Farrah Fawcett was fit and fat free

In Part I body fat was explained. Now let's look at losing fat. Excess body fat has been associated with heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, sleep disorders, and a whole list of ailments.

There are a number of ways to lose fat. One of them; however, is not attempting to spot reduce. Doing 1,000 crunches a day will not shed the fat over the muscles in the abdominal area.

Some experts say that nutrition is 95% responsible for the fat we carry around. If you are serious about losing fat, you have to be serious about reading labels. Look for low fat foods, foods that are not white (salt, sugar, white bread), and stay away from processed food.

One sure fire way to get rid of fat is to do cardiovascular exercises. What you do is less important than doing what you like. If you do what you like then you are more apt to continue. You might want to try walking until you increase the pace fast enough that it is called power walking. You should be able to talk but with some difficulty.

If you have children then biking with them not only will help you lose fat but you'll have fun and be a great role model to your children for a fit lifestyle. You may choose swimming, aerobic dancing, tennis, or any number of activities that increase your heart. This might be a good time to buy a heart rate monitor. 220 minus your age is you maximum heart rate. Does this mean that once you are in better shape you cannot go above that? No, in fact assuming you have a healthy heart and your doctor has given you the ok then going above it will strengthen your heart. (Note: I am not a doctor nor do I work in the medical field. My daughter is and we have had many conversations about this.)

Of course I can't leave out weight resistance. You will burn more calories when you build muscle than you'll burn without muscle tone. In addition studies have shown that your body continues to burn fat for a longer period of time after weight training than after cardio vascular work. So do all three: eat well, get your heart rate up, and build some muscle tone. All these equal a loss of fat.

• Double your sex life and live three years longer
• Sex as a cardio workout
  
• Can I consider sex a workout?
  
• Precautions to take if you are on medication for arthritis
  
• Foods that prevent inflammation in your body    

Fitness 101 series

Fitness 101: Body fat part 1

Fitness 101: Leg exercises sissy squats part 1

Fitness 101: Testerone and why women won't bulk up

Fitness 101: Plateaus

Fitness 101: Being fit while sick Part 1

Fitness 101: Low budget fitness exercises

Fitness 101: Weight training

Fitness 101: How to avoid the freshman 15

Fitness 101: Being fit with a chronic illness Part 2

 If you like my articles please sign up to follow me by clicking "subscribe by e-mail," for the free RSS feed, or follow along on Twitter. Send your friends on over! Story tip? Questions? Leave a comment or your e-mail address.