How To Lose Weight Without Losing Your Sanity And Social Life

Wouldn't it be amazing to lose weight without feeling frustrated because you're stuck on a rigid meal plan? A meal plan that doesn't allow you to eat certain foods or go out for meals with friends and family? A meal plan that leaves you envious of your co-workers enjoy pizza Fridays! There really is a way to lose weight while still eating everything you love and it's called flexible dieting or IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros).

The Science Of Weight Loss
You will have people argue that calories don't matter but in reality they do for weight loss. When it comes to weight loss it's calories in vs. calories out - that is the science. For example: let's say you're a small female who wants to lose weight and you calculate your calories for weight loss to be 1500. You can now eat 1500 calories of poptarts per day or you can eat 1500 calories of chicken, rice and broccoli per day or you can eat 1500 calories of beans and tofu per day, the end result is the same, you will lose weight. Now this example isn't discussing overall health and energy so when it comes to being healthy as well that is where the type of foods you choose to eat play a role. But in terms of losing weight, your food selection actually doesn't matter.

Flexible Approach
This flexible approach allows you to eat essentially whatever you would like as long as you stay within your daily macronutrient budget. Your macronutrients are your proteins, carbohydrates and fats - these will total up to your daily calorie intake. One gram of protein = 4 calories, one gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories and 1 gram of fat = 9 calories. Flexible dieters will use apps such as MyFitnessPal or MyMacros+ to keep track of their food intake, along with using measuring cups and kitchen scales for the best accuracy. Using this flexible approach you can now eat those cookies or chips, or have a donut at the office, or go out to a restaurant or eat with your family and still lose weight! While strict meal plans work for some, they are not maintainable in the long-term, they don't teach people how to eat on their own and they have been known to cause eating disorders. Those who "fall off" of these strict meal plans because they had one little treat usually feel guilty and throw in the towel - they either go all out and eat everything they can or give up completely until perhaps the next Monday rolls around. So why not incorporate a bit of chocolate or a few cookies in the day and make the whole process easier and more enjoyable? It's accountability with flexibility. Think about the 80/20 rule for your nutrition. Whole foods should make up 80% of your diet and treats can make up 20% of your diet. This will keep you sane and you'll be more likely to stick to your weight loss plan without losing your sanity and social life.

One Quick Note: Fat Loss vs Weight Loss
Now, I don't want to confuse weight loss with fat loss because these are two different things. Sticking to a calorie target will ensure weight loss (muscle, water and fat), but if we want to make sure we are losing mostly fat then we need to have a balance of our daily macronutrients. An increase of protein at roughly 0.8-1.1 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day is a good starting point. Eating adequate amounts of protein will spare muscle loss when you're dieting and the body will use more fat as fuel instead of breaking down muscle tissue. A few examples of great protein sources are your lean meats, eggs, fish, protein powders, tempeh and lentils. There are several more but I will save that for another article.

What To Do At Restaurants
With the flexible approach there are a few things you can do:
* plan ahead by having a look at the restaurant's nutrition information and eat according to your targets
* if there is no nutrition information available stay flexible by using your best estimations or find something similar in your app
* occasionally you can interchange carbs and fat (total calories) while keeping the protein the same. For example: if you didn't have much fat allowed for the rest of the day but decided on a higher fat meal then keep carbs lower as long as you stay under your total calorie target
* structure your day to include more protein and vegetables because your "meal out" will most likely be higher in carbs and fat
* consider intermittent fasting (more advanced approach) to allow for more calories to be eaten later in the day
* just enjoy the meal in moderation and get back to your plan the next day

How To Lose Weight With A Natural Weight Loss Diet

If you are one of the many people who were brought up eating junk food, then chances are you are probably struggling with your weight. Surprisingly, not many people are aware that junk food is one of the primary reasons for obesity. The body is just not able to handle that kind of food. Combine bad eating habits with a sedentary lifestyle and you have a recipe for disaster. Read on for advice on how to begin a natural weight loss diet.

Now if you are already obese and want to find a safe method to lose those extra pounds then a natural weight loss diet is what you are looking for. This diet plan is perfect for everybody and all it needs is just a little bit of determination and the will to succeed.

A natural weight loss diet does not involve the use of supplements or pills; rather it focuses on teaching you to swap bad food with good nutritious food. Once the body is getting enough nutrition your body will have the vitamins and minerals it needs in order to effectively detox and heal itself.

During the natural weight loss diet, you will be prohibited from eating your favourite junk foods such as hamburgers, This also includes foods that use preservatives, food that is cooked from hydrogenated vegetable oils and food containing refined sugar. What is recommended for a natural weight loss diet is healthy and nutritious foods that are high in fibre and protein? Vegetables, fruits and organic grass-fed meat are good examples of healthy foods.

Let's have a look at some of this 'good food'. A natural diet is centred around meats, fruits and vegetables. Acidic fruits like oranges, lemons, sour plums, grapes and grapefruit will help the body to detox. They contain plenty of vitamin c as well as a whole range of other vitamins and minerals. Fruits, including berries, should be eaten regularly. Try to only eat organic grass-fed meat as many nutrients are lost if the animals are not allowed to eat their natural food.

Raw vegetables are also on top of the menu; eat as many of them as you like. They contain amino acids, protein and antioxidants. Best eaten raw but you can steam them if you like. You can make up a healthy dip and eat vegetables as a snack instead of unhealthy junk food.

Exercise is an important component of a natural weight loss diet. Many like to go jogging, hiking, running, biking or swimming. Try to get your body moving at least once each day as this will help you to burn fat and increase your metabolism.

Furthermore, on a natural weight loss diet, you will be required to drink water regularly. The more the better, so aim for about 8 glasses per day. You can reduce this a little if you are eating a lot of watery fruit such as watermelons or oranges.

Many fail to lose weight, not because the method is not effective but because the participants fail to keep themselves motivated or to follow the strict guidelines of the diet. So don't give up! Think of how much better you will feel, how much energy you will have and how joyful it will be to see yourself at your ideal weight.

How to Lose Weight Safely

Maintaining the normal weight is paramount to healthy living. When you are in the range of healthy weight, you will have fewer worries about the health problems. If you can burn about 500 more calories than the food you consume for one week, you could lose about one or two pounds. To reduce weight fast, you need to exercise more and eat less. There is no other shortcut to reducing your weight in a safe manner.

If you consume between 1050 and 1200 calories and exercise for up to an hour daily, you could lose between three and five pounds in your first week. It is essential not to reduce your calorie intake further because it is dangerous. Minimizing the starch, sugar, dairy foods, and animal fats is a great way to lose weight. You need to focus on eating more veggies, soy products, egg white, fruits, fish, non-fat dairy foods, skinless poultry breasts and 95% lean meat.

The following are some tips that can help you in the process of reducing your weight;

• Drink more water
• Eat veggies to make you feel full
• Don't skip any meal
• Throw tempting foods out of your house
• Keep the record of the food you eat
• Keep yourself busy; you shouldn't eat because of boredom

If you are able to record your daily intake even in a napkin that will end up being thrown away, it will be an act of being accountable to yourself. Keeping records of your daily diet is a very effective tool when you plan to lose weight.

Exercising to lose weight fast

According to study, safe weight loss requires up to an hour moderate exercise every day. Make a plan to do strength and cardio training if you want to lose weight. Cardio will help you burn most calories to lose weight very fast, but you will need to include strength training a few hours per week.

If you have not been exercising for a very long time, don't rush into exercising for longer hours; make it a gradual process. Rushing the exercise may lead to injury and cause the setback to your weight loss plan. If you are not sure of how to start, consult a councilor to put you through.

One important way to set up you exercise intensity is to start interval training- brief burst of high intensity which is followed by more mellow pace; repeat the same pattern throughout your workout. The interval training will allow you work harder without spending the entire time at the higher level. The more you exercise your body, the more it becomes easy to lose weight.

How to Lose Weight Quickly for Women - 4 Essential Phases

Here's the deal, the topic of how to lose weight quickly for women needs a more specific approach and not a general "one size fits all" approach that most diet books, late night infomercial products and weight loss magazines prescribe.

This is because women have different levels of hormones and different metabolisms compared to men.

If you are looking to lose weight quickly and you are a woman, read this short article to discover how to lose fat from areas where most women tend to struggle with the most, butt, hips, thighs and arms.

You see, successful weight loss comes down to finding the perfect combination of exercises at the gym (or at home if you prefer to exercise at the house) along with eating high quality unprocessed foods every day.

It goes without saying, but you are what you eat so you absolutely have to eat the right foods daily at the right times, otherwise all the hard work at the gym will not amount to much.

Here's how to lose weight the right way and set yourself up for long-term success in keeping the weight off...

How to Lose Weight Quickly for Women - Phase 1: The Detoxification Phase

Before you get started on your weight loss journey, I highly recommend that you go through a detox phase where you eliminate certain foods and eat only specific foods for detoxifying your body.

By starting your weight loss plan with a detox, you will empty your system of toxic chemicals and other waste by products that are found in foods and drinks we consume every day.

Unfortunately, due to modern farming and agriculture, the foods we eat on a daily basis are contaminated with by-products such as pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, hormones, preservatives, additives and other harmful substances.

In order to lose weight quickly, your body has to function optimally at the cellular level. Weight loss is very difficult if your cells are intoxicated with waste by products and chemicals.

Your detoxification should last at least seven days, and up to 30 days if you have a large amount of weight to lose.

Choose unprocessed foods and stay away from sugar and other artificial ingredients during the detoxification phase. Be sure to drink plenty of water every day.

How to Lose Weight Quickly for Women - Phase 2: The Introduction Phase

I'm sure you've heard of the phrase "zero to one hundred" before.

This phrase can be applied to just about anything, not just the speed of a vehicle.

For our purposes, zero to one hundred will be exercise and nutrition.

When you just start working out on a new weight loss plan, you are starting at zero. Even if you've exercised before or are currently exercising, anytime you begin a new plan and do something different from what your body is used to, you have to pace yourself before you go full steam ahead.

For exercise, this means starting out at a level of intensity that will not cause injury and lead to over-training.

For nutrition, this means slowly incorporating new health foods into your diet until you have replaced them with unhealthy foods instead of going cold turkey and cutting out all junk food overnight.

How to Lose Weight Quickly for Women - Phase 3: The Acceleration Phase

This phase is where the training wheels come off and you are off to the races.

By the time you reach the acceleration phase, you should be several pounds lighter, a few inches smaller and have a good routine established with your new healthy eating habits.

By this phase, most of your bad eating habits that led to your weight gain and poor health should be a thing of the past.

If you've done phase one and phase two correctly, you should not have any cravings for sugar and other sweet foods during phase three.

If you aren't a sweet tooth person, cravings for bread, pasta, rice and other carbohydrate rich foods should be very small by phase three.

In the acceleration phase, your body is primed to lose weight quickly and your muscles are getting stronger and leaner due to a higher metabolism from consistent exercise and nutrition.

Your metabolism should be two to three times as fast in the acceleration phase compared to when you just started at the detoxification phase.

By phase 3, your clothes will start fitting loser, you will notice more strength in your muscles, and your energy levels will be higher.

Being consistent for weeks (or months if you need to lose a larger amount of weight) will lead you into the final phase of your weight loss journey...

How to Lose Weight Quickly for Women - Phase 4: The Cruising Phase

If you make it to phase 4, you will have achieved something that 92% of people who begin on a weight loss plan never end up achieving, longevity.

You see, successful weight loss is not a sprint, it's more like a marathon. In phases 1-2, you are bracing yourself for the final two phases.

In a rush to lose weight quickly, most people (especially women) look for shortcuts in order to drop the stubborn pounds and inches.

Like it or not, when it comes to weight loss there are no shortcuts. Extreme dieting and severe calorie restriction will have a massive rebound effect and lead to a damaged metabolism that will be very hard to repair.

Pills and potions may give you some initial excitement as most fat burners are loaded with excessive stimulants that increase your heart rate and reduce your appetite, but weight loss pills and supplements have a very short half-life, meaning they work only for a very short amount of time until your body gets used to them.

Surgery is a route that many women take in hopes of looking several years younger and getting their old body back, but no amount of surgery will ever give you a lean, toned, more youthful and energetic look, only targeted exercise and adequate nutrition (not a fad diet) can do that for you.


About the author:

Adi Crnalic is a former skinny and unhealthy guy turned certified personal trainer, natural bodybuilder and a fitness, nutrition and fat loss coach and author. Over the past few years, his information has been featured in several publications including Fitness & Physique Magazine, The Fitness Expert Network, Natural Health Magazine and several others.

How to Lose Weight Just By Walking

Who said you can't lose weight through walking alone, and without going to the gym? Don't listen to them! You can become 20 pounds lighter in the next few months without lifting a weight or going on a hunger strike. Walking is a form of exercise that is safe and easy for everyone to execute, and you can use it to achieve your weight loss goals. This article explains how you can use walking to lose weight and maintain it without going to the gym or going on a serious diet.

Why Should You Walk?

Walking is a simple form of workout exercise that is often underrated in terms of health benefits, although it does have numerous health benefits. Walking will give you a stronger heart and bones, it helps lower your blood pressure and ease your stress, and help you drop more pounds than you'd imagine. The good thing about walking is that you can do it anywhere, with little effort, and it doesn't require any equipment.

How Much Weight Can You Lose By Walking?

The number of pounds you can drop by walking is determined by your body weight, walking intensity, and your pace. If you walk at a common pace of 4 miles per hour you are most likely to burn about 400 calories in one hour. But bear in mind that this is just on average, so you don't have to walk 4 miles a day. You can go 3 miles to burn 300 calories or 2 miles to burn 200 calories. And if you don't have much stamina, you can cover a shorter distance and add other exercises for a better result.

How Often Should You Walk?

The frequency of your workout should depend on your state of health and targeted goals. If you are healthy enough to engage in walking and you want to achieve optimal results, then you should be walking 3 days a week for about 20-30 minutes to start. As you are progressing, you should increase the number of days as well as the duration; like every day for 45-60 minutes.

How Can You Walk For A Longer Period Without Boredom?

To have an interesting walking routine you need to try different ways of carrying out the exercise, such as taking a different route from time to time, walking outdoors and indoors, listening to music, or even singing your favorite song out loud while you walk. You might be surprised at the distance and duration you can cover by adding some of these things to your walking.

How You Should Walk For Optimal Results

If you are planning on losing significant weight by using walking as the only exercise then you have got to do it properly. I know what you are thinking right now - you are probably asking yourself if there are ways to walk properly, considering that you have been walking since you were 3 years old. Well, when it comes to walking for weight loss, yes! There are ways to walk for optimal results. You'll burn much fat if you do the following while walking:

* Chin up: Avoid looking at your feet while walking, look forward as this will help keep your neck in a comfortable position.
* Activate your abs: Try to brace your core and maintain good posture by pulling your belly button in the direction of your spine.
* Squeeze your glutes: For you to be able to go a longer distance you should try tightening your glutes. This will help push you forward.

Is It Important To Monitor The Number Of Steps You Walk?

An important way to boost your chances of success is to know the number of steps you take every day. This will help maintain a particular number of steps you would need to go to get a particular result (amount of weight loss). The device that can help you with the number count is a pedometer (like this one) or a wristband (like this one). With these devices, you can know how many miles you would need to go to get to the number of pounds you intended on dropping. Once you get a pedometer, you will attach it to your clothes at your hip, or elsewhere while you walk.

What Should You Do To Lose Weight And Maintain It Through Walking?

You are definitely going to lose weight through walking alone if you continue with it. however, you can increase the time it would take to lose weight by adding resistance training to your walking routine. You can walk with dumbbell (arm) weights, or try power walking by increasing your pace some days, alternated with your normal walking days. You can even set aside a particular day in the week for just resistance exercise, such as weightlifting or jogging, in order to keep the pounds off that you will drop through walking. Also, you should eat healthily in order to maintain your weight.

If you are planning on starting out with walking as an exercise routine to lose weight then I encourage you to do so, because your effort is not going to be wasted. Walking is a simple form of exercise that can result in weight loss if performed properly and consistently. You can be sure that you will lose pounds within few weeks after starting your walking routine, provided you apply everything we have discussed in this article. Therefore, follow it properly and we will meet at the beach this summer!