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There is one thing that we all learned in high school biology that can be applied to fitness. I know there is more than one thing if you want to be technical, but I am referring to the scientific method. To help jog your memory, it was a 5-6 step process to solve a problem that looked something like this: 1. Ask a question 2. Do background research 3. Construct a hypothesis 4. Test your hypothesis by doing an experiment 5. Analyze results and draw a conclusion

I covered the thermic effect of food very briefly in an earlier post about raising your metabolism. This post will be a little more in depth about one of the factors that can help raise your metabolism. The thermic effect of food is the amount of calories it takes to process (digest, transport, and store) the nutrients you intake. It is typically responsible for 10% of the calories your expend on a daily basis. So even though it can contribute to weight loss over time, your main focus should be on exercise and a clean diet.

Interval training has become one of the latest training methods to gain popularity in the fitness world. If your not familiar with interval training, it is a form of cardiovascular exercise that alternates periods of high intensity with periods of lower intensity. The most common method of interval training is sprinting. After a five minute warm-up you would sprint for a minute then jog lightly for a minute and repeat that cycle 5-8 times (don’t forget a five minute cool down). The sprint would be considered the high intensity and the light jog would be the low intensity.

Ok, it may be a little quantum physics but it is not rocket science. If you aren’t scientifically inclined there is no need to worry, I will break it down easily for you. In physics many people are familiar with the Law of Thermodynamics. There are four laws in the Law of Thermodynamics; however we can sum it up in a very brief sentence as it applies to weight loss. Simply stated, the reduction of body fat will take place when there is more energy being burned than consumed. It is really that simple. The only way to lose weight is to create a calorie deficit. This is very important for people out there who are exercising but aren’t seeing results. Somehow you are consuming more calories than you are expending. The next question is how can you burn more calories than you take in? Let me share with you a couple of successful ways: