How to lose weight - Your ultimate guide on how to lose weight
Learning how to lose weight is rather straight forward once you do a little research and learn the do's and dont's of losing weight. Lucky for you i have compiled a complete guide on how to lose weight naturally and safely so sit back, read through it and you'll know everything there is to know about losing weight in a matter of minutes. First things first, you will need to calculate your bodys daily calorie maintenance level. This is the amount of calories you can eat within a day without putting on any weight but at the same time not losing any weight. Use this Calorie calculator to work it out or alternatively take your bodyweight in pounds and times it by 14. Both of these methods should give you a rough estimate as to what your calorie maintenance level is and should be reasonably similar.
How to lose weight - Finding the number of calories for weight loss
Your next job will be to subtract 500 from this number. This will then give you the total number of calories you need to be consuming on a day to day basis to lose at least 1 pound of body fat a week. If you consider yourself to be fairly active during a normal week you can up the number you times your weight by to say 15 or 16 depending how active you think you are. The reason for this is because if you are active throughout the day, then your body is going to be burning additional calories allowing you to eat slightly more than you normally would. We’ll discuss combining exercise and diet later on in this article. The important thing to remember is that if your eating under your body's maintenance level you will lose weight. I told you that learning how to lose weight was incredibly easy didnt I? Eating under your bodys maintenance level of calories is the number one rule of losing weight so if your confused with all the different types of diets out there these days just make up a diet of your own that allows you to eat less calories than your body burns off. Also known as a calorie controlled diet.
How to lose weight - Planning your diet
You now need to plan your diet and put together a list of healthy nutritious meals that you are going to eat throughout the course of your weight loss diet. It is definitely worth planning your diet so that it fits in with your everyday routines as we all know that working hours such as 9 to 5 can play havoc with our eating habits especially when it comes to losing weight. It is therefore important to plan your meals and the times of your meals for one typical working day. Remember to count the number of calories in each meal and plan your meals so that you are eating below your maintenance level of calories through healthy nutritous foods such as lean sources of proteins, complex carbs such as wholemeal pasta and brown rice, fruits, vegetables and some healthy fats.
If you get any breaks at work take full advantage and consume a small meal/snack if you are hungry. You should bear in mind that when learning how to lose weight, starving yourself is not a part of it. Starving yourself will eventually lead to you quitting your diet and putting on even more weight than you originally started with. Stick to eating 4-6 small meals or snacks throughout the day and you will lose weight if you’re eating under your body’s maintenance level of calories. There shouldn’t be many difficulties when it comes to planning breakfast, lunch and an evening meal but the chances are that you are still going to be hungry during your working hours. A great way to get around this is to prepare your food in advance so you are not tempted to snack on unhealthy junk food. Preparation is often the key to losing weight.
How to lose weight - The first week
Now you know how to lose weight and have a rough idea of both your maintenance level and weight loss level of calories its time to weigh yourself. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning and take a note of your weight. Always weigh yourself first thing in the morning once a week on the same day. This will help you measure your progress more accurately and show you whether or not you are losing weight, maintaining it or even putting it on. You are now ready to begin your weight loss diet. The first week of sticking to your diet and eating more healthy can prove a strange one but dont get discouraged. Chances are you might run into a few unexpected problems concerning your diet such as unexpected changes to your meals or meal times. Maybe problems at work lead to you eating at different times than planned or maybe you forgot to bring and prepare food with you. Try not to worry about this. The first week is generally used as a practice week where you learn to get into a proper routine and discover which foods you can actually stomach whilst on your weight loss diet. The first week of trial and error can lead to a successful and consistant weight loss plan in the future and will eventually help you realise how easy losing weight really is. Just remember, as long as your consistant with your diet and do not starve yourself there are no limits as to how much weight you can lose!
How to lose weight - Keep a food journal
During your first week or two of losing weight, it can be a good idea to keep a food journal. A food journal is where you note down the meals you've eaten throughout the course of each day. The power of a food journal should not be underestimated when it comes to losing weight as it shows people what they are actually eating each day instead of what they think they are eating. A lot of the time people underestimate what they are eating or even drinking and wonder why they are not losing weight at a faster rate. Food journals will help correct this. A common mistake made by people in their diets is not actually including what they drink towards their days worth of calories. Drinks have calories in too and will need to be counted if consumed. Numerous cups of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, sugary drinks, alcohol or even orange squash all add additional calories to your diet so bear this in mind.
How to lose weight - The end of the first week
Once the first week of your diet is over with, you should then weigh yourself to see how much weight you have lost (hopefully). Remember, weigh yourself at the same time of your previous weigh in (first thing in the morning) and on the same day. If you first weighed yourself on Monday morning then your next weigh in should be on the following Monday morning. It’s important to point out that you should not always measure your success by the scales as the scales can be wrong. Weighing scales do not take into consideration weight gained in muscle, water retention or bloating. These can all potentially affect your results so don’t get disheartened if the scales don’t move some weeks. If the number on the scales has stayed the same after your first week of dieting (very unlikely) then we can safely say that you’re going to need to subtract a few more calories from your diet. Try Subtracting another 200 calories from your current level of calories and consume this amount for the following week. Chances are that in the first week of your diet you would have lost more weight than expected. This is totally normal and you should keep in mind that you will not lose as much weight as this every week. To ensure your losing weight safely you should stick to losing 1-2 pounds a week. Anything more than 2 pounds a week (excluding your first week) is likely to be muscle tissue and not fat so keep the calories at a sensible level and don’t starve yourself!
The reason for losing more weight during the first week or two of your diet is because your body is not use to consuming such a low number of calories, it therefore loses a lot of water weight. Bloating is also reduced due to the smaller portions of food you are now consuming. If the amount of weight lost is unexpectedly high (say more than 4 or 5 pounds) you haven't consumed enough calories. Continually doing this will only hinder your progress later on in your diet as your metabolism (the rate in which your body burns calories) will quickly begin to drop resulting in your body burning less calories. This will make it harder and harder for you to lose weight overtime which is not what you want. Food cravings are likely to get more frequent and motivation will slowly decline. Ensure you feed your body enough calories to feel satisfied. Losing 1-2 pounds a week is a much more sensible approach when it comes to losing weight. Going about your business this way should ensure cravings are kept to a minimum, you feel reasonably full throughout the day and the motivation is still there to be consistent with your weight loss diet.
How to lose weight - How can i speed weight loss up?
Speeding the rate at which you lose weight can be possible with the use of one word and that is cardio. Cardio does wonders for fat loss and can help you lose weight at a faster rate when performed correctly. Cardio will burn calories and raise your metabolism afterwards helping you burn additional calories when at rest (doing nothing). When looking to incorporate cardio into your routine to help lose weight, start off gradually by exercising 2-3 times a week. The duration of your workouts should last anywhere between 20-60 minutes depending on your current fitness levels. If your new to cardio dont worry about it. Choose one of the different types of cardio you wish to perform and see how long you can last. Even if you struggle to last 10 minutes it doesnt matter, cardio will get easier the more you do it and can get strangely addictive once you start seeing results so stick with it. The duration of your workouts will increase naturally the more sessions you have so never be embarassed performing cardio if it is going to help you lose weight and allow you to reach your goals. Bizarrely enough you will probably begin to enjoy cardio once you get use to it.
How to lose weight - Maintaining muscle when losing weight
Maintaining muscle when losing weight can be tricky for some as the body is likely to burn off some muscle as well as fat. This usually happens when calories have been lowered for pro-longed periods of time but can also be caused by different body types and genetics. Everybody is different and their body will react in a different way than others do. Unfortunately this is beyond our control but doesnt mean we cant maintain the majority of muscle we have whilst burning off unwanted body fat. When losing weight you are constantly in a calorie deficit which means your body is taking in less calories than it needs to maintain what it has. Therefore the body reacts by burning fat or muscle tissue as energy. The two most effective ways of keeping your body from burning off muscle tissue as opposed to fat is to not drastically limit your calorie intake. Drastically limiting your calorie intake may work for the first week or two but after that your body will adapt and look to hold onto its fat stores as it gradually goes into starvation mode. Your body therefore holds onto what it has as it doesnt know when sufficient nutrients will next be available. As a result it will burn a larger percentage of muscle tissue for energy instead of fat.
Another way to prevent losing muscle mass it to actually participate in some form of weight lifting. Set yourself up a basic or more advanced weight lifting routine depending on your experience and fitness levels and carry it out at least 3 times a week. When designing your lifting routine you have two choices. You can either use a full body workout or a split. A full body workout will briefly work the majority of your muscles in one workout using less volume. A split on the other hand will focus on one or two (at the most) muscle groups per workout using more volume. For example you may train chest and triceps on the monday, back and biceps on the wednesday and shoulders and legs on the friday. This is a classic example of a split. Weight training should always be incorporated into a persons weight loss routine as it helps keep body composition in check whilst maintaining as much muscle as possible. Weight training can be tough and your body is forced to work extra hard during each session burning calories in the process. Not only this but weight training raises your metabolism for hours after your workout helping you burn more calories throughout the day. This all helps to lose weight and will actually make you stronger in the process if you are new to the world of weight lifting.
You have now learnt how to lose weight safely and effectively by keeping track of calories and not starving yourself. Take a look at. Weight Loss - The Basics for additional tips on losing weight that may not have been mentioned in this article.
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