Clearly the topic 'how to lose weight' is, has been, and always will be a hot topic. Check any mens or womens health magazine and weight loss takes the cover. Nearly every fitness guru has a different take on just what it takes to lose weight and get beach ready. Even with the abundance of information out there, people still struggle to reach their fitness goals. So rather than recommend specific diet or exercise programs, let's discuss the underlying principles of weight loss by which you can judge the validity of specific diet and exercise plans.
Before we discuss weight loss, let's look at where we currently are. Unless you've gained or lost ten pounds in the last couple months, your body is in a state of equilibrium. Your metabolic rate is finely adjusted to your current consumption and exercise habits, and will continue at its current rate unless you change one of those two factors. Increasing your activity level increases your body's energy needs, reducing your caloric intake decreases the amount of energy you're providing from food. Either one of these changes results in a higher metabolism to calorie intake ratio. In such a state, there is only one place for your body to acquire the energy it needs to meet the deficit...your body fat.
I'm not a big fan of starvation diets, and unfortunately that is one of the most frequent methods by which people try to lose weight. This usually has good initial results, but as soon as the dieter breaks down and reverts to a more comfortable diet, their body puts fat back on even faster. So it's important to create an intelligent plan for dieting, one that doesn't feel like you're struggle against yourself. As a general rule, most of us know what we should not eat. We feel guilty about it afterwards. If you can limit your consumption of those foods to one or two days per week, you'll have an easier time sticking to your diet the rest of the week, knowing you'll have two days at least to eat what you like. Meals should be small and eaten more frequently, every few hours, 6 to 8 times per day. The best things for your body are natural foods, fruits, veggies, lean meats and fish. A diet of these things could be consistently delicious and shed the fat at the same time. But eating a lot of fruit and veggies will tend to be a drastic reduction in your caloric intake, and to keep your body from adjusting to that, having one or two binge days a week will actually help, not hinder your diet. It will keep your metabolism high, and keep your body from holding on to excess body fat for fear of starvation.
If we're starting from the outside in, with exercise, we have just as many myths to dispel. Long cardio sessions are not the fastest ways to lose fat. A combination of weightlifting and interval training throughout the week will shed the pounds much faster than long cardio sessions. The most important elements for both are briefness and intensity. Thirty minutes or less per session is ideal, utilizing short rest periods between working sets and sticking to compound movements which use multiple muscle groups. This may actually increase your weight (lean muscle mass) while decreasing your body fat. Interval training is anything that combines aerobic and anaerobic activities like jogging and sprinting together. A routine might look like a five minute job, into a one minute sprint, into a two minute job, back into a one minute sprint. This sprint-jog grouping could be considered one set, and completing 3 to 5 sets depending on skill level a few days per week is all you need to trim down.
Now on to the quickly part of how to lose weight quickly. Either of the methods above puts your body in a better energy use to energy consumption ratio and will allow you to make progress in the quest for fitness. Combining the two together however will shock your body into becoming a fat burning machine. A long term diet plan combined with a training regimen which gradually increases in intensity is the quickest path to weight loss. Consult a personal trainer or dietitian before undergoing any dramatic changes in workout or diet.
Author Resource:-
Tom Fazio is an American personal fitness trainer and self defense instructor in Shanghai, where he teaches clients how to get rid of belly fat the healthy way, how to build muscle efficiently and smartly, and how to protect themselves in dangerous situations. He was recently featured in Fitness Shanghai, a Shanghai fitness webzine.
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