As summer approaches, a lot of people will try out lots of things to become shredded as soon as possible to get ready for the beach and get rid of all the excess fat accumulated from excessive bulking, too many cheat meals and missed workouts. However, if you are already lean and satisfied with your look and want to maintain it without gaining additional weight, we suggest that you read the 5 tips below on how to reach and maintain a low body weight level throughout the entire year:

1. Intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting is a type of diet which consists of fasting and non-fasting intervals. For example, you fast for 16 hours but in the remaining 8 hours you eat all of your daily calories. When you do this, growth hormone production is increased as well as fat oxidation which translates to increased fat loss. The more hours you can endure without eating any food, the better results you will get from this diet.

Of course, this does not mean that you should eat less or pig out during the feasting period. You should eat as much as you need in order to maintain a healthy weight. If you cannot do this this, intermittent fasting will not help you and can even decrease your athletic performance and health. As we already said, the main thing here is that you consume all your daily calories in a short time window like 10, 8 or 6 hours and then avoid eating any food until the next “eating window” comes.

2. Eat fat-burning ingredients

Even though all foods contain a certain number of calories, there are some foods that have chemicals in them that actually help you burn fat. Some of the most common ones include coconut oil, cinnamon, coffee, broccoli, kale, avocados, chia seeds, Brazil nuts, oysters and salmon. The special compounds found in these foods have the potential to elevate your metabolic rate and by doing so, they help you burn more calories even if you do the same training volume and eat the same amount of food as before.

If you don’t prefer eating any of the aforementioned foods, there’s always the option of buying a fat burning supplement which will not only help you burn fat, but will also decrease your hunger, increase your energy levels and increase your sense of well-being.

3. Always experiment and test new things

What works for athletes and professional bodybuilders, may not work for you. You should experiment and always try out new things until you find what works for you best. Very often, it is a long and arduous process and at times it may seem like you are regressing instead of progressing.

Set yourself a time limit of one week, if you see no benefits in that time frame, ditch the technique and try something else. However, if you keep at it, after some time, you will inevitably find something which will exponentially increase your progress and will transform your physique in a way you have never experienced before.

4. Monitor your caloric intake

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. When you don’t measure your progress, how do you expect to change? The same rule applies to calories. You need to know exactly how many calories you need to ingest on a daily basis, whether it’s too much or too little, depending on your fitness goals.

You can do this by simply counting the number of foods you eat during the day and what their caloric/nutritional values are, which are usually listed on the nutrition labels. What’s more, keep in mind that fat and proteinrequire more energy to be digested compared to complex carbs, while simple sugars require the least amount of time and energy.

5. Don’t forget to do cardio

The easiest way to enjoy your food and still not worry about how many calories it has is by adding cardio sessions into your workout routine. You can add cardio either before or after your regular training session, it will work well either way. Or you can designate separate days for cardio only. To make it more fun, you can mix different exercises. For example, on day you can go on the treadmill, another day you can ride a bike, the next day you can go on the elyptical machine or you can take a swim. The great thing about cardio is that it improves the transport of nutrients, which make you stronger, healthier and fit throughout the entire year.

Staying fit and burning fat year-round can be easy if you know what you need to do. It’s a tough process, but it’s worth it. Don’t give in to cravings and don’t allow stress to make you fat. Keep in mind the effort you exerted to be where you are right now and keep progressing no matter what.

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