Since I began in the Fitness industry 28 years ago I have been approached by many people looking to lose body fat. Sure they also wanted to improve their fitness level, be more toned, more flexible and build muscle but usually they would grab their “area” of discontent and exclaim “help me!”

The problem does not lay with these people looking for help, it lays in the way we have been instructed on how to lose weight. Let’s explore the concept of fat loss. Many people believe that in order to burn fat follow the “LSD (long slow distance)” theory. Did you know we burn fat as a fuel source all day, all the time? We also burn sugar all day all the time, too. Long slow distance, means keeping your heart rate at 65-75% of your maximum heart rate and doing cardio at a consistent rate for a minimum of 20 minutes. If you work at 85-95% of you maximum heart rate (MHR) then you are using more sugar as an energy source than you are fat – BUT you’ll burn more calories.

If you do 30 minutes of cardio at 65-75% of your maximum heart rate, you will probably burn around 225 calories, if you work at 85-95% you will burn approximately 400 calories ( this number will depend on your weight and how strong your metabolism is). When you are finished your exercise regime, the body experiences post exercises oxygen consumption which is required to help rebuild your energy systems in your body and this process consumes even more calories post workout. The higher the need to rebuild the body’s energy system the higher your metabolism.

Participants of the Fit Body by Phyl workshops have dropped 14.5lbs and lose 11.75 inches in under 5 weeks by following an exercise & nutritional program working out 30 minutes a day! Not an hour! If your goal is to burn fat perhaps re-think your training. Consider keep the intensity high (with doctor’s approval), perform exercises that use the big muscles groups for example, squats, lunges, deadlifts. Resistance bands on the ankles add intensity without overloading the joints. You can have an amazing full body workout in 30 minutes and GET results! Try interval training on your treadmill or elliptical trainer or even when you walk. If you are doing 30 minutes, try changing your pace every minute, switching between a recovery pace and a more intense pace. Be sure to have a 3 minute warm up and cool down period. Get in, get out, get results!

Now for nutrition. When the scale fluctuates you are losing weight but not always FAT. By cutting sodium out of your diet for a couple of days, water would flush out your system and that can easily attribute to weight loss, but when you go back to your regular diet the weight comes back on. It's not rocket science but often, that's what is going on when you experience those weight fluctuations.

Fat is much more stubborn that that. If you want to watch the fat melt off your body you need to be eating the correct nutrients at the correct times. If you rotate your carb intake in just the right way you start to blast FAT off your body.

If you want to fit into your skinny jeans or rock in a bathing suit, you're going to need to work for it. That’s the skinny on fat in a nutshell! Until next time ...