5 ways to burn fat while you sleep

Drink a casein shake

Whilst proteins such as whey are perfect for a post workout boost, their rapid-absorbing nature means they’re not as effective before you hit the hay. Instead, choose casein protein if you want to boost your overnight fat burning. Casein is a gradually digested protein that can take your body around six to eight hours to break down. This means your metabolism will be kept active throughout the night, and you’ll wake up feeling energetic instead of starving.

Burn fat while you sleep

Casein’s fat burning credentials were confirmed in a Dutch study, which discovered a boost in overnight metabolic rate following consumption of the protein. Similarly, researchers at Maastricht University found that casein enhances overnight protein synthesis, which helps to repair and strengthen muscles. When you consider that every extra pound of muscle burns 30-35 calories every day, this is an added bonus of this super-protein that should not be ignored.

Sleep more

That’s right; one of the most effective ways to shift those pounds while you sleep is to quite simply get more of it. With our hectic schedules nowadays sleep is often neglected, but if you want to lose weight that needs to change. Don’t believe us? A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that overweight people on average got 16 minutes less sleep per day than their regular-weight counterparts. It doesn’t sound like very long, but over time that difference builds up.

So why does sleep help keep you slim? It’s all to do with the hormones leptin and ghrelin. Leptin helps to regulate your energy levels and keep your appetite low, while ghrelin stimulates hunger and often initiates the need to eat. The results of a study conducted at the University of Wisconsin found that participants who got more sleep had reduced ghrelin and increased leptin levels, which helped to control their appetites throughout the day.

Eat cottage cheese before bed

Eating food before bed is often seen as taboo when it comes to dieting, but this is actually dependant on what kind of food you choose. Avoiding food completely before sleeping can actually have the opposite effect, as people who wake up feeling hungry are far more likely to binge on food at breakfast. A small snack of cottage cheese before bed is a great choice as it is rich in – yep, you guessed it – casein protein.

As an added bonus cottage cheese contains the amino acid tryptophan. A study published in theJournal of Psychiatric Research found that tryptophan improves quality of sleep, and reduces the amount of time it takes to fall asleep. This means cottage cheese will keep hunger at bay throughout the night, and ensure you sleep for a decent amount of time. What’s not to like?

Resistance training

Whilst sleep alone is great for encourage weight loss, there are some exercises you can do before bed that will help the process along. One of the best approaches is some pre-slumber resistance training. Burning fat is all about boosting your metabolism, and resitance training is great for this. In fact, according to a journal published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition, subjects who performed resistance exercises enjoyed a higher resting metabolic rate for an average of 16 hours following their workout.

This resistance training session doesn’t need to be excessive. A simple weight lifting routine will suffice, even if it doesn’t push you to the limit and leave you breathless. It’s well worth following this up with a casein shake; as mentioned earlier this will ensure consistent muscle recovery throughout the night while you sleep.

Eat small meals throughout the day

‘Eat little and often’, is a favourite tip of trainers and dieticians the world over, and you’ll be glad to hear this is a great way of boosting your nocturnal weight loss. Eating small meals frequently throughout the day serves to keep your metabolism ticking over, and will ensure your body continues burning fat throughout the night. Of course, these meals need to be healthy and nutritious for this technique to work!

As well as boosting your metabolism while you’re asleep, this frequent eating method will ensure your appetite is kept in check, which should reduce any cravings you have when you wake up in the morning.

Ref:  http://sg.sports.yahoo.com/news/5-ways-burn-fat-sleep-070044461.html 

4 ways to recover from an intense workout

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  Yahoo! Newsroom -Ways to reover after an intense workout. (Photo courtesy of Coach Jon) …more   less 

Coach Jonathan Wong has a Doctorate of Science in Holistic Medicine and is the author of "The Happy Body - Getting to the root of YOUR fitness, health and productivity". He is also the founder and CEO of Genesis Gym Singapore (tm), which aims to provide the best personal training andfitness services in Singapore. The views expressed below are his own.

Imagine if you did a thousand pushups in an hour? Would you be stronger at the beginning of those thousand pushups or at the end?

Quite clearly, you would be completely wiped out after the thousand pushups, and would only receive the benefits of the exercise after you had recovered from the training.

That is why when a new personal training or fitness bootcamp client at Genesis Gym asks me "how many times should I train" my answer is that it depends on what you can recover from.

More training is, in general, better since it means you can progress further. But more is not better if your exercise program is an added burden above and beyond the usual stresses of work, family, social commitments and environmental pollutants. A person under such a stress load needs to train a little "less" and focus more on recovery.

So, here are 4 things you can do to help your body recover from a hard workout. Please note, that hard, intense workouts are those which you put lots of effort into i.e. a hard run, or strength training workout. Reading a magazine for 10 minutes while pedaling on a stationary bike does not count.

1. Take in good nutrients in adequate quantities

These include:

Protein at about 2g per kg of body weight per day. For most men it means about 6 palm size servings per day, and for ladies, 3-4 servings. Trying to recover from exercise without protein is like trying to build a house without bricks. It is just not going to happen.

Carbohydrates after training, which refuel muscles and helps lower stress hormones post-workout. A good choice is ripe bananas with brown spots on their skin (they have less fructose and more glucose), rice, potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes. Bad choices are artificially sweetened drinks and processed pastries and snacks. The only exceptions for this "carbohydrates" suggestion are those who are close to diabetes, or are very overweight. Just stick to protein post workout then.

2. Manage physical stress levels

The critical ingredient for this is sleep, and achieving good sleep quality. Sleep is probably the most under-used recovery method out there. Check out my sleep article for some tips.

Natural nutrients that can aid sleep and manage stress include - Magnesium, phosphatidyl serene, valarian root from herbs or in tea form, inositol, taurine and glycine. Ask your health care provider to suggest dosages for you. The good thing about these nutrients is that they are non-addictive and you wake up with a refreshed feeling rather than the "oh, somebody just punched me" feeling of a hangover, or a sleeping pill.

Other physical stress management methods include - sauna, stretching (hold each position for 30 sec), massage of any kind, and sunlight exposure (which has emotional benefits too!).

3. Manage emotional and environmental stress levels

Stress is a "total" body response. Your body does not care if its from the recent "haze" causing pollutants to enter your nose, or of its from a stressful project deadline or nagging boss. The response of your body is quite similar.

So you need to manage these stresses by doing your best to negate them or remove yourself from them. Water filtration and using non toxic personal care products is a good start.

In addition, family time, service to others and your community, prayer, writing a journal, and having positive relationships with people around you are good choices for lowering emotional stress.

4. Plan your training properly

Nobody, not even the most gifted olympian, can train super hard, super long, all the time. The body needs time to recover to be at its best. In a month, our clients often do some weeks with more/harder training, and some weeks with less/easier training to help avoid injury and increase the speed of progress.

A sample month would be:

• Week 1: Light training - get used to a new workout, learn new exercises etc
• Week 2: Medium training - increase milage/number of sets/speed/total weight lifted etc...
• Week 3: Hard training - all out effort, train till you push your limits, try to break your previous records
• Week 4: Medium training - similar to week 2
• Repeat week 1.

There are many ways to adjust training, but the above sample is a simple one that keeps most people motivated and injury free.

There we have it 4 ways to recover well, stay strong, lean, healthy and injury free!

Coach Jonathan Wong has a Doctorate of Science in Holistic Medicine, and is the author of "The Happy Body - Getting to the root of YOUR fitness, health and productivity". He is also the Founder and CEO of Genesis Gym Singapore (tm), which aims to provide the best personal training andfitness services in Singapore.