There’s two key principles to a fat burning diet...
You need to take in fewer calories than you expend each day
You need to aim for between 1500 and 2000 calories a day, and the suggestions that follow will help you do just that.
This amount of calories will give you the energy you need to keep hold of your hard earned muscle while taking just enough off the top to burn off the lard.
Your diet needs to be balanced to fit your goal Carbohydrates, proteins and fats all have a part to play if you’re to lose weight safely and efficiently.
So let's take each food group in turn...
Carbohydrates
Carbs are the catalyst of the fat burning process and also provide you with the energy you need to power through and recover from your workouts. For best results at least half your diet should come from them.
There are two types of carbohydrates. Simple carbs like sweets and chocolate burn very quickly and give you a swift energy burst. Complex carbs such as rice and pasta provide a more drawn out energy supply with fewer energy dips and spikes. For maximum fat burning, you need to get plenty of complex carbs.
Go for:
Rice, pasta, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, porridge oats and wholegrain cereals such as Weetabix and Shredded Wheat
Avoid:
Sugary foods such as sweets and chocolate
Protein
One fifth of your muscle tissue is protein so you need to make sure you get enough to guarantee the right result.
Go for:
Lean meats such as chicken breast, turkey breast, or white fish, also egg whites, cottage cheese, low fat cheddar, skimmed milk, low fat yoghurts, beans, pulses, Tofu
*Avoid:
Fatty cuts of meat, full fat dairy and cheese *
Fats
Despite all the anti-fat propaganda you hear, some fats are actually very good for us and in appropriate amounts can help reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease.
It’s worth remembering that fats deliver 9 calories per gram – more than the double what you’d get from the same amount of carbs or protein - so we don’t need to overload on them to get the right effect. Like protein, aim for around 20-25% of your calories from fats.
Go for:
Natural peanut butter. Extra virgin oil, nut oils, vegetable oils, sunflower oils and corn oils. Also oily fish such as mackerel, salmon, and sardines.
Avoid:
Fatty meats, whole milk and full fat cheese. Oils that have been treated to make them semi-solid such as margarines
Supplements
There’s various pills and potions around at the moment billed as being able to strip fat in no time. Ingredients are mostly a useless melting pot of vitamins, herbs, and amino acids but some are far more dangerous concoctions.
The only product so far proven to increase fat burning is an Ephedrine Caffeine Aspirin stack (ECA stack for short) and even the effect of that is minimal.
Since Ephedrine was banned after being linked with a host of side effects and deaths, supplement companies have been bringing out a spate of Ephedrine free products, including any distantly related ingredient to fill the void (e.g. Sida Cordifolia).
Our advice is to steer clear of all these fat burners. Most don’t make the blindest bit of difference, and of the ones that do, not only is the difference negligible, but the cost and the risks far, far outweigh the benefits.
There’s a much cheaper and safer way of boosting your metabolism. Drinking ice cold water.
Downing six 750 ml sports bottles of ice cold water daily will burn over 1600 extra calories every week. Then there’s the side benefits of the extra water such as appetite suppression, improved performance and concentration. Your workouts will improve and so will your body’s ability to shift fat from your system.
With this extra fat burning weapon in your arsenal, our program will get you where you want to go just as quick as the supplement route. And you can spend the cash you saved on a beach holiday to show off your hard work!
