If you want to lose weight and keep it off, the very first point you have to understand is that crash or fad diets are very rarely going to work. They may help you lose weight in the short term, but aside from often being unhealthy and potentially damaging to your body, as soon as you come off them, you're likely to put all of the weight you lost back on again.
However, if you've got a few weeks to lose weight, there are 7 steps you can take that will help you shave an inch or two of your waist.
1. Cut out alcohol completely - if you're a regular drinker, it's likely that by stopping drinking alcohol you'll notice a distinct difference in your weight within a matter of days.
And remember, this means all alcohol - clear spirits might have a lot less calories than beer or lager, but calories are calories.
2. Lower your carb intake - using a very basic explanation, carbohydrates are the food group that remain in your body and react with other foods to help store and conserve energy for use at a later time.
If you're not using this energy in the form of exercise, however, you'll soon notice you're piling the pounds.
You don't have to cut out carbs all together - in fact, it's not recommended that you do - just switch to a wholegrain variety if possible and reduce the amount you eat on a daily basis.
3. Trans fats are a no-no - it's impossible to say just how bad trans fats are here, so let's just go on the basic rule that you need to stop eating them if you're on any type of healthy living programme.
One of the most common culprits of trans fats is margarine. If you're going to have something on your bread, use a thin layer of unsalted butter or some extra light mayonnaise instead.
4. Eat 3 substantial meals throughout the day - we're not talking about feasts, but you need to make sure that you're eating 3 well balanced meals during the day. The reason behind this is that if you break them up into 5 hour slots (i.e., 8.00am, 1.00pm and 6.00pm), you're less likely to feel hungry and you're body's metabolism will keep ticking over.
5. Keep up with the snacks - stay away from chocolate and crisps, but in between meals try and have at least one snack of fresh fruit, vegetables or a low fat yoghurt. You might not feel hungry, but it will keep your metabolic rate high, meaning your food will be processed quicker and won't stay in your body as fat.
6. Never skip breakfast - if you have to skip one meal a day, make sure it isn't breakfast. Whilst not everyone is ready to eat a meal first thing in the morning, you'll find that if you do, you'll not only have increased energy throughout the first half of the day, but you're less likely to be hungry, which means it's unlikely you'll pick at food or eat unhealthily.
7. Work out - no matter if you're attending Birmingham gyms daily or doing your own work out session at home, you need to carry out some basic cardio exercises to help with your weight loss. Eating a well-balanced diet is great for losing weight, but by working out as well, you'll find you lose weight a lot quicker.
Author Resource:-
For more information about Birmingham gyms, visit the Fitness First website.
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