Tipping the scales the right way

Increase your cardio: If you know that your daily caloric target is good and you have absolutely no calorie creep, then you should increase your cardio.

You can add another day if possible (don’t add more than four days per week if you’re also weight training) or add time to each day (try adding ten minutes to each session and see how your body responds).

The idea is to tip the scales a little bit more in the direction of fat loss and observe the results. If the first round of extra cardio doesn’t do it, add more (another ten minutes to each session, for instance), and you’ll get there.

 Embrace the cheat meal:  Believe it or not, the cheat meal actually helps you lose fat.

This how it works

Well, first there’s the psychological boost, which keeps you happy and motivated, which ultimately makes sticking to your diet easier.

Studies on overfeeding or binging on food show that doing so can boost your metabolic rate from three to ten per cent. While this sounds good, it actually doesn’t mean much when you consider that you would need to eat anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand extra calories in a day to achieve this effect.

More important are the effects cheating has on a hormone called leptin, which regulates hunger, your metabolic rate, appetite, motivation and libido, as well as serving other functions in your body.

When you’re in a caloric deficit and lose body fat, your leptin levels drop. This in turn, causes your metabolic rate to slow down, your appetite to increase, your motivation begins to wane and your mood sours.

On the other hand, when you give your body more energy in terms of (calories) than it needs, leptin levels are boosted, which can then have positive effects on fat oxidation, thyroid activity and even boosting your mood.

So if it is an increase in leptin levels that you really want, how do you best achieve it?

Eating carbohydrates is the most effective way. Second is eating protein (high-protein meals also raise your metabolic rate). Dietary fats aren’t very effective at increasing leptin levels, and alcohol actually inhibits it.

Post-workout calories

So, if your weight is stuck and you’re irritable and demotivated, a nice kick of leptin might be all you need to get the scales moving again.

Have a nice cheat meal full of protein and carbs, and enjoy the boost in your leptin levels. It can help!

Lift heavy weights:  Hit the weights and hit them hard if you want to jack up your metabolic rate and in turn, speed up your fat loss. Work with something extra that you are not used to but you still can manage. And if you want to score extra points, focus on compound lifts like squats and deadlifts, because these are the types that burn the most post-workout calories.

Just remember that the journey to a lean, well-toned body is a marathon, not a sprint.