15 Simple Ways To Lose Weight Fast

December 15, 2010 by  
Filed under Healthy Eating

Want to lose weight fast? It can be easy to say goodbye to 10 pounds of unwanted fat with these simple diet tips. Just pay attention to what you eat and be sure to have good tasting, fresh and healthy food including snacks, fill up on vegetables and keep your taste buds happy with fruit.

No need to make sacrifices! Just follow these simple guidelines to lose your first 10 pounds, last 10 pounds or give your weight loss program a boost when it seems to have puttered to a halt. This is a balanced and flexible plan that you can use for as long as you want.

1. Keep a note of everything that you eat and drink. You do not need to estimate calories. Just write down what it was that you had and the approximate quantity. You will find that making yourself more aware of what you’re eating helps you to plan healthy meals and snacks.

2. Halve your intake of all pure or added fats. This means using half as much butter or spread on your bread, toast, muffins and potatoes; half the usual amount of mayonnaise or sauce on your salad; and half the oil in the frypan every time.

3. Limit treats containing sugar to three times per week. This includes chocolate, ice cream, desserts, cake, pastries, cookies, etc. (my hardest to give up)

4. Include a lower fat source of protein at most meals: chicken, fish, beans, cottage cheese or low fat yogurt. Have eggs, nuts and red meat occasionally but not every day.

5. Plan at least one lunch and dinner every week without meat or cheese. Build those meals around whole grains, vegetables and beans to increase fiber and reduce fat.

6. Reduce the fat content in your milk products. If you are currently drinking whole milk, reduce to 2% fat. From 2% reduce to 1%. Choose lower fat cheese and yogurt. When you buy yogurt, also check that it does not contain sugar.

7. Have at least two servings of fruit every day. This can be for dessert or snacks. Choose fruit that is in season.

8. Drink water instead of sodas, juices, milky drinks or alcohol. Avoid diet soda – the sweet taste only encourages you to crave sugar. Hot water with a slice of lemon can be very refreshing in the morning.

9. Include at least two servings of vegetables at lunch and dinner. If you are getting hungry, have more.

10. Eat slowly. The body is slow to register when you are full and it is easy to eat too much if you are racing through your meals.

11. Grated carrot makes a great snack. You will find that a grated carrot is much more filling than a whole carrot. Strange but true.

12. Use whole grains wherever possible. The fiber will give you a fuller feeling and also help your digestion.

13. Choose food that you can chew. Again this will increase your fiber intake, and the act of chewing will make you feel more satisfied too. This means eating fruit instead of drinking juice. If you have soup, make sure it is chunky.

14. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. Plan your shopping too – make a list of what you need and stick to it. If you just grab something when you are feeling hungry, you will probably choose high calorie food.

15. Always switch off the TV when you eat. That includes snacks as well as meals. Studies have proved that we eat larger portions sitting in front of the TV, probably because we are much less aware of what we are eating. When you eat, only eat if you want to lose weight fast.

Proper Eating

September 24, 2009 by  
Filed under Featured, Healthy Eating

Many people feel that in order to achieve maximum weight loss that they need to starve themselves.  The feelings of hunger actually make some imagine that they are losing weight.  This is a common mistake made by many who are new at trying to get fit through weight loss.  While you certainly do not want to eat huge meals, you don’t have to starve yourself either to maximize your weight loss.

When you force yourself to go hungry, you will actually be doing more harm to your body than if you simply ate normally but added exercise to your plan.  The reason for this is that when the body is starving, it will start getting the nutrients it needs from your muscles.  You will be losing fat yes, but you will also lose muscle mass as well.  The body is a living organism that wants to survive and it will do what it has to when it feels threatened by hunger including feeding on itself.  This is why many starvation diets are so dangerous to the dieter.

To increase your chances at successful weight loss, you should actually be eating more meals in a day.  This may sound silly.  You should eat less to lose weight, right?  Wrong, you will actually be eating less, but you will space these meals out during the day.

When you eat six small meals, you will do more to increase your metabolic rate than eating three large meals a day.  Your body will not feel hungry and will not feel the need to find sustenance elsewhere and you will burn more calories.

You should eat six small and healthy meals to maximize weight loss because when you force yourself to eat three times a day, you will have a tendency to eat more at each of these meals or gorge yourself.  Gorging yourself is not good for weight loss as you will not be able to lose those pounds as effectively as when you spread them out over an entire day.  Plus, you will feel more comfortable and have more energy to work out when you are not feeling starved.

Fat Burning Tips

September 24, 2009 by  
Filed under Healthy Eating

There are many ways you can have successful weight loss.  If you are trying to lose weight fast, you may wonder how you can burn your fat at a higher rate.

The best way to do this is to start exercising more.  Sure, there are many pills and fad diets that offer fast fat burning for weight loss, but these are fly by night tricks and in the long run, they are either unhealthy or do not work over a period of time.  You end up gaining back more weight than you had before you went on a weight loss regimen in the first place.  To lose weight it is really important to change your eating habits and not rely on fad diets or diet pills that offer more than they can actually do.

If you start eating six small meals a day instead of eating three large meals, you will burn fat faster as your metabolism will increase.  An increase in metabolism means that your body is burning the fat quicker and processing the food faster so you do not gain as much weight from the foods you consume.  These meals should be healthy.

You should never eat foods that are bad for you like fried foods or fatty foods.  Stick with lean meats, poultry with the skin removed and fish.  Add a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits to your diet as well.  Many of the common fresh vegetables contain proteins that help to burn fat and add muscle mass to your body.

Finally, you need to make sure that you are exercising along with your diet for weight loss at least three times a week in order to burn fat.  You can work out more, but you must at least have a half an hour of aerobic or weight lifting workouts in the week for fast fat burning.

Not only is this good for burning fat, but it is also great for building muscle and help to strengthen your heart.   Your heart is, after all, a muscle and needs to be taken care of more than any other part of your body.