I've decided to share 10 amazing weight loss secrets with you! If you can master the following 10 things you will be well on your way to your weight loss goals, in no time at all. Read, learn and then take these words and turn them into actions. Actions that will help you achieve your ideal body weight. You can thank me after.
1. Calorie Consumption - Just this once I want you to forget about what foods you are eating, when you are eating and why you are eating. I want you to realize that weight loss comes down to one simple formula which is calories consumed vs calories burned. To lose weight efficiently your body needs to be burning more calories daily than you are consuming. The average adult female needs a minimum of 1,200 calories a day just for regular human bodily functions, where as the average male needs roughly 1,500 calories. Depending on the amount of activity, physical labour and exercise in a day, these numbers can be slightly higher. But generally a healthy weight loss diet for the average female would be between 1200-1500 calories daily and 1500-1800 for the average male.
2. Calorie Burn - To lose weight you need to be burning more calories throughout the day than you are consuming. Sitting around all day doing nothing burns very little calories. Getting out and being active through sports, activities, hobbies, physical labour and exercise is what will help you lose weight. Walking is great but it's not enough. If you have a physical job, that is great also but still not enough. You need to designate at least one hour a day for a vigorous workout which elevates your heart rate and get's you sweating. Try to be active and sweat for a minimum 60-90 minutes a day for an additional 500 calorie burn daily.
3. Food Labels - Understanding food labels is crucial when it comes to picking out your groceries and preparing your meals. First off always look at the list of ingredients for starters. The first 3 things on that list should NOT be any kind of added sugar! Look for natural ingredients. Next learn and understand how the "calories" and "serving size" works. For instance 175 calories per 1/5 serving, does not mean it's only 175 calories in the box of Kraft dinner. That would be 875 calories. Add cheese and butter and milk and you are well up over 1,000 calories for just ONE meal. Also keep an eye on the amount of sugar and sodium in any food item. Sugars and salts are added to foods to give them more flavor but are just more bad calories for your body.
4. Portion Control - Eating healthy is one thing but knowing the serving sizes and calories in those healthy meals you are preparing are just as important. One could have the healthiest diet but still be consuming too much food causing them not to lose any weight at all. Before starting your diet try to keep a weekly food journal, counting all the calories you are currently consuming in your current diet. Find the average daily total for the week by adding up the 7 days worth of calories and dividing it by 7. If this number is say 3000 calories on average a day and your new diet will consist of 2000 calories a day, that will be 7000 calories less per week you consume. Make note of this, 3500 calories is equivalent to 1lb of body weight. So by knocking out 1000 calories a day in your diet you will be losing 2lbs every week from diet alone!
5. Eating Frequency - It's very important to NOT consume all your daily calories in just 1 or 2 sittings. It's also very important you don't go more than 3-4 hours MAX without eating. Your metabolism needs to keep burning all day, so you need to be throwing fuel on the fire every couple hours. Try this basic setup. Eat breakfast within an hour of waking up, morning snack 2.5 hours later, followed by lunch 2.5 hours later, then your afternoon snack 2.5 hours later and finally dinner again 2.5 hours later. Add pre and post workout snacks where they may apply.
6. Food Preparation - Cooking healthy can be time-consuming and is often used as an excuse by people about why they don't do it. It's important and can make life a lot easier to plan out your meals for the following day the night before. You can even go to the extreme of preparing your weeks worth of meals in one night of cooking as well. Pre cooking and storing food in your freezer in containers can be very quick and effortless. Using zip lock bags to store food in the refrigerator the night before is very helpful. Carrying a cooler with you to work to store your food and keep it fresh and cool is a must!
7. Strength Training - Building lean muscle through resistance training will help speed up your metabolism. The more lean muscle you can add, the faster your metabolism will become and the quicker you will burn fat and lose weight. It also will make it easier to support your goal weight once you reach it and give you a more hard and defined look as opposed to soft and spongy.
8. Cardiovascular Training - Whether you go outside for a run or prefer the comfort of an elliptical at home or the gym, an hour of cardio each and every day is a must! Try to get your heart rate into a fat burning zone of around 125-135 beats per minute and sustain that for the duration of the hour. This will help you optimize your fat loss as well as burn a good 400-500 calories. An hour of cardio at this level every day is equivalent to about 1lb of weight loss a week.
9. Rest and Recovery - Often over looked but just as important as exercise itself is the resting stage. Make no doubt about it, your body repairs, restores and goes through all its physical adaptations while it rests. Results are conceived at the gym but born in your bed. If your body is sore, you should rest it. Avoid training the same muscle groups on back to back days. If you are not getting a full night sleep and giving your muscles a chance to repair themselves you will hit a plateau real fast and struggle to find results.
10. Support Group - Having a supportive significant other, an encouraging group of friends and a family that has your back no matter what is crucial to your weight loss success. Surround yourself with people who also want to be active, exercise and eat healthy. Avoid people who will tempt you to drink profusely, be lazy and easily get you off track or secretly wish for you to fail.
I hope you enjoyed this article and I hope it helps you reach all of your health and fitness and weight loss goals. If you have any further questions feel free to comment or email me at mark@mefirstfitness.com.
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