2. Get off the treadmill and hit the weightsUnless you train cardio like Lance Armstrong you must do weight resistance exercise if you want effectively lose weight (i.e. bodyfat). The obvious goal of resistance exercise is to gain more lean muscle mass. One pound of lean muscle burns up to 50 calories a day in comparison to one pound of fat which burns around 9 calories a day. If you are able to gain 10lbs of lean muscle mass you will be burning an additional 500 calories a day. At this rate you will lose 4 lbs of bodyfat a month.

If you are unfamiliar with weight training exercises it may be a good idea to hire a personal trainer to get you acquainted with the gym. Also try subscribing to magazines such as Men’s Health and Shape which often write beginner programs for people looking to start weight training programs.

3. Mix it upFitness professionals use the fancy term “periodization" for adding variety in workouts. Periodization is a strategy to keep your body from hitting plateaus in training. A suggested cycle would look like this.

- Phase 2: 4-6 weeks of moderate weight training/cardio. This phase is when you already built up some muscle. Now is the time to add some cardio on top of your elevated metabolism to reduce fat stores. Your week should have 3 days of cardio workouts and 3 days of resistance exercise.

After this cycle is complete repeat back to Phase 1.

- Drink up! Not only does water help your body recover quicker and keeps your skin looking healthy but it can help you burn more calories too. How? Try drinking ice cold water. It requires more energy from your body to warm up and will help you burn some additional calories.

First is lack of sleep interferes with your body’s natural mechanisms from recovering from a workout. Remember that when you exercise you are only creating an opportunity to get in shape. The final hours of a good night’s sleep is when your body releases growth hormones to rebuild you’re broken down muscle tissue. If you cut out a couple hours of rest you are cheating yourself out of gains from the hard workout earlier. Lack of sleep can also throw off other hormones that regulate your metabolism and fat storage. Studies have shown that sleeping less than 5 hours a night can reduce bloodstream leptin levels by 15% (slowing down metabolism) and increases ghrelin by 15% (increase appetite). Lack of sleep will inevitably make you less motivated to hit the gym because you are already fatigued! You want to be as well rested as possible before any workout. Get some sleep!5. Supplements can helpI’m not telling you to go out and down a bottle of ephedrine every day. Supplements are intended to exactly what their name entails…they supplement your weight loss program. If you are on a weight loss program you should be taking a multivitamin everyday. There are some excellent weight loss supplements that can aid your weight loss efforts. If you can use these supplements responsibly I would recommend the following:

- Lean System 7 by iSatori - this is a very potent weight loss product. Best price I saw was at .

I have experimented (and been ripped off a few times) with several supplement stores. I found GNC was the most accessible but way too expensive. So far the company I have been most pleased with is Rocky Mountain Sports Nutrition. They offer the best selection of bodybuilding supplements and weight loss products. When it came to prices and customer service their business was second to nobody. Check them out at .