Sometimes simply getting in the gym or cleaning up your diet slightly is simply not enough to boost your body-change efforts.  And though we typically think of these as our bread and butter, perhaps the way in which we exercise or eat is more even important.  Also, there are some surprising additional ways to help increase fat burning throughout the day.  Here are our tops!

1. Get 8 hours of sleep per night, period. Unfortunately, in today’s day we tend to associate sufficient sleep with laziness.  Eight hours a night is hardly being lazy, and in fact, Jill associates it with fat-burning.  There are 2 primary ways to naturally increase the fat-burning, muscle-building, anti-aging human growth hormone, and sleep is one of them.  Limiting food consumption to 2 hours prior to sleep and getting at least 8 hours per night will help burn significantly more fat during sleep than going to bed completely stuffed and only sleeping a few hours.
2. Hit the weights. People always ask us, if I only have 30 minutes, what’s the best exercise to do?  The answer is always the same: circuit weight-training, like the circuits featured in My Gym Trainer.  We like to think of circuit-training as “the new cardio” because when done correctly, it elevates the heart rate and breathing similar to cardio exercise.  Only, the weight training aspect yields the additional burn in the muscles that is necessary to release testosterone and human growth hormone (yes, weight training is the other way to raise it naturally).  Don’t believe us?  Go to a set of walking lunges holding 25-lb dumbbells and tell us you’re not burning fat!
3. Up your fruit and veggie intake. This may seem obvious, but acquiring your 9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day will not only boost your health, but help you burn more fat by providing more fiber with less sugar than grains and optimizing your metabolism.  A diet high in refined sugars, grains and fatty proteins only (like the standard American diet) will create a very acidic environment in the body, stifling the metabolism.  The alkalinity provided by fruits and vegetables helps buffer and optimize the metabolism.  Try our favorites: spinach, asparagus, broccoli, peppers, onions, other leafy greens, all berries, apples and pears.
4. Take a fish oil supplement.  So easy, yet so effective!  Fish oil contains unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (DHA and EPA) that pack a powerful fat-burning punch.  As counterintuitive as it seems, you need to consume fat to burn fat!  Good omega-3 fatty acids from fish not only help decrease inflammation in the body, but optimize cell membrane function to accelerate efficient metabolic processes and brain function.  Be sure to find a supplement that is PCB-free, without environmental contaminants.  If you don’t like to take supplements, try to eat 6 oz salmon 3-4 times per week.
5. Take some “me” time. Something that many of us struggle with, or simply don’t give ourselves permission to do, is to take time for ourselves to do something that we enjoy, away from work, responsibilities, chores, etc.  Allow yourself time to engage in an activity that helps you unwind, relax and let go of responsibilities even for 20 minutes a day, and it will act as a natural stress-reducer.  Lowering stress through restorative activities like reading, going for a walk, taking a Tai Chi class or simply sitting quietly can dramatically lower cortisol levels.  Excess cortisol can lead to fat storage in the mid-section, so finding ways to decrease it will help with fat loss.

At My Gym Trainer, people tell us all the time that they love to exercise but simply cannot get their diets right.  They say, “I eat pretty good, but I know I could do better” or “Working out is the easy part, I just have such a sweet tooth” or “I eat well but then I see no changes and it is discouraging.”  As exercise enthusiasts, we are sure you can all relate to these—it seems as though as soon as we get our fitness routine on track, our clean diets seem to go out the window—like it’s too overwhelming to do both at the same time!?

Well, we have found some tried and true ways to help yourself stay clean with your diet, all the while getting in your fat-burning workouts at the gym.  Besides, isn’t all that gym time a waste if we do not pay attention to what we are putting into our bodies?  Jill can speak from experience on this one, as someone who doesn’t like to cook.  All it takes is a little prep and planning, and anyone can do it!

1. Make your grocery list and go food shopping on Saturday.  Get the clean eats (these are Jill’s “staples”, get your own favorite clean foods):
   Ground bison
   Egg whites/eggs
   Chicken breasts
   Spinach
   Asparagus
   Broccoli
   Bell peppers
   Sweet potatoes
   Grapefruits
   Apples
   Frozen berries
   Oat bran
   Unsweetened almond milk
   Almond cheese
   Unsweetened cocoa powder
   Low-sodium salsa
   Raw almonds
   Raw pecans
   Whey protein powder
   Spices like garlic, cinnamon, etc
2. Take a couple hours on Sunday to cook—the inevitable!  BUT, if you do it right, you should not have to do much cooking during the week.  For example, grill up a pack of chicken breasts, boil a dozen eggs, steam a few broccoli heads and roast a bunch of veggies like onions, peppers and asparagus with garlic.  Sautee a few pounds of ground bison or lean turkey and mix with salsa.
3. Once you have everything cooked up, portion your food into small “meals.”  For example, take 5 medium Tupperware containers and in each one place 1 chicken breast, 1 serving of veggies and ½ sweet potato.  That way, each meal is reheat and eat.  Or cook up a vat of bison chili and portion it out into small Tupperware containers for reheat.  Divide the 12 hard-boiled eggs and place 3 eggs each in a small Ziploc, for fast on-the-go snacks (you can even peel them first!).  Open up your bag of almonds and place a handful of them each in a bunch of snack baggies for easy snacks, already portion-sized.
4. Throughout the week, keep it clean by making easy meals like protein shakes, which take less time to make and eat than cereal for the on-the-go breakfasts, and are much healthier.  A few scrabbled egg whites with spinach also takes only a few minutes to cook, and can serve as breakfast, or Jill’s favorite, dinner J With the majority of food already cooked and portioned out ready to be heated up, most of the dirty work is done.
5. Finally, we know that even the most prepared person may have a time when he or she just does not want to eat what’s in the fridge, no matter how “ready” it is!  In times when you are dealing with sweet cravings (or fat or salt, etc), let yourself indulge in a healthier version.  A bowl of frozen cherries (or blended into a cherry slushie) is heaven.  If fruit just won’t cut it, have a square of dark chocolate or a cocoa drink (2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder mixed with hot water and xylitol to sweeten).  As a last resort, have a few bites of a treat or a couple of chips.  But tell yourself that it’s a once-per-week indulgence and the rest of the time, you will eat the clean meals you prepared last Saturday!  Good luck!
   

Traditional fat-burning anaerobic exercise done via high-intensity interval training (HIIT) creates a hormonally and calorically favorable environment to lose inches, while aerobic pedaling using heavy resistance generates a similar effect to that of weight training, thus shaping the leg.  If the resistance and speed combinations are enough to elicit a strong lactic acid burn in the legs and glutes, the result is a fat-burning, leg-sculpting effect.

Because of the orientation of the bike, the movement loads the glutes and the quadriceps predominantly, paying particular attention to the area right below the glutes referred to as the “glute-hamstring tie-in” by many fitness professionals.  The glute-hamstring tie-in is a notoriously stubborn place of fat storage for many women and also one of the first places on the body to take on cellulite with age.  The beauty of using the recumbent bike is that it helps burn fat all over, while eliciting a localized burn in the legs, attacking both the glute-hamstring tie-in and the lower part of the quad near the knee (referred to as the “tear drop” and the “sweep”).

Improve Muscular Endurance & Shape the Legs

Another useful approach when engaging the recumbent bike is to do a protocol that elicits more of a muscular burn in the legs.  The segments are a little longer and focus on a slow, deep aching in the glutes and quads to make those muscles pop.  Try this protocol as an alternative to a light weight-training workout or add it in at the end of a heavy leg day. 

Workout #3 – 25 minutes: Throughout this protocol, you will build on your resistance and slow the pace to the point of burning.  Choose Manual Program on the bike and change the levels as called for.  This type of working will really get the glutes burning; think about the muscles being worked and squeeze them to get the full effect.  This should feel similar to resistance training for the legs.