Here’s the thing about weight loss. We all want to loose weight fast. But, even though it seems like those extra pounds appeared overnight, more than likely, they took awhile to find their way to your frame. But, nobody wants “slow weight loss”, even though we all know that if it took time to gain weight, it’ll take time to loose it. Yet, speeding up weight loss can be unhealthy – so, if you are looking to loose weight fast, how do you do it safely? Here’s some ways to loose weight fast – and do it safely.
Skip the fad diets.
Fad diets don’t work. Yes, you may loose a few pounds quickly, but that is more than likely due to some water loss. Plus, the worst part about a diet – is it’s almost impossible to stay on one for the long term. Once you stop the diet, the weight comes back!
But, you can loose 3 or more pounds per week at home, safely, and do it with a healthy meal plan with you can stick to – and keep off those pounds once you’ve lost them! Here’s a simple rule to keep in mind. If you burn 500 more calories than you eat every day for a week, you should lose about 1-2 pounds. If you want to loose weight faster than that, you need to eat less and exercise more. For instance, if you take in 1,050 to 1,200 calories a day, and exercise for one hour per day, you could lose 3-5 pounds in the first week, or more if you weigh more than 250 pounds. It’s very important not to cut calories any further — that’s dangerous.
Make sure what you’re eating is healthy.
Reducing sodium is always a good thing. Keep in mind that when you cut back on salt, you’ll loose some weight from fluid retention. So, don’t be surprised if you see an initial drop of 5 lbs, then a plateau after that. Keep up with a healthy diet plan and increase your exercise level and you’ll keep loosing pounds – even if it’s not like that initial 5 lb. drop.
Up the amount of protein in your diet, and cut back on starches / carbohydrates. Your body processes these into sugar very easily. But your body has to work at processing protein. As you keep stepping up your exercise program, your body needs protein to rebuild and grow muscle tissue. But, protein is also requires much more energy to process than carbs. So, a higher protein diet can actually help you burn calories as well! For rapid weight loss, try to focusing on fruits, veggies, egg whites, soy products, skinless poultry breasts, fish, shellfish, nonfat dairy foods, and 95% lean meat.
Keep a food journal.
Keeping track of what you ate, how much, can help you stay on track, and avoid binge eating that might sabotage your overall results. And, if you’re hungry during the day, make sure you’re not dehydrated. Especially in a state like Arizona, what seems like hunger pains may really be your body needing water. Making sure you stay hydrated not only helps you avoid hunger pains, that water in your stomach can also help you feel “satisfied”. Also, keep tempting foods out of your home. Try substituting them with foods like vegetables (carrots, celery, etc) to munch on when you do need a snack. That fiber in fresh vegetables can not only help keep away hunger pains, but veggies like celery are mostly water, so you won’t be packing in extra calories.
Exercise to burn calories.
If the secret to weight loss is to burn more calories than you take in, having a good exercise regime can burn calories. Don’t stop at just doing cardio. You need to do weight training as well. Cardio helps burn calories, like a good walk or run, or using a treadmill, elliptical, or exercise bike. But doing strength training also helps to build muscle (giving you extra endurance for your cardio workouts) and muscle requires fuel in the form of calories – more muscle means more calories burned! To burn the most fat, try to break a sweat after your warm-up and keep sweating for the entire hour. If you’re not currently exercising, make sure you talk to your doctor first, especially if you have any health conditions.
Don’t starve yourself – and don’t go below eating 1,200 calories per day.
Cutting calories below 1,050-1,200 per day is counterproductive, because you need strong muscles to be able to exercise effectively. When you eat too few calories, you lose fat as well as muscle, which is the worst thing you could do because it slows your metabolism and makes it more difficult to increase exercise intensity or duration. So, if you don’t have enough energy to workout, you may want to actually up your food intake a bit to make sure you have enough energy to get in a good workout!
At Fitness 4 Home Superstore, we can help you find the best home fitness equipment for not only loosing weight, but building a healthy fitness lifestyle. Find out how at at any of our 3 locations – our Scottsdale Superstore, Camelback Superstore, or I-10 Superstore.
