All too often people overcomplicate things; health and fitness is no different. The reality however is that there is usually a simple solution and today I share that for you with regards to leaning up. So here are my top 10 simple strategies. Note they are ‘simple’ but not always ‘easy’. Don’t confuse the two. There is work involved. Nothing worth it comes easy.

1. Ensure your body is fully hydrated

If you do not drink enough water, you will not be able to metabolize the fat out of the fat cell to burn it as energy. So even if you do everything else right but skip this step, you will not lean up to your fullest capacity.

Every body is different and so hydration quantity varies from person to person. To determine how much water you need, multiply your body weight in kilos with 37. That gives you how many millilitres you need to be drinking each day.

For example:

If you weight 70kg multiplied by 37, means you require 2590ml or 2.6 litres (rounded) per day.

NB: If it is hot add an extra 500ml, if you exercise and therefore perspire more, add another 500ml.

If you drink coffee, caffeine is a dehydrator so for every cup of coffee you have you need 4 glasses of water. Same with alcohol.

2. Get sufficient sleep

Your body burns the most amount of fat during sleep, when it has time to rest and recover. You need an average of 7-8 hours per night for you to be getting sufficient good quality sleep.

• Determine what time you need to be up in the morning and set your ‘go to bed’ alarm 8 hours beforehand. This will help you get to bed on time to give you the best chance at enough sleep.
• Sleep in a pitch black room. Light can interrupt your sleep quality. The room needs to be so dark that if you placed your hand in front of your face your can’t see it.
• Remove anything that makes noise, that includes ticking clocks. Minimise noise and this too can impact quality of sleep.
• Avoid using your electronics for at least half an hour to an hour before bed.
  • The blue light they omit interrupts your sleep quality
  • The excitement or anxiety caused by posts, images, emails etc can impact how quickly you go to sleep and how well you sleep. It increases your stress.
  • Avoid going to bed hungry, as this stresses your body and reduces sleep quality; eat a couple of hours before bed.
  • Avoid eating too close to bed, stop eating at least an hour beforehand. Otherwise, your body is too busy digesting and not focusing on resting.
  • Avoid sugary food, alcohol or spicy food before bed as this too can impact sleep quality.
• Write a gratitude list before bed, it helps you move into a joyous state and fall asleep easier.
• Each evening write a ‘to do’ list for the next day. This will stop you tossing and turning thinking about what you need to do tomorrow.

3. Manage your stress

Stress can have a huge impact on the quality of your sleep. When you are stressed your body releases cortisol, the stress hormone. This is your fight or flight hormone. In other words, your body thinks there is a lion chasing you.

As such, it releases the stress hormone cortisol, it releases adrenaline, and it secretes glucose into the blood stream. This is so that you have the energy and stamina to either run away from the lion or chase it.

In today’s day and age, we don’t have lions chasing us, we have life stress. And sometimes that is non-stop. So imagine what is going on, inside your body if you constantly have elevated cortisol, adrenaline and glucose. There is certainly no fat burning going on. If anything you are increasing fat storage due to the excess glucose being secreted. Think about it; if you are constantly secreting glucose into the blood stream but you are not burning it off, the body needs to then remove the glucose, to avoid you dying from excessive blood glucose.

So it increases your insulin levels to transport the glucose to your liver where it is then metabolized as fat and stored as fat. Usually Visceral Fat, the dangerous fat around your abdomen.

Ways to manage stress:

• Do things that trigger your parasympathetic nervous system, the system that helps your body relax and sleep.
  • Warm bath
  • Color in
  • Gardening
  • Meditation
  • Massage
  • Color in
  • Breathing exercises
  • Infrared sauna
  • Brain dump – write down everything that is on your mind. You can use toilet paper then flush it down, if you are worrying about someone reading it.
  • Anything that brings you joy and calms you down.

4. Exercise regularly

Exercise is an excellent way to burn fat and improve your body composition. As little as half an hour each day is enough to make the world of difference. Exercise at least 4 times a week to get the results you are looking for.

• Choose exercise that you enjoy so that it motivates you to stick with it.
• Get a training buddy so you keep each other accountable.
• Join group fitness classes to increase motivation.
• Exercise with a coach that will help you get the most our of your training by giving you things specific to your needs, as well as keep you accountable.

5. Complete 10,000 steps per day

The Heart Foundation states that 10,000 steps per day is the ideal minimum to help maintain good heart health. It is also a simple way to get active if you live a very sedentary life. It is a simple way to boost energy expenditure.

Invest in a smart watch or pedometer and track your steps each day, to reach your goal of 10,000.

6. Eat wholesome fresh food

You will often hear about calories in versus calories out. To some degree this is true, however the quality of your calories actually plays a bigger role than the number of your calories.

We tend to have our clients eating more, we just ensure that the quality is better. What does ‘better’ look like?

• Eat fresh food over processed food
• Include a combination of protein, good fats and vegetables (fibre and natural carbohydrates)
• Eat meals rather than snacks; this helps you manage the number of calories as well as the quality. It also helps keep your hormones balanced to avoid hunger and cravings.
• Keep sugar to an absolute minimum.

7. Eat protein with every meal

Protein has been gravely underestimated. It is a vital macronutrient for growth, recovery, and repair. When people think protein, they automatically think muscles. But it is required for so much more. Protein is broken down in your body and converted to amino acids which are vital for the health of every single cell in your body including your hair, skin, nails, eyes, muscles, bones, organs etc.

Protein is also very satiating. It helps you feel fuller for longer because it triggers the Leptin, ‘I am full’ hormone, and suppresses the Ghrelin ‘I am hungry’ hormone. So it is a natural appetite suppressant.

8. Include ‘Good Fats’ with your meals

‘Good fats’ are fats that are natural that have not been processed in any way.

Fats such as Canola oil and Vegetable oil, which have been promoted as ‘healthy’ couldn’t be further from the truth! These have been highly processed and are ‘man-made’. Their molecular structure is jagged instead of straight or round, and therefore are not bio-usable by the body. These increase the risk of high blood pressure, cholesterol, arteriosclerosis, and heart disease.

The same goes for anything that contains trans-fats. Trans-fats are found in highly processed foods in packages. It is illegal in Australia to have trans-fats in food, with the legal limit being under 0.5g. Trans-fats must be stipulated in the ingredients list. However, if the product contains less than 0.5g they don’t need to stipulate it. To identify if in fact it is a trans-fat, look for words such as ‘hydrogenized’ or ‘partially hydrogenized’.

Good fats are natural and are straight or round in their molecular structure. They are vital for your brain and heart health, they help hormone synthesis, and they help keep your cells round, and healthy. These are just a few of the thousands of benefits of good fats.

Good fats include but are not limited to:

• Coconut oil
• Olive oil
• Avocado oil
• Macadamia oil
• Nuts
• Seeds
• Organic butter
• Ghee
• Lard
• Avocados
• Fleshy fish
• Grass fed meat
• Pastured and/or free range eggs

9. Stay on top of nutrient deficiencies

If you are deficient in any nutrients, it stresses your body and increases inflammation which further stresses your body. Have regular blood tests, every 3-6 months, to ensure you are not deficient in anything.

Eating a variety of fresh food will help you obtain a range of nutrients vital for your health and therefore increase fat loss.

Get 15-20 minutes of sunshine without sunscreen (during the morning safe times before 10:30am) to increase your vitamin D levels.

Supplement with vitamins and minerals if needed where deficiencies occur.

10. Laugh!

Laughter is great for the heart and soul, and yes, even for fat loss! Laughter triggers the synthesis of serotonin, which is your ‘happy hormone’. The more serotonin you produce the less cortisol you produce, and therefore the more fat your burn!