Every day someone asks one of the staff how you lose body fat. Losing weight is not rocket science, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn. If you want to shed one pound, just burn 3500 more calories than you eat and the pound disappears. However, losing fat is more specific than just losing weight. It requires a few extra steps. Aerobic exercises will burn fat, but it also burns muscle tissue, too. That makes it even harder to burn more fat.

The more muscle tissue you have, the easier it is to burn off calories.

If you’re overweight and flabby, you’ll have a harder time shedding pounds than you would if you’re muscular and overweight. You’ll also look thinner because muscle tissue is denser. That means it takes a smaller container—think of your body as that container—to hold carry the same number of pounds of muscle tissue as fat tissue. You’ll look bigger the more fat you have. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue does, so you burn more calories too.

Use strength training exercises rather than aerobics to shed weight.

While you need both types of exercise to be your fittest, aerobic exercise burns both fat and muscle. The less muscle tissue you have, the harder it is to lose weight. Strength training builds muscle tissue, making it easier to burn the fat. In fact, you’ll specifically burn fat.

Get plenty of sleep.

That may sound counterproductive, but in reality it’s true. During the day, while you’re eating, your body converts all types of foods to energy; carbs, fats and proteins. If you’re short on caloric intake, it converts both fat and muscle tissue to energy. At night, your body exclusively burns fat. Too much sleep slows the energy burning process, but too little does also. Get a good night’s sleep to get rid of excess fat and look your best. It also helps prevent the urge to grab a sugar filled snack for extra energy.

• Drink plenty of water. Often people think that they’re hungry when they’re really thirsty. Water also fills you up without filling you out and helps flush out toxins.
• Try some fat burning foods. Some foods burn more calories than they contain, yet they still provide extra nutrients. Celery is probably the best known, but there are others, which include lean protein.
• Cheat on your diet occasionally. Don’t be tied to calorie counting, but focus on healthy eating. There’s no falling off a diet when you eat healthy and feeding your body more at a meal every week or two can keep your body burning calories full force.
• Track your inches instead of your weight. Since muscle tissue weighs more per cubic inch, you need to check both weight and inches to get the best picture of your progress.