WEIGHT LOSS VERSUS BURNING FAT

There are several ways to lose 5 kg but the real challenge is to lose your weight without risking your health. There is a difference between losing weight and burning fat. Your body weight can fluctuate on a daily basis from so many factors. Did I lose weight because I drank less water? Did I lose weight because I have lost fat or did I lose muscle? These are the questions that all go through the mind of someone focused on weight loss. Instead, you should be focused on fat loss while building lean muscle for the ultimate summer body.

HOW DO I BURN FAT WHILE BUILDING LEAN MUSCLE?

1. Limit Your Eating Hours

Modern-day lifestyle revolves around food. We eat across the whole day, starting at 7 am for breakfast, having lunch at 1 pm and dinner at 7 pm, not to mention the snacks we have in between. By adopting intermittent fasting, you will notice the magic of eating within a time frame, such as limiting your eating hours between 12 pm to 8 pm. You will see significant health benefits. For example, insulin levels drop, human growth hormones increase, and cellular repair occurs.  This has the combined effect of increasing your metabolic rate, facilitating fat-burning and muscle gain, as well as detoxifying your body. A study by the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Queen’s Medical Centre found that the metabolic rate increased between 3.6-14%.

You will face the tough challenges of food addiction in the beginning. It is due to mostly carbohydrate (sugar) addiction because we have always been eating foods that are the major sources of carbohydrates and sugar. If you can withstand the cravings for the first 2 or 3 days, you can slowly eat during the shorter eating hours without much addiction. That way, you can lose 5 kg or even more with the change of eating-hour restriction.

2. High-Protein Low-Carbohydrate

Burning fat and building lean muscle is 70% diet and 30% exercise. Therefore, making healthier choices is essential in building your ultimate summer body. The best way to burn fat is by lowering your insulin levels because insulin stores excess blood sugar as fat. To do this, a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet is recommended, effectively reducing insulin.

A study at McMaster University also conducted another experiment where two groups underwent a month of exercise, with one group eating more protein than the other. The results showed that the high-protein group lost an average of 5 kg while the low-protein group only lost 3.5kg. The most intriguing result was that the high-protein group lost more body fat than the low-protein group. It shows that this diet is an effective way to lose 5 kg weight.

3. HIIT versus Cardio

For many reasons, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is far more effective than cardio at burning fat and building muscle. A study conducted in Canada showed that after 6 weeks of HIIT, fat oxidisation was significantly elevated while carbohydrate oxidisation was considerably lower. In other words, HIIT draws upon the energy stored in fat rather than using carbohydrates as energy, which accelerates the fat-burning process.

HIIT also has a higher post-exercise oxygen consumption (afterburn). This means your body burns more calories at rest than cardio as your muscles recover. To put this in perspective, the Journal of Strength and Conditioning found that four weeks of HIIT burnt more fat than traditional rowing. Also, HIIT is far more time efficient and convenient as it can be done anywhere at any time with no equipment.

With the correct diet and cardio exercise, it’s easy to lose 5 kg in a month.