? At the end of the day, what is the best method to burning fat and toning without all the gaga and yadda yadda?

 

[KaraBulut]

Weight loss is big business. Everyone is going to try to sell you something as the "way to lose weight quick and easily".

It's not rocket science.

It's this simple: you use more calories than you eat.

You can do that three ways:

1. Eat less
2. Exercise more
3. All of the above

Why does this seem so hard? Because people spend weeks, months and even years eating more than they burn off and they get fat. Then they expect to lose it all in a few days without doing any work.

 

[pasacon]

That's pretty much it. I'm dieting right now the way that's been successful for me... I lost 60 lbs a few years ago, but stress and goings on in my life made it difficult and I gained it back. So I decided I need to lose the weight.

As was said above, to lose weight you simply need to cause a caloric deficit. Use up more calories day to day than you actually consume. Once you are at the desired weight, you can "relax" a little on the diet a bit so that you are pretty much even with what you take in and what you burn.

For someone who is considerably overweight, they probably had to be consuming 3k+ calories for their body to maintain that weight over time. So for someone such as this, simply limiting their intake to 2000 calories (avg diet) they will lose weight even if they don't make changes to their activity. And then limiting their caloric intake to maybe 1800 1600 whatever is needed. Whatever you do, you should always take in at least 1400 calories and no lower. Doing so puts your body into "starvation" mode and your body will horde any calories taken in instead of burning it, causing you not to lose weight.

I have myself set to a 1600 calorie diet, including periodic nutritional drinks and nutritional bars to avoid malnutrition. The weight will come off if I simply stick to that diet because at my current weight, I require more than that to maintain my weight with or without exercise. Eventually, though, you will plateau (you'll stop losing additional weight, merely maintaining the current weight you are at) as the gap between caloric intake and the required calories to maintain your weight at the time begins to narrow closely. That's when it will be absolutely necessary to kick up the activity and include more exercise day to day in order to widen the gap between what you consume and what you use up.

Of course, starting exercises at the beginning of a diet wouldn't hurt, especially muscle toning and building exercises as the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn through.

 

[spencer]

Here's the skinny

The most efficient way to lose fat is to lower your caloric intake while at the same time working your largest muscle group. And working means challenging your muscle groups so that they are increasingly worked thereby using up more calories and bigger muscles burns even more calories.

So to sum up in one simple statement: Lift weights and choose a program that incorporates deadlifts, squats and lunges. (you have to learn the exercises and there may be a big learning curve).

 

[youngnihilist]

it also depends on the person. everyone is different.

 

[andysayshi]

You can do that three ways:

1. Eat less
2. Exercise more
3. All of the above

This is good advice. You'll get a bunch of responses here, some saying to lift weights, some saying stick to cardio, some saying do both. None of them are entirely right or wrong.

Burn more calories than you consume. That's what really counts.

The advantage to doing cardio training is that you burn calories directly.

The advantage to doing weights is that the muscle you build burns calories.

Notice the common link? It's really not so hard. Less calories in / more calories out.

Eat less. Do more work. Lose weight.

 

[lakesinclair]

I have been using Hunza bread. It really curbs my appetite.
Its an aquired taste to start but after a while you seem to crave it.

 

[Telstra]

Weight loss is big business. Everyone is going to try to sell you something as the "way to lose weight quick and easily".

It's not rocket science.

It's this simple: you use more calories than you eat.

You can do that three ways:

1. 
   [*]Eat less
   [*]Exercise more
2. All of the above

Why does this seem so hard? Because people spend weeks, months and even years eating more than they burn off and they get fat. Then they expect to lose it all in a few days without doing any work.

yep
Eat less
Exercise more

just look at the marathon runners ....... they are burn fat.

 

[nsguy2]

My understanding is that it requires oxygen to burn fat and the way to get more oxygen is through cardio.

So basically, increasing your heart rate increases oxygen flow which in turn burns fat.