How to turn your body into a fat burning machine

Just about everyone you know probably wants to lose some fat. Maybe they are not out to drop 50 pounds or turn into a muscle head, but they probably have a few unwanted inches here or there they could stand to lose. Just all of us begin to accumulate fat as we get older. The older we are the harder it is to lose this stored fat. Sure, we exercise here and there and even buy the latest products we see on late night infomercials, but usually, the results are the same. Either the fat won’t go away, or we lose some, only to gain it back and even MORE through the years. What if there were a secret to burning fat? What if there was one secret method that, if followed consistently, would turn our bodies into fat burning machines? We could lose fat and inches everyday with almost no effort. How great would that be? Well…actually, there IS such a secret. No, I am serious, and I know what it is. Come here. Lean in a little closer, I have to whisper it because if this gets out, I could get in serious trouble. Ok, here it is…EAT MORE FOOD. I am serious! Not JUST more food, but more of the RIGHT kinds of food. Before you throw the computer across the room because you think I just snookered you, let me elaborate.

Our bodies are built for survival. Almost everything about the functions of our bodies is designed to keep us alive. We feel pain when something is hot so we can move away from that thing. We shiver when we are cold so we will cover up and get warm to protect our bodies, and, we feel hunger so we will eat and provide nourishment and energy so our bodies will keep working. It is this need for a constant source of energy that causes weight gain. Some bodies are more efficient than others at using and storing energy. Someone whose body is really efficient will actually store more calories, which in turn will often turn to fat. Someone whose body is less efficient will burn every calorie as soon as it is introduced into the body. These are the skinny people that most of us envy. The key to this secret is to get your body to burn the calories you introduce rather than store them all.

First of all, you have to eat more. I am not necessarily talking about more calories, but eat more frequently. If you only ate once a day, you may think you are doing yourself a favor. You are eating fewer calories so you will lose weight, right? Not so fast. You see, your body senses that you are only putting a few calories in at a time. This makes the body go into survival mode. It is getting fewer calories so it wants to become even more efficient so it works to store any calories it can because it doesn’t know when the next ones will come into the body. Because you are eating less, you are in effect starving yourself. Once you break down and really eat, your body is so happy to see the influx of calories that it works to store them all. This explains while so many people experience yo-yo weight loss and weight gain when on a calorie restricting diet.  A good rule of thumb is to eat 5-6 small meals every day, starting first thing in the morning. The sooner you eat in the morning, the sooner you get your metabolism kicked into gear and burning fat. As you introduce these small, regular portions of food into your body, your body is not in fear that it won’t have energy to operate, so instead of storing everything as fat for later use, it will simply burn the calories as food as they are introduced.

So, there you have it. Eating 5-6 small meals per day is a sure and proven way to turn your body into a fat burning machine. Keep in mind these meals must be healthy and of a variety of food. Fruits and vegetables, as you may have guess are the best, but I promise to go into more details about nutrition in a later article. For now focus on getting your metabolism kicked started and burning fat!