Like the rest of us if your goal is to lose a substantial amount of body fat as fast as possible, you need an effective yet simple plan to follow. I have put together 10 dynamite tips to help you achieve you fat loss goals.
Your weight reflects your total calorie intake, the amount you exercise, and your metabolic rate, but the most important part of the equation by far is the composition of the food you eat. Here are some tips.
Reduce your carbohydrates. It is almost impossible to lose weight and keep it off without eating substantially fewer carbohydrates and particularly those high on the GIycemic index chart. The more processed the carbohydrate the higher the GI. White bread, cakes, candy, chocolate, biscuits, soda are all high GI. And the bad news is that eating high GI carbohydrates stimulates that appetite for more of the same. Eating a low-carbohydrate, low-GI diet will help you control your appetite and decrease cravings.
Now when we eat low GI foods like brown rice, wholemeal pasta, full grain breads your body can’t digest it quickly and the insulin response is delayed or even halted. The sugars enter the bloodstream slowly and are consumed as energy. Your energy levels stay constant, your blood levels of sugar stay steady and you don’t feel perpetually hungry and put on loads of weight as a result. Try to keep your carbohydrate intake under one-sixth of your overall calories and increase the number of low GI foods you eat and eliminate the high GI foods. Candy, cakes, biscuits, sugar in coffee and soda drinks are out.
Reduce fats but don’t get too paranoid about this. Although high-fat foods are more calorically dense — 9 calories per gram versus 4 for carbohydrates and protein there is no real science behind the desperate attempts to reduce fat consumption. The more low fat foods we have introduced over the past decade, the fatter we have become! Also be very wary of low fat foods which are often packed with salt and sugar to replace the flavor that fat imparts.
Eat vegetables. Really focus on foods that have low caloric density (that is, low in calories but high in weight). The ideal category: low-starch vegetables, which have a low GIycemic index and are rich in valuable nutrients of all kinds, high in fiber, and filling.
The more fiber the better. Most people do not consume enough fiber in their diet. Soluble fiber protects your heart and insoluble fiber protects your digestive tract. Fiber makes you feel fuller sooner and reduces the tendency to overeat. The recommended amount of fiber is 25 grams a day but in undeveloped countries people eat three and four times this amount and diseases such as bowel cancer are rare. Fiber is king.
Introduce your new diet and weight loss program steadily rather than rapidly. You gained weight over a long time frame and you should aim to remove it steadily rather than dramatically. Lose weight too fast and you end up with folds of skin everywhere like a Sha Pei dog, plus your energy levels will go through the floor. Your metabolism will crash and you will certainly do yourself more harm than good. The ideal is a long term sustainable lifestyle “sea change” which will bring you to your goals over a sensible time frame.
Your goal should be a healthy lifestyle and a new healthy you. This means not just diet but also attitude. If you are going to lose weight, the gtoal is to attractive at the end of the process, not thin, unhealthy and unattractive. Try for fresh, slim and attractiove with a real appreciation of yourself and your own value as a person. We are looking for long term goals hers, not just the next six weeks.
Leave desperation at the door. Losing weight might well be important to you, but you gained the weight slowly and you can’t expect to lose it quickly. At the very least there is some work you have to do on yourself before this is all going to come together. A new lifestyle with a better diet, good exercise habits and an improved attitude to yourself as a person will lead to weight loss. It may even take a little longer, but this is for the rest of your life, not just tomorrow. With htis new lifestyle you just won’t ever fall off the wagon and go backwards.
Your weight loss will vary week to week depending on the diet you are on and, if you are a women, on the time of the month. Hormones play a part here. As you get further into your exercise program you will build up muscle which weighs more than fat. You might be disappointed to find you only lost 2 pounds one week but also realize your waist measurement dropped two inches. This is why it is important to take a long term view. You are travelling in the right direction. Stick with the program and you will arrive at your destination.
Eat. Starvation diets don’t work. When we starve ourselves our survival mechanisms kick in the the stressor known as starvation makes the body go into self-preservation mode. Your body then stores every calorie it sees and you become lethargic as your metabolism slows down and weight loss becomes impossible. Food is your friend; just make sure it’s the right kind of food.
Eat breakfast. And a good breakfast at that. If you start the day with a good substantial breakfast containing whole grains, proteins and fats like porridge, whole wheat bread, even bacon (drained after cooking) and eggs, you won’t feel hungry until lunch. No breakfast sets you up for the munchies at morning tea and I guarantee you will eat junk and you will gain weight. Don’t get hung up on cholesterol in eggs by the way. There is no good science is saying eggs raise your cholesterol levels. This is looking more and more like another food myth.
Any effective weight loss program must include a good exercise program. Without exercise you are doomed to failure. Exercise both tones the body and burns the fat, plus it helps moderate the appetite. Fit people eat less than fat people because their physiology is changed by exercise. They stay slim because they exercise, not just because of a few calories they burn. I also like a program that includes a meal planner because it removes so much guess work from preparing healthy meals.
The main thing is to find a good program and stick to it. The rewards go beyond just getting thin. You will have more self confidence, feel better in yourself, your sex life will improve (guaranteed) and you will gain both self respect and the admiration of others. And what price can you put on that?
Tags: Weight Loss
