photo credit: lululemon athletica

So you’re struggling to lose weight. You are one of the millions of women around the world who just can’t seem to burn fat. Well, all is not lost. There is hope. Here are a few things you can do if you want to start burning fat quickly and in a way that lasts for the long term.

1. Train with weights
So many women avoid weight training for fear that it will make them bulky. It won’t. Weight training is an essential component of losing weight. It elevates your heart rate and, contrary to popular belief, burns a lot of calories. If you are not weight training in a regular way then you are not setting yourself up for success.

2. Mix high intensity and low intensity
If you are struggling to lose weight I am betting that you do a long run each time you workout. Or perhaps you spend 40 minutes on the exercise bike. That’s good but you could be doing more. High intensity workouts are far more effective at burning fat because they keep your heart rate up after your exercise session has finished. This means you will be burning calories well into the day.

3. Change your workout every two weeks
The human body is adaptable. It becomes used to certain things and develops resistance to it. Exercise is no different. The body becomes accustomed to the strain you put it under and for this reason you need to start changing your workout at least every two weeks. Try weight training and then doing cardio, mixing the two up and then doing different exercises in different orders. Try new classes and keep the body guessing.

What about you?
Do you have any tips that you would give to women who are struggling to lose weight? Has anything worked for you? Leave a comment.

photo credit: hectorir

I often get asked by my friends which piece of equipment burns the most fat and as such is the best for weight loss. Is it the treadmill, the exercise bike or the cross trainer? In this post I am going to tell you which one it is and why.

Which is the best for weight loss? Treadmill, bike or cross trainer?

If you spend hours every week doing cardio training trying to lose weight then you obviously want to know which one is the most effective. I know many women who get quite anxious about this issue; they have only 30 minutes per day and don’t want to waste their time.

The answer is extremely simple: they are all good. It depends on how you use them.

Let me explain. You could sit on the exercise bike for an hour a day just barely spinning the wheels and not burn a whole lot of fat. Then the next day you could jump on the treadmill and do sprints for 10 minutes and burn a heck of a lot more of calories than you did on the bike. Does this mean the treadmill is better? No. It just means you used it properly.

The best machine
The best machine is actually the one that you like the best. It is the one that you can push yourself on without getting injured or bored. I like the cross trainer the best because I have an old knee injury that flares up on the treadmill and the bike. So this is the best machine for me because I can push myself without getting injured.

What if you trained equally on all?
Now we have a difficult situation. What if you trained equally hard on each machine? Which one then would be the best for weight loss?

It would be a toss up between the cross trainer and the treadmill. Why? Well the cross trainer is good because it involves both the arms and the legs. You can get a full body workout by focusing on both. The treadmill, on the other hand, is extremely good because it is high impact. I don’t care what anyone says, running is the most difficult of all gym cardio, especially when you up the speed and the incline.

If you are injury free and looking to burn the most amount of fat I would mix up between the treadmill and the cross trainer. Make sure you use lots of sprinting, inclines and so on to maximize the amount of calories that you burn.

Conclusion

Really, the best cardio equipment is the one that you work hardest on. High intensity exercise is the best way to lose weight so make sure you push yourself more and more each time.

photo credit: cmav

Have you heard of negative calorie foods? Well its high time you did! These super healthy foods are a woman’s best friend when it comes to weight loss. Why? Because you lose weight by just eating them.

What is a negative calorie food?

Negative calorie foods are natural foods that have a net effect of weight loss when you eat them. Remember in this post on portion sizes for weight loss when we talked about the equation for weight loss being calories in + energy out = weight gain? Well negative calorie foods aid in this process by negating the calories in part of the equation.

How do negative calorie foods work?

Negative calorie foods are not foods with no calories. They actually could have quite a few calories. The reason they are called negative is because they take more energy to digest than are contained in the food itself.

Let’s take a stick of broccoli as an example. It might have 50 calories in it but it might take 60 calories worth of energy to digest. So you are, in effect, having a weight loss reaction. Digestion takes up a lot of energy in our bodies so it is important to use as many negative calorie based foods as possible.

What are some negative calorie foods?

Here is a simple list of some negative calorie foods that you can start to incorporate into your diet. Keep your portion sizes under control but enjoy the weight loss benefit that these can bring.

• Asparagus
• Fennel
• Broccoli
• Leek
• Cabbage
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Apricot
• Mandarin orange
• Blackberry
• Melon
• Blackcurrant
• Peaches
• Clementines
• Damsons
• Raspberry
• Grapefruit
• Rhubarb
• Guava
• Strawberry
• Honeydew Melon
• Lemon
• Cucumber
• Cauliflower Peppers
• Celery
• Radish
• Spinach
• Tomato

As you can see they are all fruits and vegetables. Does that give you any hints about what we humans are supposed to be eating?

photo credit: nozomiiqel

Over the last few years there has been a great emphasis on eating the right foods and eating them at the right time. In my experience, however, a lot of women fail to realize that one of the major reasons for being over weight is because your portion sizes are too big. In this post I am going to talk a little bit about this and what you can do to fix the issue.

Why portion sizes matter

When it comes to losing weight there is a simple mathematical equation that explains 95% of weight loss. That equation is:

Food in + Energy burned = Weight gain

Basically what this is telling us is that if you take in more calories than you burn with exercise and bodily functions then you are going to gain weight. And one of the major reasons for weight gain is having too much at any one sitting.

If you eat big meals it is very likely that your metabolism is going to be slowed down and very heavy. Eating smaller meals throughout the day keeps that metabolic system revving and as such it is likely that you will expend more energy.

Over five years those calories add up

photo credit: Tobyotter

Imagine that you eat 400 more calories per day than you are supposed to if you want to lose weight. That 400 might not seem like much over the span of a week but of the span of five years that adds up to a good couple of pounds of flab. And that is how you need to view extra calories; they add up.

The same is true, however, of negative calories. If you can cut your portion sizes in each meal and lose 200 calories per day then over five years that is going to be several pounds that you have not added to your waistline. It is that simple.

Some ways you can cut your portion sizes include:

• Buy a can of soda instead of a bottle
• Use small bowls so they look full
• Don’t go back for seconds
• Cut extras like rice and pasta and just have vegetable rich stews
• Just don’t make as much

Conclusion

Don’t think of this as a quick fix. Think of it as something you will do for the rest of your life. Cut your portion sizes at each meal by even just a small amount and you will lose weight over the long term.