How to Quickly Lower Body Fat Percentage
You may have gained weight over time because as you grow older your metabolism slows significantly.You have done all the measurements and calculations, and the numbers indicate that you need to lower your body-fat percentage to avoid major health problems such as respiratory difficulties, arthritis, diabetes, cancer and heart diseases. How do you do that? Here are steps you can take to lower your body-fat percentage.
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Instructions
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How to Quickly Lower Body Fat Percentage
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Know what body fat does. Body fat has several important functions in the body. It maintains body temperature, cushions some organs and tissues, absorbs shocks to the bones and assists in the proper absorption of vitamins A, E, D and K.
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Determine Your Body Fat Percentage. Body Fat Percentage is the percentage of fat your body contains in relation to your total weight. For example, if a woman weighing 160 pounds has 10 percent body fat, her fat weighs 16 pounds and the rest of her body, including organs, tissues, bones, muscles and more weigh 144 pounds. There is an ideal range of body-fat percentage. The range considers height, weight, gender and a person's activity level. There are several ways to measure body-fat percentage, including bioelectrical impedance, skinfold measurements, hydrostatic weighing tanks, infrared interactance and body mass index (BMI). You can ask your local gym for a body-fat analysis using one of these methods, or as a preliminary step use any calculators available on the Internet. One useful calculator: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/
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Reduce your calorie intake. Lowering your body-fat percentage does not mean starving yourself. If you do not eat, your body will react by slowing your metabolism, storing fat and burning muscle for fuel. The goal is eating fewer calories than what you burn. A 500-calorie decrease in your current daily diet is a good start. If you see no results after a week or two, cut 500 more calories from your daily diet. Eating whole unprocessed food is recommended by Associated Content. Consume more protein than you normally do as well as vegetables and fruits high in fiber. Avoid sodas, fruit juice and alcohol.
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Engage In High Intensity Activities. To complement your streamlined diet, participate in high-energy activities such as running, biking, swimming or team sports. If you are already doing these sports, you can increase your intensity to burn more calories. Another option is strength training tied with cardiovascular activity. This is a perfect accompaniment to your diet because strength training builds muscle. Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat does. For the cardio component, use the cross trainer or other cardio machines at your gym.
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Drink water. Water is essential to life and lowering your body-fat percentage. Fat is primarily composed of water, like most body tissue. When the body retains water, it swells, leaving you bloated. The solution, paradoxically, is to take in more water. Your body will not feel the need to retain water if it knows you will continue providing it. Strong Lifts website, a site for weight loss and muscle building, suggests you drink at least 1 liter per 1,000 calories daily.
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Adjust your routine to fit your needs. If you feel that it will be hard for you to significantly lower your daily caloric intake, compensate by increasing the intensity of your activities. Conversely, if your schedule does not allow you to increase your exercise activities greatly, adjust your inflow of calories. It is important to get the right balance of calories and activity. Doing so will surely lower your body fat percentage quickly. If you stick to this plan you can lose about 1 to 2 pounds per week of fat, not water weight.
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Tips & Warnings
Be careful about dropping weight too fast. You could send your body into starvation mode and slow your metabolism.
