Everyone wants to be slim. But the annoying fat, especially in the stomach area, puts a spoke in the wheel. A slim figure is desired by many in order to present a more beautiful appearance, but too much fat is also a health problem. Many health problems start with being overweight and have an impact on everyday life (1).
The best way to remedy this is to boost fat burning. In order for you to lead a healthier life, this article aims to answer the most important questions about fat burning. You will find tips and tricks on how and with what the fat burning can best be boosted.
the essentials in brief
- Boosting fat burning can be accomplished in many different ways. Finding the right one for you is not always easy.
- The combination of intensive exercise and a protein-rich diet usually helps to achieve the desired results. Whether in the morning, at noon or in the evening, fat burning can always be boosted and that in a short time.
- Fat burning in older people is often a bigger problem, but it can be easily combated with the same methods.
Definition: What Is Boosting Fat Burning?
What does it mean that fat burning should be boosted? In order to lose weight or have a little less fat in certain parts of the body, it is usually not enough to consume fewer or lower-fat foods. It must be ensured that your own body gets to work and breaks down the stored fats. Therefore, boosting this process is an important step towards losing fat.
Background: What you should know about boosting fat burning
Burning fat is no easy task, yet it is essential to staying in shape. Consuming too many fats without fueling the process of burning them can have negative long-term health effects. We have compiled the most frequently asked questions about fat burning for you here.
How can I boost fat burning?
Burning fat is not a simple process, it depends on many different factors. These work together to help you boost your fat burning. In addition to proper nutrition, these factors also include increasing the frequency of eating or exercising.
In addition, additional aids can be taken, such as tablets or others. However, this does not mean that individual factors do not help. Every beginning is difficult, so you can start with one aspect and add more later.
What times of the day are the best times to boost fat burning?
“My days are so limited by my work and other duties that I can only do something about my fat in the late afternoon.” Many people feel something like this. But does it even matter when something is done, or does the time of day not matter?
The answer is no, the time of day is irrelevant. Whether you do sport in the morning after getting up or only in the afternoon after work. The results are the same. The timing of the increase in food plays a more important role in boosting fat burning. So it is important to eat after exercise and not right before. This simple measure boosts fat burning much more than in the opposite case (2).
Can fat burning be boosted overnight?
Sleep and burn fat at the same time? A dream for many people and yet one that is definitely achievable. In order for this to succeed, you have to pay close attention to how you behave before going to bed.
A protein-rich snack just before bed will help boost fat burning while you sleep.
As opposed to eating afterwards, snacking just before bed is helpful in boosting fat burning during bedtime. This means that you really only eat a little something and by no means too much. Foods containing protein, such as some cheese, natural yoghurt or 2 boiled eggs, are best for this.
With its low carbohydrates and high protein content, fat burning is set in motion overnight. At the same time, this snack can lead to reduced hunger in the morning, making it easier to exercise before breakfast (3,4).
Because of the different ways in which the body functions, women are more prone to excess body fat than men. (Image Source: Pixabay / TaniaSTS)
However, it is important to ensure that consumption shortly before going to sleep does not impair sleep. Restless or bad sleep has a negative effect on fat burning. The restlessness prevents the body from starting the process of burning fat and consuming the snack has far less of an impact than hoped (5).
Is it possible to increase fat burning in old age?
You see, the older you get, the harder it is to get rid of fat. This is a natural phenomenon that can be prevented, but cannot be stopped. With age, fat attaches more easily to tissues, and even smaller amounts of carbohydrate and fat gain result in greater fat turnover than in younger people.
In addition, the fat that has been deposited is burned more slowly at the same time, with the same behavior. So the same methods of boosting fat burning will work for older people as they do for younger people, but with a lesser effect. This means that while it's possible to boost fat burning as you age, you need to pay even more attention to proper nutrition to get the same results (6).
Are there differences between men and women when it comes to boosting fat burning?
Similar to the situation in old age is the difference between fat burning in men and women. The fact is that it is more difficult for women to burn fat in their bodies.
This is mainly due to anatomical features that cannot be influenced.
| Gender | body composition differences |
|---|---|
| Masculine | more muscle mass, lower body fat percentage, faster metabolism |
| Feminine | greater fat storage, higher body fat percentage, hormone-related differences |
In women, too little body fat can lead to health problems due to hormonal changes. This is another reason why fat burning boosts are heavier in women (7). However, as with older people, this does not mean that the same measures cannot work, just to a slightly lesser extent.
Boost fat burning: The best tips & tricks for boosting fat burning
Now that the most important questions about fat burning and boosting it have been clarified, we come to the ways in which this can be implemented. For this we will present below the various aspects that help to boost fat burning and give tips on how to implement them.
It is not necessary to start with all aspects at once. It's best to start doing something for fat burning in the first place once you've decided to do it, and add more aspects over time. A lot depends on what you feel most comfortable making a change in your life.
It may be easier for you to change your diet than to exercise, so you should start doing that. Or if the opposite is the case for you, then exercise is the first step in boosting fat burning. It is also possible that one of the aspects resonates particularly well with you, which means that the others may be less important.
Boost fat burning with food
For many, changing your diet is the first step to boosting fat burning. You might think that the right diet only protects you from putting on more fat, but the right foods can also help to stimulate fat burning.
There are two main factors that are important for most foods to help this process. These are small amounts of carbohydrates and large amounts of proteins that should be present in the food. Foods that exhibit these properties, such as eggs, dairy products, or even a variety of different nuts, showed significantly higher fat burning after consumption ( 8Trusted Source ).
Furthermore, it doesn't matter what protein is in the diet, as one study found that different foods with different proteins do not differ in their effectiveness at boosting fat burning as long as there is a good carb-to-protein ratio (9).
A salad with chicken and egg is perfect for boosting fat burning due to its high protein content. A low-fat yoghurt dressing can be used with this. (Image Source: Unsplash / Logan Jeffrey)
But a healthy diet not only includes the right food, but also the right drink. And this is found quickly and easily: water. Unlike soft drinks or alcoholic beverages, which accelerate fat deposition, water gets the body working and thus helps burn fat.
It was shown that after drinking more water, fat burning increased by almost 30% for about 1 hour. This makes water the perfect pre-exercise drink to further boost fat burning (10).
However, it is also not possible to eat only foods that are particularly high in protein. Hot spices and citrus fruits in particular can help. These help to release enzymes in the body, which further accelerate fat burning.
Exercise to boost fat burning
The second major pillar of boosting fat burning is exercising. This comes as no great surprise, but again there are important points that should be heeded.
As previously discussed, it is best to exercise before eating anything. This can be in the morning before breakfast or in the evening before dinner. Fat burning is thus boosted and in combination with the foods that have a high protein content, fat burning is boosted particularly strongly.
12 minutes of exercise at a certain intensity is enough to boost fat burning.
There is also good news for people with little time to exercise. A workout of just 12 minutes can start burning fat. In fact, studies have shown that doing shorter intense workouts is better than longer, less intense workouts. Due to the heavy load in a short time, the body starts to burn fat more effectively (11).
A greater effect of short, intense exercise can be observed in both men and women. Although there is no exact specification of what length and intensity produces the best results, 3 training sessions of 20 minutes each per week are recommended (12,13).
How these intensive units look like is up to you. This can range from short intense sprints while jogging, to cardio exercises. It is important to always take short rest breaks after the intensive phases.
The cold season is particularly good for boosting fat burning. Maintaining body temperature requires a larger amount of energy and therefore fat. (Image Source: Unsplash / Evan Hein)
In order to achieve an even more effective boost to fat burning, another factor can be included. Although this cannot be influenced, it must still be taken into account when choosing the time to start exercising.
Namely the weather or the temperature in which the sport is practiced. This shows that at colder temperatures, especially during intensive training sessions, fat burning can be boosted much more than at warm temperatures.
This can be traced back to the energy required for training. The cold temperatures "force" the body to burn more energy, i.e. more fat (14). A fact that is perfect for the time after the Christmas holidays. The fats that are usually more deposited there can be released more quickly due to the cold temperatures of winter.
Boost fat burning with medication
Other aids can be consulted on the pillars of nutrition and sport. The so-called fat burners are dietary supplements that, depending on the ingredients, are intended to help boost fat burning. We have compiled the effects of the individual ingredients in the following table.
| ingredient | Effect | Disadvantages/Risk |
|---|---|---|
| caffeine | Switches energy consumption from carbohydrates to fat | Short-lasting effect, Low effect |
| L-carnitine | Simultaneous build-up of muscle tissue while breaking down fat tissue | Only in large quantities and ingestion over a longer period of time |
| Conjugated Linoleic Acid | Stimulating fat oxidation before exercise | Little research on the effectiveness of the effects, mainly in animals |
| taurine | Stimulating fat oxidation before exercise | Effectiveness falls off quickly |
(15.16)
It turns out that supplements are only intended to support the other two pillars of fat burning. The short durations of action mean that these should usually be taken immediately before exercising.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the focus is on boosting fat burning. It is up to you whether you use just one of the aspects presented here or a combination of these. Experimenting with the possibilities and finding the right combination for you is most important. For some, exercise is better and for others, changing their diet or even burning fat with pills.
In addition, it is difficult to measure whether fat burning has actually been boosted. Results can only really be determined after some time, which can damage motivation. Then it's a matter of sticking with it and maybe finding another method. Always keep in mind that giving your fat burning a little boost will help your health.
Itemization(16)
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- Philp A, Hengist A, Chabowski A, Brodsky FM, Koumanov F, Betts JA, Thompson D, Wallis GA & Gonzalez JT (2019). Lipid Metabolism Links Nutrient-Exercise Timing to Insulin Sensitivity in Men Classified as Overweight or Obese. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 105(3), 660-676. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgz104 Source
- German Nutrition Advice & Information Network, yoghurt. Source
- German Nutrition Advice & Information Network, boiled egg. Source
- Simon S, Rahat H, Carreau AM, Garcia-Reyes Y, Halbower A, Pyle L, Nadeau KJ & Cree-Green M (2020). Poor Sleep Is Related to Metabolic Syndrome Severity in Adolescents With PCOS and Obesity. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 105(4), e1827-e1834. https://doi.org/10.1210/clinem/dgz285 Source
- Arner P, Bernard S, Appelsved L, Fu K-Y, Andersson DP, Salehpour M, Thorell A, Rydén M & Spalding KL (2019). Adipose lipid turnover and long-term changes in body weight. Nature Medicine, 25(9), 1385-1389. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0565-5 Source
- Blaak E (2001). Gender differences in fat metabolism. Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care, 4(6), 499-502. https://doi.org/10.1097/00075197-200111000-00006 Source
- Paddon-Jones D, Westman E, Mattes RD, Wolfe RR, Astrup A & Westerterp-Plantenga M (2008). Protein, weight management, and satiety. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 87(5), 1558S-1561S. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/87.5.1558S Source
- Luscombe-Marsh ND, Noakes M, Wittert GA, Keogh JB, Foster P & Clifton PM (2005). Carbohydrate-restricted diets high in either monounsaturated fat or protein are equally effective at promoting fat loss and improving blood lipids. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 81(4), 762-772. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/81.4.762 Source
- Boschmann M, Steiniger J, Hille U, Tank J, Adams F, Sharma AM, Klaus S, Luft FC, & Jordan J (2003). Water induced thermogenesis. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 88(12), 6015-6019. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2003-030780 Source
- Raghava S Velagaleti , Stephanie A Moore , Jennifer E Ho , Aaron L Baggish , Clary B Clish , Martin G Larson . . . Gregory D Lewis (2020). Metabolic Architecture of Acute Exercise Response in Middle-Aged Adults in the Community. Circulation, 142(20), 1905-1924. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.050281 Source
- Trapp, E.G., Chisholm, DJ, Freund, J. & Boutcher, S.H. (2008). The effects of high-intensity intermittent exercise training on fat loss and fasting insulin levels of young women. International Journal of Obesity, 32(4), 684-691. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803781 Source
- M Heydari, J Freund, SH Boutcher, "The Effect of High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise on Body Composition of Overweight Young Males", Journal of Obesity, vol. 2012, Article ID 480467, 8 pages, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/480467 Source
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