Let's get straight down to it: losing fat isn't easy. You've spent hours in the gym slaving away on the treadmill. Your diet consists of bird seed and a few sprigs of alfalfa. You've bought every diet book and exercise gimmick on the market, yet nothing seems to work. Don't despair! There is hope! Arm yourself with these science-based fat loss strategies and keep it off for life!

First off, throw away your bathroom scale. It's not your friend. Don't focus on losing weight. Focus on losing body fat. Your goal should be to maintain or build muscle tissue and burn away stored fat. Muscle is very metabolically active and pays a higher caloric "rent" in the body just to sustain itself. Fat is nothing more than a metabolic freeloader that burns very few calories to keep itself alive. If after four months your scale weight hasn't changed but your clothes fit you magnificently, then chances are you changed your body composition for the better. THAT is your goal.

People trudge along on the treadmill or bike working in what they believe is their fatburning zone. Unfortunately, the so-called fatburning mode on the bike is the very mode that's going to keep you fat. Here's why.

While working at a lower intensity, your body burns more fat as a fuel source for the moment, BUT the cumulative calories burned are actually lower than if you'd opted for the higher intensity "cardio" mode. While in the cardio mode, you will burn less fat and more sugar as fuel sources, BUT your overall calories burned will be much greater. In the long-term, you are served much better by exercising at higher intensities and maximizing the calorie burn than focusing on which metabolic fuel source you're using. Again, the overall CUMULATIVE calorie deficit is what matters and that's what's going to have you looking good for summer!

Follow these 10 fat stripping tips

1. If you're completely new to exercise, you must safely develop your fitness foundation then graduate to higher intensities. Doing too much too soon will leave you sore and discourage you from continuing. Start off with a leisurely pace on the bike or treadmill for no more than 20 minutes and do this 3 to 4 days per week. Each week, increase your duration by 5-10 minutes per session until you are up to 45-60 minutes of non-stop cardio exercise.

2. Now that your fitness foundation is in place, start cranking up the intensity a bit with intervals. Intervals are higher intensity sprints interspersed within your regular cardio routine which are designed to get your heart racing and crank up the calorie burning control knob. During your cardio exercise, start off with 1 to 2-minute high intensity bursts and then give yourself 3-4 minutes of active recovery at a lower intensity (keep walking or pedaling). Perform your intervals at an intensity high enough that you can barely speak to the person next to you, preferably an exercise partner who shares your same fat loss goals.

3. After your body adapts to the intervals, now start trying to maintain higher intensities on a continuous basis. The longer you can exercise at higher intensities, the more calories you burn, and consequently, the more fat you pull out of storage.

4. Increase your metabolism with resistance training. That's right, start lifting weights. If you don't like weights, try something like calisthenics or any other mode of resistance that will stress your muscles to a degree to which they're not normally accustomed. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn both with exercise and at rest.

5. Make small dietary changes you can live with. If you cut out a mere 250 dietary calories per day and burned 250 calories through exercise, this is a daily total of 500 calories. It is known that you must burn 3500 calories above and beyond your normal energy needs to lose one pound of stored body fat. So this 500 calorie deficit over seven days would be one pound of stored body fat burned.

6. Not convinced? One pound of fat loss per week over the course of one calendar year is 50 pounds of FAT LOSS. Notice my terminology did not include the words weight loss. Who cares about losing weight? I can put you on the pigs feet and mayonnaise diet and you will lose weight simply because it's low calorie, but you won't lose much in the way of fat. You'll likely lose your valuable muscle as well as some water weight. Once you go back to eating normal food, you will gain back all the weight and then some. In the long-run the only thing that matters is body composition, and if you can strip fat and hold onto or build muscle, then you are reprogramming your body for life.

7. Waste as much energy as you can. Be as inefficient as humanly possible. In other words, take the long way through life and avoid shortcuts.Do not take elevators or moving walkways. Take the stairs. Walk up steep hills. Carry a heavy backpack. The more effort you spend on activities of daily living, the more fit and lean you will be for life. All calories burned are cumulative.

8. Misery loves company. Find out who your saboteurs and supporters are. Avoid those that will try to undermine and jeopardize your efforts out of jealousy. Surround yourself with positive, supportive people who encourage your efforts.

9. Make it fun. Frankly, it doesn't matter what kind of exercise you like. Find the one you enjoy, the one you'll stick with, and do it regularly. I used the bike and walking example above, but to the extend that you lead an active lifestyle with the calorie burning control knob cranked all the way up, you WILL lose fat and keep it off.

10. The media is NOT your friend. Cancel your cable TV subscription or at least stop watching it. Stop reading fluffy celebrity magazines. These are loaded with unrealistic body images that are merely airbrushed photos meant to provide false hope and sell copies.

FINAL THOUGHTS
In my 17 years as a health and fitness authority, I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that everyone I've worked with that's simply committed themselves to doing the right type of exercise and was consistent with it obtained a fitter, healthier body. The trick to fat loss is that there IS NO TRICK. Consistency, hard work, and the proper type of exercise will always win out over the fad diet books and late night infomercial gimmicks.