Burn Fat with these 4 stead fast rules...

Fat burning nutrition can be a tricky thing.The average person thinks, "If I want to lose fat, why am I still eating?" 

It's as if the idea that not eating will cause your body to lose fat, which isn't completely true. Yes, if you go long enough without eating, you'll certainly lose fat. But to go along with it will muscle and bone.

When trying to lose fat, the LAST thing you want to do is to stop eating. Instead here are 4 things you need to do to start burning fat at rest.

1. Know how much you are eating. Go to a website such as www.caloriecount.com and start tracking how much you are eating. If you don't know how much you are currently eating, you won't stand a chance in your battle against the bulge!
2. Eat breakfast. Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day for a variety of reasons. But here we will focus on its ability to give your metabolism a good jump start! Think about what sleep is: It's 6-9 hours of not eating. When you go long periods without eating, your metabolism slows down due to an increase in sympathetic hormones. Eating breakfast fires up your metabolism.
3. Eat lots of fruit. At this point I don't really care if your fruit is fresh, frozen or dried. Just make sure you get 5 servings of fruit a day. Some fruits that have been suggested to have "fat burning" potential are grapefruit, blueberries, apples, bananas, strawberries and cantaloupes.
4. Eat protein with each meal. Protein has a variety of factors that help to use more fat at rest. First off, it takes a long time to digest and absorb. Remember that every time you eat a food, your metabolism increases during the digestion and absorption of food. Protein has the highest metabolic boost during digestion. In addition protein helps to keep bones and muscles rebuilt. Therefore, protein from dairy, meat, beans, nuts, or fish should be included with each meal, even your snacks.
5. And speaking of Snacks, here is a bonus tip: Eat frequently. Take your calories and break them down into 5 meals. By eating fruits and protein with each meal you A)keep your metabolism up longer, B) keep your body using more fat to fuel the digesting process and C) you are able to keep your energy levels stabilized that reduce the harmful effects of going into a hungry period followed by a binging period.

So there are 4 tips plus a BONUS tip to get you started. But remember, it all starts with knowing how much you are eating. If you aren't willing to track what you are eating, then no recommendations are really going to have much of an effect.

Have a great week and be sure to try the Recovery Week Challenge!!