In this post, I will tell you about the best ways to lose inches. All of them are in one way or another related to training and exercise.

But don’t rush to close the page thinking it’s not for you! Diets without exercise have never helped anyone.

Besides, they have done more harm to millions of people who, for some reason, have decided that exercising is not for them (as if these people have no muscles and no body at all).

How Metabolism Affects Weight Loss?

Metabolism is the entirety of all chemical, physical and physiological reactions in your body. According to today’s data, human metabolism includes about ten thousand chemical reactions. Just think! The chart below shows the bulk of these reactions.

It’s pretty confusing, right? ?

Whatever is going on with and within your body – weight gain, weight loss, illness, stress, muscle work, brain work, digestion, etc. – it’s all part of metabolism. After all, all substances and energy in the body are closely related.

Metabolism is a global property of your body. It determines how you feel and how your body looks.

And the main rule of metabolism in fitness is:
❕The faster the metabolism, the slimmer and more active you are

Quantitatively, metabolism, or more precisely metabolic rate, is measured in calories consumed per unit time. But since it is almost impossible to count all the calories consumed by the body, approximate calculations and indirect methods are used.

You have almost certainly come across various calorie consumption calculators and have seen the calorie counters on cardio machines.

Indirect methods of measuring metabolic rate include post-exercise oxygen consumption, measured in milliliters per minute. This figure can be measured quite accurately with appropriate devices. And this figure is the one that shows the real state of the metabolic rate.

Any soluble organic substance that enters your body with food is involved in metabolism. It is either used for energy or stored (in a modified form). If there is no need for additional energy production at the moment, the substance goes into storage. And if that substance is fat, it, you guessed it, goes into fat deposits.

Furthermore, both proteins and carbohydrates, if there is no need for them at the moment (tissue building, energy production), are converted to other substances for storage.

And they end up in your fat tissue or, much better, in your liver and muscles as glycogen. Your body doesn’t store protein amino acids, so any excess protein is bound to be used for energy production or deposited as fat.

If your metabolism is slow, the body produces a reduced amount of energy. It means that almost any food that enters the digestive system won’t be used in its fullness for energy production and partly go into deposits, including fat.

How To Avoid Slow Metabolism And Fat Growth?

❕ It is necessary to increase the body’s need for energy and substances!

This will lead to accelerated metabolism, and therefore you will start to lose weight. Stimulated metabolism is a consequence of increased energy and nutrient requirements of the body.

As a result, almost all the food that enters your body (even if you are not on a diet) will be used to get energy and build healthy tissues. What’s more, if you exercise and eat right, your body will get required energy from fat deposits.

Not all types of physical activity lead to a noticeable acceleration of metabolism. Any physical activity speeds up metabolism – it all depends on its intensity: the more active the workout, the faster the metabolism.

However, as soon as the training is over, your metabolism goes back to its usual slowed state. What should you do? You can’t train all the time, can you?

There is a way out and not just one!

There are physical activities, which can stimulate metabolism for another 1-2 days after them. And you only need to do three short workouts a week to keep your metabolism raised all the time.

Just think, thanks to these workouts, you will burn excess fat even during the rest between them! I will talk about these types of physical activity below.

Please note: You should start with low load workouts appropriate to your current condition! The best option is when a trainer will test you and make an individual training plan for you.

The First Way To Lose Inches

Strength Training

These are exercises: with dumbbells, kettlebells, barbell, with your weight, and on strength training machines, performed according to special rules. These rules are simple:

? Perform each exercise in 2-4 sets of 12-25 repetitions.

? In general, every week, increase weights by at least one pound. Gradually you will come to a weight that is hard to do with the correct technique. That is the level of load that will give all the necessary results. If you don’t even sweat during such a workout, it means that the training load is too small.

? You should perform exercises that include several large muscle groups at once (so-called multi joint exercises).

? Combine exercises into groups – circles (circular training), combined sets. That will make the workout not a mass-building training but a fat-burning one. If you pump iron in the usual manner, you will gain even more pounds.

? Perform strength training at least three times a week.

? The duration of a strength workout session should be at least 45 minutes.

Why Does Strength Training Speed Up Metabolism?

That is because it stimulates the generation of the growth hormone – somatotropin. This hormone leads to the acceleration of all metabolic processes, increases the removal of fatty acids from fat deposits, and leads to muscle mass growth. Strength training increases the generation of other vital hormones that help you lose weight, such as cortisol and adrenaline.

Muscle mass grows, which in itself is very good. Muscles are a very energy-consuming organ – the more you have them, the more energy you use even while resting.

The consumption of oxygen increases. It means that the recovery processes of damaged tissues (don’t be afraid it is a normal body reaction to the loads!) by the loads are running in the body. They are very energy-consuming, so the body needs a lot of substances and energy. And it alone means that excess fat goes away.

The Second Way To Lose Weight Fast

Interval training

That is a type of cardio training performed according to special rules. The main principle of interval training is to alternate periods of slow and fast movements.

For example, you are jogging. To transform jogging into interval training, you should run slowly for one minute, then run at an accelerated pace for 10-30 seconds, then run slowly again for 1 minute, then fast, etc. There should be 5-10 such shifts per workout.

There are many variations and subtleties in interval training. But its basis is described above.

Why Does Interval Training Speed Up Metabolism?

The main reason is the increased energy consumption caused by muscle recovery after exercise. All this means that the body increases its calorie expenditure even at rest.

And you quickly lose weight!

The Third Way For Rapid Weight Loss

Stretching

It is a system of exercises for the development of muscle flexibility and joint mobility.

The main advantage of stretching is “alignment” of the body, eliminating deformations and imbalances, which cause internal organs to move and work incorrectly and joints to feel the increased load and wear out quickly.

Stretching leads to an alignment of balance in the body, which distributes the load evenly over the body.

Comfort and full control of the body is what proper stretching provides.

People usually underestimate stretching. They see it as an unnecessary waste of time.

However, correctly performed stretching exercises help not only to increase flexibility. They affect the muscles similarly to strength exercises, leading to the same metabolic shifts (metabolic acceleration).

Moreover, stretching can be done anywhere, several times a day, and doesn’t require any equipment – you must agree that it is not right to give up such an effective weight loss tool.

Is It Possible To Combine These Ways?

Not only possible, but it is necessary!

If you are facing excess weight problem, you need to use all of these means. They are the most effective methods available – my fifteen years of experience in various fitness gyms confirm this.

Their combination might look like this:
✅ Do three strength training sessions a week, say every other day (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).

✅ On days when you are not training, you should do cardio workouts. Interval training is especially good for your cardio, as it takes very little time (usually no more than 15 minutes).

✅ And stretching can be conveniently distributed between those two, or make it part of them. Say, no one prevents you from devoting 15 minutes to stretching immediately after a strength training session. You can also do stretches right after cardio training.

Stretching can be practiced separately from other activities if you have time.

Final Words

Now you know how to lose weight properly and permanently. By combining aforementioned three methods you will get impressive results in just a few weeks! So, take action, lose weight and be healthy! ?