'Burn fat when not exercising' by adding three movements into your routine

Cardio and weight training are both excellent ways to get the body moving. Using resistance in particular can lead to long-lasting weight loss results, according to Balanced Body education director at Balanced Body Joy Puleo.

She told GB News: "Weight training, body weight training and general resistance training are all excellent ways to trigger long-term fat burning.

"Your body is brilliant. When you train against resistance, you are building muscle mass. As you train against resistance, be it weights or gravity, you are often training anaerobically, which is a fancy way of saying 'not in the presence of oxygen'.

"However, as the muscles repair and gain in strength, the metabolism changes such that at rest, fat is being used as energy.

"This is exactly what we are looking for, to rev the engines so that when we are not exercising you are still burning fat for fuel."

Resistance training can involve using weights, machines or body weight to encourage the body to work harder.

The expert shared her three favourite exercises to keep your body burning more fat when at rest.

Three fat-burning exercises

• Rhythmic whole body exercises such as mountain climbers, jumping squats and, of course, burpees
• Whole body static exercises such as plank holds, wall squats – nothing says burn like an isometric hold
• Pilates series of five (Single Leg Stretch, Double Leg Stretch, Single Straight Leg Stretch, Double Straight Leg Stretch and Criss Cross)

She added: "I realise this is cheating as it is five Pilates core exercises, but when done successively they make for excellent abdominal and leg exercises which really challenge and heat up the core and rev up the metabolism."

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The fitness expert explained how the metabolism works when trying to slim down. She said: "Fat needs oxygen to burn. Cardio and rhythmic whole-body exercise are excellent ways to tap into fat stores.

"If you are doing cardio with the intention of tapping into fat stores you want your pace to be fast enough that your body requires more oxygen, hence your breathing rate increases, but not too fast that you exhaust.

"When your oxygen need meets your muscle need you are in what is often called 'the zone'. It is a place you can sustain for a period of time.

"If your muscles are crying out for more and your heart rate rises too high in order to try to meet the demand, your original smart device, your body, will shut down the fat burn and burn readily available fuels, such as carbohydrates. Not the intention at all."