The following are the things which one should note while training to lose fat:

To begin with, one should never ever focus on losing weight. We must get rid of this mindset or else it may result in more harm than good as you may lose muscle and essential water from your body rather than fat loss. We need to focus more on overall fitness and health on what fat loss really is.

Doing abs will never burn your fat directly, on the contrary if you overdo it there is a chance that you would injure yourself. Just do 15 reps of 2-3 sets for upper, middle and lower abs and use twist exercises to work your obliques. Move on to the next level of different training like side incline bench sit ups or side crunches for obliques, only after losing ½ of your fat loss target.

Many people just train themselves with lots of cardio by spending hours on the treadmill, cross training and jogging etc. But hours and hours of cardio will not let you reach your goal. Never exercise more than 45 minutes a day and 5 days a week, which should include 5 minutes of warm up, 20 minutes of cardio, 15 minutes of weight training or resistance training or core training and 5 minutes of cool down.  Never do cardio for more than 4 days a week and other training for 3 days a week.  Always do a variety of cardio, like slow jogging, cross training, cycling, brisk walking, circuit-training, etc.

Training for hours will obviously burn out lots of calories but along with this, you would get yourself injured and over trained which would be like torturing your body. It is very important to learn to listen to your body.  Over training has affected lots of athletes, and people who are engaged in fitness training in a bad way.  But if you really want to lose weight, don't exercise because you like to exercise.  Rather, your workout should be meaningful and goal oriented.

Losing weight does not mean that you will have to leave food and start starving. Actually having food is not the cause of being overweight, but having bad sources of food causes an overweight or unfit body. When you are very hungry, you will not go for some boiled eggs or boiled chicken or veggies, but for some high carbohydrates, high fat foods like processed or junk food.  that is the main problem with all of us. Dieting for some is zero carbs, zero fats, high protein diet. For some only fruits and salad and for some of them, advanced fat burners. But dieting actually is having all the needed nutrients, fibers and plenty of water.

First of all, dieting should always be prepared according to your lifestyle and your daily schedule. Your calorie intake per day is dependent upon your physical and mental work per day, or your TDEE(Total Daily Energy Expenditure). If you are a sedentary worker, your requirements are very different from those who do a lot of travelling or physical work. Try to limit yourself to 4-6gms of carbs per kilogram of body weight, 0.4 to 0.8gms of protein per kilogram of body weight and never have more than 25% of fats in total calories intake. This needs to be followed according to your work schedule.

You should not have more than 300mg of cholesterol per day, one glass of milk is enough or 100gms cottage cheese per day as saturated fats (source for cholesterol) and also one should not consume more than 2,300mg of sodium per day -- that is approximately one spoon of salt.

You should also consume potassium rich fruits and vegetables in the amounts recommended by USDA and DASH eating plan. Stay away from trans fatty acid. To do this, make a habit of reading the nutrition facts before buying food products and avoid fried or processed food products. Not more than 10% of fat should come from saturated fats such as dairy products, coconut products, etc.

Never rush for fat burners or protein supplements without taking permission from a registered dietician, sports nutritionist or a doctor!!

Eating small meals very often in 2-3 hours of gap (around 5-10 meals per day) will actually increase your metabolism rate and make use of your food which will convert to energy faster and hence will not let your blood sugar level to increase higher than it should be and as a result your food will not store.

Each meal should contain all the nutrients in the ratio of 60:30:10, that is 60% carbs 30% protein and 10% fats. Try to use dry fruits or nuts, EFA, like olive oil, flaxseed oil and fish oil as fats; veggies, fruits and grains as carbs. Also use boiled eggs, boiled, roasted or baked tuna fish and chicken breast as proteins.

Cheat once a week or two in your dieting by having what you are craving for. This will give your body a variety in food and also a shock to your body, as our body becomes habitual with the same kind of food.

Don't focus on losing weight by measuring your waist and weight every other day. Try to focus on your overall fitness, like flexibility, stability, stamina and strength. You will lose fat and weight in the process, guaranteed. Engaging in some sporting activities is very necessary for your overall fitness and personality.

One more thing...whenever you do cardio, Don't think that you are doing it just to lose fat.  Instead, do it as though you are doing it for your heart and lung's health. I am sure you will notice that you will not get tired soon and you will enjoy doing it, and obviously, you will lose fat by default.