Weight loss is one of the major reasons many people in the UAE decide to hire a professional weight loss personal trainer. Although exercise, training and healthy eating should be a lifestyle rather than a quick fix many people have problems losing excess weight to achieve their ideal weight.

This can be for a number of reasons but with the right advice and training tools you can lose weight more effectively in Dubai without the need to turn to crash diets, fad diets and slimming pills and potions.

We asked a professional personal trainer for her tips on effective, lasting weight loss.

Question: A a professional female personal trainer in Dubai what are your top 10 tips when it comes to effective and lasting weight loss.

1. Count Your Calories

Losing weight is an equation of calorie intake versus expenditure. By counting the calories you consume you know exactly how much you are eating which makes it possible to plan and execute an effective diet plan.

To lose body fat in Dubai you have to be in a calorie deficit so you are using energy from your own fat stores and not from calories you consume.

There are 7700 calories in a kilogram of body fat! So to lose weight as quickly as possible you need to cut calories as well as exercising. By cutting 500 calories a day off your allowance you have already shaved off 3500 calories a week.

2. Make sure the exercise is effective!

Training with resistance or weights and high intensity interval training are the most effective for fat loss. A good weights session will burn many more calories than a prolonged steady cardio session.

Supersets with no rest periods are ideal as the heart rate and calorie expenditure stay high while the alternating muscle groups can take turns to rest so the exercise is performed correctly and at the right intensity.

3. Push past your threshold.

Whether its increasing your range of motion, adding more weight or increasing the time under tension for any given exercise you need to make sure it’s challenging your body enough every time you workout.

It’s quite easy to go to the gym in Dubai for an hour and not get the most out of it because your body is doing things it can already do fairly comfortably.

So sticking with the exact same workout routine for a long period of time will just become less effective as it goes on. As you become stronger and fitter your workouts should reflect this ensuring overload and recovery, therefore burning more calories.

4. Big compound exercises.

Big compound exercises are going to burn way more calories than isolation, so if you’re primary goal is to lose as much fat as quickly as possible then use these every session.

For example, supersets of Back row and Chest press will get you burning more calories than a superset of bicep curls and tricep extensions.

Your personal trainer in Dubai will know which compound exercises you should be doing as part of your weight loss training plan.

5. Build lean muscle.

Having more of it on our bodies and the process of building it itself raises our metabolisms. Exercise, specifically strength exercises release testosterone.

This hormone is highly anabolic and an important precursor in muscle synthesis and fat loss.

So again big compound exercises win as the more muscle fibers you hit during an exercise the more testosterone is released during your training in Dubai.

Getting enough healthy protein in your diet is also crucial to build and repair muscle fibers.

6. Get enough good quality sleep.

During sleep our bodies go through physical and psychogenic repair. This is crucial for human growth hormone production – this is needed for cell renewal, fat loss and metabolism.

Lack of sleep leads to increase in Cortisol production, muscle and cellular breakdown and a very bad nights sleep can even affect your insulin sensitivity.

All these things can hinder your weight loss journey.

7. Stable blood sugar levels.

Aim to keep your blood sugar levels as stable as you can. This can be done by eating low GI foods (avoiding high sugar foods).

By avoiding high sugar/ High GI foods you can prevent the cycle of sugar highs and sugar crashes.

When your sugar level crashes this can cause more cravings making it more difficult to not reach for more sugary, high calorie snacks.

8. Be patient and consistent.

Sticking at a new workout regime in the UAE is something many people struggle with especially when you don’t see results over night.

So to help keep you on track breaking down the end goal into smaller, realistic goals is important. It is recommended that we get 150 mins moderate intensity and 75 mins of vigorous intensity exercise each week or a combination of the two.

But this is just for general health. To lose fat as quickly as possible in Dubai then the more activity you do then obviously the more you will lose.

As long as the program is suitable, safe and specific to the person with adequate rest between muscle groups and a good nutrition plan for optimal recovery it is better to do more!

It took eating and drinking a lot of extra calories to store the extra kilograms of fat on your body, so it will take a lot of energy burning to lose them.

9. Keep positive!

Keeping a healthy mind-set and good focus can change the way you look at exercise. You should exercise because you love your body not because you hate it.

See the positives in ALL aspects of training: for mental and physical health as well as how you look.

Surrounding yourself with more people that support you is even more important.

Friends, family, gym buddies, personal trainers should all be there to keep you on track and help stop the negative thinking and doubts because if you believe you can do it, you are half way there.

10. De-Stress

Stress can have a big impact on the ability to lose weight. When we are over stressed be it physically, mentally or emotionally it can increase Cortisol production.

Over prolonged periods of time this can essentially breakdown muscle as it is a catabolic hormone and feed it to the gut leading to fat gain in the belly area. As well as this, stress can also increase Ghrelin.

This hormone makes you feel hungrier which is associated with stress/comfort eating! So take time for yourself to help manage your stress.

If stress is part of your life then you might want to consider Yoga in Dubai or other forms of exercise that can help reduce stress in Dubai.