Excess amounts of body fat can increase your risk of serious health issues like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and high blood pressure. That is why losing it won't just help you fit into your tight jeans, but it can also help protect your health.
However, there is a difference between losing weight and losing fat. Water, muscle, bones, and fat make up your total weight. Many people lose water weight when they sweat a lot. "But it's just fluid weight. In that case, fat and weight loss aren't the same thing,"Anis Rehman, MD, an associate program director of the Endocrine Fellowship at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, told a news portal.
But losing body fat is easier said than done and can be hard to do as you get older. Here are a few science-backed strategies you can try to lose body fat.
Experts say one of the important things to do is move more and eat less. "Lower calorie density diets, including high amounts of fruits and vegetables and less fat, have been shown to be equally effective for weight management and have fewer risks than low-carb diets," Georgie Fear, RD, CSSD, author of Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss, told a news portal.
Richard Wilcock, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and owner of Flagship Fitness, tolda news portal: "It takes less time to not eat a 100-calorie piece of toast than it does to burn 100 calories by running a 10-minute mile."
Reducing your calorie intake can help to reduce fat. "Diets of any composition can lead to fat loss, because your body will burn fat as long as you are consuming fewer calories than you're burning," Fear told a news portal. Adding, "It can induce compensatory changes in your body, such as burning fewer calories when you exercise, along with lower levels of thyroid and sex hormones."
If you are serious about losing body fat, opt to try a fat-burning diet. Some studies suggest low-carb diets can help you lose weight effectively within the first six to 12 months. "They can reduce how hungry you feel, which some people find as a helpful tool that enables them to eat less," Fear told a news portal.
Intermittent fasting is another option you could try to lose weight.A 2018 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found this type of diet helped overweight and obese women to lose weight."In a fasting state, the body doesn't release the hormone insulin. Without insulin, the body doesn't store fat and instead breaks down fat you already have for energy," board-certified obesity medicine physician Jaime Harper told a news portal.
When it comes to losing weight, diet and exercise go hand in hand. "Literature shows that a combo approach of diet and exercise is best," Rehman told a news portal.
"Fat loss is all about using more energy than you consume, so whichever exercise burns the most energy would be the best for fat loss," Wilcock told a news portal. Adding,"HIIT is very efficient. You can burn a lot of energy in a short amount of time — say, around 500 calories in a 45-minute session."
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