How to Lose Fat - Science Proven Ways To Burn Fat Quickly

Fat accumulating in the body is dangerous, it increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, it can also disrupt the endocrine system, increase high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and even certain types of cancer, according to the American Heart Association. But what's the best way to reduce fat?

The best tools to help you get leaner are pretty simple - anyone can use them. Below we will tell you why some of us store food in excess fat, and also tell you about the most effective ways to get rid of it forever.

What is fat?

Before moving on to the best ways to lose fat, it's helpful to understand a little about how we gain fat in the first place and what our bodies do with it. Basically, fat accumulation occurs when we consume more calories than our body needs.

When we eat, our body releases the hormone insulin. Insulin helps the cells in the body absorb glucose or blood sugar and fatty acids from food for use as energy, explains Jamie Harper, MD, board certified obesity board. Any excess calories that do not need to be used for energy are stored in our fat cells "for the future."

Fat storage is an evolutionary mechanism that helped our ancestors survive during hunger: when there was not much food around, the body could gain strength by burning its fat stores. We also burn fat today when we use more energy than we consume.

“When we don't eat for hours or start exercising, our body's hormones signal fat cells to release some fat for energy,” says Georgie Feer, Ph.D., board-certified nutritionist and author of Simple Habits for getting rid of excess weight forever ”.

Enzymes break down stored fat into fatty acids and other components, which are then released from the cell and absorbed by other cells to burn energy. Burning fatty acids leads to the formation of water and carbon dioxide, which are excreted from the body through urine, sweat and breath. Over time, this leads to a loss of fat and extra pounds.

Weight loss versus fat loss

When most people say they want to lose weight, they really want to lose fat. Dr. Harper explains that total body weight is composed of water, muscle, bone, and fat. Grease is a soft material that lays under the skin and makes it difficult to wear jeans. It also increases the risk of serious health problems, especially if fat builds up around internal organs.

The point is, there are ways to lose weight that don't involve losing a lot of fat. For example, heavy sweating can lead to a loss of several pounds at once.

“But it's just the weight of the liquid. In this case, fat loss and weight loss are not the same thing, ”says Anis Rehman, MD, director of graduate studies in endocrinology at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

As soon as you replace the lost fluids, the weight will return to its usual value. But in order to actually get leaner and improve your health, you need to lose fat.

How much body fat is normal for health?

No two organisms are exactly the same, and everything from your age to your hormones and genetics all play a role in how much fat you have - and how easy or difficult it is to get leaner. Men also tend to have less fat than women, and athletes tend to have less fat stores than non-athletes.

Here's a rough estimate of the normal amount of body fat according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE):

Body Fat Rates for Women

Acceptable: 25-31%

Fitness: 21-24%

Athletes: 14-20%

Vital Amount: 10-13%

Body Fat Rates for Men

Acceptable: 18-24%

Fitness: 14-17%

Athletes: 6-13%

Vital Amount: 2-5%

How to get rid of fat

Now that we've covered where the fat comes from and how much fat should be, let's take a look at what you can do to get leaner. Losing fat can be challenging, but the tools aren't all that difficult. In a nutshell? It all comes down to eating less and moving more.

Losing fat through diet

Fat exists to serve as a reserve source of energy when food is scarce. Therefore, it makes sense that reducing your total calorie intake is the most effective way to burn fat. "Diets of any composition can lead to fat loss because your body will burn fat if you consume fewer calories than you burn," says Feer.

How much should you cut calories? Most experts recommend eating 250-500 fewer calories per day. "This will allow you to lose up to 0.5 kilograms per week," says Feer.

It can be tempting to cut back on more, especially if you're trying to speed up your weight loss or want to see results quickly. But this step can backfire. "It can cause compensatory changes in your body, such as burning fewer calories during exercise and lower levels of thyroid and sex hormones," Feer says. Not to mention, extremely low-calorie diets are difficult to maintain as they tend to make most people feel hungry and deprived.

Best Fat Burning Diet

Moving away from calories, what about the foods themselves - can certain types of diets help you lose more fat than others? For example, the keto diet is often touted as the best way to lose weight, as ultra-low carbohydrate intake stimulates the body to burn fat for fuel.

Indeed, studies have shown that low-carb diets are more effective for weight loss than low-calorie diets - at least for the first six to 12 months. “They can reduce hunger, which some people find to be a useful tool that allows them to eat less,” says Feer.

However, low-carb diets may be good for fat loss in the beginning, but ultimately it comes down to calories. "Diets with a lower calorie density, which include more fruits and vegetables and less fat, have been shown to be equally effective for weight control and have less risk," Feer says. If you eat a little less overall, your body will turn to fat stores to make up for the difference, resulting in fat loss.

The time you eat can also play a role. “I recommend that my patients practice intermittent fasting so that they eat for eight hours and fast for the remaining 16 hours,” says Dr. Harper.

Indeed, intermittent fasting has been shown to help reduce weight better than simply restricting calories throughout the day, according to a 50-week study of overweight and obese women published in November 2018 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. “In a fasting state, the body does not release the hormone insulin. Without insulin, the body does not store fat and instead breaks down the fat you already have for energy, ”explains Dr. Harper.

Losing Fat Through Exercise

Reducing your calorie intake is the fastest and most effective way to burn fat. But by adding regular exercise, you can also burn extra calories - and shed even more fat. “The literature shows that a combined approach to diet and exercise is the best,” says Dr. Rehman.

Why? Cutting your 500 calorie diet is doable. But it takes more work to burn that amount of calories through exercise. “It takes less time to eat a 100-calorie piece of sandwich than it takes to burn 100 calories after running two kilometers,” explains Richard Wilcock, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.

Indeed, research shows that physical activity alone is usually not enough to stimulate fat loss: a review of 80 studies published in October 2007 in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that exercise alone - no dietary change - leads to to minimal weight loss. Research conducted since then has only confirmed this position.

But exercise is a great way to support fat loss - and it can help you reach your goal faster. “If we eat 1,800 calories a day and use 1,800 calories a day, and then burn an additional 200 calories through exercise, the body will turn stored fat into energy because the glycogen stores in food are gone,” Wilcock says.

So which exercise is best for burning fat? If you want to burn the most calories in the shortest amount of time, then you should use high-intensity interval training (HIIT) - for example, alternating runs with sprints. “Losing fat involves using more energy than you consume, so whatever exercise you use, the more energy you burn, the better for fat loss,” Wilcock says. “HIIT is very effective. You can burn a lot of energy in a short time - say, about 500 calories in a 45 minute session. ”

What's more, interval training can keep your body in a calorie-burning state even after you've finished exercising. One study published in February 2012 in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Metabolism found that participants who completed sprint interval training continued to burn fat for up to an hour after finishing the sprint.

It's also a good idea to add strength training to your regular workouts. Strength training does not burn as many calories as interval training (30 minutes of strength training burns about 100 calories), but it will help you maintain or even gain muscle mass. This is important because the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn (even when you are resting!). And the more calories you burn, the less excess calories will potentially be stored as fat.

Keep in mind that these exercises will help you burn fat throughout your body. While you may want to get slimmer in one specific area, that unfortunately won't work, says Dr. Rehman. Endless ab exercises don't burn belly fat, and tons of squats don't burn fat around your thighs.

Another tip: if you can, exercise in the morning before breakfast. Since your body's glycogen levels have bottomed out due to not eating since last night, it will switch pretty quickly to getting energy from stored fat, which can boost overall fat burning.

In fact, a study published in October 2019 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that participants who exercised before breakfast burned twice as much fat as those who exercised at the end of the day after eating.

Fat loss in men and women

There are many factors that affect how quickly (or slowly) a person can lose fat. But one of the most important is gender. Men have higher levels of the hormone testosterone, which promotes muscle growth and can make fat loss faster and easier. A study published in August 2018 on Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism found that when participants ate the same low-calorie diet for eight weeks, men lost an average of 13 kilograms and women lost an average of 11 kilograms.

Gender also determines where the body will store most of its fat. “For men, the main area is the belly. For women, it's breasts, buttocks and thighs, ”says Wilcock.

This does not mean that women cannot get rid of body fat or achieve the desired percentage of body fat. But they may have to work a little harder.

The Cleveland Clinic recommends that women exercise at least twice a week for 30 minutes to increase muscle mass. And, of course, pay close attention to how many calories you are taking in. While everyone's calorie needs are slightly different, women may have to eat between 1,200 and 1,800 calories per day to lose weight. But keep in mind that the correct number depends on many factors, including your age, current weight, and activity level.

How to measure fat?

When you are trying to lose fat, it will be helpful to know where you are starting from. Regular weights can tell you how much you weigh; this is not the best tool for determining your body fat percentage or tracking your body fat loss.

To do this, you will need a fat fold compass. This portable device is designed to measure the thickness of the skin on the biceps, triceps, shoulder blades and thighs, which can be used by professionals to calculate the percentage of body fat. Since it is difficult to take accurate measurements of a skin fold at home, it is best to have it done with a personal trainer or doctor.

The compass is not the only tool for measuring body fat, but it is considered the simplest and cheapest. The problem is that while compasses are fairly accurate, they are not error-proof.

If you need ultra-accurate measurements, consider a Dual X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) test. In doing so, the unit sends small electrical currents through the body to give a super accurate analysis of a person's weight, fat, muscle mass and water content. “This is considered the gold standard for measuring body composition, but it is expensive, inconvenient and low in radiation,” says Dr. Harper.

Bottom line: the best way to burn fat

Our bodies store fat when we consume more energy than we expend. Thus, in order to lose fat, you just need to reverse this process.

By using more calories than you consume, your body will burn fat from its stores to cover the rest of your energy needs. Reduce your calorie intake, with what you eat is the most important factor. An additional boost to weight loss can be gained by exercising regularly, especially by doing interval and strength training.

In a nutshell: "Usually a low-calorie diet and exercise will lead to fat loss," says Dr. Rehmen