You don’t have to go on a crash diet in order to lose weight at a fast pace. There are plenty of healthy ways to losing weight, and using any of the strategies below should get you to lose an impressive amount of weight loss – fast!
There is no need to employ all ten strategies at once – simply start with the one that you’re most comfortable with and then slow add additional changes into your life – until it seems effortless. Remember, it’s not about making the right choice, but making a choice and then making it right by sticking with it and not giving up if things don’t drastically change overnight. As the saying goes, it takes 21 days to form a habit and 90 days to make it a lifestyle. So, go ahead, pick one and let’s get started.
1. Eat 3 Solid Meals and 2 Snacks a Day
If you tend to skip breakfast, or have a tendency to overdo it at lunch or dinner, switching to 3 meals a day with two snacks will make all the difference. Time your snacks so that they see you through from breakfast to lunch, and from lunch to dinner. Resist the urge to eat after you’ve had dinner, as this can not only disrupt your sleep, but can be a problem for your digestive system as well.
You’ll find that many diet programs have you getting into the idea of eating multiple meals per day and smaller sizes at each, but really it’s just a matter of being strategic and making sure that you don’t run into a situation where you’re super hungry and haven’t planned out your next meal or snack and then grab anything just to appease your stomach.
2. Drink More Water
It’s easy to get dehydrated, and many of us are and don’t even realize it. Simply drinking more water has been shown to be an effective means of weight loss for many, as it can curb your hunger, and many times the signal for thirst is confused for hunger, so keeping a bottle of water nearby can be very helpful.
It’s also going to help your body flush toxins and other waste from your system, keeping your liver and your kidneys properly engaged. Being well hydrated also means you’ll have improved digestion, as your digestive organs suffer as well from a state of dehydration.
3. Invest in a Fitness Tracker
Getting an objective look at how much or how little you move per day can be the wake up call needed to spur on more activity. Today’s fitness trackers can record all sorts of data, including how many steps you take, how many stairs you take, and even how well you’re sleeping at night. this information is graphed and presented to you in easy to understand charts so that you can easily determine how good of a day or week you’ve had. You get instant gratification from trying to outdo your best performance, and some of the trackers out there actually make it into a game, translating your data into how high up a mountain you would have climbed.
4. Load Your Plate with Superfoods
Check out our list of superfoods and start adding more and more of them to your daily meals. They are all designed to give your body all of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs, while keeping your fat and calories down so that you can feel energized and light, rather than sluggish and heavy. The upside to eating these types of foods is that they’re helping you live a longer, happier life, as well as the short term benefit of a slimmer waistline and increased energy. The neat trick of filling your plate with good foods is that they’re bumping bad foods out of the picture.
5. Start Playing a Sport
It’s hard to get the motivation to exercise and get active, and getting involved in a sport makes it more fun, and also adds some accountability if you play a team sport or find a buddy to play with. It can be most any sport really, but of course you’ll want to pick one that has you moving around a lot if you plan on losing 3 pounds a week until you reach your goal weight. When you have a race coming up, or a game coming up, it’s easier to motivate yourself to get practicing or get training, rather than just finding the individual motivation to go for a run or to go to the gym.
6. Cut Out Sugar
Cutting out sugar can be hard for many because it is so prevalent in our society. Many sugary candies are labeled fat free, which is technically true, except that the body turns that excess sugar into fat, so in essence sugar is making you fat, and is also wreaking havoc on your blood glucose levels, which can lead to complications if left unchecked. You don’t have to go completely off sugar forever, but going cold turkey is the best way to eradicate it from your life, lose weight effectively, and kick any cravings you have. Once you reach the weight you want you can reintroduce it into your diet in small amounts if you find that you even want it anymore.
7. Walk One Hour Every Day
If you change nothing else in your lifestyle and simply start walking for an hour per day, you’ll see your weight reach its natural healthy level in no time at all. This doesn’t have to be a brisk walk either, you can simply go at a relaxing pace, but be sure you go for an hour. Take your walk outdoors in the sunshine for best results, although a treadmill can be used on rainy days. This is a great time to listen to audiobooks, or your favorite tunes to feel good, get your body moving, all in a low impact exercise that’s the most natural in the world.
8. Start Doing Yoga
Yoga is a great exercise for those that want to increase the mobility in their life, achieve an inner state of joy, and also to work up a sweat. You are stretching out the body, increasing flexibility, and allowing it to perform better, all in one activity. You can start off with whichever poses you find that you’re able to do, and work your way up to more complicated ones. It’s something you can practice just about anywhere, and the combination of stretching, strength training, and cardio is sure to help you shed the pounds. The nice part about yoga is that it’s very natural, so you’re not forcing the body to do things it wasn’t meant to do.
9. Cut Off Junk Food and Fast Food
It’s really hard to get rid of the junk food that surrounds us each day, but breaking this habit can do wonders for your health and wellbeing and is sure to show dividends when you do your weekly weigh-in. Not only is there no nutritional benefit from eating junk food, hence the name, but it also makes you feel lethargic and makes you less likely to engage in any sort of exercise. By cooking yourself real food you are able to have quality control over what is going into your body, and you’ll be cutting out things like trans fat, partially hydrogenated oils, MSG, and other nasties that can really make a mess of your internal organs, and the way you feel overall.
10. Build Lean Muscle
Building lean muscle is a way to increase your metabolism so you’re burning more calories each day, which in essence will help you lose the pounds. Be aware that when you start shifting your body structure so that it has less fat, and more muscle, you might not see much of a difference on the scale. When losing pounds you want to make sure that you’re tracking the right pounds, as a pound of muscle gained in exchange for losing a pound of fat will make a huge difference to your health, while showing no change on the scale. Get a scale that also measures your body fat percentage so that you can get an accurate reading on the progress you’re making.
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