Whether you are a physique competitor, an athlete or an average gym goer, each of us is trying to figure out a way to expedite the fat loss process. The answer is very simple, but it is not easy. The results depend on your level of commitment, how much fat you want to lose and how far you are willing to go to get there. Here are my first five:

1. You spend too much time sitting down. The majority of us have jobs that require us to sit in front of a computer screen all day. People who are on their feet the majority of their day are a lot leaner than their seated counterparts. The metabolism slows down dramatically when you are slouched on a chair or lying on a couch. When you are standing and walking around, your body has to do a lot more work, and that uses energy in the form of calories.

2. You are not eating enough protein. When we put food in our bodies we use energy in the form of heat/calories to break that food down. This is referred to as the thermic effect of food. Protein requires more energy than any other macronutrient to break down. So your body has to work harder to break down that piece of chicken than a baked potato, even if it has the same numbers of calories. That chicken breast will also keep you fuller making you less likely to eat more food later on.

3. You are not getting enough sleep. You need to shoot for 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night as a minimum. Studies show that most North Americans are lucky to get 5 or 6. Making sleep a priority will balance out your hormones and help you recover mentally and physically from the stressors of the day. When you don’t meet these requirements, your body will secrete excess cortisol (which is a stress hormone) and bedtime is not when you want your cortisol level high as it heightens alertness and signals your body to store excess fat.This elevation in cortisol further increases the likelihood of developing diabetes and obesity.

4. You are drinking too many calories. I have put a number of my clients on a diet by making only one change and the results were remarkable. I asked them to drink nothing but water with each and every meal for a month. No juice, no pop, no pasteurized dairy and no booze. Try it and you will find you are eliminating an average of 300 to 500 calories daily. For many it is twice that. Over the course of a month, that is a lot of calories.

5. You are not strength training. Studies have shown that 9 out of 10 people go to the gym and jump on the first treadmill, stationary bike or elliptical trainer they see when attempting a fat loss regimen. While cardiovascular exercise should have a place in every exercise program, the effects it has on fat loss are short term. If you want to create a healthy thriving metabolism, you need to lift weights too. For every pound of muscle you can add to your frame, your body will require an extra 50 calories a day to feed that muscle. So the more muscle you have, the more you can eat without gaining weight. An added bonus of an intense lifting session is an increase in metabolism of up to 5-7% over the next 24-72 hours, if you are working hard enough.