You’ve probably heard it plenty of times, and how true it is! If you want to look good it’s reasonably simple, eat a healthy and nutritious diet. Combine this with suitable exercise and you’re on your way to great shape.
• Muscle is the key to burning fat – Fit and strong is the new skinny, and a toned
athletic body looks that way because of well-developed muscles. This doesn’t just happen by accident. A good exercise program including weight training and cardio will shape and tone your body to give you that much sought after look. The added benefit of a toned body is that muscle increases your metabolism, quite simply, the more toned you are, the more fat you burn, even when you are resting.
• 5 - 6 smaller meals per day – Everyone’s metabolism will respond to regular nutrition by working at higher rate. You will BURN more kilojoules, get leaner, have more energy to for your daily activities and exercise, and generally feel great. Many women believe they will lose weight by drastically reducing their food intake. Unfortunately your body responds by shutting down your metabolism to conserve energy, which slows fat loss right down. A better approach is to spread your daily food intake over 5 – 6 meals, which will keep your metabolism high and maximise fat loss.
• Protein serve at each meal – to stimulate fat loss and muscle toning you need a
constant intake of quality protein every day. The best way to do this is to make sure you have a protein in each of your daily 5 - 6 meals.
• Don’t skip breakfast – This is often referred to by nutritionists as the most important meal of the day, and for firing up your fat burning metabolism breakfast is super important. This is because during the night most people won’t have eaten for around 8 hours or more, so the body will be in starvation mode and your metabolism will be running slowly. Breakfast kick starts your metabolism. Quality protein and slow digesting carbs like oats is the perfect way to start your day.
• Drink plenty of water – Water plays a crucial role in every part of your metabolism. You need it to burn fat, produce energy, tone muscle plus a myriad of other physiological processes. If you exercise a lot you will need even more. Aim to drink about 2 litres or more of plain or mineral water every day.
