One challenge when you're dieting is to lose fat rather than muscle. You can do this by avoiding fad diets and incorporating fat-loss strategies into your daily life. Changing your diet is part of the fat-burning equation, but so are other things -- one of which is somewhat surprising.
Exercise
To lose fat, you will need to exercise every day. While 30 minutes a day might be enough for general good health, to lose fat, you will likely need to exercise for 60 to 90 minutes. Choose exercises that burn a lot of calories, like running or biking, and you can lose a significant amount of fat. Keep in mind that you will need to burn 3,500 calories above what you consume in order to lose 1 lb of fat.
Consume Lots of Water
Drinking water can help you to lose weight. It can fill your stomach, which reduces hunger pangs, and might help to flush fat out of the body. Eating water in the form of fruits and vegetables might help you lose weight as well, however. When you eat foods that contain large amounts of water, the water stays in your stomach longer, creating a feeling of satiety. Meanwhile, since water doesn't have any calories, you've eaten something that won't contribute to weight gain. Try snacking on melons, oranges and soup to get this benefit.
Eat Plenty of Dairy
Apparently, that ice cream cone isn't as bad for you as you may have thought. Adding dairy products to your diet can help you to burn additional fat. People who eat three to four servings of dairy every day can lose approximately twice as much fat as people on a similar diet without the dairy products. Add nonfat dairy to your diet -- you will get the benefit of added fat loss without adding excess calories to your diet.
Get Enough Sleep
It seems counter intuitive that sleep can help you with sleep loss. After all, you burn more calories when you are awake and active. It's the truth, though -- when dieters get enough sleep, half of their weight loss comes from fat. Dieters who cut back on sleep lose half as much fat and have more hunger pangs to boot. This isn't a license to sleep all day, but incentive to get to bed at a reasonable hour.
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