6 Fat-Traps to Avoid for Quick Weight Loss, Burn Fat and Stay Young the Next 20 Years

Wonder why you’re not seeing the results you want? You’re probably making one (or more) of the following body boo-boos:

Mistake #1: Working out only with machines

Gleaming, high-tech machines make the gym look expensive and high-end. Truthfully, there’s a place in a workout for machines, but NOT when you’re trying to lose weight or burn fat. The problems with machines are that they alter your primal movement patterns. In fact, many of them restrict your range of motion. This is the last thing you need as you get older, because with the years, you lose flexibility, lean muscle tissue and balance. Restricting your range of motion means fewer muscles are activated and this means less fat burning. The limited range of motion also puts more strain on your joints, which can lead to pain and injuries.

Think about your position on most machines: You’re sitting during a workout, much like you’ve been sitting all day. If you want results that are fast, visible, and fat-burning, it is critical that you incorporate natural movement patterns without restriction, such as the gait motions, lunging, squatting, bending, pushing and twisting. These movements are hard to recreate on machines.

Mistake #2: Doing marathon cardio sessions for fat loss

There is a right way and a wrong way to do cardio for fat loss. Keeping the same intensity, incline and duration day-in-day-out is counter-productive and you gain nothing more then wear and tear, boredom, and dissatisfaction with your results over the long term.

The right way: Shorten your cardio time and increase your intensity levels to train your different energy systems, burn more calories and more fat in less time.

Mistake #3: Using an injury as an excuse to stop or not to start working out

Look, injuries can happen when you are active but they can also happen when you are not active, too. It is insane not to keep active or to stop moving when an injury or pain occurs. Your body will lose strength, experience a change of body composition (you will get fatter) and undergo a slow-down of metabolism.

Taking it easy for a couple of days is recommended in the short term. But after a couple of days (depending on the severity of the injury) rest can actually undermine healing. Instead, start rehabilitation though specific movements (get your doctor’s okay first). Not only will you support healing, you’ll also manage pain, avoid stiffness and weakness as well as reduce the severity and duration of your pain.

Mistake #4: Letting insecurity dominate your thoughts

Is what others think about you inhibiting you to change or to get started? More often then not, I hear that it is intimidating for women who have not been active to join a gym. So don’t.

Don’t let your insecurity hold you back from feeling stronger, younger, trimmer and with more energy throughout the day. Find a home workout program and start changes in the privacy of your home till you feel stronger. Then upgrade to the next environment –maybe a women-only club or a class for those over 50–where you can progress in your program. You will accomplish what you have set out to do. Just start with the first step. Anything is better than nothing, so even if all you can do is walk around the block; it’s a step in the right direction.

Mistake #5: Letting recession stress determine your food choices

Overweight and obese people may be more prone to rapid rises in cortisol (a stress hormone) when stressed out, which could lead to more weight gain. Comfort foods are more consumed to manage stress and feelings of unhappiness. These people experience a calming effect after eating, from the release of natural endorphins. This experience might stimulate you to eat more food to cope with stress. Ask yourself: Am I truly hungry or just stressed out? If you’re honest, you will find yourself making healthy food choices more often.

Mistake #6: Doing sit-ups to flatten your stomach

If you want a flat belly, spot exercises do not work. Sit-ups, planks, Russian twists WILL NOT get you a flat belly. Ab exercises are not enough to flatten your stomach; first, you need to address your overall body fat. The key to achieving a flat stomach is to burn off this fat layer, using cardio to create an overall calorie deficit. Use exercises that work the large muscle groups and pay attention to nutrition. Use ab exercises to tone the muscles…. once you can see them.

Stay focused,

Stefan

Europe’s Premier Youngevity Coach

Strength, Fitness and Fat Loss Expert

AFFA, ACE, Reebok University

Masters in Science in Holistic Nutrition

P.s.: Stop doing the same old thinking patterns, self sabotage, and workout routines that are holding you back and find out the TRUTH about how to naturally lose weight, look and feel years younger, burn fat, erase body wrinkles with short, effective action steps to get strong, leaner, younger and trimmer.Click here…