The majority of us do not count calories or carefully prepare meals according to macronutrient content,  meaning that lowering fat levels  or getting toned becomes a random combination good food days versus bad food days. This impractical process often results in the feeling that attempts at improving appearance are futile. The following represents easy methods anyone can adopt to assist them in reducing body fat levels and keeping it that way.

Increasing Intake of Protein

The easiest way of reducing body fat levels is to increase protein intake. Protein is more filling because it contains the enzyme pepsin, which makes you feel full, meaning that hunger is curbed for longer and that the appetite is reduced. Protein also supports the maintenance of lean tissue which is more metabolically active, and therefore increases calorie expenditure during rest.

Carbohydrate Cycling

Carbohydrate cycling is a method which is often used by trainers, coaches, bodybuilders and weight tested athletes as a short term method of breaking weight loss plateaus and assist the body in using energy more effectively. Generally it involves increasing or decreasing carbohydrate intake whilst maintaining a high protein and moderate fat intake during a day according to energy expenditure, resulting in consuming less calories, reducing water weight, and using more fats for energy. The general rules to follow are that on high carbohydrate days,  carbohydrates are consumed  with every meal. Attempt to consume complex and unrefined carbohydrates as much as is possible. On moderate carbohydrate days, eat half your high carbohydrate intake and focus it around training. On low carbohydrate days, only consume cruciferous green vegetables as carbohydrates with only one small serving of other carbohydrates. Keep in mind that this is only a short term approach and not a strategy which should be maintained for consecutive months.

Consume Cheat Meals around Training and be Flexible

Cheat meals are essential to anyone attempting to drop weight or fat levels. The body needs energy especially when it’s not getting enough. Cravings have a tendency of declining in intensity or disappearing entirely following a short period of time, so if you are strong willed, restrain yourself from eating them. Otherwise, consume cheat meals close to training times or on heavier training days.

It is also important to be flexible with cheat meals. If you want something in particular which hasn’t been planned, eat it anyway, and adjust training accordingly on that day. Being flexible enables you to better fit nutritional consumption with your expenditure, which makes it easier for you to reduce body fat levels and weight in the long term.

Full Body Training

Most individuals split their training by working a single or two muscle groups per day. However full body training is excellent for reducing body fat and/or losing body weight because the increased frequency of exercise to muscle groups means that there is a greater stimulus to increase lean tissue and lose fat, and full body training is generally more metabolically more demanding.

HIIT Training

Cardiovascular training is unfortunately often necessary to individuals looking to reduce weight or body fat levels.

High intensity interval training has been consistently shown to be the most effective form of cardiovascular exercise in terms of increasing the metabolic rate and the amount of energy expended due to the post-workout thermic effect and oxygen consumption.

Summary

Keep in mind that reducing body fat is difficult for many of us who do not that way genetically inclined. It takes a lot of effort but things can be made easier through the application of the above techniques. Increasing protein intake, carbohydrate cycling, flexibility in cheat meals,  HIIT training and full body workouts are straightforward yet effective methods of reducing fat.