Thoughtful Thursday……your guide to burning fat...
Welcome to Thoughtful Thursday. This GreenNote Fitness newsletter mindfully gathers and distills useful information that is supportive to our journey. It is my mission to educate, inspire, and propel you into action that moves you towards your goals and life of purpose. Take control of your journey today.
A question I get asked most often by clients, is how to burn fat? That is a great question. No, really, it’s phrased properly. Instead of asking how to loose weight, they understand that specifically fat is what we want to loose. If we just “loose weight” we could just be loosing water weight or we could be loosing muscle - the opposite of what we want to accomplish.
What do I tell people who want to loose fat? Is it simple? Yes. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
Read further to find out how to do it.
We learned about ways to burn fat here and here. Now we are going to put those together and make this as simple as possible. Easy? No. Simple? Yes! You can do it!
Fat Burning Tip #1.)
Drink a little bit of coffee or tea prior to morning workout - caffeine helps mobilize fatty acids which sparks your metabolic rate. Consume a little bit in the morning and proceed to fat burning tip #2.
Fat Burning Tip #2.)
Aerobic activity for 10 to 40 minutes in a fasted state - light aerobic activity in a fasted state will allow your body to tap into its own fat as fuel. With night’s before dinner being the last calories you consumed (12+ hours without eating) and having had a little bit of coffee or tea, proceed to doing light yoga, walking, riding a bike, or another form of light work.
Fat Burning Tip #3.)
Expose your body to cold - cold temperate helps the body to burn white adipose tissue and converts it into metabolically active brown adipose tissue. This is a good thing - it increases your fat-burning capacity. Walking outside when it’s cold, taking a cold bath or shower, or a hot/cold contrast shower can all accomplish this. My go-to is a hot/cold contrast shower: 20 seconds cold immediately followed by 10 seconds of hot, repeat 5 times.
Fat Burning Tip #4.)
Intermittent fasting - not consuming calories for an extended period of time (12+ hours) gives the body the opportunity to utilize different fuel sources. Instead of the body relying on glucose (sugar), it can tap into stored fat to burn as fuel. A very potent way to burn fat when done consistently. You can read about my results here.
Bonus Fat Burning Tip
Be micronutrient rich (and limit consumption of processed foods) - micronutrients enable the body to produce enzymes, hormones, and other substances for proper growth and development. What is critical in up regulating fat loss? You guessed it, micronutrients.
A study done by the International Journal of Obesity came to that conclusion. The group that had supplemental micronutrients in their diet had significantly lower body weight, lower BMI (body mass index), lower fat mass, lower LDL or “bad” cholesterol, and lower triglycerides. They had significantly higher resting energy expenditure and lower waist circumference.
Examples of micronutrient rich foods:
Green leafy vegetables - spinach, kale, collard greens, cabbage, romaine lettuce
Colorful vegetables - red peppers, broccoli, squash, asparagus, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, artichokes, mushrooms
Fruits (especially berries) - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, kiwi, melon, pears, apples
Nuts/seeds - almonds, walnuts, chia, flax, hemp
Animal products - wild sea-food, eggs, beef, poultry
Beans/legumes
Whole grains - quinoa, rice, amaranth, oats
Example Week Based on 3 Days of Fasted Morning Workout
Keep in mind
Eating nutritiously may be the single most difficult thing for people to do. This is difficult in part due to the chemicals that are in processed foods and the shear amount of processed foods that people consume as part of their daily intake. These chemicals not only make one desire more processed foods but it also dulls the taste buds so when actual real food is introduced to the palate it is difficult for people to (pardon the pun) swallow.
Remove yourself from the hamster wheel of processed foods and get real foods in your diet every day. Loosing fat will be very difficult if processed foods and sugars are part of your dietary line-up. This includes things like soda and alcohol. Sorry...please don’t shoot the messenger!
Putting it all together
This is all great information but what would that look like for your week? In an ideal scenario, you would follow these steps on a daily basis or getting as many times per week as you could. That may be difficult for you to do right off the bat so you could start with trying it for three days per week. Just remember that consistency breeds results.
Fat Burning Tips Summary:
Consume a little bit of caffeine before your fasted morning workout
Complete 10-40 minutes of light aerobic activity in a fasted state (not having consumed any calories for 12+ hours)
Cold exposure - go for a walk in the cold or take a hot/cold contrast shower: 10 seconds hot / 20 seconds cold
Intermittent fast - don’t eat for 12+ hours
Get micronutrients in your diet - crucial to weight loss is to have proper nutrition
Easy? No. Simple? Yes! You can do it!
Enjoy your journey,
Lisa Schaffer
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