If you’re training hard but not seeing results it can be very frustrating. We have spoken with personal trainers, martial artists and nutritionists to collate some of their top tips to burn fat.

Diet

• Start drinking at least one cup of green tea a day. If you haven’t tried green tea before it can take a while to get used to but studies have shown that it can boost your metabolism and target the release of stored fat.
• Ensure that you are drinking enough water, particularly if you are training hard; staying well hydrated means that you are less likely to have fluid retention.
• This isn’t for everyone but there can be good results from having a ‘zero carbohydrate’ day a week – it can make you very grumpy though!
• If the thought of a zero carb day is just too much for you then look to reduce the amount of carbohydrates that you are eating; e.g. bread, chips, potatoes and pasta. Don’t get rid of carbohydrates entirely as they are necessary particularly when training hard, but reducing the amount of carbohydrates your body holds can have a great effect on reducing how your body stores fat.
• Eat grapefruit 3-4 times a week. this can drastically change how your body stores fat and increases metabolism.
• Avoid eating 2-3 hours before bed, which is easier said than done but this food simply will not be burnt off when you’re lying in bed and will be stored as fat. If you can’t resist a late night snack then try your best to avoid carbohydrates and high calorie foods such as chocolate.
• Avoid fruit juices; the amount of sugar in these drinks can often be comparable to many fizzy drinks, you wouldn’t have a can of soda with your cereal.
• Don’t under eat! If you starve your body it can begin to store fat as it is not getting enough of what it needs.
• Cut down alcohol, another one that goes without saying – glasses of wine and beer have a large number of empty calories.
• Increase your calcium intake.
• Fish oil tablets can significantly increase how your body stores fat/increase fat burning.
• Chewing gum between meals has shown that it can make people eat less at mealtimes.
• Make sure you’re taking vitamins, it’s hard work to get 100% of your RDA of vitamins and minerals from food alone so if you can’t do it make sure that you’re taking a quality supplement.
• Consuming caffeine 30 minutes before your workout has been shown to make people train harder and increase their metabolism.
• Increase your fibre intake.
• When having a cold drink, add ice cubes, your body has to work harder to bring the cold temperature of the water up and effortlessly burns calories (not many but they add up!)
• Drink a glass of water before you eat a meal, it’s a good way to curb your appetite slightly to stop over eating.

Exercise

• Cardiovascular training – goes without saying really but make sure that you’re doing it, and at least 3-4 times a week. Don’t keep doing the same type of cardio training as your body will get used to it; make sure you’re constantly mixing up your training with interval spring training, HIIT, long distance slow pace running, skipping and boxing (punching a heavy bag at the gym or in your garage).
• Weight training – if you want to lose body fat adding a good weight training regime to your workout will increase the metabolism of your body and burn more calories/fat even whilst you are resting. Adding a good weight routine can also make your body fat appear reduced due to your increased muscle mass.
• Think about constantly burning calories, throughout the day imagine how much down time you have. Throw in 10 push ups/squats or situps whenever you have a spare few minutes and see the results over time.
• Start doing leg workouts, many, many people neglect legs in their exercise routine but your thighs and bum are huge muscle groups, if they have muscle mass they will be burning calories even when you are resting.
• Keep your body guessing, even when exercising and eating right your body will get used to the calorie consumption and burning ratio – change your diet & exercise routine every 2-3 months.
• Start doing squats with or without weights, this can be done at any point throughout the day and needs no equipment.
• When exercising aim to have a 30 second rest period between sets, studies have shown that this can vastly increase your fat burning.
• Starting a high impact class such as boxing, kickboxing or Thaiboxing can burn hundreds of calories, burn fat whilst building lean muscle.

Supplements

• Add fat burners to your supplement mix for short periods of time as these can help spike your bodies metabolic rate and can give your body the kick start that it needs. Make sure you read up the risks involved with fat burners beforehand.

• BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) have been shown to have a positive impact on losing body fat. A study has shown that BCAA’s ‘appear to have a unique obesity-reducing effect’ because they decrease food intake and bodyweight by increasing the gene signalling of muscle building pathways.

Lifestyle

• Set yourself some goals that aren’t body image related, for example put yourself in for a 5k or 10k run for charity, your training will have more of a purpose.
• Take a photograph of food before you eat it, this acts as a food diary and can also make you think twice before eating something that you’re not supposed to!
• Make sure you’re getting enough sleep, aim for 7-8 hours.

Lastly, remember this basic rule:

1. If you consume more calories than you burn you will consistently gain weight.
2. If you burn as many calories as you consume you will remain at your current weight level.
3. If you are burning more calories than you consume then you will progressively lose weight.

We hope you find some of these tips useful. Let us know how you get on!