With the volume of words written about diets and weight loss youd think it is one of the most complicated subject in the world. It is easy to find many hundreds of articles on the internet and in newspapers and magazines about the most recent wonder diet, weight loss product or secrets of dieting. The truth is that reducing your weight should be and can be very simple. Put simply if you consume less and exercise more you won’t go far wrong. However going on a diet and reducing your weight doesnt need to be that complicated.
The diet and weight loss industry is big business worldwide and it needs new items to sell to make money. New products and diet plans which make bigger and bigger claims are constantly being brought to the market. Celebrity diet books and videos, ointments, creams, metabolism accelerators and fat blockers are simply some of the weight loss products available. Do you really need any of them if you wish to drop some weight? Quite simply no. Fashionable diet plans and products come and go but if you want to shed weight you only need a sensible wholesome diet and exercise. Below is pretty much all you have to know to get started losing weight. Preparation and Attitude When youre starting a diet do you look forward to it or dread it? Stupid question I know. After all diets by their nature are not fun. However when youre beginning your diet you must think about the positive aspects such as just how much better you will feel and look in a couple of weeks. When you only focus on the negatives of missing your favourite foods your diet attempt is doomed to failure. Having a positive mind-set is the beginning of any good diet. Good planning is also very important. Remove all of the unhealthy foods in your fridge and kitchen to avoid temptation and let your friends know when you are beginning your diet. Diet If I only ever offered one dieting tip it would be to drink more water. Lots more water! Many of our drinks are packed full of calories. While wine might not feel fattening when you are drinking it contains lots of calories. Changing to water from drinks like sodas, wine, juices and creamy coffees can help you save lots of calories. Do I have to tell you that hamburgers, pizzas, cookies( all of the good stuff ) is fattening? I hope not! If you are serious a bout reducing your weight you need to cut down on these. You dont have to get rid of them completely as you can still have the occasional treat. Your diet ought to include lots of fruit and vegetables, chicken and fish. Natural foods are the order of the day and you ought to avoid processed meals as much as you possibly can. Exercise lose weight fast and easy Can you lose weight with out exercising? Yes but it will take longer for the results to appear. If the idea of going to the gym is another thing that fills you with dread dont worry. Believe it or not working out could be enjoyable. You simply need to find the right type of exercise for you personally. Anything that gets your blood flowing and your heart beating just a little quicker is good. Joining a dancing class and learning how to Salsa is a good way of doing exercises.
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Ok, so...yeah...the title is a bit deceptive but for those of you that are looking for a quick fix, you really need a reality check and hopefully this it. If you really read the title then you may have realized I didn't say anything about losing weight being fast! Can you lose a lot of weight quickly? Most certainly but the likelihood of you keeping that weight off is inversely proportional to your chances of keeping that weight off in the long run.
What I mean is the faster you lose the weight, the less likely you are to keep it off. This statement comes from personal experience and not from a scientific study. Take a look at my completely made up graph that I dreamed up: Also check the way to lose weight here: the benefits of roller skating for weight loss Completely Made Up Graph There are anomalies. There are some people that have dropped massive amounts of weight, quickly, and kept it off. However, for the sake of this article we aren't going to delve into how they accomplished it. If you are wanting, or needing, to lose a lot of weight and keep it off, here are a few pointers that may help you in that journey. Have realistic expectations A monumental mistake that many make when trying to lose weight is making changes to drastic to maintain. I don't need to tell you that we live in a "I WANT IT NOW!!!" society. We want everything instantaneously. We have been conditioned to think and feel this way. Losing weight is no exception. Not only do we want it now but we also want it with the least amount of impact to our 'normal' life as possible. It is a struggle because when you combine those two 'wants', it produces a long term weight loss enemy that is very difficult to defeat. How do you do it? You need to take baby steps. You start by making realistic goals. Rather than looking to lose 10 lbs per week, your goal should be 1-2 lbs per week. Yeah, I know you may consider that slow. To be honest, I really don't care if you do because if you want to make a real and lasting change in your life, this should be your expectation and your diet should reflect it. Think about it. Are you going to be more likely to stick with a diet that leaves you starving every minute of the day or are you more likely to stick with a well balanced diet made up of clean foods at a modest caloric deficit of 500 to 1000 calories below your BMR? Avoid fad diets like the plague Just so you know, you may see an occasional Google ad on this blog that advertises "Lose 30 pounds in 30 days!" or something along those lines. As a disclaimer, I want to make it clear that I do not endorse these types of ads and I don't have control over what Google shows here. Now, on the fad diets...cabbage soup, master cleanse, etc (I'm not goingto link to resources on this so if you want to check them out, I won't be the one to promote them). I assure you that if you stick to these 'diets' you will lose weight...and probably a lot of it. But what happens when you hit your target weight? Have you changed your lifestyle to foster continuous maintenance and improvement? No. You haven't. You won't eat cabbage soup for the rest of your life. You won't go on a cayenne spiced water drink ONLY for the rest of your life. In fact, you've learned nothing about nutrition except how NOT to lose weight. In all likelihood you will return to your normal, pre-diet lifestyle. Then, not only will you gain the weight back, you could possibly end up worse off than when you started. If you go down the fad diet path, the odds are incredibly against you keep the weight off for the long haul. Do you research. Hire a REAL nutritionist. Do your research. Do it RIGHT! Take 'baby steps' when starting a fitness program Here is my take on it setting up a fitness routine that will encourage long term results. I am sure some may disagree and that's ok. This worked for me and it has worked for others I have helped. If you haven't worked out in a while, or if you've never worked out, it is very important that you take baby steps. Science has proven that weight training promotes fat loss so I do believe that needs to be one aspect of your beginning program. However, in the beginning, I would recommend that you start with cardio and start slowly. Get used to being active. When I started, I started by walking for 30 minutes (treadmill) at about 3.5 mph. That is a moderate walking pace. Each subsequent cardio session should increase on that in some way whether it be a faster speed, walking at an incline, or walking for a longer period of time. In addition to your cardio, I recommend starting very slowly on the weights with a professionally designed routine. If you jump in with both feet with workouts that are designed for more advanced gym-goers, you may become so sore that it hampers your workout sessions for the near future. For some people, the pain is so much of a deterrent that they give up almost immediately. While you want to maintain whatever muscle you have as much as possible, your main focus should be getting your weight down to a manageable level. To recap, start slow, begin with a focus on cardio, then slowly shift your focus to weight training (while continuing your cardio). That's my recommendation. Build a support system In my opinion, having a strong support system is probably the biggest key to long term weight loss. If you are married and your wife or husband isn't supportive of your efforts, you are almost certain to fail. If you are single and your friends aren't supportive, it is also very difficult to succeed. If you find yourself in any situation where those closes to you aren't supportive, all is not lost! There are a ton of online fitness communities that people turn to everyday for support! Here are just a few as a sample:
In closing, the main theme of this post is that there is no quick fix. You didn't gain 50 extra pounds over night. You shouldn't expect to lose it overnight, either. Ignore the unreasonable claims. As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There are many crazy, unreal, and flat out dangerous diets around these days, and it seems as if people will try anything except hard work to lose that extra fat. With that in mind, what would you think if someone told you that the key to losing weight was right there staring you in the face, day in and day out. This article is all about water and water weight; What some people will do to torture themselves, and a small tip that will actually work and is healthy for you.
You may have heard before about how professional athletes, such as Mixed Martial Arts fighters and Boxers will lose several pounds of weight just days or hours before their weigh ins for their events. The process these professionals go through to make weight is tantamount to physically torturing yourself so that they can participate in the event scheduled for them. First, they will envelop themselves in some form of plastic and then go jog or "relax" in a sauna while wrapped up, for up to one hour at a time even, with the goal of draining as much water from their body as possible; extreme dehydration. While in the process of draining themselves, their heart rate can reach 170 bpm or higher, depending on the professional athlete in question, while also raising their blood pressure to questionable levels. Typically, these athletes can lose a massive amount of water weight doing this, and achieve their target weight for the weigh in even if they are no where near the actual weight for the fight in question. Some have even reported losing up to TEN pounds of water weight in a days period. However, this loss is temporary, and as soon as they start consuming fluids again they will immediately replace the water weight that they had dropped, but not before highly stressing their body, obviously. Because of this, it is impossible to apply this method as a way to lose weight overall, so beware anyone trying to hype this as a diet! But, water can indeed aid you on your weight loss goals... Which leads me to the tip that I mentioned about water and weight loss. Next time you are hungry, try drinking a glass of water.. Sound too simple? Well, it isn't! Sometimes, when your body needs to be hydrated the signals it sends can be very similar to hunger signals, especially to someone who has never analyzed the craving. So drink a glass of water, and wait about fifteen minutes. About a fifth of the time, your hunger may subside, and you will get better at determining your cravings over time. However, and this is important! I do NOT condone under eating! That can be dangerous for you, and even lead to no weight loss as your body starves and holds on to anything it can get. Instead, use it as a tool to aid in over eating, and you may just lose weight and be healthier for the trouble, too. |