I was watching a silly infomercial this morning and it got me to thinking of all the ways people try to lose body fat. This particular piece of crap equipment promised fat loss with just 3 minutes a day (give me a break) but it’s true that people see or hear that and think it’s going to really work.
And that’s just one example.
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The Worst Ways To Lose Body Fat
Detox diets or concoctions designed to “detox”: your body is pretty smart, it was designed to naturally detox your system (thank goodness for a liver). These diets often drain important nutrients and vitamins and water. Leaving you worst off then when you started.
Just let Mother Nature run her course with the detox process. They’re a waste of money and time.Plus when it’s done you’ll regain the weight it said you lost… but you just lost weight not fat.
Liquid Diets: (grapefruit juice and cayenne; cabbage soup): Yea, you’re getting plenty of hydration in the body but what about quality fuel for your system. One day on these ridiculous diets and you will feel crappy. Tired, fragile, and starving which leads to binge eating and putting on fast weight when it is all said and done.
Plus your body is thinking your fasting since you are clearly not getting a healthy amount of calories and that means decreased metabolism, reserved fat and decreased lean muscle mass. Basically you are doing the opposite that you want to.
Cardio Crazy: This is one of the most common but one of the worst ways to lose body fat. Exercising too much! If you’re spending over an hour a day 5 or more days a week then you are going way overboard and risking overtraining on your body. I would even say to not spend any more than 4 hours total per week working out.
Overtraining can lead to serious issues… decreased metabolism, decreased muscle mass, exhaustion, decreased immunity, and holding on to fat… the list is much longer but that’s a whole post in and of itself.
Starvation Diets: This goes with the liquid diets, too little calories leads your body to actually do the opposite of what you want- hold on to fat, burn muscle and decrease your metabolism. It thinks your are in a famine situation and in an effort to protect itself the body runs on less fuel. This is great… if you’re a caveman and can’t find food.
Diet Pills/Fat Burners: Ok, this is the number one worst way to lose fat. It gets the award hands down. Pills aren’t regulated all that well by the FDA so you don’t really know what you are doing to your body. Many are downright bad for you, such as epinephrine (heart health), some cause some really bad bathroom events to occur, and some just don’t do a damn thing.
Need an example, the diet pill that is regulated Alli causes less fat to be absorbed which means more is passed through the intestines and out the body. I know people who have taken it that have complained of surprise “accidents” in their panties or stomach aches.
And one of the most popular burners, Hydroxycut was just removed for health reasons.
The Best Ways To Lose Body Fat
So when it comes to ways to lose body fat, my recommendation is stop trying to cut corners and do it the ways that really work for the long term… a proper diet and exercise program is the way to go. If something tells you it will deliver results like “lose 10 lbs in 2 weeks” then it is nonsense, short term or just CRAZY.
It takes work to lose body fat… a full body workout and a clean eating diet will have you losing body fat and keeping it off.
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There is so much crap flooding the internet and tv’s that people are confused. Working out and eating right is almost a sin to many people. We are in a want something for nothing society.