How to Stop Making Excuses for Your Weight

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

If you’re sick and tired of being overweight but continue to excuse yourself with the same old reasons, it’s time to realize that excuses keep you stuck where you are and cause you to believe that you lack control. And while old habits die hard, if you’ve been making excuse after excuse about why you can’t shed the weight, it’s time to recognize that you can do something about it and take action to regain control over your life.

Steps

1. Determine if your weight problem is due to a medical condition. Sometimes the reason why you’ve either gained weight or can’t seem to lose the weight is due to an underlying medical problem. However, simply assuming this to be the case and not having your doctor confirm it is an excuse. And even if you do have a medical condition, your doctor’s advice may be able to help you manage around it instead of giving in to it. So, before you delve into other reasons surrounding your weight battle, see your doctor to check that you’re not struggling with an issue that could be remedied by medical intervention. Medical issues that can make it difficult to lose weight include:

• Underactive thyroid: An underactive thyroid means that your body may not produce enough thyroid hormone to effectively burn stored fat.
• Hormonal changes: Different stages in life may produce a shift in hormones, which can lead to weight gain. Examples include menopause, pregnancy and puberty. However, some of these changes are temporary and most require a new approach rather than assuming things can stay as they always have done.
• Chronic stress: If you’re in a constant state of stress and anxiety, your body may produce a chemical called cortisol. This stress hormone causes your body to store excess fat, just in case you need it for hiking over the mountains to safer territory. The only thing is, we’re not living like cavemen running from danger anymore and daily stress that doesn’t get relieved can wind up as unhelpful weight gain.
• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): More than 5 million women in the U.S. suffer from PCOS, which is a result of a hormonal imbalance.[1] Symptoms include irregular menstrual bleeding, acne, weight gain and difficulty getting pregnant.
• Cushing’s syndrome: People who have Cushing’s syndrome have adrenal glands that produce too much cortisol, which causes your body to store excess fat.
• Other condition: Your doctor may identify other relevant medical condition that are contributing to your weight gain.
• Identify the culprits. Excuses get made as a way of sweeping the real causes under the carpet. Unexamined, the weight-gain culprits get off free of charge while your body continues ballooning. That’s willful blindness and it’s harmful to you. Some of the sneaky, yet obvious-when-you-think-about-them, culprits that bring about weight gain include:
  • Watching a lot of TV, sitting down snacking and not moving.
  • “Just a tiny, little chocky bar/cookie/bag of chips” each time you’re feeling peckish.
  • Large portion sizes of food at each meal. If you don’t know what’s too large in terms of a portion, that’s already telling you a lot.
  • No or low exercise, driving everywhere, never taking a moment to walk somewhere instead.
  • Drinking a lot of alcohol––hidden and useless calories are the trademark of booze.
  • Eating take-out food more than once a week.
  • A diet high in processed foods, low in natural, whole and unprocessed food.
• Accept that habit, rather than lack of time, is holding you back. Many of us complain that there is never enough time to do anything, losing weight included. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy, for the more we preach it, the more it becomes our reality and we form habits that keep us stuck in this race of busyness. From harried mothers to busy executives, many folks find that they’re dashing from place to place from the minute they wake up in the morning to the second their head hits the pillow at night and then blame this rush for all other ills in their lives. However, you control what you do with your time––it is not time controlling you. Resolve to stop using your lifestyle as a reason for your weight gain and instead find ways to integrate weight loss into your jam-packed schedule.
  • Make a decision to re-prioritize your lifestyle to help you start losing the weight. If you’re tired of hearing yourself say that you’re “too busy” to lose weight, you’ll need to meet your schedule head on to overcome this objection.
  • Take a close look at every aspect of your schedule. Is there 30 minutes or one hour that you can substitute for exercise? As unattractive as this may sound, consider swapping lunch out with the girls every day for 45 minutes in the gym instead. Make time on Sunday night to prepare healthy pre-packed (and possibly frozen) meals for the rest of the week. That way you can still grab and go but instead of processed unhealthy foods, you can pick up something healthy and low calorie.
  • Instead of complaining that you’re too busy, own your time. If there really is nothing you can do about your schedule, stop complaining and reverting to it as a weight loss crutch because you’re only hurting yourself.
• Stop excusing yourself with lots of “just this once” lines and make weight loss your priority. If you truly want to lose weight, you must make it a priority––not only when it’s convenient or easy. The goal of weight loss must become as important and daily as brushing your teeth in the morning or being on time for meetings. “Just this once” soon adds up to “just too many times” you’ve excused yourself for bad dietary habits, until the healthy eating becomes the exception rather than the rule. Throw out “just this once” from your vocabulary; notice yourself saying it and say “stop” to yourself and reconsider your eating choice.
• Acknowledge any tendency in yourself to adopt the “I can’t do it” attitude. If you continue to tell yourself you “just can’t lose weight”, you will start to believe it. Once you believe it, you will start to live up to it. You can do it. Giving up is an option for dead people only. Accompanying the “I can’t do it” is a raft of very sneaky, tricky and ultimately self-tripping excuses. Here are some common ones:
  • “I can’t lose weight. I’m just too tired.”: Your tiredness is sourced in those cookies, chocolates, fast foods and processed meals. Your tiredness is sourced in being sedentary all the time, from the office to the couch. Your tiredness is sugar-filled. And your tiredness as a result of these things is a bit of a vicious circle––too tired to plan healthier food, too tired to plan a diet program, too tired to get up and exercise, and on and on it goes. Wake up to the reality that bad food and little movement create the fatigue.
  • “I can’t lose weight. It’s too boring to go without food.”: Do your eyes glaze over every time you see the word diet or read a fitness schedule? Does “nutrition” mean “something dull people care about” to you? Are you stuck with visions of eating “rabbit food” for the rest of your life? If you see weight loss as a dent in an otherwise fun and exciting life, you’ve fallen into an excuse that losing weight will make life boring. This is an unfortunate excuse that blinds you to seeing the good things about weight loss (more energy equals more fun) and the fun and innovative things you can do with diets and fitness.
  • “I can’t lose weight. I don’t do deprivation; it’s just not pretty. Anyway, who cares, I’d rather die young and happy than old and deprived.” This excuse is fallacious; nobody wants to die in agony from disease and nutritional deficiencies. It’s a short-sighted attitude that sounds hip now but will definitely land all around your hips later. Lifestyle dieting is not about deprivation; it’s about managing food and exercise to ensure you lead a happier and more energetic lifestyle overall.
  • “I can’t lose weight. I tried before and look, it all came back again.” Sadly, most diets do this because fad diets and a diet frame of mind are destructive rather than helpful. What is important is to eat healthily for the long-term and to find a diet program in discussion with your health professional that is attuned to your lifestyle, not a temporary fix that you can only see an end for in a few months. Yo-yo dieting teaches little and actually ingrains bad habits by assuming that when the set diet time is up, the junk food can move on back in. It doesn’t work like that––changing your eating habits is for life and moderation in all things becomes your new mantra, not “a little diet now, a lot of stuffing later”.
• Fix the excuses. There are lots of ways to approach excuses and much of this is about breaking ingrained bad habits and attitudes toward food. This will take time, so the first important way to stop making excuses is to allow yourself the time needed to keep reframing your excuses into positive statements in place of the hopeless statements that excuses actually are. Most people need to ease into changes rather than waking up tomorrow and saying “Okay, as of now, no more chocolate bars.” Life doesn’t work like that and it’s best to gradually remove junk food from the diet and make a conscious decision to add in more and more healthy food to take its place. Here are some suggestions to wean yourself off the weighty excuses:
  • Start slowly. Instead of thinking that in order to lose weight you have to run five miles a day and eat nothing but celery, start slowly and be realistic. Walk a mile every night, at your pace. And try substituting one unhealthy meal or snack for something healthy. Your body will embrace the change and slowly you’ll get stronger.
  • Find fun ways to lose weight. Losing weight doesn’t have to be a snoozefest. Fortunately, fitness and nutrition programs have come a long way from the days of faddish deprivation and simplistic exercise routines. In fact, many gyms offer classes ranging from kick boxing (to get some aggression out) to Zumba, where you can “dance off the pounds” to fun music, often with fun classmates. Also, the emergence of numerous health conscious chefs have produced a bevy of enticing cookbooks crammed with delicious, mouthwatering recipes that beg to be cooked and baked in the home kitchen. It is now an exciting art form to see how many ways you can create healthy cuisine from the wide array of delicious fruits, vegetables and animal products we have access to in this global world. And if you are following a diet that feels depriving, double check its credentials. Most likely it’s a fad diet and not one your doctor would endorse!
  • Focus on a lifestyle change rather than a one-off diet. One-off doesn’t remedy the excuses; it simply puts the excuses in a holding pattern, waiting to engulf you when the diet ends. By changing your whole approach to eating and exercising though, you kill off the lifeblood of your excuses and say goodbye to yo-yo dieting. Begin by removing and then banning the presence of junk food stashes in the home. Institute walking rules for take outs––you can only indulge in them if you (and your family) walk to and from the take away outlet. And turn many occasions into hidden exercise, like walking with a friend to chat instead of sitting down; riding a bike to the store through a beautiful park instead of taking the car; taking the dog for his regular daily walk, etc. Your lifestyle should be about embracing what makes you feel good––seeing other people, getting into the outdoor air, observing natural beauty, listening to conversations instead of scoffing down food, etc. Small and yet very important changes to how you intend to live from this time forward.
  • Plan ahead. A little planning goes a long way. First, indulge in some healthy cookbooks––here is an excuse to buy some glossy reads that will guide your cooking creations. Then, set out and plan meals ahead for the week, including snacks. It may sound like effort but 20 minutes spent Sunday night will do the following: Get you a menu, from which you get a grocery list, from which you cut down on unnecessary purchases and save money and time, from which you no longer have “what am I going to eat tonight” panic, which means you get to do more fun things and spend less time stuck in both the kitchen and the grocery store, let alone fast food joints! Try it before dismissing it as all too hard, and involve an app on your phone or iPad to help you plan, as it’s a lot more fun and lets you explore recipes for the food that’s in season (which is usually healthier and cheaper).
  • Make it easier on yourself. If you find that you’re constantly hitting fast food restaurant drive through outlets because you’re running between a meeting and your child’s soccer game, consider packing healthy food such as raw veggies, turkey wrap sandwiches and waters. Aside from throwing the food into the cooler, you won’t have to spend additional time and can still hit your destination feeling satisfied and not hungry.
• Account for your progress. Part of losing weight successfully is paying attention to your behavior. In a world where people eat in front of the computer or TV, it’s easy to overeat and not be cognizant of how much, or what, is being consumed. If you actively track what is going into your mouth, you can have more control over your journey. You don’t need to track your food intake forever––just for a few weeks or months until you get a clear idea of what you’re eating. After a while, it’ll become second nature to think consciously before picking up the food you’re going to graze on.
  • Have a goal. If you have more than 10 pounds to lose, create small incremental goals to reach every few weeks. Create a spreadsheet or a chart that marks what you weigh today and what you weight on each weigh in day, along with goals. It’s even easier if you use an app that does most of the work for you––search for a good one for your smartphone or iPad.
  • Track your food and exercise intake. Seeing what you’ve eaten or the activity you’ve completed online or on paper will motivate you to stay on track. You can either track your daily progress in a paper journal or you can turn to one of the many weight loss sites that will automatically calculate calories for you.
  • Set a benchmark. You need to know how fit you are now. Perhaps that will be enough to kick start your exercise program. However, it is important to know it now so that you can continue to measure it into the future. Do a timed walk or run over a set distance. Repeat this in the future, to evaluate your improvement. Only do as much as you’re comfortable with; you will improve by increasing your regular exercise.
• Get some company. Join a weight loss group. Numerous weight loss groups like Weight Watchers provide not only weight loss tips, but also support and accountability. A weight loss group may also be a wonderful place to meet other people struggling with similar challenges.
• Stomp on the exercise excuses. There are plenty of reasons to say “I can’t be bothered exercising today.” But they’re all a sign of giving in and of not prioritizing your health. Unless you’re tucked up in bed with a cold or illness, you can exercise today. Realize that it’s often your thoughts that make exercise hard––resist the temptation to slouch and within five minutes, you’ll be glad you got moving.
  • Remember this: Exercise does much more than help you to lose weight. It improves your mood, lifts your energy levels, gives you a sense of purpose and resolve, helps you to sleep better, improves your chances of living a longer life, strengthens your heart and lungs, increases your bone density, and improves your mental agility.
  • Change the types of exercise. If you don’t know what exercise you like the most yet, try a range and change them regularly until it becomes clear what works for you. Realize that people mean well when they recommend their exercise or sport ideas but that one size does not fit all and that you need to find exercise that enthuses you and helps your body to stay fit. And do try walking and swimming (or water workouts even if you can’t swim)––most people can do these successfully and enjoy them.
  • Ten minutes of exercise a day is better than nothing. You can manage 10 minutes.
• Turn food and exercise into the solution, not the problem. Through planning, freezing healthy food meals ahead of time, finding outlets to relieve your stress, regular exercise, small treat portions and a food diary, you can grow to love the food and exercise that keeps you in top condition, without feeling deprived, lethargic or helpless. At this point, excuses will no longer define you; you will be defining yourself consciously and repeatedly.

Tips

• Even though it may sound counter-intuitive, consider that you may be trying to sabotage your efforts to lose weight by making excuses. In many cases, people who cannot seem to lose weight are harboring deep seated issues that must be addressed before weight loss and commence. You might need to talk to a therapist about emotional challenges first; don’t delay because this is probably stopping you from enjoying many areas of your life.
• If one of your excuses for not exercising is because of joint or body pain, visit a physician and have this issue addressed.
• Enlist the assistance of friends and family members. Tell them to hold you accountable and to pick you up when you may be slipping. Have them call around to exercise or walk with you regularly.
• Be creative. If TV is your weakness, get a treadmill and place it in front of the TV. Then, use it. It’s better than slouching and not moving!

Warnings

• Avoid turning to over the counter medications for weight loss unless prescribed by a physician. Some weight loss medications may present serious health risks for some, so have any medications evaluated by a physician first.

Things You’ll Need

• Food diary or spreadsheets
• Healthy recipe cookbooks
• Internet access
• Healthy foods
• Exercise gear

Related wikiHows

• How to Stop Making Excuses
• How to Stop Making Excuses Not to Jog
• How to Accomplish Your New Year’s Resolutions
• How to Quit Drinking Alcohol
• How to Stop Overeating
• How to Eat Healthily at a Mexican Restaurant

Sources and Citations

• http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=56872 – research source

1. ? http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/polycystic-ovary-syndrome.cfm

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Stop Making Excuses for Your Weight. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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How to Lose Weight

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Are you tired of carrying around the extra pounds? Or do you want to shed extra weight once and for all? This article covers the basics including how to eat, exercise and stay motivated to lose weight. It also covers some specific diets that you may want to try in your journey to a smaller, healthier you.

Steps

Rules of Thumb

1. Keep your own personal food diary. People who keep food diaries, according to a study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, lose an average of 6 pounds (2.75 kg) more than people who don’t keep a record of everything that they eat.[1] So force yourself to write down the good, the bad and the ugly. Keep these tips in mind:

• Be exhaustive. Write it all down, including beverages. Don’t pretend you didn’t have that extra glass of wine after dinner. If it goes into your stomach, it goes into the journal.
• Be accurate. Record your portion sizes in your food diary. Also, read the ingredients list so that you can be accurate about serving sizes.
• Be complete. Add detailed information about how your food was prepared (fried, broiled, grilled, etc.), and write down any added toppings or condiments that you ate.
• Be consistent. Carry your food journal everywhere that you go. As an alternative, you can use a diet-tracking app on your smartphone or tablet.
• Avoid skipping meals. The same study found that people who ate at least 3 meals per day lost more weight than people who didn’t. The scientists speculate that people who skip meals either overeat at their next meals because they’re so hungry, or their bodies absorb more calories because they’re in starvation mode from skipping meals.
  • When you skip meals, your body stops breaking down fat and starts breaking down muscle tissue. Muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than other tissues, so you’re actually working against your goals.[2]
  • Make sure that you don’t get hungry by eating small portions throughout the day. Between your meals, eat a 150-calorie snack to keep your metabolism burning and to stave off hunger. When you’re hungry, your body conserves calories and slows down your metabolic processes.[3]
• Eat food from home. Sure, going out for a power lunch helps you to see and be seen, but researchers find that people who eat fewer meals from restaurants tend to lose more weight.
  • When you eat at a restaurant, you have limited control over your portions. As a result, you often eat more than you intended to eat.
  • Ordering from a restaurant menu doesn’t give you complete information about how your food is cooked or what ingredients are used. At home, you can substitute lower-calorie ingredients or make recipes over so that they still taste great while delivering healthier results.[4]

Low-Calorie Diet

1. Learn to love fruit. Fruit helps to satisfy your sweet tooth thanks to its natural sugars. It also contains fiber to help you feel full quickly. Try some of these tips to introduce more fruit into your diet:
   • Choose fruit that’s in season. When you eat apples in the fall, for instance, or cherries in late summer, you are eating fruit at the peak of its flavor. It’s going to be a much more satisfying experience.
   • Eat pre-cut fruits like melons or pineapple chunks as snacks.
   • Keep a bowl filled with fruit on your kitchen counter or in your refrigerator. Also, keep dried fruit and fruit canned in water on hand in case your fresh produce goes bad. [5]
   • Prepare a large fruit salad containing mostly berries as well as other fruit that won’t go bad quickly, like pineapples or orange chunks. Toss in some walnuts and refrigerate the fruit salad for up to a week. Grab a cupful for breakfast or eat it as a dessert.
2. Eat vegetables for nutrition and to help you fill up more quickly. When you make your lunch or dinner plate contain at least 50 percent vegetables, you can have other richer dishes on your plate in smaller portions. Add veggies to your plate by following some of these suggestions:
   • Enjoy vegetables that contain potassium. Vegetables like sweet potatoes, spinach and lentils will ensure that you get the potassium that you need.
   • Use vegetables as a main dish. For example, make a stir-fry or a hearty salad and add just a few ounces of cooked chicken, salmon or almonds.
   • If you have a habit of eating out of boredom.Try chewing sugar free gum.
   • Eat crunchy vegetables as snacks. Cut up celery, carrots, peppers, broccoli or cauliflower and dip them in a light salad dressing or hummus.
   • Take advantage of frozen vegetables. They cook quickly in the microwave when you’re in a hurry to fix dinner.[6]
3. Learn to eat whole grains instead of refined foods.[7]
   • Substitute whole-grain foods for refined carbohydrates. Try whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta or brown rice.
   • Substitute whole wheat flour or oat flour into pancakes or baked goods. You might need to add additional leavening ingredients, like wheat gluten.
   • Swap whole grains into traditional mixed dishes. For example, put barley in your soup instead of rice or try a pilaf with barley, wild rice or brown rice.
4. Choose protein wisely. [8]
   • Select lean cuts of beef or extra-lean ground beef.
   • Try chicken breasts. If you use different cuts of chicken, then remove the skin.
   • Skip the fatty deli meats like bologna and salami. Choose lean turkey or roast beef as a replacement.
   • Vegetarians can get plenty of protein from soy, nuts, beans and seeds. Enjoy nuts and seeds in moderation because they have a high concentration of calories.
5. Eat low-fat dairy products including low-fat cheeses and nonfat yogurt. Also, substitute low-fat milk or skim milk for whole milk or cream.[9]
6. Consume healthy oils.[10] If you cook with oil, use a teaspoon of a healthy oil such as olive oil or canola oil. Or instead of adding oil for flavor, add spices or vinegar.

Low-Carb Diet

1. Limit the quantity of carbohydrates in your diet. According to low-carb experts, carbohydrates cause your body to produce more insulin, which burns the carbs that you’ve just eaten for energy instead of getting energy from your body’s stored fat. When you cut carbs, your body produces less insulin so that you burn stored fat for energy.
   • For the first 2 weeks of your diet, eat no more than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. Make sure that your carbs come from vegetables first. The rest of your diet should center around protein and fat.
   • Gradually add carbs back into your diet and watch the scale. If your weight loss slows down, then cut back on the carbs. You want to eat enough carbs to feel satisfied while still losing weight.
2. Eat only naturally-occurring carbohydrates instead of processed carbohydrates. Appropriate choices include carbohydrates that occur naturally in in fruit, vegetables, milk, nuts, whole grains, seeds and legumes. Avoid processed foods, like white bread, semolina pasta or crackers, or processed sweets like candy bars or sugary vegetables.[11]
3. Know the risks of living low-carb. If you stay on a low-carb diet long-term, you could increase your risk for heart disease and cancer because you’ll be eating so many products made from fat and animal tissue. Other less serious risks include:
   • Headache
   • Dizziness
   • Weakness
   • Fatigue and poor concentration
   • Constipation
   • Bad breath

Other Diets

1. Follow the Paleo Diet and eat like a caveman. Sounds crazy, right? You won’t have to hunt mammoth on the plains. Instead, you focus on eating the foods that our hunter/gatherer ancestors would have eaten, such as:
   • Grass-produced meat
   • Fish and seafood
   • Fresh fruits and vegetables
   • Eggs (omega-3 eggs enriched are best)
   • Seeds and nuts
   • Healthy oils like olive oil, walnut oil and coconut oil[12]
2. Try a Raw Food Diet. Are you sick of slaving over a hot stove? Then stick to raw foods. The Raw Food Diet requires 75 percent of your dietary intake to be uncooked. Most people eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and beans. Follow these tips when you’re on a raw food eating plan:[13]
   • Eat a lot of iron. Good sources include tofu, cashews, almonds and legumes.
   • Stock up on calcium. Eat bok choy, soybeans, figs, tempeh and cabbage.
   • Take Vitamin B-12 supplements. You can also eat nutritional yeast, fortified breakfast cereals and fortified soy milk.
   • Eat omega-3 fatty acids. You can take a supplement along with eating flaxseed and walnuts. You should also use oils rich in omega-3s, like canola, soybean, flaxseed and walnut oils.
3. Follow the Sonoma Diet. If you love the flavors of wine country, then you will love this diet. The Sonoma Diet emphasizes whole foods and calls on you to ditch processed foods with added sugar, foods made from refined white flour and food containing saturated fats. Here’s the lowdown on the Sonoma Diet:[14]
   • Start with Wave 1. Wave 1 is a lot like the induction period on Atkins or South Beach. You’ll ditch the carbs in favor of foods like vegetables, nuts, lowfat cottage cheese and soba noodles.
   • Progress to Wave 2. In Wave 2, you can add fruit, a wider variety of vegetables, sugar-free sweets and 6 ounces (175 ml) of wine daily.
   • End on Wave 3 when you reach your goal weight. On Wave 3, you can pretty much have any food that isn’t processed or full of hydrogenated fat. Reserve sweets for special occasions, and seek out exotic vegetables and fruits to keep things interesting.
4. Join a commercial diet plan. If you prefer to eat whatever you want and to meet weekly with other people who are losing weight, then try Weight Watchers. If you prefer prepared meals so that you don’t have to cook, try Jenny Craig or NutriSystem.

Burn Calories

1. Introduce basic aerobic/cardio exercise. Start with a small goal of 20 minutes, 3 times per week if your aren’t exercising at all currently. Try these steps to get yourself going:[15]
   • Buy a pedometer. Attach the pedometer to your belt and try to take 5,000 steps daily. Move up to a goal of 10,000 to 15,000 steps as you get in better shape.
   • Invest in good shoes. Go to an athletic shoe store and buy shoes designed for a specific sport if you are trying an activity like running. Otherwise, just buy some good all-around cross-training shoes. Spend some money; your health is worth the investment.
   • Start by walking. Walking around your neighborhood costs nothing and is a great way to start moving. You can also try other low-impact exercises like swimming,riding a bike or slow running.
2. Work out on machines at the gym. You can use a treadmill, an elliptical trainer, a stationary bike, a rowing machine or a stair climber. Start with short sessions and gradually add minutes as you get more fit. Also, use the settings on the machines to increase the intensity as you lose weight.
3. Take a class. You can take a traditional aerobics class or try something different, such as:
   • Kickboxing: Kickboxing combines moves from martial arts, aerobics and boxing for a great cardio workout.[16]
   • Zumba: Zumba combines Latin music with easy dance moves. Because it alternates fast and slow movements, Zumba is a great vehicle for interval training.[17]
   • Pilates: These exercises developed by Joseph Pilates are designed to strengthen your core muscles and lengthen you limb muscles. Many dancers use Pilates as part of their fitness regimens.
   • Yoga: Yoga will help you to improve your breathing and mental focus while also increasing your strength and flexibility. Yoga is also a great stress reliever.[18]
   • Martial arts: You can go for something traditional, like karate or taekwondo, or you can try something more modern like mixed martial arts (MMA).
   • Boot camp: A boot camp workout will employ calisthenics like pushups, lunges and crunches as well as sprints or other interval training based on military boot camp training.
4. Get into strength training. Again, start small, aiming for 1 or 2 15-minute sessions per week until you feel motivated to do more.
   • Do exercise that work multiple muscle groups. If you do exercises that work out large groups of muscles instead of focusing on specific muscles, you’ll save time and actually burn more calories. Try some of these examples:
     • Start with squats paired with an overhead dumbbell press to work your lower body and upper body at the same time.
     • Perform resistance exercises while sitting or reclining on an exercise ball. You’ll strengthen your core while simultaneously working on other areas.
   • Use machines and free weights. These tools tend to focus on particular muscle groups like the arms, shoulders, thighs, glutes and upper back. Do these more focused exercises after you work on exercises for multiple muscle groups.
   • Rest at least one full day between strength training workouts so that your muscles can recover. Recovery will help you to avoid pain and injury.
5. Play a sport. Join a local volleyball team or softball team, or join a tennis league.
6. Enlist a personal trainer. A personal trainer will provide a customized workout for your fitness level and your goals. Look for someone from the American College of Sports Medicine or from the National Strength and Conditioning Association.[19]

Stay Motivated

1. Make a bet with a friend or group of friends.[20] Commit to losing a certain amount of weight by a certain date with the caveat that you’ll pay up if you don’t lose. You may enjoy starting up a Biggest Loser Club at work or with your friends, or you can investigate a weight loss betting website like HealthyWage.com.
2. Set mini-goals. Instead of thinking that you need to lose 20 pounds, think that you want to lose 1 to 2 pounds this week. Or you can focus on non-pound goals like skipping after-dinner snacks this week or only drinking alcohol on weekends.[21]
3. Give yourself non-food rewards like a sports trip with a friend, a manicure or pedicure, a massage or a trip to the movies when you meet your mini-goals. Get yourself that new shirt that you’ve been wanting if you meet your goal of losing a pound this week.
4. Enjoy a treat now and then. If you’re attending a party or going out for a special occasion, allow yourself an indulgence. Just make sure that these “indulgences” don’t become daily habits.[22]

Tips

• Don’t start a weight loss journey alone. Find support from friends and family members who may also want to lose weight, or join a weight loss support group in your community. You can also find support in many online weight loss forums.
• Feeling good isn’t just about weight loss. People who lose weight often find themselves wanting to not only shed pounds but also to shed old habits and feelings. Listen to what your heart is telling you, and do the things that make you feel good about yourself. You are more than just a number on a scale.

• Weigh yourself daily and then average your weight over 7 days. Focus on creating a downward trend as opposed to losing a certain amount of weight per week. You may gain weight some weeks, especially if you’re female (because of water retention related to your menstrual cycle), for reasons that have nothing to do with your healthier habits.[23]
• If you’re breastfeeding, talk to your doctor before starting a weight loss program. Losing weight too quickly could cause you to produce less milk.[24]
• Love your body no matter what. Over time you will get the body you want.
• Don’t just exercise when you have PE at school. Get out and exercise, either ride your bike or just jog with friends. You can jog in place and do pull ups.
• Build your self-confidence. Believe you can do it and keep yourself on you feet. When you say “you have to do it”,just do it.

Warnings

• You don’t need to lose weight if you’re already in your healthy weight range. Embrace a realistic body and focus on health instead of on perfection.

• Avoid losing more than 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kg) per week whenever possible. Faster weight loss may cause you to lose muscle mass instead of fat. Also, people have more difficulty maintaining rapid weight loss over the long term.[25]

Things You’ll Need

• Healthy foods
• Pedometer
• MP3 player or iPod
• Good athletic shoes
• Personal trainer
• Food diary
• Money set aside for non-food rewards

Related wikiHows

• How to Calculate Lost Weight
• How to Increase Your Metabolism
• How to Eat Healthy
• How to Stop Sweet Cravings
• How to Be Beautiful when You Are Heavy

Sources and Citations

1. ? https://www.fhcrc.org/en/news/releases/2012/07/want-to-lose-weight–keep-a-food-journal–don-t-skip-meals-and-a.html
2. ? http://fitbie.msn.com/lose-weight/tips/10-eating-mistakes-slow-metabolism/tip/1
3. ? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metabolism/WT00006
4. ? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-recipes/NU00585
5. ? http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/fruits-tips.html
6. ? http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/vegetables-tips.html
7. ? http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/grains-tips.html
8. ? http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/protein-foods-tips.html
9. ? http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/dairy-tips.html
10. ? http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/oils-allowance.html
11. ? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/low-carb-diet/NU00279
12. ? http://thepaleodiet.com/
13. ? http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/guide/raw-food-diet
14. ? http://www.webmd.com/diet/the-sonoma-diet
15. ? <http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/how-start-exercise-program
16. ? http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/exercise/kickboxing.html
17. ? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/zumba/AN02130
18. ? http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/tc/yoga-topic-overview
19. ? http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/physical.htm#Strength_Training
20. ? http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/28/would-you-lose-weight-if-money-were-at-stake/
21. ? http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2012/01/08/10013998-weight-loss-challenge-celebrate-your-mini-goals-with-non-food-rewards?lite
22. ? http://fitbie.msn.com/slideshow/10-diet-splurges-and-how-often-you-can-afford-make-them
23. ? http://www.self.com/health/2012/07/weighing-yourself-too-much?currentPage=1
24. ? http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/patientinstructions/000586.htm
25. ? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fast-weight-loss/AN01621

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How to Lose Weight Fast

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

If you want to lose weight, you’re not alone. Almost half of all Americans are trying to lose weight at any given time.[1] While there are many things you can do to shed pounds, losing weight too quickly can be dangerous. Fad diets, diet pills, and fasting may help you reduce the number on the scale, but these methods can cause severe health complications. However, if you are generally healthy and you’re determined to drop several pounds quickly, there are some techniques and tips you can adopt to help you reach your short-term goals.

Steps

Fad Diets
The purpose of most fad diets is to promote rapid weight loss that you can see almost overnight. Fad diets are short-term solutions; if you stay on a fad diet for more than a few days, you could cause your body serious harm. You should always consult your healthcare provider before beginning any kind of weight loss program to make sure your body can take the added strain to its system. Here are some popular fad diets with simple instructions that claim to result in fast, short-term weight loss.

1. The Water Diet[2]. This diet involves drinking a daily total of about 64 fluid ounces (8 cups) of cold (preferably refrigerated) water, at regular intervals.

• Drink a glass of water before each meal and before each snack to suppress your appetite by making you feel fuller.
• Do not add sweeteners or flavorings to your water.
• Do not replace meals with water.
• Take a daily multivitamin to replenish the nutrients lost through more frequent urination.
• Juice Detox Diet, Juice Fast, or Hollywood Diet[3]. Although there are many variations on a juice detoxification fast or crash diet, they generally last for one to three days.
  • You can only drink fruit and vegetable juices on this type of fad diet.
  • Some variations of this diet involve taking vitamins or nutrients along with the juices, while others let you have a single meal per day.
  • The juices are meant to help your body flush out toxins and eliminate several pounds of (mostly) water weight from your system.[4]
• The Master Cleanse, Maple Syrup Diet, or Lemonade Diet[5]. This fad diet is a liquid-only diet.
  • Drink between 6 to 12 glasses of a special mixture of lemonade, cayenne pepper, water, and maple syrup each day.
  • You will also drink a cup of herbal laxative tea twice a day.
  • There is an optional period of easing into this fad diet, as well as an easing-out process.
  • It should only be done for very short-term weight loss and is supposed to function as a detoxifying cleanse rather than a strict weight-loss routine.
  • There is also an optional salt-water flush that can be incorporated into this diet.
• The Cabbage Soup Diet[6]. This diet claims it can help you lose up to 10 pounds in one week.
  • It involves eating a low-fat, high fiber diet.
  • You mainly eat a special type of cabbage soup, but you can also have moderate portions of certain fruits and vegetables, occasional meats and rice, a minimum of 4 glasses of water and a multivitamin each day.
  • This diet lasts 7 days and is not recommended as a permanent solution for long-term weight loss because of the lack of nutrients you consume on it.
• The Salt-Free Diet[7]. This diet helps you lose water weight by eliminating water retention in the body.
  • On this diet, you cannot have any salt, which includes not only table salt, but also all the added sodium found in pre-packaged and prepared foods.
  • This involves preparing sodium-free products at home or avoiding processed foods all together, which also means avoiding to eat out at restaurants.
  • It also involves drinking up to 2 liters (about 8 cups) of water each day to replenish essential bodily fluids, although green tea is also allowed in moderation.
  • Many prepared foods have as much as 30% of your daily value. You get your daily requirement of sodium from a healthy diet; too much can cause you to retain water weight.
  • Because some dietary salt is essential for good health, the Salt-Free Diet should not be followed for more than one to two weeks.
  • It’s important to note that this diet is more effective for those people who tend to retain water more easily than others. If you’re not sure whether you’re particularly prone to water retention, pay attention to your hands and feet the next time you eat something salty. If your rings are more difficult to take off, or your shoes become tighter after a salty meal, those are signs that your body is sensitive to sodium.
• The HCG Diet[8]. This diet combines injections or supplements of HCG (human chorionic gondadotropin) with a severely restricted calorie intake.
  • The calorie restriction alone (only 500 to 800 calories per day) is enough to promote weight loss in most people; it is significantly under the recommended daily calorie allowance, even for people attempting to lose weight.
  • HCG is not monitored by the FDA, and can have unpleasant side effects in many people.
  • Those who follow this diet typically gain the weight back immediately after stopping it.

Weight Loss Spa Treatments
Another easy way to get fast weight-loss results is to get beauty treatments specifically designed to help you shed inches quickly. By visiting a spa, sauna, or wellness clinic offering weight loss beauty services and procedures, you can have your pick of numerous beauty treatments and spa services that are designed to help you lose weight quickly or to alter your appearance by reducing bloating, tightening your skin, or removing body fluids.[9] These processes only involve temporary weight loss, but the results are immediate and do not involve dieting or exercise.

1. Ask about a mineral body wrap. Some mineral wraps claim to help you slim down by literally making you “lose” inches off of your waist, thighs, and arms. The process involves a mineral-based cleanse that is supposed to detoxify your body, helping you shed weight, reduce cellulite (fat near the surface of your skin), and tone and firm your skin almost instantly.
2. Get a lipase body wrap. Lipase body wraps are another quick-slim beauty treatment that follow a two-step phase.
   • First, an enzyme wrap is applied to rid your body of fat tissue near the surface of the skin.
   • A second mineral wrap is then applied, designed to tighten and smooth your skin.
3. Get a European body wrap. European body wraps are another potential option for spa services aimed at dropping inches off of trouble spots. This procedure is supposed to firm and tone skin, reduce the appearance of cellulite or stretch marks, and temporarily promotes weight loss.
4. Get a hot body wrap. Heat-based body wraps are perhaps a more well-known spa treatment, designed both to detoxify your body and stimulate smooth, toned skin. The heat and massage involved in most heat or steam treatments is targeted at improving circulation and helping your body slim down quickly.
5. Go to a sauna. Saunas may result in a loss of a pint of sweat in just a quarter of an hour.
   • You should hydrate by drinking a few glasses of water after spending time in a sauna to reduce the risk of dehydration.
   • Keep in mind that time in saunas must be limited, preferably to no more than one 15- to 20-minute session per day.
   • People with blood pressure or heart problems should not use saunas, nor should young children.[10]
6. Get a colonic. Some spas offer colonic irrigation treatments, which involve physically flushing your colon with large amounts of water to remove fecal accumulation.
   • This process may help some people who suffer from bloating, gas, and constipation and claims to spur weight loss in some individuals.[11]
7. Liposuction can shed pounds instantly. Liposuction is a surgical option for fast, targeted weight loss, generally only recommended for people with one or two specific areas of highly fatty tissue but otherwise relatively healthy body weight.[12]
   • Because it is a surgical procedure, it carries significant health risks and should only be performed by a licensed professional.

Healthy Eating Habits
Change general nutrition and lifestyle habits. Adopting a number of simple but significant dietary and behavioral changes can be enough to jump-start weight loss for many people. Combining the suggestions below with your short-term diet plan will enhance your chances of reaching your weight-loss goals faster and maintaining those results in the long-term.

1. Develop a healthy and personalized meal plan. Figure out how much you should be eating by scheduling a consultation with a dietitian or a physician to discuss your weight loss goals, special dietary needs, current eating habits, and potential areas for improvement.
   • Choose meals that have a healthy balance of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean proteins. A typical dinner plate should be filled with half vegetables or fruits, half whole grains and lean protein.
2. Plan your meals in advance. This can help you incorporate more nutritious foods into your diet and limit your calorie intake.
3. Determine your daily calorie needs. Your individual calorie needs will vary based on age, gender, height, and activity level. Knowing exactly how much your target daily intake is will help you stick to your diet.
   • Monitor the number of calories and grams of fat you consume each day and try not to exceed USDA guidelines.[13]
4. Keep a food diary. Write down every meal, snack, and drink you consume as well as the approximate quantities for an entire week.
   • When possible, write down the number of calories in each food you eat as you eat it.
   • Keep in mind that the recommended serving size is often considerably smaller than the serving you actually eat.
   • Don’t forget to include coffee mix-ins, condiments, and other additions to your daily diet.
   • Once you have done this, you should be able to estimate your typical daily calorie intake and compare it to your goal with an online calorie calculator.
5. Identify your food triggers and plan accordingly. Careful planning can help you avoid trigger foods and empty calorie traps you may have identified in your food journal. If you don’t purchase these foods or if you plan meals in advance, you will be less likely to sabotage your diet when pressed for time.
6. Watch your portion sizes. Look for healthy, delicious meal and snack ideas online or in cookbooks, and create a menu for the week. Make a list of what you’ll need for these meals, and don’t stray from your list when you get to the grocery store. Looking at market circulars can also give you ideas and even cut costs by buying weekly sale items and seasonal produce.
   • Incorporate appropriate portion sizes into your meal plan. For instance, a healthy snack of almonds and dried cranberries can turn into a huge calorie source if you don’t pay attention to quantities. Also, preparing pre-apportioned healthy snacks can help you avoid mindless overeating and can make it convenient to grab a healthy snack.
7. Don’t skip meals. Eating a healthy breakfast increases your rest metabolic rate earlier in the day, keeps your energy levels high, and may help you resist the urge of high-calorie snacks throughout the day. Plan to eat a snack or meal every 2 to 4 hours to keep your metabolism active. Eating regularly also keeps your blood sugar stable and reduces unhealthy calorie binges or deviations from your meal plan.
8. Select smart substitutes for unhealthy sources of fat, sugar, and calories. Most foods have healthier counterparts that will allow you to enjoy your favorite foods without unnecessary fat, sugar, and calories. Exchanging high-calorie and high-fat foods and drinks for healthier alternatives can help you lose weight faster.
9. Snack smartly. Swap potato chips and candy bars for snacks that are nutrient-rich and low in calories and fat. Avoid processed and packaged foods when possible, or buy snacks that have single-serving packets of 100 to 200 calories. Healthy and easy snacks include nuts, rice cakes, fresh or dried fruits, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and so on. Vegetables are generally very low in calories, very high in fiber, and full of flavor and nutrition, but avoid fatty dressings or dips. Fruit provides a good source of soluble fiber, releasing energy more slowly and keeping you feeling full longer. Low-fat dairy products, such as yogurt or cheddar cheese, can also be healthy snacks in moderation. Try combining string cheese with a handful of grapes, spreading peanut butter on a few crackers, or dipping sliced red pepper into a few tablespoons of hummus.
10. Sip on low-calorie 100% fruit juice, seltzer, or water instead of soft drinks, energy drinks, flavored coffees, and martinis. Cutting calories with substitutions can be a lot easier than you might think. For example, a tall latte in the morning may pack 500 calories. Since a pound of body fat (lost or gained) is roughly equivalent to 3,500 calories, replacing that rich beverage with black coffee can help you lose a pound per week[14]. If you eat salad frequently, try substituting a low-fat vinaigrette for your ranch or blue cheese dressing[15]. Similarly, cook with a tablespoon of olive oil instead of butter, for instance, or opt for skim milk instead of whole.
11. Choose lean meats. Poultry and fish are naturally low in fat, and certain fish like salmon, sardines, and fresh tuna are an excellent sources of antioxidants and Omega-3 fatty acids, which are beneficial to your health. Ask your butcher for lean cuts of beef or pork if you choose to buy them, and trim visible fat from meat before cooking. Consider eating vegetarian a few days each week. By replacing meat with nutritious foods like beans, tofu, or lentils, you can cut significant amounts of your daily calorie intake while adding many nutrients to your diet.
12. Replace high-calorie side dishes with healthier alternatives. For instance, exchange cheesy pasta or mashed potatoes with steamed vegetables or salad.
13. Drinking water instead of soda, coffee, alcohol, juice, or milk may help you cut hundreds of calories per day. Increasing your water intake can also help your body efficiently use nutrients, keep you energized, get the most benefit from your exercise routine, and feel full longer. If you can handle substituting water for all other drinks for a week, you can expect faster weight loss and see dramatic improvement in energy levels and even appearance very quickly.
14. Avoid tempting grocery aisles. Avoid the areas in the grocery store that stock sodas, cookies, ice cream, pizzas, and other fattening and highly processed foods, so that you are less likely to purchase unhealthy options.
15. Prepare your meals at home instead of buying fast food.
16. The Mayo Clinic Diet[16]. This plan was developed by the world-renowned medical research and treatment clinic to jump-start weight loss and promote a long-term plan for healthy and sustainable weight loss. It advertises a possible weight loss of up to 10 pounds in the first week, although results slow afterwards. This is one of the few diet plans with immediate weight loss results that are healthy to maintain in the long-term. It focuses on breaking unhealthy habits, creating healthy habits, and learning to eat and exercise well for life.

Exercise More
Remember, you can lose weight either by decreasing your calorie intake or increasing the number of calories you burn. Any health strategy should include both, but if you want to lose weight fast, exercise is essential. Small changes to your activity level can add up over the course of a day, and can start making an impact on your weight within as little as a week.

1. Make time for exercise. By making time for exercise and other healthy, productive activities, you can avoid temptation to overeat.
   • Make chores exercise opportunities. Do your own gardening, wash your car to burn calories and get things done around the house.
   • Don’t pick the most convenient parking spot. Park further from the entrance when you go shopping.
   • Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
2. Be realistic about the type of exercise you can do when starting a new program.
   • Don’t be discouraged if you have to start out slowly; you can always adjust your routine as you gain skills and confidence.
   • Even short time intervals of circuit training that combine cardio and fat-burning activities can trim inches off of your waist, arms, and thighs in 2 weeks or less. Participants in Chris Freytag’s 2 week trial[17] lost up to 10 pounds and as many inches when tested by Prevention magazine readers, with up to 5 pounds lost in the first week after only 6 sessions of 20 minutes each. Many women’s and health magazines as well as personal trainers offer similar condensed workout routines designed to maximize weight loss and visible physical slimming within only a few days of beginning the regimen.
3. Adopt a targeted exercise program.
   • Fat-burning cardio routines can help you lose fat quickly, while weight and resistance training can trigger your metabolism to use energy more efficiently.
   • Fat-burning exercise routines help you drop fat quickly by targeting fat loss. Having a healthy and balanced diet in combination with moderate fat-burning exercise is essential to prevent muscle loss. Try routines that are heavy on cardio. In order to lose a pound of fat, you must burn 3,500 calories. The most effective fat-burning routines contain short bursts of high-intensity workouts with interspersed periods of rest.[18] These are also called interval workouts.
4. Variety in an exercise regimen is especially important, and can help both those who have reached a weight plateau and those who are just beginning the weight loss process stick with it.
5. Choose workouts that require your entire body to exert an effort. This way, you work every muscle group and burn calories with more muscles at one time, like multi-tasking with your exercise.[19] For instance, combine a form of resistance training (try raising small dumbbells overhead as you work) with your arms while you jog or cycle with your legs.
6. Perform low impact aerobic activities. Moderate aerobic workouts incorporating brisk walking, cycling, aerobic machines, or swimming not only burn calories they also keep your heart healthy. Swimming is great, especially if you are quite overweight or have joint problems, because you can get the same benefits of running typically burning even more calories with much less stress on your joints. Try to get at least 30-40 minutes of aerobic exercise at least three or four days per week.
7. Pump some iron. Resistance training, weight training, can help both men and women stay lean by building muscle and raising metabolism. Weight loss strategies that incorporate both aerobic and weight training boost calorie burn significantly. If you gain muscle, your body’s resting metabolism (the amount of calories you burn when you’re just sitting still) increases. Studies have shown consistent weight training to raise the body’s metabolism by 15%. This means an average woman might burn 200-300 more calories at rest every day. Weight training can also tone flabby “trouble” spots, giving the appearance of weight loss by simply tightening and slimming your body.
8. Make exercise enjoyable. Choosing physical activities that you like to do will make you much more lucky to succeed at maintaining your exercise regimen.
   • Start a hobby that involves moving around a bit, even if it doesn’t sound like “exercise.” Gardening, building small projects, working on cars, or playing with animals are all great ways to burn calories.
   • Remember that games like volleyball, tennis, and even Frisbee can help you burn calories while having a blast, making exercise a social and fun activity you will want to enjoy everyday.
   • Find what you like and don’t be afraid to try new things. Many forms of exercise can help you reach your weight loss goals, even home-training programs such as Wii Fit, which guides you through yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balance exercises in the comfort of your own home.
   • For more adventurous athletes, programs such as P90-X can also provide dramatic weight loss benefits through exercise.
9. Get enough rest. Being properly rested will help you maintain sufficient energy throughout the day, making you less likely to overeat and less prone to injury during physical activity.
   • Rest at least 24 to 48 hours between strength training sessions on the same muscle group (for instance, work out your biceps and abs on alternating days), and take one to two days off from exercising each week.
   • Know how much sleep you need, since sleep deficiency impairs your ability to lose fat.

Video

A video containing a variety of diet tips collected from celebrities.

Tips

• Identify your source of motivation and your ultimate weight loss goals. Try writing down the exact reasons that stimulate you to reduce your weight so that you have a constant visual reminder of your goals, and be confident that you can succeed.
• The healthiest way to lose weight quickly combines a healthy and nutritious diet, proper hydration, and a moderate and varied exercise routine. If you use a fad diet or other rapid weight loss technique to drop a few pounds very quickly, switch after a few days or weeks to a long-term weight loss plan that promotes healthier weight loss to protect your health and promote sustainable weight loss.
• If you are severely overweight, losing even a few pounds can improve your health by lifting your mood, helping you sleep better and raising your confidence about the way you look. It can also improve your metabolism and the way your body regulates blood sugar, reduce your risk of many chronic illnesses, and take strain off of your joints and organs.
• Remember that strategies other than those focused on weight loss can result in an improved health and beauty. Be sure to wear clothing that fits well, take care of your skin and hair, maintain proper posture, and never underestimate the power of an enthusiastic smile.
• You may be able to reduce your caloric intake by eating slowly; your brain needs about 20 minutes to get the signal that you are not hungry anymore. Taking a breather in between bites can help prevent overeating, provided you pay attention to how full you feel and stop after you are satisfied.
• Choose specific goals and cross them off a list as you achieve them. This will allow you to see regular progress while still keeping the main objective in mind. Putting up a picture of yourself on the refrigerator from thinner days may remind you that every time you drop a pants size, you are getting one step closer to both the old and new you.
• Remember that healthy weight loss takes effort, dedication, and consistency. Staying focused on your motivation can make it much easier to turn down the chocolate cake to go for a jog. Similarly, keep in mind that one mistake doesn’t mean you have failed. If you have taken a step backwards, re-center yourself and get right back into the habit of following your plans. Fast weight loss for a specific event may be good temporary motivation, but developing a few specific goals for your long-term weight loss plans is also helpful and may keep you accountable for a weight loss plan after you achieve your initial goal.
• Maintain your weight loss by adjusting your calorie intake and exercise regimen so that intake and usage is balanced. Avoid yo-yo weight loss and gain by sticking to the healthy habits that helped you lose weight in the first place.
• For maximum health, especially if you are changing your dietetic routine in any drastic manner, start a diabetic diet of vegetables, fruits, proteins in small portions of poultry, fish, eggs, and meat. Build your diet from there.
• Be realistic but stay optimistic. Set an achievable goal for your weight reduction. If the aim is not practical then you will easily get disheartened and stop following your regimen. Keep in mind that even with minimal weight loss, toning muscle by weight training can give you a slimmer appearance very quickly.
• Build a support network. Supportive friends and family members can help you lose weight and maintain your weight loss. Similarly, online and in-person weight loss support groups can offer advice, companionship, and encouragement. Being accountable to even one person increases your chances of successful, speedy, and long-term weight loss. Even better, encouraging a friend or family member to participate in your diet and exercise plan can help improve their health as well.
• A better measurement than what a scale reads is body fat percent. If you don’t have access to calipers or a body fat scale, a better gauge is how your clothes fit and how you look rather than your absolute weight. If you can, though, it is good to measure your body fat about once per month. Men should be between 15%-25%, but no lower than 4%; and women 20%-30%, but no lower than 15%. Females have higher fat percentage due to pregnancy and menstrual requirements.
• The goal is to lose fat, not just weight in general. If you are doing strength training during your weight loss (which you should be), you might actually see an initial gain in weight. If this is the case, don’t worry! You have probably lost fat and gained muscle, which is denser than fat and is much healthier.
• Health professionals recommend a slow and steady weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week through a combination of healthy diet and moderate exercise.
• No matter what a magazine article says, spot improving is a myth! When your body burns fat, it takes it from all over your body, even if all you do are crunches. No amount of crunches will get rid of that gut if they are not backed up by proper aerobic exercise and diet! Washboard abs do not come from millions of sit ups; they come from having low levels of body fat. So if that is your goal, make sure you do plenty of aerobic exercise in addition to your ab routine.
• Warm-ups and cool-downs can minimize your risk of injury and can help prime your muscles for a healthy workout.
• If you find yourself missing some of your favorite foods, don’t worry. There is no harm in having your treat once a week. Pick a day each week where you treat yourself to your guilty pleasure in moderation. If it’s pizza, try going to a gourmet pizza place that will use better ingredients and fresher vegetables. If it’s a fast food burger, try making your own. A homemade burger is also generally much healthier than the food they serve in fast food restaurants.
• Sugar comes in many disguises. Check your food labels: fructose, glucose, molasses, and corn syrup are all sugars. Limit all sugars, but especially stay away from high-fructose corn syrup. It is just a corn syrup full of sugar. Choosing foods without it will help you reach your weight loss goals faster.
• Consider getting a blood test before you begin your new diet and exercise regimen. It may be useful to check for problems with cholesterol and blood sugar so that you can address them with your diet. You can also check for mineral deficiencies that can be corrected with your new nutrition plan.
• Men and women will likely differ on their goals with weight training. Women should know that no amount of weight training will make them as bulky as a man; women don’t have enough testosterone to build large muscles. The female body-builders you see are either taking steroids or training 2-3 hours every day. Male and female beginners should start with 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions, and should use the heaviest weight you can while still maintaining good form, even to the last repetition of the last set. Get a weight training book or find a reputable website that will show you different exercises and the correct form. When lifting properly, you will stretch the muscle during the exercise, but you should still stretch properly to prevent injury!
• Save some calories for potassium and protein for after you work out because they help reduce soreness. A banana and an egg does the trick.

• Diet programs such as the South Beach Diet, Atkins, the Zone Diet, and others aimed at rapid weight loss may have more sustainable dietary programs than typical fad diets. In a study comparing low-fat, low-carbohydrate, and a Mediterranean diet, study participants lost weight most quickly on a diet low in carbohydrates, although long-term evaluations showed comparable weight loss in each group[20]

Warnings

• Do not try to starve yourself. Neglecting to consume sufficient numbers of calories on a regular basis can result in the opposite effects you’re looking for and, if sustained, can be life threatening. If you have attempted to lose weight by skipping multiple meals or drastically reducing your daily calorie intake, speak with a health professional about getting information on eating disorders.
• If you feel negative side effects from your diet or exercise routine such as dizziness, nausea, weakness, pain, lightheadedness, headaches, or other symptoms, discontinue the program and resume normal eating or activity patterns. If you feel the pain or discomfort is severe or that your symptoms are worrisome, consult a health professional.
• Avoid fad diets, diet pills, and “quick-fix” diet plans that severely restrict calories or food groups. Fad diets and techniques for rapid weight loss are not always effective, and some may be dangerous. Pills, powders, and diet programs that require extreme calorie restriction, total avoidance of entire food groups, or excessive exercise can be very hazardous to health. Pills and supplements are not monitored by the FDA and may not be safe. Unless you have a medical reason for avoiding a particular type of food, a balanced and varied diet is essential for adequate nutrition and healthy, steady weight loss. Diet pills and restrictive diet plans can cause nutrient deficits, organ damage, high cholesterol, and many other dangerous health problems.
• Losing weight too quickly is dangerous and can have adverse effects on your health. Despite the title of this article, getting into shape is best done slowly. Prolonged excessive weight loss can cause considerable health problems. The safest and most sustainable way to lose weight is to do so slowly and under the guidance of a health professional.
• Consult a physician or dietitian before adding supplements to your diet plan, as multi-vitamins and supplements are not necessary for everyone, particularly if you follow a balanced diet.
• Do not begin a weight loss or exercise routine without first consulting a health care professional for advice. There are many health conditions that may contraindicate rapid weight loss programs or some of the other effective short-term weight loss strategies.
• Fast weight loss is only a temporary solution, and in some cases it can be downright dangerous. Fad diets, diet pills, and fasting may help you reduce the number on the scale, but these methods can cause gallstones[21], a reduction in muscle mass, hair loss, and injury to your heart and other organs fairly quickly.

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Sources and Citations

1. ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15833946
2. ? http://www.prisoners.com/cwaterd.html
3. ? http://www.hollywooddiet.com/
4. ? http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/detox-diets-cleansing-body-feature?page=2
5. ? http://themastercleanse.org/
6. ? http://www.cabbage-soup-diet.com/eating-plan/
7. ? http://www.slimming4all.com/salt-free-diet/
8. ? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hcg-diet/AN02091
9. ? http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/540613/body_wraps_and_spa_treatments_that.html?cat=69
10. ? http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/sauna_health_benefits
11. ? http://www.webmd.com/balance/natural-colon-cleansing-is-it-necessary?page=2
12. ? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/liposuction/MY00079
13. ? http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
14. ? http://www.acaloriecounter.com/calorie-counting.php
15. ? Agriculture Fact Book 98: Chapter 1-A, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1998
16. ? http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MY00432/DSECTION=mayo-clinic-diet
17. ? http://chrisfreytag.com/nutrition-and-exercise/work-out/daily-workout/
18. ? http://www.livestrong.com/article/247083-the-most-effective-fast-fat-burning-exercise-routines/?utm_source=popslideshow&utm_medium=a1
19. ? http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/lose-weight/burn-fat/8-ways-to-burn-more-fat/
20. ? http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0708681#Results
21. ? http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/features/gallbladder-diet-foods-for-gallbadder-problems

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How to Lose Belly Fat

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There are a lot of annoying gimmicks about how to get rid of belly fat. While there’s no “magic bullet” that will target abdominal fat in particular, this article will explain what causes an expanding waistline, and how you can make the spare tire go away.

Steps

Part One: Jump-Starting Your Metabolism

1. Eat breakfast. It might seem counterproductive to eat if you’re trying to lose weight, but studies show that eating breakfast within an hour of waking up keeps your insulin levels steadier and your LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) levels lower.[1]

• Try to eat your breakfast around the same time each day. If you tend to sleep in on the weekends, eat as soon as you wake up.
• Consider including protein and high-fiber foods in your breakfast — because they take longer to process than refined sugars and complex carbs, you’ll continue to feel full throughout the morning. Try eggs, peanut butter, and fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Avoid making sugary cereals, waffles, pancakes, french toast, breakfast pastries, or instant oatmeal the sole focus of your breakfast. If you’re going to splurge and eat something with refined sugars, try to balance it with protein or fiber.

• Decompress. Research indicates that the secretion of cortisol (a hormone your body produces during times of stress) is correlated with an increase in belly fat. [2]. Here are some strategies for combating everyday stress:
  • Get enough sleep. Most adults need at least 7 hours of sleep every night to function properly. [3].
  • Set aside time to relax. Even if it’s only 15 minutes on your lunch break, try to find time to simply close your eyes, breathe deeply, and forget your worries.
  • Keep your stressors away from your sleeping area. If you can avoid it, don’t do work or anything stressful in your bedroom. Tell yourself that the area is reserved for rest and relaxation, and resolve to leave your worries behind as soon as you step into the room.
• Aim to take 10,000 steps a day. In a study where a group of men were asked to reduce their daily steps from about 10,000 to less than 1,500 (without changing their diet), their visceral (belly) fat increased by 7% after just 2 weeks.[4]
  • Get a pedometer and try to increase the number of steps you take each day.
  • Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk instead of driving.
  • Stand up and walk for 30 steps every 30 minutes. If you have a sedentary job, consider getting a treadmill desk.
• Switch out refined grains for whole grains. In a scientific study, people who ate all whole grains (in addition to five servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of low-fat dairy, and two servings of lean meat, fish, or poultry) lost more belly fat than another group that ate the same diet, but with all refined grains.[5]
  • Melt fat with grains. A diet rich in whole grains changes the glucose and insulin response in your body, which hastens the melting of fat, and visceral fat, that deep layer of fat, is easier for your body to burn than the subcutaneous fat under your skin (the fat that you can see and grab).
  • Try to avoid “white” grains. For instance, purchase brown wheat bread instead of over-processed white bread, and favor wild brown rice over white rice.
• Drink plenty of water. Studies suggest that consistently drinking water throughout the day can lead to a more active metabolism, regardless of dieting [6]. Additionally, drinking more water helps your body flush out waste and toxins and improves your overall health.
  • Aim to drink an 8-oz. glass of water 8 times per day, or 64 ounces total.
  • Carry a water bottle with you so that you can drink whenever you feel thirsty.
  • Know how to tell when you’re sufficiently hydrated. It’s a slightly gross metric, but you’ll know you’re drinking enough water when your urine runs almost clear. If it’s still yellow, drink up.

Part Two: Exercising for Fat Loss

1. Exercise in small bursts. Research shows that interval training, or alternating short bursts of energy with brief resting periods, can improve muscle and build endurance more quickly than traditional exercise [7].

• Try sprinting. Run as fast and as far as you can for 20 seconds, then slow to a walk until you catch your breath. Repeat for 10 minutes.
• Set a treadmill, elliptical or stationary bike for interval training. Most modern exercise equipment can be set to an interval training mode, which will significantly increase the difficulty of the exercise for short periods of time.
• Go for a quick walk. Fit some exercise into your work day by getting up from your desk and going for a 5-minute power walk. Take long strides and keep a brisk pace, or try going up and down a flight of stairs.
• Skip the crunches — for now. Doing abdominal crunches and sit-ups will build strong muscles, but you might not be able to see them under the remaining belly fat. In fact, doing crunches might actually make your stomach look bigger as you build up thicker abs. Try these exercises to focus on your core muscles instead:
  • Do the bridge. Get into the position for doing a push up/press up. Rest on your elbows and keep your eyes to the floor at all times. Pull your stomach muscles in tight, imagining them going to your backbone. As you do this, your bottom should be down and your back straight. Aim to hold this position for as long as it feels comfortable. During the holding period, don’t arch your back but keep it as straight as possible. If it feels to hard at first, allow your knees to form a resting platform. Aim to hold the position for 30 seconds and repeat this exercise 3 to 5 times.
  • Do squats. Stand with your feet 8-9 inches apart, extend your arms in front of you, and squat your hips backward. Do four sets of 15 to 20 squats, working several minutes at a time.
  • Stretch the sides of your waist. Stand up straight, with your feet hip-width apart. Put your right hand on your right hip, and lift your left arm straight up, so that your palm is facing to the right. Keeping your legs centered, lean to the right and “reach” over with your left arm, stretching your left side. Do 3 to 5 times on each side.
• Ramp up the cardio. Aerobic exercises, which get your heart pumping, burn calories quickly and will facilitate fat-loss all over your body, including your belly. You can’t “spot-burn” belly fat, but it’s usually the first to burn off when you exercise, regardless of your body shape or size.[8]
  • Time your miles. Track your progress by timing how long it takes you to run a mile. As your cardiovascular stamina improves, you’ll notice the time going down.
  • Correct shin splints. If you get painful shin splints whenever you run, you’re probably over-pronating (that is, putting the majority of your weight on the outer side of your foot when it comes down). Look for a pair of shoes designed specifically to help alleviate this.
  • Dont’ overdo it. When you’re first getting into cardio, aim to workout 3 days per week, then build up to 4 when you’re ready. Pushing yourself hard every single day won’t give your body enough time to recover and build up muscle, and could lead to injury.
• Add resistance training. A 2006 study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism suggests that combining cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise with resistance training is more effective than cardiovascular training alone in getting rid of abdominal fat[9] You can do resistance training with free weights, exercise machines, or resistance bands.

Part Three: Dieting for Fat Loss

1. Reduce your calorie consumption. Unless you restrict your calorie intake, you’re not going to lose belly fat. Try out these tips:
   • Remember that it takes a 3700-calorie deficit to lose one pound of fat. That is, you have to either burn off 3700 calories through exercise or eat 3700 calories less than you burn in a week.
   • Aim to lose a maximum of two pounds per week. Losing any more than that can be unhealthy and lead to a cycle of “crash” dieting, in which you rapidly gain back any lost weight.
   • Keep a food diary. Most people tend to underestimate how much they eat in a day. Get an honest assessment of your eating habits by writing down everything you consume for a week. Look up an online calorie calculator, and figure out roughly how many calories you’re consuming in a day. From there, see what you can afford to cut.
   • Try a diet in which you consume 2200 calories (men) or 2000 calories (women) per day. This should cause a deficit sufficient for you to lose one or two pounds per week, depending on your activity level.
2. Eat good fats. Studies suggest that a diet with a higher ratio of monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) — such as avocados, nuts, seeds, soybeans, and chocolate — can prevent the accumulation of belly fat.[10]
   • Trans fats (in margarines, crackers, cookies, or anything made with partially hydrogenated oils) seem to result in more fat being deposited in the abdomen, so avoid these as much as you can.[11]
3. Get more fiber in your diet. Soluble fiber (such as that found in apples, oats, and cherries) lowers insulin levels, which, as mentioned earlier, can speed up the burning of visceral belly fat.[12]
   • Add fiber to your diet slowly. If you are currently getting 10 grams of fiber a day, don’t jump to 35 grams of fiber the next day. You need to give the natural bacteria in your digestive system time to adapt to your new fiber intake.
   • Leave the skin on your fruits and vegetables. Incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet will add fiber, but only if you eat the skin, because that’s where all the fiber is. So don’t peel those apples before you eat them. If you’re eating potatoes, try to leave the skin in the dish (such as if making baked or mashed potatoes) or if you peel them, make a snack out of them, such as baked garlic Parmesan peels. It’s also worth knowing that keeping the skin on potatoes when you cook them will help keep more vitamins and minerals in the flesh. Just don’t eat any parts of skin that are green.
   • Eat more split pea soup. Split peas is a fiber “power food”. Just one cup of them contains 16.3 grams of protein.

Part Four: Measuring Progress

1. Calculate your waist-to-hip ratio. Your waist to hip ratio — or the circumference of your waist divided by the circumference of your hips — can be a good indicator of whether you need to lose belly fat. Here’s how to get it:
   • Wrap a soft tape measure around the thinnest part of your waist at the level of your navel. Note the measurement.
   • Wrap the tape measure around the widest part of your hips, where you can feel a bony protrusion about 1/3 of the way from the top of the hipbone. Note the measurement.
   • Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement.
   • Know what’s healthy. Women should have a ratio of 0.8 or below; men should be at 0.9 or lower.[13]
2. Continue to take your measurements as you progress. After you’ve incorporated some of the strategies mentioned above into your lifestyle, keep taking your measurements. Write them all down in the same place so you can see your progress as the inches melt away.
3. Weigh yourself at the same time each day. Because body weight can fluctuate depending on the time of day, when you last ate, or when your last bowel movement happened, try to standardize the process by weighing yourself at the same time each day. Many people choose to do it when they first wake up in the morning, before eating breakfast.

Part Five: Staying Motivated

1. Join forces with a friend. Trying to lose weight with a partner can help you stay accountable for your actions, as well as giving you an extra incentive to keep exercise appointments. Share your victories together, and discuss solutions to whatever roadblocks you encounter.
2. Understand risks associated with belly fat. Losing belly fat doesn’t have to be solely a cosmetic goal; understanding the health issues linked with belly fat can help motivate you.
   • Belly fat is linked with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Specifically it’s the deepest layer of belly fat —the fat you can’t see or grab — that poses health risks. That’s because these “visceral” fat cells actually produce hormones and other substances that can affect your health (e.g. increased insulin resistance and/or breast cancer risk).[14]
   • The fact that they’re located right next to and in between organs in your abdominal cavity doesn’t help. For example, fat next to the liver drains into it, causing a fatty liver, which is a risk factor for insulin resistance, setting the stage for Type 2 diabetes.[15]

See What You Learned

Lose Belly Fat Quiz

Video

Tips

• The way your body distributes fat is largely beyond control and can be dependent on factors such as genetics and menopause. What is within your control is your level of body fat overall — if you keep that low, it won’t really matter where the fat goes, because there won’t be much fat to deposit in the first place.
• Eat smaller dinners. You don’t need to stop eating the things you like, but you should try eating smaller portions inch by inch. Large dinners tend to hurt a fat loss process because most people aren’t very active after dinner. This is the basis for advice along the lines of “don’t eat anything within a certain number of hours before going to bed”. The claim that your entire dinner is stored as fat isn’t entirely true. The process is more complicated than that, but the fact you don’t move after dinner is enough to hurt your cause. You can offset this by eating a larger lunch or snacking healthily before dinner.
• An easy way to burn more fat is to walk everywhere within a reasonable distance. You save money on gas, and also save wear and tear on your vehicle. And you might save parking charges and/or cab, bus or subway fares. All you need are comfortable shoes (take your dressier shoes with you in a bag if necessary) and walk, walk, walk. Pick up the pace as you get fitter to make those short journeys even quicker and smile at all the traffic traveling bumper to bumper in the rush hour. Biking is also a good option as you are working hard and getting to your destination faster.
• On days where you are feeling dragged down because you haven’t slept much, make sure you get some lean proteins in your body. When we haven’t slept, our bodies tend to crave sugar and “junk food.” We can curtail this by getting lean proteins such as nuts and fish into our diet.
• If you’re having trouble getting motivated to exercise, get halfway there. If you want to go to the gym, but just don’t feel like it, at least just drive yourself to gym, and tell yourself that if you still don’t feel like working out, you’ll go home. Odds are, though, once you’re there, you won’t feel like driving home. (But if you do, that’s OK too.) Then tell yourself you’ll just walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes, even if your exercise routine involves much more. Just telling yourself to do one more thing, without having to commit to anything else, will make things much easier. And before long, your endorphins will take over.
• If you get lots of sweet cravings, replace sweets and sugar with fruits. The sugars in fruits are digested differently than the empty calories of white sugar that are in most candy and processed foods. The fiber in fruit also slows the absorption of the sugars so you don’t get as high a sugar rush (and as low a crash).
• If you don’t have weights for resistance training, you can start by lifting anything heavy. Or, you can use gravity as resistance: do pull ups and push ups.

• Many women start gaining more weight in their belly as they get older, especially after menopause. The body fat distribution changes — less fat goes to your arms, legs and hips, and more of it goes to your midsection. Some people even find their waistline widening while their weight remains the same.[14] Nonetheless, the above steps will help to do away with belly fat.

Warnings

• Doing only sit-ups and crunches can actually cause the appearance of more belly fat, as the abdominal muscles grow in size and shape, they will push out against the fat, making it appear larger and thicker.
• If you’ve gained weight or been pregnant, you may have excess skin in the belly area that won’t disappear no matter how much fat you burn. You will only know how much excess skin there is, though, if you get rid of all the fat first. It is also possible that your skin will tighten up again once you’ve lost the belly fat.

Related wikiHows

• How to Prevent Insulin Resistance
• How to Measure Calories Burned During Exercise
• How to Start Your Own Exercise Regimen and Stick to It
• How to Lose Weight
• How to Get Six Pack Abs
• How to Be Healthy
• How to Exercise While Watching TV
• How to Have a Healthy Nutritional Balanced Diet
• How to Start Walking for Exercise
• How to Burn Fat on Men
• How to Decide if P90X or Insanity Is Better for You
• How to Reduce Heavy Thighs
• How to Burn off Baby Weight

Sources and Citations

1. ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15699226
2. ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16353426
3. ? http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-belly-fat
4. ? http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/299/11/1261.2.full.pdf
5. ? http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-belly-fat
6. ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18787524
7. ? http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/short-bursts-of-exercise-will-make-you-fitter-quicker-1921419.html
8. ? http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-belly-fat
9. ? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17136940
10. ? http://health.msn.com/weight-loss/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100185417
11. ? http://www.newsweek.com/id/168129/page/2
12. ? http://www.newsweek.com/id/168129/page/2
13. ? http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-belly-fat
14. ? 14.0 14.1 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/belly-fat/WO00128
15. ? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96922213

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