Two out of every 3 Adults is now considered overweight or Obese (Source: http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/).

People throw themselves into crazy dietary regimes at the start of the year and inappropriate exercise systems with little to no avail it would seem. How many people are successful at the end of it all? In a study from UCLA reported in American Psychologist people lose anywhere from 5-10% of their weight only to regain it plus some more.

“We found that the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more. Sustained weight loss was found only in a small minority of participants, while complete weight regain was found in the majority. Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people.”- Traci Mann, UCLA associate professor of psychology

What does it take for you to enter the successful minority in the war on fat? Implement these next 5 strategies and you could find yourself on the winning side.

1. Find the Right Fuel for Your Metabolism.

In the title of this blog I talk about becoming a Fat Burning Machine so I am going to use a lot of metaphors involving Cars to drive my point home. Now if you buy a car one of the first things you need to know is what kind of fuel it runs on. Does it have a Petrol, Diesel or Hybrid Engine? Now what happens if I put Petrol mistakenly into a Diesel Engine? The results are not pretty! The car will not drive at all. Think of the rate and speed of the driving as a measure of your metabolism. Now if you put the wrong fuel mix in your body unlike the car you will still be able to move but you will be a lot more sluggish as a result. Your metabolism will not be in high gear. In order to switch that metabolism into high gear you need to find the right fuel mix for you. Metabolic Typing is one of the methods I use to find the right fuel mix for my clients. You see our bodies have evolved along different metabolic pathways that make some of us better at burning carbs, others better at burning fats and others still are hybrids, doing best on a mix of carbs and fats for energy.

2. How healthy is your Nervous System?

When most people think about energy they simply think about the food they eat and how it converts into energy. It’s not that simple folks! Not even for our inanimate friend the Car. Now let’s say you go out one morning to start your car and it just won’t. You already filled it with petrol yesterday (or Gas as my American friends would say)!  It’s towed away and later your garage calls to say something is wrong with the electrics and it will have to be fixed. The rate and quality of energy production of your body is also dependent on Electrics, in this case the health and function of your nervous system.

If you do continuous steady state aerobics like running or jogging you will dumb down your nervous system. You will turn a 1000 watt light bulb into a 10 watt one. So your metabolism has slowed down again. On the other hand if you train daily with fast explosive movements like Olympic Lifting which is very popular now due to Cross-fit you can overload your nervous system and “Blow the Light Bulb”.

Neither scenario is desirable. That’s why an appropriately trained coach who knows how to periodise your training will maximise your nervous systems contribution to fat loss without causing burn out or down-regulation of your metabolism

3. Supporting your Body Fluids.

Even the most non zealous driver realises that the car needs an oil change from time to time. This is the fluid part of the car that makes sure that working parts move smoothly and that other parts don’t overheat.

In your body there are many fluids that need to be taken care of and supported to maintain their optimal functioning. One such fluid is your blood. If you become deficient in Iron for example you can develop a type of anaemia which will affect your body’s ability to transport oxygen. If this is impaired you will have low energy and lack motivation to train intensely. Your fat burning machine turns from a roar to a dim whimper.

Lymph is another fluid that baths our tissues and keeps our immune systems strong, aids detoxification and prevents Oedema (fluid retention). If you are sitting down all day your lymphatic system can’t function properly as unlike the blood circulation it does not have a pump apart from the muscular contractions of your body at large.  It’s estimated that 80% of Women have a sluggish Lymphatic system which can be rectified with appropriate exercise, nutrition and lifestyle practices.

Weight training is one of the best exercises to support the lymphatic system as it encourages muscular contractions over the whole body not just an isolated area like the calves.

The lymphatic system is the major system of the body responsible for the transport of fatty acid chains. If your lymphatics are out of whack then so is your fat burning!

4. Alignment

Everybody brings their car to the garage after a certain amount of mileage for a service over haul. The mechanic will check wear and tear on tyres, the alignment of the axel and many other aspects. Many individuals will embark on a new training program without ever having a “Service Check”. They will have misalignments, pelvic tilt imbalances, Spinal curvatures that predispose them to injury and muscle imbalances that will be exacerbated by training if left uncorrected. If you get all of these issues flagged before you start your training you will be able to generate a much greater force output in your workout and you drastically reduce the risk of injury. The one thing that will really put the kibosh on your fat loss efforts is injury.

5. Engine Size

We all know that if you buy a small little car that your fuel consumption is going to be way less than if you buy for example a Hummer or a Ferrari right? Now that’s good news if you want to save money but with respect to your body if you want to become a fat burning machine you really want the opposite. What is it that makes the Hummer such a gas guzzler? Well one of the reasons is the engine size. In your body the bigger the engine size the greater the fat burning effect. What constitutes the engine size in my body is my Lean Body Mass (your biosignature practioner can measure this for you). If I have more lean body mass than my friend even walking to the corner shop I will burn more fat than her, heck even sitting on the couch I will! If I have a bigger engine (more lean body mass) I can accelerate more and generate much greater force out-put because of it. Just like the mini will never generate more power out-put than the Ferrari. This power output means more gas guzzling folks and more fat burning! And the absolute kicker is that while you have a bigger fat burning engine you end up with a smaller tighter package! That lean body mass takes up way less space than fat.

So if you want to be a Lean, Mean, Fat Burning Machine give your body at least as much attention as your car!