The 2-Week Fat-Blasting Plan

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You can quickly crank up your fat-burning furnace if you follow a simple plan.

Whatever you do for exercise -- walk, run, bike -- just throw in a few short spurts of high-intensity effort. It could boost your fat-burn rate by 36 percent in a couple of weeks!

Turn Up the Burn
Although sustained, moderate exercise does have its fat-burning benefits, new research suggests interval training may be best. When moderately active women did a 60-minute cycling workout -- but instead of pedaling the whole time, they did 4-minute bursts of high-speed pedaling followed by 2-minute rests -- they bumped up the fat-burning power of their workouts significantly, after just 14 days. (Find out how interval training could help you live longer, too.)

Get Going
Ready to amp up your routine? Try these tips:

Rock out. Discover which kinds of music make exercise feel effortless.
Diversify. Complete the Workout Profiler in this article to see where you need to branch out.
Take baby steps. Use this plan for slowly turning up the burn on your walking routine.

RealAge Benefit: Losing excess weight by increasing physical activity can make your RealAge 3 to 9 years younger.

References Published on 10/17/2008.

Two weeks of high-intensity aerobic interval training increases the capacity for fat oxidation during exercise in women. Talanian, J. L. et al., Journal of Applied Physiology 2007 Apr;102(4):1439-1447.

EDITOR'S PICK

"The best $20 I ever spent on a gift,"
says RealAge member Erin, "was for the Gymboss." When you’re doing interval training, it keeps track of the time for you. A little alarm rings (or set it to silently vibrate) whenever you’re supposed to speed up or slow down. Keep those gift recommendations coming!

What is the BEST healthy gift you have ever given or received?
Tell us at Products@RealAge.com -- we may feature it in our upcoming Holiday Gift Guide!

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What’s on your playlist when you work out?

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gr8grmbino

6 of 6 people found this helpful.

10/27/2008 9:36:48 AM

In whatever you try to accomplish, always remember - if you have a friend that makes you laugh, spend alot of time with her/him. Humor make [Show More]

TINA68

2 of 4 people found this helpful.

10/25/2008 4:13:44 PM

I don't have a tip, I just wish I could be so disiplined as to have a workout plan.

tidebeckon...

3 of 3 people found this helpful.

10/23/2008 1:47:21 PM

I find it really helps me to incorporate a variety of lower body/lower back exercises into my days, several times a week. I have a child, so [Show More]