What are you waiting for?  Get fit and lose that weight forever!

You may think you’ve tried everything for losing weight, but what about sticking to basic, proven methods? Forget magic diet pills and exercise fads. These are your new guiding principles for burning fat.

1. Create a caloric deficit.

No two ways about it—you must burn more energy than you consume.

2. Attack fat from both sides.

The most effective way to create that deficit is to use a combination of diet and exercise.

3. Hoist iron.

The biggest determinant of calorie burning is your metabolism. And the biggest factor in that is your lean muscle mass. Build more lean muscle, increase your metabolism. So weight training has to be a part of any effective fat loss program.

4. Eat clean, eat often.

Your diet should consist mainly of lean proteins, fruits and vegetables. Keep starches and refined carbs to a minimum. Drink plenty of fluids (primarily water), and try to eat at least 4-5 small meals per day. This will help your body maintain blood sugar levels and keep burning fat.

5. Stoke your metabolism.

Interval training and metabolic resistance training will provide the most efficient use of your training time. Steady state aerobic training (going at a slow, steady pace) just doesn't burn enough calories, and splitting up your workouts by body parts will be less effective than total body training for fat loss.

Question

High-protein diets: Are they safe?

Are high-protein diets generally considered safe? What do the kidneys do with excess protein?

Answer

from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.

High-protein diets are generally well tolerated by healthy adults. But a dramatic increase in protein-rich foods may be dangerous for people with liver or kidney disease because they lack the ability to get rid of the waste products of protein metabolism.

Some protein is essential to human life. Protein is found in your bones, muscles, skin, organs, blood, hormones and enzymes.

Your body can't store excess protein. During digestion and metabolism, protein is broken down into amino acids — the building blocks of protein. Your body uses these amino acids to make enzymes and other proteins. But any "extra" amino acids are stripped of nitrogen. The non-nitrogen parts of amino acids are used for energy or converted into fat, and the remaining nitrogen is eventually excreted by your kidneys and liver. These waste products have been shown to cause kidney injury, and in the presence of liver disease, excess nitrogen can cause further problems. High-protein diets may also increase the risk of kidney stones and osteoporosis. If you have kidney or liver disease or any chronic health condition, talk to your doctor before starting a new diet.

For most healthy people, a short-term high-protein diet generally isn't harmful. However, if followed long term, high-protein diets may limit other healthy foods, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables. In addition, many high-protein foods — such as meat, milk, cheese and eggs — are also high in fat and cholesterol, which can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke and other health problems. So choose your protein sources wisely. Good choices include fish, beans, lentils and low-fat dairy products.

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