If you have become overweight and wish to lose those excess pounds and reclaim your slim trim body the best way to burn fat is to increase your metabolism - the rate your body burns fuel (calories). There are things you can do to give your metabolic motor an extra push so it does burn fat at a faster rate. Firstly, there is most likely a reason you have become overweight in the first place and that could well be that your metabolism has slowed and become sluggish which means it can no longer burn fat at a fast enough rate to use up the food you eat for energy.

Old exercise methods do not burn fat in the fastest way The old fashioned way to burn fat was simply to do lots of long duration low intensity exercise and although this did burn some calories it did nothing to boost the metabolism and burn fat for the long haul. The modern way is to use proper strength training exercise to increase muscle tone as this is the driver of the metabolism and if you want to burn body fat your muscles need to be in good condition.

The main reason two thirds of the world's population are overweight to one degree or another is the fact that our lifestyles have become sedentary and inactive. Our muscles become weak and flabby and their energy requirements drop down and fat burning slows to a crawl.

So to reverse this situation a strength training program is needed to boost metabolism and get the body back into the fat burning mode to get and keep you slim. Just 2-3 sessions each week are needed but you will need to put some effort into your sessions to make the changes right down in the engine room of your body so you can burn fat at a faster rate.

The good thing about increasing your metabolic rate is that it will be running at a higher rate both when you are active and exercising and also when you are resting or sleeping. Your body will be using more calories and burn fat faster which is exactly what you need to take your overweight body and take it back to the slim trim one you desire.

Strength training exercise is the number one fat burn weapon The benefits of strength training exercise, especially in a weight loss program, can be huge. It takes more calories to maintain a body that has strong toned muscle tissue than one with un-toned muscles and they can burn fat faster and use more of it.

Dieting and cutting calories is a much harder way to try and burn fat. We now know that 95 percent of diets fail and in fact, make it harder to lose weight, burn fat and to get in shape, than simply adding strengthening workouts.

When you focus on cutting calories without doing weight bearing exercises, your metabolism will slow down because the body interprets a food shortage and goes into 'starvation mode' which is the opposite of what you want to get your slim trim body back.

You will be in fact teaching your body to hold on to its fat stores when we want instead to coax it into giving up its fat stores so you are no longer overweight. Food restriction and long duration low intensity exercise are not the answer to burn fat faster.

Strength training exercise supported by good nutrition is the answer and is a much healthier and more effective way to burn fat and lose weight. When you do these things to increase your metabolism it means your body is running at a higher rate all day long and will slowly chew into the fat stores getting rid of that excess weight you are carrying. People who add strength training exercise to a proper diet, which focuses on portion control and healthy choices and not simply calorie restriction and people who add proper strength training exercise, will see faster weight loss results.

The combination of metabolism boosting exercise (strength training) and metabolism stimulating food (small protein rich unprocessed meals) are the most potent tools you can use to burn fat and win the weight loss battle.