Burning fat: top five tips

chopped green chillies
(Image credit: Unknown)

Drink green tea

Green tea contains polyphenols, which can aid the body's ability to metabolise fat (the rate at which your body converts fat to calories).

Add chillies to your cooking

Hot chillies included in food will increase how much energy is lost by the body through heat. A process called dietary induced thermogenesis is naturally boosted by a chemical called capsaicin in the chillies, which can help with weight loss.

90-minute post-workout fast

After high-intensity exercise your metabolism is geared towards fat-burning. If you don't eat for 90-minutes (but make sure you rehydrate with water) this allows your body to maximise fat-burning during this period. If you're feeling really hungry ppost-workout, have a protein shake, but make sure it is a low-carb option.

Get shaking

Try a regular morning protein shake as a snack. Go for a casein based protein because this provides a more slowly released energy source, minimising peaks and troughs of blood sugar. This will reduce hunger and lead to more controlled eating at lunch. Try blending with some blueberries or other berries of your choice for some extra vitamins, minerals and a better flavour.

Eat more protein

Higher proportions of protein in your diet (when consuming a relatively low amount of calories) keeps your metabolism going at a high rate. Very restricted energy diets (like the cabbage soup diet) do result in significant weight loss, but they will also make you lose a lot muscle. This reduces metabolic rate and when calories are reintroduced it is much easier to consume more than you are burning.

These tips are from Michael Jones, MD of Insight Nutrition who specialises in working with boxers. His clients include Darren Barker and Lee Purd, and he is also working with John Ryder, who is fighting for the British title on Saturday 28th September, and Kevin Mitchell, who's competing for the European title on 5th October.

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