The Health Guide: Your Guide to a Happy, Healthy 2011: Fire Up the Fat Loss with these Easy Tips

These tricks will help to speed up the fat-loss process

1. Drink more water

When researchers measured people's metabolic rate before and after downing about 16 ounces of water, they found a rise in calorie-burning capability. The water had a lasting effect as well: Even after 30 minutes, drinkers

were using 30% more calories than those who stayed dry.

Being dehydrated can fool your body into feeling hungry. Drinking water (especially before a meal) fills up your stomach, so you're likely to eat less. Need some flavor in that H2O? Switch to unsweetened green tea, which contains EGCG, an antioxidant that helps the body burn fat faster

2. Drink Up the Green Tea.

Switch to green tea. A recent review of 15 studies found that the combo of green tea extract and caffeine resulted in greater weight loss compared to caffeine alone. In addition to helping you get leaner, green tea may also wind up making you healthier since it is also filled with a wealth of disease-busting, anti-aging antioxidants. Shoot for three to five cups daily.

THE BOOST: Burning an additional 3,500 to 10,000 calories in a month.

3. Rediscover hot sauce Use it, and you'll eat slower and less. Some studies say you might even speed up your metabolism thanks to compounds in the chilies.

4. Drink Your Protein Shake BEFORE Going to the Gym Drink the shake before you train. Post-workout shakes get nutrients to hungry muscles, fueling growth. However, you may be able to jumpstart your muscle growth a

nd recovery (and have more energy for training) by chugging your drink on your way to the gym. Research from the University of Texas shows that getting an extra shot of nutrients be

fore you work out channels more amino acids to your muscles, setting you up for even bigger muscle gains.

THE BOOST A 79% increase in the uptake of the amino acids used to build muscle immediately after each workout.

4. Follow meals with mint Sugar-free mint gum, or even mint-flavored toothpaste is fine: The mint flavors send signals to your brain that it's time to stop eating. They also tweak your taste buds so second helpings and dessert aren't quite so tasty.