While this might be the best diet out there for losing fat fast, you must remember that diet alone will not bring you the results you’re looking for. Exercise is an absolute must and should be done in the form of a program that incorporates resistance training with aerobic sessions. These resistance-training sessions should be short in time but high intensity. Aerobic movement should be done at least 5 days at week.

The “trick” to combining this exercise with a diet that maximizes fat loss lies in the concept of carbohydrate manipulation. The idea behind this concept is putting your body in a state where it’s triggered to release fat quickly that it can be burned as fuel. This is difficult to accomplish as glycogen often gets in the way. Glycogen starts as carbohydrates, and these often get burned quickly as fuel. Glycogen that isn’t burned immediately gets stores for fuel needed in the future in one of two places; the liver and your muscles.

To speed up the release of fat, you need to “empty” these storage tanks so the body can’t rely on it for fuel. That’s where the important of a good fat burning diet comes into play.

This diet doesn’t suggest that you completely eradicate carbohydrates from your diet (this isn’t safe or practical), but you should minimize them for a few days at a time to accelerate fat loss. The first day with only few carbs is when your liver and muscle still release the stored glycogen but because that tank isn’t being filled with new carbs, the tank begins to empty. On the second day with minimal carb intake, your body begins to enter a state of glycogen depletion. This is key, as this is when your body releases fatty acids into the bloodstream to be used as fuel.

The second day on this carb minimizing diet is often a struggle, as people may start to feel like they are going through withdrawals of some kind. A way to combat this is by drinking plenty of water.

On the third day of carbohydrate depletion (and therefore glycogen depletion), fat is continuously being released and burned as energy. This is where major fat burning kicks into gear.

After the third day of this plan, return to your regular balanced diet for three days, and then take a day off from any sort of “diet” for one day. This balance is key to keep you from feeling nutritionally deprived. Continue this process and watch the fat just shed from your body.