How to trick your body into burning fat

Don't fall for the mythical fat burning zone listed on the heart rate monitor of your favorite cardio machine at the gym. Although you will burn a greater ratio of fat to carbohydrates in this moderate heart rate zone, you'll burn more energy overall--and thus more fat in the long run--if you work out at a more intense pace. You can easily trick your body into burning fat with a few simple habits.

Step 1

Drink ice water to crank up fat burning in just a couple glasses. A process known as thermogenesis burns energy to raise the temperature of the ice water to body temperature. Think of it as a fire under a pot of water. The fire consumes fuel as it heats up the water. A study conducted by German researchers and published in the December 2003 issue of "The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism" found that metabolism increased by 30 percent following the consumption of about two 8 oz. glasses of water and remained elevated for about an hour.

Step 2Reduce the total number of calories you consume. Your body burns fat when you use more energy than you consume through eating or drinking. The easiest way to achieve this energy deficit is through calorie restriction, though exercise also contributes to the energy shortage.

Step 3

Add intervals to your cardio workouts. After only two weeks of aerobic interval training, study participants in a 2006 study published in the "Journal of Applied Physiology" increased their fat oxidation during exercise by 36 percent. One possible explanation for this is that your body requires oxygen to metabolize fat, and study participants' cardiovascular fitness and oxygen intake increased during the study. Thus they had greater oxygen available for fat metabolism. Make intervals work for you by using the rate of perceived exertion scale, or RPE. Exercise at about 8 out of 10 on the scale for about two minutes followed by two minutes at about 3 or 4.

Step 4

Stop eating two to three hours before bedtime. While you sleep, your body still needs energy to maintain a beating heart, regulate breathing and carry on various other functions. When you stop eating well before you hit the hay, your body reaches to stored fat for its energy needs. Although the energy requirements during sleep are lower than when you're awake, all of that energy comes from stored fat.

Step 5

Build lean muscle tissue to increase the fat burned during sleep. Muscle burns more energy than fat, even while you're at rest. You can achieve hypertrophy---an increase in muscle size---by lifting heavy weights three days each week. Choose exercises that work all of your muscle groups and perform three sets of twelve repetitions of each exercise.