HI! I am April King, I have tried many different diets and workouts and I can tell you that following a diet/routine you are unable to see yourself sustaining long term will never work!! It was not until I applied these 5 easy steps in 2015 that I could maintain keeping the fat off after having my daughter.
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- Work Out Fasted in the Morning
This is key for two reasons, the first being that many of us lack motivation at the end of the day. Once you are done with work you often just want to go home and relax. So, getting is done first thing ensures you will get your workout in.
Second, you should train fasted. By that I mean do not eat before you workout. I train fasted using BCAAs in the morning. Fasted training boosts the physiological indicators of post-workout muscle growth. Both fasting and HIIT training significantly increase human growth hormone secretion, which is great because that is used for fat burning. Sign up for my free home HIIT workouts!
2. Get Enough Sleep
Not getting enough sleep can cause the fat burning human growth hormone secretion to decrease. When this happens your chances of weight gain can increase. If you get 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night your pituitary gland releases the hormone about 4 times. So if you get less sleep, then you will release less of the fat burning hormone.
3. Flexible Dieting
Flexible Dieting is also referred to as “If It Fits Your Macros” (IIFYM). The IIFYM approach to diet allows for greater flexibility with your food selection because your focus is on the nutrients rather than the food source.
I can tell you from my own experience that it is difficult for most people to follow a strict meal plan. However, with flexible dieting, you can select your own food and add in treats and still meet your goal. This is why I follow my Flexible Dieting Program.
Now, this doesn’t mean you can just eat doughnuts all day. I try to make sure at least 80% of my foods are nutrient dense. However, you can have treats in moderation rather than eating chicken breast and broccoli all day:-)
Here is a great example of how flexible dieting works in your treat meals. If you want to eat a burger and it has 25g of protein, 30g carbs and 10g of fat versus a salad with 25g of protein, 30g carbs and 10g , you can chose the burger as long as that fits your macros!! Make sense?
4. Lift Weights
Lifting heavy weights allows you to build muscle and muscle burns fat. Also, having more muscle allows your body to burn more calories doing nothing. Where cardio for example, burns calories only while you are doing the exercise.
5. Eat a High Protein Diet
I like to eat a high protein diet because it keeps me full longer and it also helps me to build new muscle. I weight 150 pounds so I eat 150g of protein a day. I get creative with my protein!
Conclusion
If you want to transform your body, is Flexible Dieting the only way? No but in my opinion is one of the most effective and sustainable approaches.
To summarize the key points: if you want to lose fat, a combination of diet, weight lifting and some additional cardio (HIIT) is essential.
So if this sounds good to you and you’re serious about change, then you will really enjoy the program I created called the 7 Day KickStart to Flexible Dieting Program. It’s a short 7 Day Course with videos where I will teach you how to lose fat (and keep it off) without feeling hungry and deprived.