Want to burn off your belly fat, tone your muscles, and get a great-looking body fast? Doing short, intense exercise sessions a few times each week is one of the true "secrets" of fast, healthy weight loss.

Here are 5 tips to help you get more out of your intense fat-burning workouts:

1. Be sure to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. If you're not getting enough sleep, you're not going to have the energy to exercise intensely. Your body also isn't going to be able to repair itself properly.

2. Drink a gallon of water daily. Drink about 16 ounces of water first thing in the morning, then continue to drink water and unsweetened teas throughout the day. Staying very well hydrated like this is proven to stimulate the metabolism, increase energy, and help you work out intensely.

3. Get a "healthy" caffeine boost 30 minutes before working out. Caffeine is one of the few substances proven to increase fat burning as well as exercise intensity. Healthy caffeine can be found in green tea and yerba mate tea. Drink 2-4 cups half an hour before working out.

You may also want to consider taking a high-quality energy booster/fat-burner supplement before workouts. Look for one that contains green tea and/or yerba mate extract, cocoa extract, vitamin b-12, ginseng, and natural caffeine from kola nut and/or guarana.

4. Do medium-intensity strength training before cardio. You may be able to increase the amount of fat your body uses for energy by doing your strength training/weight lifting before doing your cardio. Just 20 minutes of moderate-intensity strength training can deplete your glycogen (stored carbohydrate) stores, forcing your body to use fat for energy during cardiovascular exercise.

5. Consider working out first thing in the morning. There is a lot of evidence that doing a high-intensity cardio workout first thing in the morning, before eating, burns more body fat. This is because your glycogen and blood sugar levels are lowest at this time, forcing your body to burn fat for energy.