It’s all about the basics. If you don’t understand the basic building blocks of how your body metabolizes fat, stores fat (and where it stores it) then losing the extra weight can be a daunting task. We’ve numerated 20 techniques to burn fat.

1. WHEN COUNTING, FAT IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN CALORIES
   • You may have heard that your body stores fat whenever it has more calories than it needs to satisfy its energy requirements, and that it deposits fat calories faster than it deposits calories from protein or carbs. Fat also has twice as many calories as protein and carbs do per unit volume — 9 versus 4 per gram. So if you are going to cut out an ounce of something from your diet, fat gives you the best bang for your buck.Focus on eating healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, nut butters, olives, olive oil, avocados, and fatty fish.
2. LIMIT YOUR INTAKE OF PROCESSED FOODS
   • Processed foods remove vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other stuff that’s good for you, it also replaces them with fat and carbs like sugars. Consequently, they’ll be absorbed into your bloodstream double-time. High glycemic carbs quickly lower blood sugar, making you feel tired and hungry. And if you are not a serious athlete needing to store those sugar calories for muscle fuel, you’ll store them as fat.Consume carbs in the form of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, and seeds, which allow for timed release into the bloodstream.
3. EAT SMALLER MEALS, BUT EAT MORE FREQUENTLY
   • Don’t get ahead of yourself just yet! This isn’t a suggestion to eat more, it’s a suggestion to eat more frequently. Surely you’ve heard this before, and the goal behind it is to keep your metabolism in constant motion, preventing intense hunger pangs to sprout up throughout the day. When you get the munchies, your less likely to be selective about what you eat, because you’re starving.Eating constantly throughout the day provides your muscles with plenty of fuel for exercise, wherever it falls in your schedule.
4. INCREASE PROTEIN CONSUMPTION
   Protein is an important part of weight loss. You need protein to build muscles that boost your metabolism. When you restrict calories, your body turns to protein to meet those energy demands. If you are not exercising but are cutting calories in an attempt to lose weight, you to eat about 60% more protein than someone who’s not trying to lose weight.
   Vegetarians – you’ll need to eat even more, about 10% more. Plant proteins typically lack adequate levels of amino acids, and as a result, they must be combined with other plant proteins.
5. SWAP OUT FAT PROTEIN FOR LEAN PROTEIN
   • To help build lean muscles, consume lean protein; egg whites, chicken, turkey, and lean red meat. Lean proteins are thermogenic, in fact, its 20-30% more thermogenic than carbs. Buy yourself a blender and some protein powder. The next time you crave fried chicken or a cheeseburger, drink up.
   • EVENLY DISTRIBUTE PROTEIN CONSUMPTION THROUGHOUT THE DAY
   • To compound the fat burning impact of high-protein foods, consume them frequently throughout the day. This allows for the most efficient absorption of protein and helps maintain high levels of internal energy production to promote weight loss.
6. CONTROL YOUR PORTIONS
   To control your portion sizes, favor foods that are low in energy density. Energy density refers to calories per gram, and the higher the energy density, the easier it is to overeat. Lower density foods include things like fruits and vegetables.
7. KEEP IT SIMPLE, NO EXTREMISTS HERE
   Don’t be extremist concerning fats and carbs. Carbs provide fuel for your workouts, drastically cut carbs, you drastically hurt yourself. Eat mixed, well balanced meals.
8. REDUCE LIQUID CALORIES
   • It’s so simple. Yet, most adults today can’t piece this together. The calories in sodas and fruit juices, not to exclude beer, add up quickly. Replace soft drinks with water, limit your fruit juice intake, and it doesn’t just stop with beverages… look to replace your salad dressings with low-fat versions or something else entirely. Forgo sweeteners of any kind.Don’t booze it up either. Drink too much alcohol and watch your waist grow exponentially.
9. HYDRATE YOURSELF
   • Water is a key component in weight management. Water is an excellent appetite suppressant too! But it does more than just making you feel full… it provides a great alternative to the 2 or 3 cans of soda you’re drinking per day. Water also flushes your digestive system and cleans out contaminants.
10. EAT MORE FIBER
    • Eating 30 or more grams per day will keep you feeling fuller, longer. Fiber also helps to escort excess calories out of your gut and helps you to eat less. Seek out oatmeal, apples, and beans. Vegetables, whole-grain breads, shredded wheat, fruits, and soybeans (edimame).
11. CONSUME STARCHES EARLY IN THE DAY
    • After 6pm your, body’s insulin mechanism slows down at which point your body becomes less capable of handling carbohydrates as efficiently. So eat those breads, rice, potatoes, and other starchy carbs early on. Later in the day favor low-calorie vegetables, like tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms, spinach, lettuce, and other sources.
12. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER
    • Your lifestyle has to be compatible with fat loss. If you don’t exercise, your dietary adjustments will produce limited results. Get plenty of sleep and reduce stress. Not only do you need to watch what you eat, but you need to complement your food plan with a friendly life plan.
13. NO MORE FAST FOOD
    • Enough said. Want to blow your daily caloric & fat intake through the roof? We didn’t think so.
14. EAT SLOWER
    • Almost all people who are overweight eat so fast that they negate their body’s fullness signals. They shove in a whole bunch of calories before the brain can register what they’ve eaten. If you can relate, then you need to train yourself to slow down. Avoid distractions like T.V., Internet, magazines, etc… try eating with your opposite hand to slow things down.
15. EAT FISH
    • Eating fish is not only healthier, but they pack lower calories than red meats. More importantly the fat found in fish appears to enhance the efficiency of the hormone leptin. That’s one more reason to incorporate fatty fish like salmon, halibut, or shellfish to help decrease the size of fat cells and assist with fat loss.
16. STICK TO THE LOW END OF THE GLYCEMIC INDEX
    • The Glycemic Index (GI) categorizes carbs on a scale. The ranking determines how quickly your body converts carbs to glucose. The higher the number, the faster your body converts that food to glucose. The basic technique for eating the low GI way is simply to “this for that” approach – ie, swapping high GI carbs for low GI carbs. You don’t need to count numbers or do mental mathematical back flips.
      • Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran
      • Use breads with whole grains, stone-ground flour, sour dough
      • Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat
      • Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables
      • Use Basmati or Doongara rice
      • Enjoy pasta, noodles, quinoa
      • Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing
17. SWITCH SATURATED AND HYDROGENATED FATS TO MONOUNSATURATED FATS
    • Mono-unsaturated fats are fatty acids. Foods containing monounsaturated fats lower LDL cholesterol, while possibly raising HDL cholesterol. They can be found in natural foods like nuts and avocados, and are the main component of tea seed oil and olive oil. Other sources include grapeseed oil, ground nut oil, peanut oil, flaxseed oil, and sesame oil to name a few.
18. EXERCISE
    • No surprise here. Fat loss comes down to 50% exercise, 50% nutrition. You are not going to achieve the results you want without exercise.
19. AVOID FAT-FREE, CARB-FREE TRAPS

Many people read labels that say “fat free” and they think not only that its okay to for them to eat, but that they can have double or triple-size portions! They may be fat free, but that is just thanks to fat replacement chemicals that substitute real fat for engineered fat. Gross.

Most of these fat free, fat reduced products are often still quite high in carbohydrates because companies replace some of the fat, with sugar.

BONUS: The most important weight loss tactic you will need to shed fat. Wean yourself off foods that contain an additive called high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Far more insidious than reduced-fat foods is the rise of HFCS, a sweetener manufactured from cornstarch. Major source of HFCS is soft drinks, and we all know how popular those are. This isn’t your average glucose. The problem is the way the body metabolizes this stuff. The body prefers to turn glucose into energy or store it as glycogen, the fuel in muscle cells. Not so with fructose, which the body metabolizes in the liver and prefers to turn it into fat.

Source – adapted from Susan M Kleiner’s book. Power Food (Rodale)

Losing weight and getting in shape can some times lead you to lose interest especially if you’re grinding out the same routines over and over. If you are struggling, check out these reasons to keep at it:

1. OLD PICTURES

   Whip out the old photo album and glaze over at your old self. Utilize the power of pictures to re-visit why you originally started to workout.

2. REALITY CHECK

   There’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Working out, losing weight, and starting a healthier nutrition plan aren’t glamorous activities. Don’t expect something to magically happen. What you will discover is a better understanding of how your body works. You will even find that you lose a little, gain a little, and repeat this process over and over again. The goal: feel great about the way you look.

3. MAKE A FRIENDLY BET

   Take a challenge with your friend or nemesis. First one to lose 15 lbs, run a 7 minute mile, or bench press 250 wins. Either way, find a way to motivate yourself towards a challenge.

4. THINK ABOUT FAT

   Your body is doing two things simultaneously; storing fat and burning fat. But it’s always doing one faster than the other. Understanding that your getting fatter or leaner at any one time will keep you focused and on track.

5. DAILY MIRROR CHECK

   The mirror is a double-edged sword. If your losing weight, getting leaner, seeing definition in areas you haven’t in years – there’s a sense of pride about your hard work. However, if you’re gaining weight, growing a second chin, or bulging over your underwear, that too can be a motivator to get back to the right frame of mind.

6. REWARD YOURSELF

   Everyone’s entitled to a little fun. After all, work hard, play hard. Set an achievable goal, when you meet that goal reward yourself with new workout gear, new mp3 player for your workouts, or new running shoes for that 10k marathon your training for.

7. LOSE THE EXCUSES

   Don’t sell yourself short. Motivational triggers can differ from day-to-day. Sift through inspirational things to get you out the door!

8. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

   What get’s measured, get’s done. If you aren’t measuring/tracking your results, it’s difficult to see how long or how much progress you’ve gained. Tracking your progress on a calendar is easy and you can even tally your accomplishments along the way.

9. REALIZE THE CONSEQUENCES

   Driving while intoxicated can bring serious consequences. We’re not telling you to lock yourself up in your room and throw the key away, but we are telling you to have consequences for skipping out on your workouts or cheating on your diet plan.

10. BURN A WORKOUT CD OR MP3 LIST

    Studies have shown that people pedaling stationary cycles while jamming out to their favorite tunes will do so longer and more intensely than those who do it without music. How cool is that?

11. BUY 6 MONTHS WORTH OF SUPPLEMENTS

    Don’t waste your money. Taking supplements will you achieve better results, you’ll be more inclined to stay on course to reap the full benefits and avoid wasting money. Bone up on 6 months worth of weight loss supplements.

12. BLACKMAIL YOURSELF

    Always save the best for last. Take a picture of yourself shirtless (or skirtless), holding a sign that shows your email address. Then email it to a trusted but sadistic friend, with the following instructions: “If i don’t send you a new picture that shows serious improvement in 12 weeks, post this photo in an email and send it to…” – include as many email addresses as possible. It’s awful, but extremely effective.

Below exists a list that everyone should engrave in their memory. These following eight foods will help you build stronger, leaner, and BIGGER muscles than ever before.

1. EGGS

   Eggs, pound-for-pound, have more protein the body needs than any other source, even beef. In fact, you need less protein from eggs than you do from any other food source. This includes eating the yoke!

   Contrary to what you hear, eating a few eggs a day does not increase the risk of heart disease. That’s probably more attributable to the greasy hash-browns that accompany those fried eggs at your local diner.

2. ALMONDS

   Eating almonds has the same effect as the cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins. A one and a half ounce handful of almonds is a leading source of vitamin E and magnesium and offers protein, fiber, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and iron in 246 calories. Also, almonds contain phytochemicals, which are plant chemicals that may provide powerful protection against heart disease, stroke, and other chronic diseases.

3. SALMON

   Salmon is a highly nutritious food. Of course, it is high in protein, and the “good fats.” But did you know that a 4 oz serving of wild salmon provides a full day’s requirement of vitamin D? It is one of the few foods that can make that claim. That same piece of fish contains over half of the necessary B12, niacin, and selenium, and is an excellent source of B6 and magnesium. Canned salmon also contains large amounts of calcium (due to the bones of the fish).

4. YOGURT

   Not only is yogurt a wonderful quick, easy and nutritious snack that is available year-round, but researchers are finding evidence that milk and yogurt may actually add years to your life as is found in some countries where yogurt and other fermented dairy products are a dietary staple. Yogurt is an ideal combination of protein and carbohydrates for exercise recovery and muscle growth.

5. BEEF

   Beef is a major source of iron and zinc, two crucial muscle building nutrients. It’s also the #1 source for creatine, your bodies energy supply for lifting weights. Stick to the rounds and loins that are extra-lean.

6. OLIVE OIL

   The greatest exponent of monounsaturated fat is olive oil, and it is a prime component of the Mediterranean Diet. Olive oil is a natural juice which preserves the taste, aroma, vitamins and properties of the olive fruit. Olive oil is the only vegetable oil that can be consumed as it is – freshly pressed from the fruit. Olive oil prevents the breakdown of muscle by lowering levels of tumor necrosis factor-a, which is linked with muscle wasting and weakness. Stick with the extra-virgin stuff.

7. WATER

   The human body, which is made up of between 55 and 75 percent water (lean people have more water in their bodies because muscle holds more water than fat), is in need of constant water replenishment. The more parched you are the slower your body uses protein to build muscle.

8. COFFEE

   Consuming caffeine will help you lift longer. Studies found that drinking coffee a few hours prior to workouts yielded higher percentages than those who didn’t drink any. Skip this suggestion if you have high blood pressure. Harvard researchers found that coffee drinkers have a 30% lower risk of Parkinson’s disease than non-drinkers.