Have you ever been on a cardio machine or in a class that said something about the fat burning zone? How does it work?

For a long time, experts considered the fat burning zone to be when you exercised at a slow pace for a long duration. You burn carbohydrates first and then your body uses fat as energy. This can work, but not everyone has time for it.

If you are looking to shed some pounds it’s going to take more than just long walks on the treadmill. You need to turn your body into an efficient fat burning machine so that you are still burning fat even as you sleep.

For starters, you need to build muscle. I’m not saying that you have to add bulk or be a body builder, but the more you train with weights and the more muscle you have, the better your chances of keeping fat away.

When you weight train, make sure it is challenging and you are working to a good degree of fatigue.

Generally three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise is a good place to start. That means you need to select a weight you can only lift eight to 12 times for the first couple sets and the last couple sets should be a struggle to get the minimum out.

For more specific guidance, please speak to a fitness trainer.

For cardio, try a variety of workouts and make sure to challenge yourself with resistance and incline levels; speed intervals will also help.

Next, you need to get your eating habits in check. The gym is only one third of the battle. Don’t sacrifice all your hard work in the gym and then eat bad food; stay away from sugars, high salt and high fat foods. Reduce the amount of packaged products and focus on good, clean eating by eating whole foods that have not been processed.

Lastly, get to bed.

Try and go to bed and wake up the same time every day. If you have a late night, still wake up around the same time and then plan for a 30-minute nap in the afternoon. Essentially, you should be so habitual about your sleep that you don’t need an alarm clock to wake up.