6 guidelines to burn fat than just aerobics alone

How women burn bodyfat with weight training

By: Steve Colescott

Part 2 Aerobics and Smaller Frequent Meals

#5: AEROBICS ARE EXTRA

Over emphasizing aerobic exercise is probably the biggest myth in weight loss. Caloric expenditure during aerobic exercise is rather minor, unless the participant is in "triathlon-level" training. To put things in perspective, a 137-lbs. woman walking at a decent pace (covering 4 miles over a 60-minute period) on the treadmill will burn 248 calories. A plain McDonald's hamburger is 280 calories (not even including that tasty slice of cheese).
Gee -- It doesn't quite seem worth an hour, does it?
[ Liz Maurice ]

Liz Maurice tells us, "I regularly add a spoonful of olive oil or Udo's Choice Oil Blend.
This helps with digestion, keeps my skin healthy, and my energy high."

Not only is aerobic exercise tedious and unpleasant, the fat-shredding payoff is just not there. Liz Maurice notes, "I see people at my gym that are seriously into aerobic work. They remain skinny fat people. Cardio work does not add any shape." To further complicate matters, many of the obese lack proper oxidative enzymes to benefit from aerobic exercise. In other words, their bodies are simply not geared to benefit from time spent sweating away on the bike, treadmill or stepper. Ironically, lean muscular people have the enzymes to burn body fat as a fuel source for aerobic exercise.

Place the bulk of your efforts on weight training and eating better. Once you are near your target condition, proper usage of interval aerobic exercise can help "polish" your body. As Kirsten Nicewarner notes, "In the past, I would do 45-60 minutes on the treadmill each day. Going into my recent show, my trainer told me to stop doing aerobics. You know what -- I came into my show fuller, yet still just as lean."

Strenuous aerobic exercise causes a small increase in metabolic rate for a relatively short period of time. Strength training, on the other hand, has a higher exercise metabolic after burn, causing a permanent rise in metabolism, raising your metabolism so that you are burning more calories 24-four hours a day. On the positive side, that exer-cycle is a great place to drape clothes that need to hang-dry!

Beth Simpson sets aside an hour for food prep twice a week. "I prepare my food at least 3-4 days in advance --- salads, chicken, eggs, turkey and everything else I need for the day. I measure everything out so at breakfast I just take whatever I need out of the fridge and I'm ready to go."

#6: SMALLER FREQUENT MEALS

The typical calorie-restrictive diet (particular those followed by women) involves long periods of fasting, often eating only one meal a day. While this does reduce daily caloric intake, it has a number of adverse affects. Your body is programmed from centuries of evolution. Your body views such eating as starvation. It immediately begins breaking down muscle tissue for energy. Muscle tissue is important to fat loss because it is the body's most metabolically-active component. It is for this reason that lean, muscular people are often able (and required) to eat large quantities of food, and still remain lean. Their bodies are literally calorie burning furnaces.

Second, the flip side of what we discussed above is that, while the body is breaking down muscle tissue for energy, it begins to store as much body fat as possible. This is the most efficient way for the body to store energy and it is operating under the assumption that this "starvation" situation may continue for an extended period of time. Obviously, this state is a metabolic nightmare.

Lastly, this "fasting" style of calorie reduction without exception leads to binge eating. This typically leads to large calorie consumption with the worst food choices like lots of simple, sugary carbs and saturated fats. While this may seem psychological in nature it has an equal biochemical cause. The body requires simple sugars because in its metabolically challenged starved state it needs something that can be absorbed quickly in order to maintain proper brain function. This also explains why irritability and "clouded thinking" are linked to fasting.

You'd never know Jodi Burger shares the same metabolic disadvantages that beset all women in their struggle to build the body of their dreams. Jodi follows the six steps illustrated in this article to achieve her dream of maximum fat loss and toned, lean muscle.

As a final note, this type of eating program is also dangerous because it does not provide the essential amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and co-factors needed for optimum health.

IN CONCLUSION -- CREATE A SUPER-CHARGED METABOLISM

The solution to slow metabolism is weight training (which we discussed earlier) and eating 4-6 six meals a day. By increasing the number of times you eat (but not the overall daily calorie intake), you greatly improve the efficiency of your metabolism. This provides a number of positive benefits. It provides a slow steady flow of nutrients, keeping blood sugar levels relatively steady. This leads to less deposition of bodyfat and should eliminate most cravings for sweets. With frequent, small feedings, nutrients are also absorbed better.

An interesting phenomenon among women I have worked with in the past has been that, somewhere between the seventh and tenth day on the eating program, they experience a noticeable change in their metabolism. Where at first they noticed themselves almost needing to force themselves to eat the small frequent meals, they begin to feel themselves feeling slightly hungry a few hours after eating. This is an excellent sign that their body is adapting and their metabolism is becoming more efficient. Beth Simpson says, "I used to eat four times a day. Now that I'm competing I eat six times a day. I find myself looking forward to my next meal."

Frequent eating is where a lot of people fail, citing excuses about how their hectic schedule, busy career or family duties would make eating five or six times a day utterly impossible. Excuses are always easy to find, but strategies to eliminate them take work, For Beth Simpson, setting aside an hour or so for food prep twice a week is a solution. "I prepare my food for at least 3-4 days in advance - salads, chicken, eggs, turkey and everything else I need for the day. I measure everything out so at breakfast I just take whatever I need out of the fridge and I'm ready to go."
There you have it - 6 guidelines for surefire success.

Each of these changes seems simple but when all used together, they can dramatically alter your appearance and health. Each of the women I spoke to have made greater body changes than they originally thought possible.
What's stopping YOU from doing the same?

Sue Bergman proves the best solution to water retention is an increase in water intake.

Steve Colescott was the former Publishing Editor of Peak Training Journal. He currently works as a freelance writer for magazines such as Flex, BodyMuscle and Planet Muscle. Although he's All-man and not overtly feminine, he has helped hundreds of women build leaner, stronger bodies!

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