I don't know the order in which you work out (strength training first or cardio first), but by doing strength training before you do your cardio your body will burn more fat during your cardio session. I've read in countless fitness magazines that the order doesn't really matter or cardio is better to do first, but that's not really how the human body works.
The body likes to burn muscle before burning fat, and weight training forces your body to conserve and build muscle so its good to see you've implemented that into your plan already. That leaves your body with only two things left to burn: glycogen and fat. In order to use up the glycogen the trick is to do weight training first (about 45min), which will burn most if not all of your glycogen. After that your body will have nothing left to burn but fat. After the weight training your best bet is to do any low to moderate intensity long duration cardio (a min of 20min). This combo will also keep your body in "fat burning mode" for several hours afterwards.
Another thing you probably already know, but I'll throw it out there just in case is not to eat 2 hours before bed. I know they say not to eat after 7pm or whatever, but it's not like your bodies metabolism slows down right after 7pm or at night it does however slow down almost completely when you sleep leaving whatever food in your system to mainly be stored as fat.
There are a few more nutrition tips that you may or may not know but I'll type them anyways.
- Do not eat too many complex carbs at one time. They are extremely good for you, but complex carbs in excess gets easily converted to fat.
- Eat slowly. It takes your about about 20 min to realize your full. And if your still a bit hungry after eating, do something to take your mind off it for about 20 min and you most likely will forget about even eating.
- Only eat at the table. Definitely don't eat at the tv or computer or anything. You'll be too distracted and not notice how much you eat, it's something I've caught myself doing millions of times. And also I find I personally start craving the food the second I see it in a commercial even though I'm not hungry. Damn commercials lol.
- Also, really start reading food labels if you aren't already, and really limit high sugar food including fruit. Sugar is easily converted into fat unless it is needed for energy, and will likely cause you to be hungry again shortly after and tired. Not only that but it makes you lose collagen faster and thus age faster.
- Like someone mentions above varying your calories is an excellent idea if you've reached a plateau in order to trick your body.
- Despite reading in some weight loss articles that all calories are equal, they are not.
- Don't completely cut fat out of your diet or else the body is more likely to store what it can as fat. Just make sure your eating good fats and not bad ones. Good fats would be olive oil, nuts, etc (can easily be looked up on the net).
- Like you probably already know, proein is key. It's much harder for the body to break down and the process of doing so consumes a lot of calories, and it's also extremely important for repairing muscle. Not only that, but it doesn't promote fat storage due to the fact that it won't cause your insulin levels to spike. But, your body can only digest 30-40g of protein at a time so keep that in mind.
- Any healthy foods with a high fiber content are not easily digested and burn a lot of calories to digest also, such as vegetables.
- Oh and if you haven't started a daily food log, start pronto! And always list drinks as a part of that. You'de really be surprised how many calories you actually consume in drinks alone. Then you can also see if there are any bad foods your still eating and can cut that out or can see if your eating enough protein (a good guideline is 1g per pound). Plus, once you see what your average calorie intake is cut it down by 250-500 calories a week in order to acheive weight loss. Then once you get to your goal stay at the amount of calories you were consuming at your goal weight to prevent weight gain, pretty much common sense but many people slip up with that once they get to their goal weight.
If you, or anyone reading this for that matter, have any addition questions feel free to PM me. And also, if you find yourself still stuck at that plateau or would just like a in depth analysis of your workout program and nutrition feel free to PM with a detailed list of your workout down the the time, intensity, and exact exercises as well as a description of your nutritional plan and average calories per day, etc.
Hope I've helped you out,
xKillerx
