30 Ways to Burn Fat Fast

1) Eat six small meals a day. Stoking your body with food every three to four hours can rev your metabolism to the max.

2) Run 10 100-yard sprints and burn up to 500 calories.

3) Wait 20 minutes before going for seconds.

4) Throw on a hoodie before working out. When your muscles are warm, you actually burn more calories.

5) Use a smaller dinner plate—it’ll limit how much you can pile on.

6) Use a blue dinner plate. Studies show the color has an appetite- suppressing effect (as opposed to red and yellow plates).

7) Sub in nonfat Greek yogurt for mayo and sour cream—you’ll save 700 cals and 100 cals per half cup, respectively.

8) Eat peanuts from their shells. You’ll nosh on 50% fewer nuts in a sitting just trying to peel before eating.

9) Chew on sugar-free mint gum after a meal. Mint flavors send signals to your brain that it’s time to stop eating.

10) Snack on pistachios instead of pretzels.

11) Take up power yoga. You can burn up to 344 calories a class.

12) Train fasted once a week. This helps the body to keep adrenaline high and blood sugar low.

13) Run intervals. Turn your body into a fat-fighting furnace by alternating sprints with jogs.

14) Replace your morning bagel and juice with a bowl of oatmeal and protein-packed eggs.

15) Work out with your partner. Couples who train together are 34% more likely to stick to their workouts.

16) Eat at the kitchen table—not on the couch.

17) Drink more water. Being dehydrated can fool your body into feeling hungry.

18) Poach (don't fry) eggs, poultry, and fish.

19) Hit the pool. Swim laps or run in the water, if you can touch the bottom safely.

20) Take a real “before” photo. You’ll be more motivated knowing what you look like and where you want to go.

21) For your morning cup of Joe: switch to skim milk instead of cream and sugar and save 105 calories.

22) Bike to work; burn 500 calories an hour.

23) Choose ellipticals with handles. You’ll recruit muscles in your arms and burn more calories overall.

24) Download a fit app—like a fast-food calorie counter or a digital workout log— onto your iPhone.

25) Crust proteins with panko crumbs. They’ll stick to pork chops and skinless chicken breasts without the need for higher-calorie breads made of eggs and flour.

Find Supplements to Boost Your Weight Loss at GNC Live Well >>>

26) Add strawberries to your whey protein shake. These superfruits amp up the fiber—it'll help you feel fuller.

27) Eat more avocados. They’re loaded with the kind of healthy fats you need to keep your body burning fat.

28) Portion control potatoes and pasta. Servings of starches should never be bigger than a baseball.

29) Look for these key words on restaurant menus: grilled, baked, sautéed, steamed, oven-fried, roasted, marinara, and primavera.

30) Drink tea. It’s loaded with fat-burning antioxidants.

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Six-Pack Abs in Six-Weeks: A Summer Weight Loss Program

Want to get ripped abs? It might seem impossible. But with MEN'S FITNESS Six-Pack in Six Week program, even you can have a washboard stomach. Don’t believe us? Try it for yourself with our day-to-day guide of exercises. Combine some of the classic moves that you already do, with moves you didn’t know you should be doing, the only gear you'll need are dumbbells, a pullup bar, bands, and a bench. 

How It Works:

You don’t need barbells, machines, or cardio equipment to get ripped. A bare-bones home-gym setup is enough, combined with careful programming

You’ll start the plan performing higher reps on your exercises and taking short rest periods. Every two weeks, you’ll increase the weights, reduce the reps, and lengthen the rest times. This approach allows you to peak in six weeks, so time your training to end with a spring break vacation or any other excuse you can find to take your shirt off.

Lucky guys with fancy gyms can do it—now you can, too

Directions:

The program runs six weeks—Weeks 1 and 2 are done as shown here; in Weeks 3 and 4, reduce the number of reps per exercise to 8–10 and increase the rest to 45–60 seconds. In Weeks 5 and 6, reduce the reps to 6–8 and increase the rest to 60–90 seconds.

Exercises marked with letters (“A,” “B,” and so on) are done in sequence. Perform one set of each exercise in a group, then repeat until all sets for that group are done. Then move on to the next group.

FULL LENGTH VIDEO DEMONTRATIONS:

Day One >>>

Day Two >>>

Day Three >>>

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5 FAST BODYWEIGHT WORKOUTS FOR WEIGHT LOSS

No time? No problem. These fast-paced bodyweight workouts will torch tons of calories and fat—and build muscle—in no time (and with no machines or weights.) The key to making body weight training effective for weight loss? Focusing on compound movements, rather than ones that isolate one muscle at a time.

“All these movements are compound movements challenging your total body and can help you torch fat,” says personal trainer Nick Rodocoy who created them. Compound moves work multiple large muscle groups simultaneously—and the more muscles involved, the more work that gets done and the more calories you burn.

Outside of sheer convenience, there are other reasons to add this type of training in to your routine: “Bodyweight workouts are great if you want to give your body a rest from heavy lifting or just to switch your program up,” says Rodocoy. While great for bulking up quickly, heavy lifting isn’t exactly gentle on your muscles and joints. So, a little low impact work—that still gets you serious results—can ensure you stay injury-free and healthy. 

“The whole program is a five day split and it's meant to be increased in some capacity every week whether you are looking to beat a time or beat the rep count,” says Rodocoy. But, you can also just do them individually as one-off workouts whenever you have the time.

Workout 1

How: Do one move after the next without rest. Record your time. Repeat 3-4x. Try to beat your collective time every week.

1) Bodyweight Squat x15
2) Jump Squats x15
3) Reverse Lunges X10
4) Sumo Lunges x10

Workout 2

How: Spend 45 minutes running through these movements, only resting as needed. Record your time and try to beat it every week.

1) Clap Push-Up x10
2) Bodyweight Row/Inverted Row x10-15
3) Pistol Squat to Bench x8
4) Feet elevated Push-Up x10
5) Pull-Up x6-8
6) Single Leg Hip Bridge on bench x8
7) Plank to Push-Up x10 each side

Workout 3

How: Perform this routine as a ladder sequence (Do 1 of each exercise, then 2, etc all the way up to 10. Then go back down from 10 to 1.) Rest when needed and record time. Try to beat it every week.

1) Pull-up
2) Dip
3) Jump Lunges
4) Leg Raises

Workout 4

How: Do one exercise after the next and repeat as many times as possible in 45 minutes.

1) Inverted Row x15
2) Handstand Push-Ups x8-10
3) Side Lying Oblique Hold -20 second hold each side
4) Pistol to Bench x10

Workout 5

How: 30 on/15 off for 4 rounds (So, you do 30 seconds of clap pushup/regular/knee then rest 15 seconds. Then 30 seconds of mountain climbers and rest 15 seconds. Repeat three more times, then move on to the second set of exercises.)

1)
a. Clap Push-Ups/regular/knee
b. Mountain Climbers

2)
a. Inverted Row (feet adjusted as needed)
b. Walkouts

3)
a. Alternating Reverse Lunges
b. Plank to Push-Up

Source: http://www.mensfitness.com/

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IS LOSING 11 POUNDS IN 4 DAYS LEGIT?

In 2008, 35% of adults ages 20 and over were overweight and 11% were obese, according to the World Health Organization. Being overweight or obese may increase risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. While many factors contribute to being overweight and obese, there's a single path to weight loss: go to sleep with a negative energy balance, meaning burn more calories than you consume.

Researchers from Spain and Sweden took this principle to the extreme and conducted a study in which people ate very few calories and exercised for nearly nine hours a day for four days. The result: an average weight loss of 11 pounds. Here’s how it happened.

Fifteen healthy but overweight men (ages 18-55) were divided into two groups: one group consumed only 1.5 L of mineral water mixed with whey protein daily and another consumed only 1.5 L of mineral water mixed with sucrose daily. Each solution provided 3.2 calories per kilogram of body weight. The men reduced their calories from around 2,000-2,250 before the experiment to about 320 per day for the duration of the four-day experiment.

The guys did 45 minutes of a one-arm cranking exercise at 15% of maximum intensity then walked for eight hours at a speed of 4.5 kilometers per hour. During exercise, the participants were allowed to drink as much of a rehydration beverage containing nutrients such as sodium and potassium as they wanted. They did this for four days then received their normal daily intake of energy for three days to allow for replenishment of water and stabilization of body weight,says the study.

After the four days, each man had lost an average of 11 pounds, with about half of the weight being fat (mostly from the trunk) and half being muscle. Researchers followed up four weeks later and found that the guys had shed another two pounds, on average. After a year, the men recorded an approximate weight loss of five pounds compared to where they were before four days of eating practically nothing.

 “Calorie restriction may change how our bodies secrete and respond to hormones that control appetite and it’s possible that's what caused the men to feel less hungry throughout the day,” says Neal Malik, Dr.P.H., R.D. “If the researchers were to replicate this study, they should consider monitoring changes in appetitive hormones in order to determine the potential causes for the long term weight loss.”

The researchers did not give the participants any guidelines for lifestyle changes for the year after the test, so it’s unclear why they kept the weight off. Malik says it might be because the participants were motivated by their rapid results to continue their efforts. Since the guys lost similar amounts of muscle mass from protein and sugar drinks, this protocol proved that even protein can’t save gains in extreme diet and exercise circumstances.

“If an individual were to replicate the diet and exercise regimens outlined in this study, he would likely lose muscle mass because in a hypocaloric state the body breaks down protein for energy,” says Malik. “Extreme diet and exercise regimens may alter the sodium, potassium, and calcium levels in the blood, which could be dangerous.”

The verdict on the four-day diet: It worked but it eats away muscle and it could be harmful in the long term. When it comes to tackling the obesity challenge, quick fixes are just that: quick. Developing a balanced diet is the key to weight loss.

“A more efficient way to lose weight while preserving muscle status would be to incorporate cardiovascular activity, strength training, and stretching along with a diet that contains approximately 45% of one’s calories coming from complex carbohydrates, 25% lean protein, and 30% fat (mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated sources). The goal would be to lose no more than 2 pounds per week,” says Malik.

- Source: http://www.mensfitness.com/

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HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT : The 3 Day Diet

The Promise

These days, when even instant cereal isn’t fast enough, we want weight loss now, not later. And who could argue with dropping the weight of a large laptop in just one long weekend? The 3 Day Diet promises exactly that.

If you’ve been struggling to budge the scale and you’re tempted to try it, here are the details you need to know.

The diet, aimed at people wanting to lose a lot of weight, claims you’ll drop up to 10 pounds if you follow it for three days.

The menu consists of three breakfasts, lunches, and “dinners” -- if you consider a cup of tuna fish or two hot dogs, plus fruit and vegetable sides, dinner.

One web site that markets the diet claims it’s “chemically and enzyme balanced,” though this statement isn’t explained or supported.

One thing is clear: You won’t be eating much. On Day 1, you get just 870 calories. Days 2 and 3 aren’t much different.

What You Can Eat and What You Can't

For three days, you’ll eat extremely basic meals made with foods you may already have in your kitchen.

For example, breakfast on Day 1 is black coffee or water, half a grapefruit, and a slice of toast with a tablespoon of peanut butter. Lunch is half a cup of tuna, another slice of toast, and another cup of black coffee (or tea or water).

If you’re looking for variety or foodie thrills, you won’t find them here.

Lunch on Day 2, for instance, is nothing but a cup of cottage cheese and some saltine crackers. Sauces, dressings, and even spices are off the list. If you have a sweet tooth, though, you’ll be happy to find vanilla ice cream on the menu each day.

Level of Effort: Low

The biggest effort you'll make on the diet may be stopping yourself from reaching for more food.

Limitations: The menu is what it is, with no room for varied palates or eating preferences, though some web sites say you can swap tuna for cottage cheese and vice versa.

Cooking and shopping: This diet is about as low-effort as it gets, short of having meals delivered to your door. Just about the only cooking involved is steaming the vegetables, unless you choose to eat them raw (either is an option).

Packaged foods or meals? No.

In-person meetings? No.

Exercise: It's frowned on because, as one web site puts it, “you will not be feeling very energetic" while you're on this diet.

Does It Allow for Dietary Restrictions or Preferences?

Vegetarians and vegans: This menu is not for vegetarians or vegans. It’s not low-salt, low-carb, or low-fat, either -- just low-calorie.

Gluten-free: This diet includes toast and crackers, which traditionally include gluten in the wheat. You could buy gluten-free versions if you chose to, but going gluten-free is not a feature of this diet.

What Else You Should Know

This diet was most likely not developed by nutrition experts. One web site that offers the diet includes this warning: “Neither the staff nor management of 3 Day Diets are experienced, licensed, or knowledgeable to judge or recommend the validity or safety of this diet. We do not necessarily endorse this diet and recommend that before trying this or any other diet to consult a physician or licensed medical practitioner. Use at your own risk.”

When judging any diet, including this one, keep in mind two key pieces of advice from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: First, if a diet sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Second, if you can’t see yourself following the diet for the rest of your life, it’s not for you.

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LOSE 5 Pounds in a Week

Cosmo has come up with a fat-torching plan that really will subtract up to 5 pounds from your bod in seven days — without starvation, bizarre supplements, or cutting out entire food groups. How? It's all about small sacrifices combined with specific techniques. And rather than giving you a one-size-fits-all regimen, we figure you're more likely to stick with the plan if you pick the eating and exercise strategies that fit your lifestyle.

So choose at least four of the nutritionist- and fitness expert-backed tips that follow, and vow to work them into your schedule for seven days straight. If you feel ambitious, tack on a few more. The more you pick, the more weight you'll lose. If you start now, by this time next week, you'll look and feel way lighter.

Drink Mainly Water

A sports or energy drink, fruit smoothie, or light beer — each serving contains about 100 calories. Yet these beverages don't satisfy you the way 100 calories of food does, so they're a waste. Other liquids may be high in sodium and carbohydrates, which trick your body into retaining water, puffing you out.

Water, on the other hand, has zero calories and carbs and little to no sodium, making it the perfect slim-down drink. And strangely, it actually helps flush out excess water weight as well as jump-starts your metabolism. If it's just too boring, add lemon wedges or mint leaves.

Ban White Bread and Pasta

Cutting out all white grain products — such as white rice, spaghetti, sandwich rolls — will instantly slim you down because the simple carbs in these foods cause bloating, especially around your belly. "Simple carbohydrates wreak havoc on your weight because they're digested very quickly, leaving you hungry and more likely to overeat later," says Jana Klauer, M.D., author of The Park Avenue Nutritionist's Plan.

To go a step further, instead of replacing them with healthier yet still bloat-triggering whole-grain bread products, substitute vegetables for the week. This way, a chicken sandwich becomes chicken salad, and chips and dip turn into carrots and dip. The complex carbs from vegetables are digested more slowly, so you remain full longer. And because veggies are mostly water, they also help flush out excess water weight.

Do Cardio 30 Minutes a Day

Any workout that gets your heart rate up will burn calories. But you'll use more calories if you pick a cardio routine that engages multiple muscles simultaneously, says Wendy Larkin, personal-training manager at Crunch's Polk Street gym, in San Francisco.

Three to consider: spinning, cardio kickboxing, and boot-camp workouts. Half an hour of each torches 200 to 300 calories while toning up your arms, legs, and core so everything appears sleeker and tighter.

You'll burn even more calories per session if your workout incorporates interval training: alternating short bursts of intense cardio with slower activity. Experts aren't sure why it works, but trainers swear by it.

Drink Coffee an Hour Before Working Out

This is the one exception to the stick-to-water-only rule: Just as a coffee run makes your morning at work more productive, a pre-exercise cup of java with a splash of skim milk (about 11 calories) or black (just 5 calories) will energize your workout, explains Dr. Klauer. "You'll burn more calories without realizing you're pushing yourself harder."

Have Nightly You-on-Top Sex

Not that you needed an excuse to hook up with your guy every night, but the fact is, this position is a fat blaster. Being on top means you do the rocking, and the more active you are, the more calories you burn — up to 144 for 30 minutes.

Sex also pumps levels of feel-good neurotransmitters, endorphins, helping you ride out food cravings. Get on top in reverse-cowgirl (i.e., facing away from your guy) to give your thigh and butt muscles an extra push.

Do 36 Push-Ups and Lunges Every Other Day

These gym-class staples will help sculpt muscle, so you'll sport a more streamlined appearance. Do three sets of 12 of each exercise every other day. "Push-ups target your upper body, while lunges work your butt, hips, and thighs," says Larkin. Quick tip: Make sure your back and legs remain in a straight line during your push-ups; it'll improve muscle tone. Also, you can build even more muscle with the lunges if you hold free weights in each hand while doing them.

Sleep 30 Minutes More a Night

That extra half an hour, whether you sleep 5 hours or 8, can refresh you enough that you will make better food choices (in other words, no quick sugar fix for breakfast in search of energy) and won't feel lethargic and skip the gym, says registered dietician Esther Blum, author of Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous. More restful sleep (7 to 8 hours is best) also boosts your metabolism. And since your body builds muscle while you snooze, getting zzz's equals better muscle tone.

Make One Food Sacrifice

Cutting out one indulgence — such as the chips you have with lunch or the chocolate dessert you eat after dinner — can subtract a few hundred calories from your diet, which translates into less flab, says Blum. "Your body won't even notice their absence."

Don't Let the Camera Add Pounds

Push your chin forward, hold your arms away from your body, and turn slightly sideways from the camera with one foot in front of the other.

GET THINNER IN HOURS

Really. These slenderizing effects may not be permanent, but they'll help you look hotter in your skinniest jeans on very short notice.

Eat Salmon for Lunch

It's packed with nutrients that build muscle tone and give your skin a healthy glow. Some nutritionists claim that consuming a portion (doesn't matter how it's cooked) may immediately make your face look a bit more contoured.

Stand Up Straight

Keeping your spine rigid and your shoulders back while sucking in your belly toward your spine gives you a slimmer, more streamlined middle.

Do Squats and Sit-Ups

Bodybuilders use this technique before competitions because it adds definition to muscle. Do three sets of 12 of each exercise to tighten your abs, butt, and legs temporarily.

Pop an Antigas Pill

Take one of these chewable tablets, sold over-the-counter at drugstores, to relieve bloating in your abdomen and break up gas bubbles in your digestive track, leaving you with a flatter tummy.

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Eight Easy Steps To Lose Weight Fast

1 of 9

Eight Simple Ways To Lose Weight And Keep It Off

The countdown to Memorial Day has begun. Just in time, best-selling author Kathy Freston has new book The Lean: A Revolutionary (and Simple!) 30-Day Plan for Healthy, Lasting Weight-Loss, which offers easy tricks to shed pounds fast and keep them off for good. 

One of the most common questions I get is how to lose belly fat. Belly fat is actually the most dangerous type of fat – besides aesthetics, large waist lines are indicators of –disease-disease-disease.

It takes more than just crunches! We start to gain weight in our midsection when our cortisol levels spike. Stress is one of the primary culprits for high levels of cortisol secretion. When this happens cortisol breaks downs lean muscle (the type of tissue that burns calories most efficiently) and also holds on to fat storage in the abdominal region. That stress can even get WORSE with bad dieting; studies show that the stress caused by dieting can increase cortisol levels, making no change in belly fat even with calorie restriction. So how do you shape up? Incorporate these 6 things below and you will be on your way to a flatter belly in no time flat!

1. Sleep

If you want to work late at night, think again. When your biorhythms are off, you end up eating more. When you’re tired you produce more ghrelin, which triggers cravings for sugar and other fat-building foods. Losing sleep can also alter your hormone production, affecting your cortisol levels that cause insulin sensitivity, prime reasons for belly fat! Getting about 7 hours of sleep a night is one of the best things you can do for your body shaping goals.

2. Short bursts of exercises

1000 crunches a night may get you strong abdominal muscles, but with a full layer of fat on top, you will not get the results you really want. Instead of all those crunches, do exercises that engage multiple muscle groups and work your cardiovascular system. Try planking, where you hold yourself in a push-up position, resting your forearms on the ground. Try 3 or 4 sets of holding for 30 seconds each. Getting up and moving throughout the day by going for walks will also help.

3. Sugar is your Enemy

Fighting belly fat is 80% healthy diet. Reduce calories by filling yourself up with protein, vegetables, whole grains, and replacing bad habit snacks with good ones. For example, if you have a sugar craving, replace your calorie laden latte with a Muscle Milk lite, one of my favorites, because it has zero sugar and a ton of protein that will satiate while also torching my sugar craving! Another great trick is a sprinkle of cinnamon in your morning coffee or oatmeal- the spice has been shown to help stabilize blood sugar. It also slows the rate at which food exits the stomach, which helps you feel fuller longer.

4. Vitamin C

When you’re under extreme stress, you secret more cortisol hormone. Vitamin C helps balance the cortisol spikes that happen to you under this stress. Besides being a good way to counteract a cold, Vitamin C is also essential for making carnitine, a compound used by the body to turn fat into fuel, making this vitamin your fat burning friend.

If you’re going through an emotional crisis, stress from work, or a bad eating splurge, increase your vitamin C – it’ll help counteract the negative side effects. Try bell peppers, kale or kiwi fruits. These have even more Vitamin C than the famous Orange!

5. Eat Fat

Yup, you heard me! It takes fat to burn fat. Like I said above, it’s sugar that gets you fat, not fat. Good fats include foods rich in Omega 3′s, like salmon, avocados & walnuts. These foods are full of nutrients that help keep you satiated throughout the day.

6. Slowing down your breath

This is a very simple method that you can use even when you’re in the midst of doing something else. Whenever you notice you’re feeling tense and uptight check and see how you’re breathing. Most people under stress either alternate holding their breath with short breaths, or take rapid shallow breaths. After you become aware of your own breathing, consciously relax your belly and slow down the breathing. This works best if you focus on slowing down the exhalation rather than your inhalation. With each exhalation you can say to yourself “slow down”. That is all there is to it- Simple but surprisingly effective!!!

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Another 10 Wierd and Strange Animals

The Babirusa

Image credits: oregonzoo.org

Lamprey

Image credits: forum.lowyat.net

The Fossa

Image credits: en.academic.ru | imgur

Star-Nosed Mole

Image credits: synapsebristol.blogspot.com

Sunda Colugo

Image credits: identi.info

Zebra Duiker

Image credits: imgur

Yeti Crab

Image credits: oceanleadership.org

Superb Bird of Paradise

Image credits: BBC Planet Earth | National Geographic

Blob Fish

Image credits: coloribus.com | monsterfishworld.com

Cantor’s Giant Soft Shelled Turtle

Image credits: wwf.panda.org

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