The Single Most Important Rule of Successful Fat Loss

It seems as though people are always searching for the next big secret to fat loss. They buy books, read magazines, join support groups and online forums, watch weight loss TV programs, etc.

As an Arizona Personal Trainer and fat loss expert, I've narrowed this highly sought after 'answer' down into one simple principle by which I base all of my personal training workouts after....So what is the single most effective principle you must follow to burn fat quickly?

You simply need to create the highest energy demand possible and you will never struggle with weight loss again. Your metabolism will tear through body fat to provide much needed energy.

How can we place this high energy demand onto our bodies to drastically increase metabolic (and fat-burning) rate?

--> Intense exercise. My personal training clients are 'put through the ringer' because I know the harder I push them, the greater the stress on their body, the more caloires they burn up trying to return to normalcy....and thus, the more fat they burn!

There are actually 3 subcategories to this: during exercise, after exercise, and during repair. I design metabolic resistance programs combined with interval training to ensure all 3 aspects are affected to the greatest extent.

There are far too many exercise programs that will only affect your 'during' phase....and not even to a great extent, so be careful in designing your workouts or you could be spinning your wheels.

--> Eating 'high maintenance' foods. Your body can easily break down unhealthy fats and simple carbs. However, your body is very inefficient at breaking down and digesting protein, which leads to extra burning of calories just to process the protein source. Now think about eating high quality protein sources in each and every meal throughout the day- this leads to a significantly higher metabolism because of the extra work involved in processing.

--> Building lean muscle mass. Your muscles are cells that continually break down and rebuild...this requires a greater amount of calories just to maintain the lean muscle, let alone build additional muscle mass. This is why some form of weight training is SO CRUCIAL to the overall fat loss process.

Consider the fact that adding just 10 lbs of lean muscle (remember, muscle is very dense and doesn't take up much space) will burn an extra 500 calories per day, which is equivalent to 1 lb of fat per week! For some reason, however, most people in search of fat loss think they need to do hours of slow cardio, which actually strips lean muscle off the body. Do not make this mistake!

It's really a pretty simple outcome to achieve once you understand how the body responds to stress (exercise) and nutritional intake. Once you fully grasp just how easy it is to alter your metabolic rate, the sky is the limit in terms of burning fat and making major changes to your body.

Dr. Brad Campbell
Gilbert AZ Personal Trainer