How to Lower Body Fat – 12 Tips for Success

People who are overweight put themselves at risk of conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and strokes. Health-conscious men and women who watch their calorie intake and participate in weight or resistance training, yoga, and long hours of cardio to keep their body fat in check.  

Knowing the normal range and how to lower body fat percentage remains a key to physical and mental health and wellness. If you are curious, the following are considered the normal body fat percentages. 

• Men 20–39 Years Old: 8–19 Percent 

• Women 20–39 Years Old: 22–33 Percent 

• Men 40–59 Years Old: 11–21 Percent 

• Women 40–59 Years Old: 24–34 Percent 

• Men 60–79 Years Old: 13–24 Percent 

• Women 60–79 Years Old: 25–36 Percent 

Many health-minded community members aim to lower their percentage to an average level and then drop it down to be increasingly physically fit. Although gradual weight loss is a challenge for most of us, these are useful tips on how to lower body fat percentage. 

12 Tips to Lower Body Fat Percentage

1: Start A Strength Training Routine 

Weight training routines are among the most common and beneficial for building muscle mass and losing body fat. Studies indicate that following a strength training regimen for a minimum of four weeks helps decrease body fat by an average of 1.46 percent.  

This and other types of resistance training force the muscles to contract, using up your calorie storage as energy. The body stores calories as fat cells when calories are not used up. Depending on how often and rigorously someone engages in strength training, they can burn up hundreds of calories while adding healthy muscle mass. 

2: High-Protein Diets Help Lower Body Fat 

Adding more protein to your diet benefits rapid weight loss and helps build muscle mass. This is not to imply that you should load up on foods heavy in saturated fats or high in calories. It’s always important to burn them at a greater rate than your calorie intake if you desire to lose weight. 

The trick to increasing protein as a strategy to lose body fat and build muscle involves a feeling of fullness. High-protein foods require more time and energy to digest. While this is going on, people do not usually experience hunger.  

So, you tend to avoid overeating. Focus on only lean animal protein sources such as poultry, seafood, dairy products, and eggs. Legumes and tofu are also considered excellent plant-based protein sources. 

3: Increase Healthy Fats in Your Diet 

Eating and fat loss may seem diametrically opposed. Truthfully, the types of foods and number of calories you consume during the day largely determine whether your diet helps or hurts your lower body fat goals.  

People who follow the Mediterranean diet focus on fish, nuts, and olive oil, all of which are low in saturated fat and rich in healthy unsaturated fats. 

Research points to these healthy fats supporting cardiovascular health by reducing LDL and promoting the HDLs that are good for us. Those who exercise regularly, monitor their calorie intake, and stick to the Mediterranean diet tend to enjoy a sound body mass index (BMI). 

4: Eliminate Sweetened Beverages 

Sodas, sweet tea, milkshakes, and other beverages laced with sugars are the epitome of empty calories. They promote unhealthy weight gain without providing nutritional value. These products also tend to put otherwise health-conscious people in a position where they take in more calories than they can burn. 

Consider replacing drinks that spike blood sugar with water, unsweetened tea, or a no-calorie carbonated beverage. This simple adjustment to your diet immediately reduces the number of calories you take in over the course of a day. If you have accounted for these in your calorie intake, switching to natural juices, vegetable drinks, and smoothies allows you to increase your daily amount of vitamins and minerals. 

5: More Fiber Could Help Lose Belly Fat 

It’s essential to consider the dietary guidelines pertaining to fiber and calorie intake if you are interested in losing body fat percentage, particularly around the midsection. Women reportedly require approximately 28 grams of fiber, and men need 34 grams per day. Foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and seeds are high in fiber. 

What few people realize about fiber is that your digestive tract uses up a great deal of energy — calories — and absorbs a significant amount of water when processing fiber. Like a high-protein diet, increasing fiber makes you feel full, staving off the impulse to overeat. 

6: Switch Refined Grains for Whole Grains 

Swapping out refined grains for whole grains in your pantry closet can help you lose some of that unwelcome belly fat you may have gained over the winter. That’s largely because the inherent bran and germ in refined grains are typically removed when they are processed. As you may have gleaned, such processing turns otherwise robust grains into products that lack nutrients and fiber. 

Adding insult to injury, refined grains have a tendency to spike blood sugar levels before your body crashes and desires more food. It’s easy to see how refined grains are counterproductive in terms of body fat loss. Try swapping out pasta, bakery goods, refined breakfast cereals, and white bread for barley, whole wheat, quinoa, and oats. 

7: Aerobic Exercises Burn Fat 

Commonly called “cardio” in fitness circles, cardio exercises such as logging time on the treadmill, stationary bike, stair climbers, walking, jogging, and cardio classes elevate the heart rate and breathing and help burn fat. Studies point to regular aerobic exercises, resistance training, belly fat loss, and waistline measurements. Doing cardio as part of your fitness routine steadily burns calories. 

Although the number of calories you burn on a treadmill, for example, depends on body mass, speed, distance, and the angle of the machine, the average person burns about 100 calories per mile. If you can safely walk 3.5 miles, someone weighing 150 pounds could burn about 260 calories in one hour. 

Related Article: How Often Should  You Go to the Gym? 

8: Drinking Coffee Helps with Weigt Management 

An article published in Scientific American notes that drinking coffee does not necessarily result in substantial weight loss. However, it appears to help with weight management, i.e., not gaining belly fat. Drinking a couple of cups of coffee in the morning or before hitting the fitness center stimulates your metabolism. That means you burn fat because the body is using up an increased number of calories before doing yoga poses, cardio, or weight training. 

Some believe that caffeine encourages the breakdown of fat cells. Most agree that the caffeine in coffee and tea also acts as an appetite suppressant. A boost in energy, breakdown of fat cells, and loss of appetite are all ways you can reduce higher body fat levels. 

9: High-Intensity Interval Training Workouts 

It’s safe to say there are plenty of gimmicky workouts trending these days. The high-intensity interval training, like Les Mills classes, approach is not one of them. Based on fundamental metrics, this system involves short, intense exercises designed to increase your heart rate to 80-90 percent of its maximum capacity.  

Following a sprint, rowing movement, high-rep strength training set, or another exercise, practitioners take a brief rest. Before your heart rate dips too low, you perform another exercise to push it back up. 

The idea is to train with intensity, keeping your cardio up and burning plenty of calories. It’s essential to keep in mind that this type of rigorous activity is not safe for everyone. Always get approval from a medical professional, warm up properly, and cool down in a safe fashion. 

10: Intermittent Fasting Can Create Healthy Calorie Deficit 

There’s no secret to weight loss maintenance. If your calorie intake is lower than the energy you burn, you lose weight fast. If your calorie intake is higher than what you use during the course of a day, it gets converted to fat. A smart intermittent fasting practice creates periods in which you do not eat. Therefore, your body is forced to utilize recently ingested foods and stored fat. 

One of the common intermittent fasting methods involves eating normally for an 8-hour period, followed by 16 hours of fasting. The 16 hours may sound extreme or untenable. If you add in sleeping 8-9 hours, it can make the calorie deficit more feasible. If intermittent fasting to lower your body fat percentage appeals to you, there are a number of options available.  

Along with the 16/8 diet outlined above, consider the 5:2, Eat Stop Eat, and Warrior Diet, among others. Remember to discuss major dietary or exercise changes with a medical professional. 

11: Introduce Probiotics to Your Diet 

Probiotics are naturally occurring microorganisms found in foods that can be introduced to your diet through supplements and beverages. There are hundreds of different types of probiotics, which is why health and nutrition professionals advocate for a diversified diet. Probiotics deliver benefits that include improving digestion, reducing inflammation, defending against infections, and reducing stress. 

In terms of body fat levels, probiotics help regulate your appetite and amp up the metabolism. Reports also indicate that probiotics increase levels of angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4). This protein may reduce fat storage. Crunching this down to a lower body fat percentage equation, probiotics help burn more energy, reduce calorie intake, and tamp down belly fat storage. 

12: Daily Spoonful of Vinegar 

If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, as Julie Andrews sings in “Mary Poppins,” then the same dose of vinegar could help get rid of those empty calories. Vinegar has been touted for its medicinal properties for thousands of years, and now, its weight loss benefits are being considered. 

A Japanese study noted that 155 people struggling with obesity drank 15ml or 30ml of cider vinegar each day. Over four weeks, their body mass index noticeably improved. After eight weeks, their belly flat shrank, giving them a more slender hip-to-waist appearance. 

The science behind drinking a little vinegar each day stems from it breaking down dangerous visceral fat in the abdomen. This unhealthy fat impedes the metabolism and hormone function, leading to unnecessary weight gain. Like good probiotics, vinegar suppresses the body’s inclination to store fat. 

Lose Weight & Gain Muscle Mass at Chicago Athletic Clubs 

Following a healthy diet and exercising regularly are keys to losing unwanted body fat and enjoying the benefits of physical fitness. We hope these tips on how to lower body fat percentage prove useful in your health and well-being journey.  

We encourage you to find a nearby Chicago Athletic Club location to lose weight and firm up. As a CAC member, you’ll also get access to weekly classes, yoga, Pilates, swimming pools, personal training, and more. Join today, and let’s get the process started.