You’ve read all the articles that tell you how to lose "X" pounds in "X" days! I’m not making bogus promises and I’m not feeding you lies. If you want long-term fat loss and weight management, you need to adopt 5 simple habits that make a huge difference in your potential to keep fat off for the long haul!

1. Stop doing Long Duration Cardio!

How long have you been doing these drawn out sessions of cardio with little to no return? The writings on the wall folks, and in the research too! Long duration cardio has been correlated to increases in cortisol. This is a stress hormone that (long story short) leads to more fat gain and less muscle—putting you in a position that’s which is more difficult to manage weight than originally.

2. No Fish Oils

If you haven’t heard by now fish oil omega-3’s are good for just about any and everything. Research suggests that fish oil can help improve your metabolic rate, increase fat burning, and help with insulin sensitivity. These three effects alone are enough to jump on the fish oil bandwagon if you haven’t, but there are a plethora of other benefits you will derive.

3. Down with Coffee…sometimes!

Coffee and donuts don’t work anymore! In fact, coffee may be slowing you down. If you have a higher carbohydrate breakfast in conjunction with a large cup of coffee you may be headed for impending fat storage. Caffeine, while the best fat loss supplement ever invented can actually have an adverse effect on carbohydrate tolerance. It blunts insulin sensitivity meaning your body has to pump out more of the fat storing insulin hormone to get the job done. How’s that for starting your day off on the right foot?

4. Sleep Deprivation

This may be the silent culprit to why you aren’t reaching your goals. You’re doing everything right, but you are tired. You blame it on the diet. The reality is that sleep deprivation alone has the potential to make all your efforts futile. Get plenty of rest each night. If you fall short, catch up with a brief nap.

5. Dieting too hard

The so-called miracle diets work initially because they are generally low carb (thus a substantial amount of weight from water is lost) and they are short in duration. This denies your body the opportunity to effectively down regulate metabolism. If you diet too hard, for too long you will do yourself a great disservice. For one, you’ll be missing out on calories you could be eating. Another thing is that you’ll blunt your metabolic rate so when you do "crash" there will be repercussions. You can use cheat meals in a timed fashion, but that is beyond the discussion of this article. Just remember that less isn’t always more. You need to be in a "calorie deficit", which could easily be fulfilled by getting yourself more active.

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