How Much Water Should I Drink to Lose Weight?

Posts Tagged ‘Nutrition’

Any body reading this article most probably is overweight and planning to start a successful weight loss program. There are a number of weight loss programs, some of these programs are beneficial and some caused more problems then benefits. Starting any weight loss program, it’s necessary to consult experts and make sure that the program will suit your body or not.

In most of the weight loss programs the best part is that you will most certainly lose weight if you follow the program. However it’s difficult to maintain the weight, as most of the people get overweight fast after discontinuing the weight loss program.

It is advised to consult a health expert before starting a weight loss program. If a program of losing weight is beneficial for one person may not suitable for another person. The metabolism of each person is different. You should not use programs that promise fast weight loss as it could prove to be harmful. The right program is the one which lose 2 to 3 pounds a week. Losing 2 pounds per week consistently, you will not only be a lot thinner and fit after some weeks but also most certainly stay that way.

Acomplia a weight loss drug is popular almost all over the world. A little dieting and exercise with Acomplia not only lose your weight consistently but also cure obesity. Acomplia is also used for combating smoking. Acomplia also has the benefits to combat alcohol. It also helps in balancing cholesterol. Acomplia also reduces extra fat and get you in to shape. For a successful weight loss program I personally recommend a little exercise, a little dieting and Acomplia as a weight loss drug.

Buy Acomplia and have a successful weight loss program.

We are obsessed as a society with having everything on demand. If we decide we want a new car, we have to have it now, women freak out if they cannot get pregnant the very minute they’ve decided they want to have a child and if we think about weight loss, then it must surely be fast weight loss. We can’t settle for anything less! Fortunately it’s been already proved that fast weight loss pills don’t work. You may shed a few pounds at first, but in the end you will gain twice as much back. Fewer and fewer people are duped by false claims and pretenses of dishonest marketers. It’s been said that they prey on human insecurities. I don’t think so! They prey on our obsession with having everything right here, right now and without any effort on our part – if we are willing to pay the price.And because the wonder pills don’t work, people have turned to exercise. Marketers who advertise fast weight loss exercise programs or devices prey on the same here and now urgency. And they have given exercising a bad name too. These are reviews I have found on a web site specialized in exposing infomercial scams:”The [...] is actually a decent product, but it has major flaws. The way that the pulley system works is that the pulleys are attached to the frame with a free rotating bracket. This causes an excessive amount of wobbling when trying to use any of the exercises. Using the bench press is nearly impossible at higher weights due to the wobbling. Don’t waste your $400+ for the [...].”"I purchased the [...] through [...] Network. I was very unhappy with the whole motion of the machine; it was uncomfortable and unnatural not to mention very shoddy craftsmanship. I called [...] to return it. They said I was past the 1 month return.”"Unfortunately, I got sucked into the infomercial, thinking “this is it”. I ordered the worthless thing and did not see any results. It was a bunch of plastic. Have returned the item a week before Christmas 2006, and have yet to get a refund. They keep telling me that they have not received the item. Don’t waste your money!!!!”So the info should be clear by now for everyone to see: fast weight loss doesn’t work. Exercise is the best way to lose weight. Try to remember that “losing 15 pounds in two weeks” is nothing to celebrate. It is important to realize that the more quickly weight is lost, the more likely the loss is coming from water and muscle, not fat.Since muscle tissue is critical in keeping our metabolism elevated, losing it actually leads to a decrease in the amount of calories we can each day without gaining weight. Fat loss is best achieved when weight is lost slowly. Strive for a weight loss of no more than 1-2 pounds per week. One pound of weight is equivalent to 3500 calories. By making small changes like eliminating 250 calories a day from food and expending 250 calories a day from exercise, you can lose one pound (of mostly fat) per week.Exercise for weight loss and for your general health, but do it all with good measure. Rome wasn’t built in a day either.

 

Is there a best exercise for losing weight?

I have been asked this question many times. Is there a best exercise for losing weight. There is so much more to losing weight than just exercise. Studies have been performed at major universities and there are 3 combinations that need to occur for efficient long lasting weight loss. The big three are Nutrition, Strength Training and Aerobics.

There are so many different programs on the market today. How do you know which one is right for you? Look at your current lifestyle and see what will fit into it. If you lead a sedentary lifestyle you are not going to go and train for a triathlon. You may want to start with a seated isometric exercise program that will teach you how each muscle should feel when it is properly worked. Once you are comfortable with the isometric exercise then it is time to add resistance. To add that resistance try an isoband or any other rubber tubing. To add some variety to your workouts take those isometric exercises and perform full range of motion moves with light to medium hand weights (3-5 lbs). Always start with the basics and listen to your body. It will let you know when enough is enough. If you are just beginning 10 minutes of strength training is a good place to start. Then after a week add in another 5 minutes. Let your body become accustomed to exercising versus a hard core workout with you not being able to get out of bed the next morning.

Healthy nutrition is also a large part of losing weight. You will need to make smarter healthier choices with your food intake. Portion sizing is an absolute must. Most of us tend to overeat. Cut way down on your junk foods but don’t cut them out totally. Save them for a special occasion no more than once a week and only a portion size. I have found that through the years we all have good intensions and we tend to cut out our favorite foods. What occurs is you think about what you are missing, then you obsess over what you are missing and then you over indulge in what you were missing. If you only had a single portion size of what ever it is you want only once a week then you will not obsess over the loss of a favorite food. Also do not go under 1000 calories. You need energy to produce energy. Too many of us have the frame of mind to cut way back with calories thinking that the less we eat the more we will lose. In reality what happens is you are slowing down your metabolism because the body does not know where or when the next meal will be.

Aerobic activity means adding more oxygen into your system. When your heart rate increases because of movement you will breathe quicker. Going from a sedentary lifestyle to a 10 minute walk every day is a great start. After one week add in another 5 minutes to your walk. Walking is the easiest form of aerobic activity. You can do it anywhere anytime with out equipment. For those of you that are already performing aerobic activities I will encourage you to try something different. If you always go out for a 30 minute walk the same route the same pace the body will get used to it. It will become more and more difficult to lose weight. Change up your walk by adding in a hill or every few minutes quicken your pace. There is a huge variety of activities that will get your heart rate up. Swimming, circuit training, skating, even raking leaves will get the heart rate elevated. The idea is to get your heart rate elevated and keep it elevated for at least 30-45 minutes 5 days a week. There are so many theories out there and testing being done just listen to your body. Start with 10 minutes and slowly add in the additional time. You can also break up your time into several segments a day if needed. The bottom line is JUST MOVE!!

 

You know you are going to have to reduce your calorie intake to lose weight, but how many calories are you going to have to eliminate. If you eliminate too many calories, your body is going to think it is being starved and it is not going to want to give up any of its weight. So the key is coming up with a number that will allow you to lose, but still allow the body to be nourished properly.

The other thing that you have to factor into the picture is exercise. Exercising will deduct calories from you daily intake. Sometimes all it takes for people to lose the desired weight is to exercise. Exercising may be enough to create the necessary calorie deficit needed to accomplish your goal. For most people, it is going to take a combination of exercise and reduced calorie eating.

An extreme calorie reduction (less than 800 to 1000) will cause your body to go into defense mode and hold onto everything that it has. 1200 to 1500 calories is a more reasonable figure to start out with and if you have a lot of weight to lose you may want to go as high as 1800 calories. You will have to gradually reduce the amount of calories (or increase your exercise) as you lose weight, in order to be able to continue to lose weight.

Keep a food record so that you can calculate the average number of calories you consume on a normal day. You will need to determine the number of calories it takes to maintain your present weight. With there being 3500 calories in a pound you will need to reduce your daily caloric intake by 500 calories lose a pound per week. To lose a pound and half weekly, you will need a 750 calorie reduction and a 1000 calorie reduction daily, will get you 2 pounds a week. These calorie reductions can be accomplished by reduced food intake or increased exercise or a combination of both. Put in its simplest terms, weight loss is simply a numbers game.

If reducing your calorie intake by 500 calories is going to put you below the 800 to 1000 calories minimum. You are going to want to reduce your caloric intake by 20 percent. This is a healthier weight loss because it is slower. If you are trying to lose 20 to 30 pounds, the 20 percent method is best for you. If you have a lot of weight to lose, you should try to get 2 pounds off, per week for the first month or two so that your body can start experiencing the health benefits (reduced joint pain, lower blood pressure, fewer respiratory problems, etc…).

If you keep track of the number, make wise food decisions and exercise regularly you will soon see the benefits of your efforts and find yourself living in a leaner, healthier, more energetic body.

I am a huge believer in having goals. While some people spend too much time setting goals and not enough time achieving them, most people do not put much thought into goal-setting. When it comes to weight loss, it is especially important to set realistic goals.
By realistic, I do not mean “I want to lose 30 pounds in 30 days.” Oh, I’ve seen those claims many times. I’ve seen the claims of marketers that say their products can do that for you. I’ve also seen the claims of people that have said they can accomplish that feat. Can you lose 30 pounds in 30 days? Sure, but it is not healthy at all and will almost certainly return at some point in the near future. A good portion of this extreme weight loss will be in the form of muscle and that will kill your metabolic rate. For more on this, check my article on “Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss”.
So, what is a realistic amount of fat one can lose in 30 days? I would say, stick to the mantra of 1-2 pounds per week. That would mean about 4-8 pounds per month. Now, that may not sound like much, but let’s put it into a bit of perspective. Say you were to only lose one pound of fat each week. After one year, that would be 52 pounds! What if you had started losing one pound per week a year ago? Now imagine yourself this time next year at 52 pounds lighter. You may not even need to lose that much weight.
The key to weight loss goals is patience, realism, and a constant effort toward achieving them. At two pounds of body fat per week, after 13 weeks (3 months), you will have lost 26 pounds of body fat. That is very significant. It requires a lot of effort over the course of three months, but it is definitely attainable. If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, this would be a good goal to start with. Close to 30 pounds in three months is much more realistic that 30 pounds in 30 days.
One note that I should make is concerning detoxification diets. I am actually a big proponent of the detoxification process as long as it is done properly. I will deal with this subject in a future article, but for now you should know that it involves eliminating certain foods from your diet (while sometimes adding certain natural supplements) in order to rid your body of toxins that have been stored over time. The detoxification process can lead to a large drop in excess water weight in a short period of time. This would mean that you may lose an additional 5-10 pounds of weight on top of the 1-2 pounds per week of body fat in the first 2-4 weeks. It is not an easy process, but it is definitely healthy and certainly worth the effort.
Other than that, I would recommend sticking to two pounds per week for a short-term aggressive approach and about 1.5 pounds per week for a longer-term goal. Remember that these pounds add up over time. Don’t check the scale every day as you will get discouraged quickly. Rather, stick to checking every two to four weeks. Also, take some measurement of your body and take note of how your clothes are fitting. Often, these are better indications of how your body is changing. Take pride in these accomplishments and don’t stress over the numbers.
Set goals. Make them aggressive but attainable. Set both short and long term goals and then go take action on them. Most importantly, be consistent because your efforts really will add up all the time. That will make you very happy in the end.

Excessive weight in a person could be the result of heredity or genetic disorder (which is beyond the person’s control); it may have resulted from the person’s food habits, life style, the nature of work and activities the person routinely engages in, etc. Except in cases of genetic disorders or heredity, generally you gain weight over a long period of time and with reasonable awareness towards your well-being there is generally no reason for you to look for ways to achieve fast weight loss.Excess weight condition matters; so weight loss also matters. Why should fast weight loss matter? And for whom does the fast rate matter? There are two categories of people who look for fast weight loss methods – those who are very obese and have recently become conscious of danger to their health and those who are taken in by those very “alluring but misleading” advertisements showing that you could become super models by following the slimming courses for two or three weeks.Health experts agree that an average person can lose about 1 to 2 pounds of weight per week by correct eating habits and reasonable exercises. This is a safe and healthy amount to lose; you could achieve long lasting results in this way. By adopting additional safe methods such as use of Proactol, a fat binder OTC product, you may be able to lose safely about 2 to 3 pounds per week; that itself would be high weight loss rate. I know many would be keen on losing weight at much higher rate – something like 10 to 15 pounds a week. However take a moment to think. Do you gain weight at anything like 10 to 15 pounds a week steadily? You don’t because your body cannot. And if your body cannot add weight at that rate, it will not be able to lose at that rate either without ill effects.By going on a starvation diet to lose weight at an unrealistic rate, all that you manage to lose is your muscles, body fluids – water – , your sleep and money, of course! Achieving fast weight loss is violating the natural rhythm of your body. Quite often it is seen that such drastic results of weight loss achieved are equally rapidly negated. As I said earlier, there are those cases of extreme obesity whose need for faster weight loss may be reasonable because of health concerns. Bariatric surgery may be the answer to the prayer of these obese patients. In these weight loss surgery techniques, called gastric bypass and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (”Lap Band”), the capacity of the stomach is surgically reduced or limited. This limits the quantity of food the patient is able to eat. This automatically restricts the tendency of the body to have a craving for food and also restricts weight gain. Most of the persons are able to return to their normal work after a few weeks.

Many beginner athletes start exercising to lose fat. They workout 4 or 5 times each week, for 30-60 minutes per session. After 6 weeks or so they evaluate their progress and realize that they weigh roughly the same weight, and their total body fat has only dropped 1-3%. Surely after all that exercise they would have made a profound impact on their body composition, losing inches and pounds of fat, right? WRONG!
Why You Will Not Lose Fat With Exercise Alone
Why? Your diet is responsible for 75-80% of your progress when trying to drop fat.
The one, simple rule that you must remember is this:
total calories consumed – total calories burned = total calories stored as lard
The fact of the matter is that if you consume more calories in a day than you burn off, you will store them all. The caveman in you says, “Oh boy, extra energy that I can store for later, when there’s a drought or a shortage of animals to kill and eat!” Your body doesn’t understand that you’d rather see those calories floating around in a toilet than floating around on your midsection and buttocks.
A recent study actually demonstrated this exact problem. Two groups of people eat roughly the same diet, some junk food, some healthy food… a decent mix. The study lasted for a respectable 10 weeks. Half of the group did not exercise, while the other half exercised 5 times a week for 30 minutes. The group who exercised ended up losing little weight, if any, and their total fat mass only changed by about 1%. This means exactly what I am trying to tell you: unless you have your diet under control, no amount of exercise will optimally give you the results you want.
You could go on an exercise bender by working out 7 days a week for 5 hours a day, but unless you are genetic freak Olympian Josh Phelps, you will just get sick and injured. Besides he eats 12,000 calories a day. Trust me when I say you don’t even want to know what this man is capable of eating in one meal.
How You Can Use This Knowledge to Finally Lose Weight
Apply strict diet principles to lose weight fast, or adopt a healthy lifestyle eating regimen to lose weight slowly. Depending on your goals you can cut fat by dieting like a bodybuilder for a month or two, or you can move straight into a healthy eating phase, which you will need to adhere to for 99% of the rest of your mortal life.
Calculate your average maintenance calorie intake by multiplying your current weight in pounds by 14. If you burn more calories than this number in a day, you will lose weight. If you burn less calories than this number in a day, you will gain weight. Does it get any easier?
Simply take this number and add or subtract 100-200 calories each week based on number of pounds you lost the previous week. If you lost more than 3% of your bodyweight, you should add 100 calories to maintenance. (Ex: if a 200 lb man lost more than 6 lbs.) If you lost 1% of your bodyweight or less, or gained weight, you should subtract 100 from maintenance. (Ex: if a 200 man only lost 1 lb or less.) This way you won’t have to adjust exercise at all, you can simply base your weight loss on dietary changes only. Of course, adding additional exercise will speed up the process, but remember not too lose too much weight at once or you will end up sacrificing precious muscle mass.
Don’t bother justifying eating a whole pizza today by saying, “I will start my serious diet on Monday.” Just start today by considering each piece of food that you put in your mouth. If it’s bad for you, start today by just not eating it. Good luck!

Critical Threshold (CT) for weight loss is a point where weight-loss returns are less than expected based on true investment (not half-baked, pie-in-the-sky investment belief). Investment of what? Time, effort and intake.
Every single person alive has a CT where effort to lose more weight will be exponentially higher than all previous periods of weight loss. It’s as though everything is cooking along nicely, by the numbers, and then BAM, out of nowhere it seems, the progress stalls (a true stall is one that lasts longer than two weeks) and the weight fighter is left scratching his head.
Before I continue I have to shut off all the people reading this who are two weeks into their program cheering me on because they all feel the pain already-not so fast. I said very early, and not on accident, that I’m talking REAL investment of time (output) and clean input (quality food and drink). Most THINK they are working hard when they are not and most THINK they are eating clean when they are not. That universal law has not changed-nothing has in fact. I’m simply bringing to your attention the idea of the CT point in your weight loss journey. You already know it exists. You simply never looked at it like I’m giving it to you here.
The CT point is real. It’s not in your head.
Another interesting facet about the CT is it can change after a first-pass success with weight loss. You also already know this is true. For example, Sally drops from 165 to 125. During her journey she noticed it started getting “really hard” about 135 pounds but she persevered and blasted on past it for the last ten pounds. Those ten were very uncomfortable and required way more activity and less input than what it took to get to 135-seemed very odd to her but she did it. After a few months Sally blossomed back up to about 150 and vowed she had had enough and was gonna do it again, but this time down to 120 so she could maintain about 127 give or take. Sally is smart-she knows that GETTING to 120 isn’t STAYING at 120-the natural bump up will occur. So, she starts at 150 and does great for the first 10 pounds but then BAM, again, she starts to experience her CT. This time it started about 140 rather than 135. Hmmm, that’s odd. Or is it? Actually it’s not odd at all. It’s quite common for the CT point to move up on passes beyond the first or second. In other words, it’s going to be more difficult, earlier, on passes beyond the first or MAYBE the second, to get to the lower goal.
The body is smart. Hormonally and enzymatically it “learns” from past experience. It can adapt sooner once it learns from what it has been put through in the past. This is universally true for every mental and physical endeavor you ask of the body. Think about it. Once you do anything once it’s easier (usually) to do it again. Why? Learning in all regards and adaptation by the body. How long would it take you to ride a bike if you hadn’t ridden one in 10 years?
As I said, hormonally and enzymatically, you have trained your body from past weight loss efforts to respond when it senses starvation or you have crossed the body fat threshold (that point where YOUR body senses body fat is too low even if your body fat is still way too high). The CT isn’t fair or equitable in any way.
For some women the CT point could be when she’s 30 pounds overweight according to every height and weight chart known to man and has just under 30 percent body fat. Is she at goal? In her mind? No way. Her body has a different goal however.
A guy may hit his CT at 18% body fat and 30 pounds overweight. Other women may not hit their CT until they are 9 percent body fat and damn near UNDERweight. These are the ladies who will look at you in almost amazement and “deer in the headlights” with why it’s SO HARD for you and they just don’t see it.
There are guys who don’t hit their CT until 6-7% body fat comes and their reaction to guys who hit their CT at 12, 15 or 18% is one of shock, dismay and disbelief. And yes, the ones who hit their CT way early DO HATE the ones who hit their CT way late. It’s the natural order of things. And to be honest, those who hit their CT way early are allowed to hate the ones who hit their CT way late.
With the help of my nutrition tool called the “Nutrition Analyzer” and my calorie-balancing checkbook called “Lean Account” you can more accurately determine if you have hit your CT. Things will just NOT make sense (assuming you have sense and are sensible about your expectations). Those who have hit their CT will be heard uttering things like “Gee, I haven’t eaten a processed food in weeks, I live on veggies and lean meats, I’m eating 1200 cals a day and exercising 500 mins a week and I haven’t lost any weight in three weeks. Gee, that doesn’t sound right.” See what I mean? It just won’t make sense.
Remember, everyone has a CT. It just varies as to when it’s gonna kick in. When it does you have a few choices:
1. Eat even less
2. Eat Cleaner
3. Exercise even more
4. Some of everything
Before you opt for #1 you should first determine if you are on planet earth with what you are really eating, drinking and splurging with. What you eat, as in the quality of what you eat, can have an impact on total food allowed. Next, look at your macronutrient balance. Are carbs and/or fat still too high? Where are those carbs and fats coming from?
Before you opt for #3 you should determine if you are at a level where overtraining has already occurred or is about to occur if you go higher. For women this activity-overtraining threshold is usually in the 600-800 minutes a week (if sustained for longer than a month or so) range and for guys it’s about one-half to two-thirds that of women. I’m not talking about your newly crowned Gold-medal wearing marathoner next door neighbor. I’m talking about average men and women without the genetics or obsessive drive of a freak.
What is usually best to break through the dreaded CT is to maximize time exercising and burn more calories while doing it. If that is already in order then bring activity up 30 minutes a week until that over-training level is about to be reached. Do this without lowering calories. So, ladies, if you are doing 300 minutes a week and have TRULY hit your CT then do 330 next week, 360 the week after and so on. Continue to increase minutes until you are noticing signs of near overtraining (sleep disturbance, strong achiness, immune system compromised, poor recovery, every one and every thing around you sucks and you pretty much think that everyone but you is an idiot etc.) At that point it’s probably time to hold steady and be careful with your training. Guys, you do the same except move your activity from 150 minutes a week up 30 minutes a week until you are in the 300-400 range, maybe more, with the same near over-training guidelines I have given here and elsewhere.
Once you have truly done the preceding three paragraphs and at least two full weeks have gone by with no weight loss you get to begin reducing calories. “Well by how much Mr. Smarty Pants?” I can already here you asking. Once CT has truly hit it can get silly. Most women will do well in the 1000-1200 calorie range. Most guys in the 1300-1500 calorie range. The big lie kept secret in the magazines and “diet” books though is it is NOT uncommon once the CT has been reached for women to have to dip well under 1000 cals a day. Many need to live in the 700-800 range until their weight goal is reached-some even a bit less. For guys? Contrary to what the hucksters elsewhere will tell you it’s NOT uncommon for guys to have to dip below 1500 calories, with many living in the 1100-1300 calorie range until their goal is reached. Some will have to dip just under 1000 calories to achieve their goal.
Keep something in mind here. When I say “goal” I’m referring to whatever the ultimate, low-body fat for you is. That may be 12 percent for some women. It may be seven percent for other women. It’ll vary. For guys it may be ten percent or five percent. The massive variance on WHEN the CT will hit is matched by the massive variance on what your ultimate, realistic low body fat is.
I must give a cautionary piece of advice for those who do find they need to dip below 1000-1200 calories a day. You MUST supplement with a quality multi-vitamin like The Bridge. You SHOULD supplement with 500-1000mg of extra, separate calcium taken with food. You SHOULD supplement with omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil or a combination of fish and flax oils if you don’t consume 2-3 servings of salmon a week. You should keep your carbohydrate intake to between 30 and 40 percent. Fats should be kept to between 10 and 20 percent. Proteins will make up the rest.
As you can see, no where in this article, did I EVER say you couldn’t achieve the lowest body fat you have ever imagined achieving. You can. There may come a time, however, when you need to re-evaluate what you’ve accomplished, where you are, what your health and lifestyle is like, and what you really want out of those last 10 pounds or whatever. What you will REALLY get by achieving that super low body fat is something only you can define. Achieving your goal is always doable and only you can decide if the cost to benefit ratio makes it worth it.
I hope you have a better understanding of what a REAL stall is, what to do if you believe you truly have stalled, and why your next-door neighbor at your same age, sex, height and weight has little trouble dropping 30 pounds and you seem to stall everytime once you’ve lost 15.
Before I conclude let me caution you one more time against automatically blaming your CT as the reason you are currently stuck. Most times (read that again) it is NOT the CT causing the stall. It’s food quality, food allergies, food addiction, food quantity, alcohol and overall energy balance is out of whack. This means it’s PROBABLY the case for you right now if you are stuck.

Are you tired of trying to figure out the perfect combination to lose weight? Overwhelmed and confused by conflicting information and the never-ending parade of fad diets and magic pills that are going to help you lose 10 pounds in 3 days? With all the information out there, it is nearly impossible to sort through it all and figure out what actually works.

That’s where I come in. I am going to give you 12 straightforward tips that will help you lose weight and get rid of that extra fat. I will simplify all the information that took me over a decade to learn, so that you can make your goals a reality for once and for all.

However, before you even start this journey, you have to WANT it! I am a personal trainer and in my business I have heard every feasible excuse as to why my client CAN’T lose weight. They can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong which usually comes under the heading “making excuses”. I’ve heard every one ranging from “it was the weekend” to “I can’t control myself in the late afternoon” to “I HAVE to have a snack before bed”. I’ve heard them all and the bottom line is you are either committed to losing fat and getting fit or not! Let’s face it—every week there is a weekend and if you blow it during the weekend, that is HALF of your week. Do you realize that? Still wondering why you can’t lose weight? I know this sounds harsh, but the truth is anyone can find a reason NOT to do something and somehow, justify it. You must come to terms with the fact that the only effective way to lose body fat is to put in the effort, nothing else.

That being said, I am going to give you no nonsense, realistic tips on how to do this.

1. Set realistic goals

First and foremost, you need to set realistic, attainable goals. I’m not talking about planning to lose 20 pounds for the wedding in three weeks. That’s not going to happen, atleast not in a healthy capacity that will result in true weight loss. You need to set specific goals with a set time frame and continue to change them as you accomplish each one. For example, plan to lose 1-2 pounds a week for the next month. That means by the end of the month you should have accomplished a weight loss of approximately 8 pounds. Make that your goal and then next month modify it or just continue on that path.

Whatever your goal is, the most important thing is that your goal is attainable so you don’t set yourself up for failure right from the start.

2. Gradual Changes get BIG results

I believe making changes over time is the key to achieving your weight loss goals. If you decide one day you’re going to change everything, you will fail! You may be motivated for a little while, but within a short time, you will feel miserable and deprived and eventually give up. This is the problem with going on a “diet”. It is short lived and whatever you lost, you will ultimately gain back.

It is about a lifestyle change that can be accomplished by making small changes over time. These small changes will bring on big results, as well as become a way of life.

For example:

Week 1: Try cutting out anything “white”, meaning white flour product, white rice and white sugar. Replace white flour products with whole-wheat flour products. Include whole grains and lots of vegetables with meals.

Week 2: Modify your behavior at one specific time, that is particularly difficult for you. For example, if you know you always blow it at dinner, make some changes. I know when I’m sitting at the table with my family, I often grab for seconds just simply because the food is there. So what I try to do now is measure out what I’m going to eat and stop when my plate is empty. I even go as far as clearing my plate from the table. Believe me, it’s difficult to eat when I don’t have a plate or silverware (although my 10 year old son might disagree!). My point is, identify your biggest challenge and make a change that will enable you to gain control over it.  

Week 3: Cut out all sugary/high caloric beverages. These are empty calories that add up. Try water, green tea, etc.

Get the picture? This way by the end of a couple weeks you’ve cut out 10 things without even realizing it. Now you are on your way to eating healthier and losing weight with out feeling deprived because nothing was drastic.

3. DON’T Starve Yourself

The worst thing you could do is decide you want to lose weight and stop eating. You cannot starve yourself and expect to melt the pounds away. I don’t care what common sense says, it does not work! Your body adapts to circumstances and the bottom line is if you suddenly reduce calories, your body goes into starvation mode and hoards the excess calories you’ve already stored in your fat cells. It also slows down your metabolism, which means that when you go off the diet, you will likely gain back all the weight, plus excess weight you wouldn’t have gained had you not gone on the diet in the first place.

4. Eat More to Weigh Less

How can eating more help you lose weight? It’s simple. Our bodies perform much better on a more frequent feeding schedule. Instead of spreading your daily intake over three meals, I am going to tell you to eat 4-6 small meals a day, every 3-4 1/2 hours, which will keep your metabolism charged and help you burn off more calories. The key being SMALL meals. I often hesitate telling people to eat this often, because if you don’t understand portions, eating this often can backfire when you’re trying to lose weight.

A good gauge of how much a portion is, is as follows:

 

The easiest way I know to follow the 4-6 meals a day plan is to eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner and then have a mid morning snack and mid afternoon snack. The meals should be small and packed with high quality, nutrient dense food, including lean protein, fruits and vegetables. I don’t suggest eating before you go to bed, but if you must, try to keep it healthy and try to have it at least two hours before you go to bed.

5. Never Skip Breakfast

The biggest consequence to skipping breakfast or any meal is your metabolism slows down. Your body needs calories to function efficiently and it functions best when it is refueled first thing in the morning. If you don’t, your body will downshift and your metabolism will slow down, as previously mentioned. So, if you are trying to lose weight or even maintain, the last thing you want is a slower metabolism!

6. Write Down EVERYTHING You Eat

At some point in time, I have told most, if not all of my clients, to write down EVERYTHING they put in their mouth. Many of them tried it for a little while, while some couldn’t be bothered. I am now here to tell you, in the struggle to lose weight, picking up a pen might be just as useful as putting down the fork. In fact, a recent study was done showing that people who kept daily food diaries lost twice as much weight or more as those who didn’t keep a tally of their meals.

The reasons for the success are as follows:

 

A free website, I highly recommend, is FitDay.com. I find it extremely user friendly and very eye opening. Each day you must enter exactly what you eat and it actually determines calories, as well as percentage of protein, carbs and fat you’ve consumed during the day. It is not only very interesting to see what you ACTUALLY eat in a day, but also very educational. I think it gives people a real understanding of how they eat, as opposed to how they think they eat. It makes it easy to see where changes need to be made in order to get results.

7. Eat Enough Quality Protein

What I mean by quality protein, is lean protein; chicken breast, turkey breast, fish, eggs, egg whites, etc. Not only does it burn more calories digesting it than carbs or fat, but it also creates satiety so your hunger is satisfied longer.

In addition, protein is a building block for maintaining and building lean muscle and it is important to understand that the more lean muscle you carry, the more calories you burn even while you sleep.

8. Consume Fiber

It is important to consume fiber, as there are numerous benefits, which include lower cholesterol, reduced risk of heart disease and improved absorption of minerals and other nutrients. In addition, fiber also slows down the digestion process, which helps you control your appetite and cravings, as well as it helps you feel more full delaying hunger from one meal to the next.

9. Cut out processed foods

You need to get rid of processed or junk foods, period. In a nutshell, processed food lacks nutrients, causes fat gain and cellulite, weakens the immune system, weakens organ function, raises your risk of cancer, etc. Need I say more?

Be weary of the foods that are labeled, “diet”, “healthy”, “low-fat”, or “fat-free.” If you look at the ingredients you will likely find many that you can’t even pronounce, not to mention, in order to make all those foods “low-fat” or “fat-free”, they must replace the fat with something. That something is SUGAR! The truth is, you’re better of eating some fat, as opposed to all the chemicals and sugar in processed low-fat or fat-free food.

Sugar is poison! Aside from it depressing your immune system, contributing to hyperactivity, depression and anxiety, reducing HDL’s (good cholesterol) and elevating LDL’s (bad cholesterol), as well as numerous other problems, it also contributes to weight gain and obesity. So, if you’re going to do anything today, focus on cutting out sugar. Start paying attention to labels and steer clear of the “fat-free” processed foods.

10. Drink Water

Water is the most important element to total health and fitness. After all, your body is 65-70% water and your muscles are over 70% water. But the best thing about water when it comes to weight loss is its ability to curb your appetite and hunger. I suggest 6-8 8 oz. glasses for the average person, but if you’re trying to lose fat and maximize body leanness, I would consider doubling that. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty, to drink. It means you’ve waited too long.

11. Exercise: Cardio

I can’t stress enough how important it is to get some form of cardio in. If you are currently sedentary or have not exercised in some time, it is important to start off slow. Talk to your doctor and figure out a program that will work for you and try to perform it 3-5 days a week. Walking is a great way to get yourself up and moving so you can start seeing results.

However, if you are already in some sort of exercise routine, I suggest “interval training” which is the most effective way to burn calories and lose fat. Interval training is defined as short, high intensity exercise periods alternated with periods of rest.

An example on a treadmill (individual in good shape) would be as follows:

 

The total workout should be 15-20 minutes in duration. Keep in mind, the key to burning fat is intensity! So based on your individual fitness level, push yourself on the “high” intervals to a subjective 8-9 out of a level of 10 and on the “low” intervals a level of 3-4 out of 10.

12. Exercise: Strength Training

Incorporating some form of resistance training is not only an extremely important factor for weight loss, it has numerous other benefits which include: reduced blood pressure, lower cholesterol, strengthening of bones, as well as it increases calories burned which promotes weight loss. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn. Even while you sleep, muscles are responsible for more than 25% of one’s calorie use. So, in short, an increase in muscle tissue will in turn increase your metabolic rate.

I hope these tips were helpful. If you would like additional information on “interval training” or “resistance training” check out my website at www.NewBeginnings-PersonalTraining.com

Feel free to contact me anytime if you would like further suggestions or workout ideas. Good luck and keep in mind that I am always here to help!

Picture the scene. You’ve spent the last week eating like a sparrow, killing yourself at your local spinning class and saying no to that extra portion of chips that you’d usually gobble up in a second. You even said no to the tray of doughnuts being offered around the office and watched everyone else chomp away as you nibbled on the fruit bowl you spent way too long preparing that morning…So it’s time to step on the bathroom scales and see if all your hard work has paid off. Surely you’ve lost half a stone this week, or at the worst about 4lbs. You take a long, deep breath… one foot on… the other foot on… and the result… half a pound!! Half a bleeding pound?! After two or three “re-weighs” and a “tactical wee” your weight still hasn’t budged! What’s that all about?!You’ve probably heard experts say that hair loss is one of the side effects of crash dieting… what they forget to mention is that it’s usually because it’s been pulled out when your scales don’t tell you what you want to see!These 3 golden rules of weight loss will not only save you from pulling your hair out, but will help to manage your expectations and keep you motivated long enough to reach your weight loss target.1) Aim for 1lb of weight loss per week on average.Most people give up at slimming clubs because they expect too much too soon. You may have seen people lose 7lbs a week on celebrity fit club or in your glossy magazine, but they will have been on a seriously strict diet and done 4 to 5 hours exercise a day… not exactly realistic! If you’ve got a job, a family and a social life, then the most you should expect to lose is 1lb per week on average. Add up all the weeks in the last year you’ve spent dieting, giving up, dieting again then giving up again, then work out how much you’d have lost if you were losing 1lb per week consistently.2) Don’t expect to lose weight every week.Our bodyweight naturally fluctuates 3 – 4lbs a day. Long term weight loss isn’t like a leisurely stroll down a hill, it’s like a really frustrating rollercoaster! If you expect to lose weight every week you’re going to be disappointed… and bald! As a realistic target aim to lose 4lbs every 4 weeks (1lb per week on average). That means you might lose 1lb in the first week, stay the same in the second week, lose half a pound in the third week, then lose 3.5lbs in the fourth week (-1lb, -0lb, -0.5lbs, -3.5lbs = -4lbs over 4 weeks, -1lb per week on average). Or you might lose 2lbs in the first week, gain 1lb in the second week, lose 3lbs in the third week, then stay the same in the fourth week (-2lbs, +1lb, -3lbs, -0lbs = -4lbs over 4 weeks, – 1lb per week average).3) Track your weight loss over time.Although weight bounces up and down week by week, due to water levels, if you look at your weight over time you can see the trend, which tells you how much you are losing on average. Good weight loss should look like a downward rollercoaster. If you use a weight tracker you can see the trend of your weight over time, which is far more motivating that just looking at your weight bobbing up and down week by week. The winners in the weight loss game aren’t the people who crash diet, lose 7lbs a week over two weeks, give up and put it all back on again. It’s the people who lose on average 1lb a week over several weeks and keep it off.