The key to losing fat is not as hard as most people make it seems, but it will be challenging. You will need determination and dedication. Losing weight is not an overnight thing, no matter how much the ads in the media tell you.
Even if you do everything right, you might still only lose about 2-3 lbs per week, depending on how big you are at the moment.
Fortunately losing or gaining weight is something mankind has been doing for years, so there are proven, healthy ways to do it.
First
The first thing you need to do is make a conscious decision about losing weight. You ABSOULTEY MUST agree with yourself that you will actually WANT to take the steps required. You need to be fired up, because without that internal fire, nothing will probably help, or work for any extended period of time. You need to understand that for most people (except those who literally have a disease) losing weight is a change in lifestyle and behavior, nothing more.
Second
You will want to do the simple stuff, slowly easing into it.
Fact is, MOST people already know somewhere in the back of their minds what it takes to lose weight, and have done so before in one way or another.
What you need to do will always be different for all people, and it can range anywhere from cutting out sugary drinks, cooking more healthy foods at home or just adding heart healthy vegetables to your meals.
Here are a few ideas of “simple things” you can do to change right now:
- When you drink, drink water, coffee or tea ONLY.
- For each meal eat vegetables.
- Drink water with your meals to fill you up.
- Have some protein with your food (satiating effect)
- Park your car further away in parking lot to walk a bit further each day.
- Evening walk with family
- Play with kids
- Try taking the bicycle to the mall
- Limit TV, computer and mobile phone consumption
- Enjoy life to its fullest by implementing more movement and healthier foods
- Cut out greasy fast food
- Learn about calories, what they are and what foods include what
Third
I personally believe a very important part about losing fat specifically is exercising your muscles. This means resistance training. This may include lifting weights, or using your own bodyweight for resistance.
You can do gym sessions or work out from home, both are fine. As long as you are putting resistance over your muscles with a fairly regular frequency you’ll see your success increase.
This happens because you are building muscle. Muscle will help spend your energy “smarter”. Your muscles also take up less space than fat, so you’ll look slimmer while being the same weight.
Basically, if you have muscle, you will likely use it in your exercise. When you do, the food you eat will basically fuel your muscles, instead of fueling your already fueled body, thus leading to excess fat gain.
We want to limit the amount of fat on or bodies, without going too low, like six pack abs. This is NOT necessary at all. You just want to keep a healthy bodyfat 10-15% and some muscle that can help spend your calories “smarter”.
In conclusion
You don’t want to rush, even though that is what most people will do. They will buy a program on the internet and put it on their harddrive to collect dust. Don’t be that person. Instead, read, reasearch and put some ACTUAL effort into it.
Move your body MORE, eat LESS. In a nutshell, that’s the whole idea. As the blog evolves you’ll find more specific tips on everything I’ve mentioned here, giving you a better foundation for losing the fat you want.