Everywhere you turn you will find somebody selling a weight loss program that offers some magic formula for fast weight loss. The truth is there is no secret formula for losing weight, weight loss is achieved by burning more calories than you consume, nothing more. A healthy lifestyle of proper nutrition and consistent exercise is the only way to successfully lose weight.
The most important thing you need to do if you want to lose weight is to not try to lose weight. Rather than concentrating on losing weight, concern yourself with eating healthy and exercising properly. Far to many people concern themselves with the number on he scale, weigh themselves everyday and then get discouraged when they don’t see the weight coming off immediately. The reality is weight loss takes time, instead of worrying about what the scale says, concentrate on having a healthy lifestyle and the weight loss while follow. However to keep yourself motivated you should weigh yourself once a week, no more frequently than that so that you can see your progress. Even better get out a tape measure and measure yourself, this well give you a more accurate picture of how you’re doing.
Another key to successful weight loss is to eat more often. This sounds counter intuitive, but you are actually better off eating five small meals a day rather than three large meals. Obviously the meals need to be smaller, since you do need to eat fewer calories, and this is easier to do if you eat frequently throughout the day so that you don’t get hungry. It is also important to eat the right kinds of foods, and many people on diets don’t do this. To lose weight it is important to eat a lot of protein, protein builds muscle and satiates your appetite both of which will help with weight loss. It is also important to eat fat, most people on diets go out of their way to avoid fat and this is a mistake. It is important to eat the right kinds of fats, in particular unsaturated fats, as these are essential for the proper functioning of your body. The one thing that you do need to cut down on is sugar. Sugar causes your insulin levels to spike which will cause you to eat more. Above all do not starve yourself, doing this causes your body to start storing fat and slow down your metabolism because it needs to protect you from starving.
The other key to successful weight loss is consistent exercise. You need to do both cardio and resistance exercise on a regular basis, ideally three times a week for each. Most people who are trying to lose weight do cardio exercise which is important because it will help to burn fat. Many people however, do not do resistance training when trying to lose weight. This is a mistake, resistance training builds muscle and speeds up your metabolism. The more muscle you have the more calories you will burn throughout the day, since muscle needs calories.
Losing weight is not the complicated process that the marketers of weight loss programs make out to be. None of these weight loss programs has a secret formula for losing weight, because there is no secret formula. Losing weight is a simple matter of eating right and getting proper exercise.