Want to Lose Weight? Your Ultimate Guide to Losing It & Keeping It Off Forever.
I’m commonly asked about the best diet or exercise regime to lose weight fast. ‘What’s the secret ingredient I should be using? What are the best supplements to take? Should I skip meals to fast forward my progress? How can I burn more calories during my workout?’
I usually answer the previous questions with a question of my own. ‘When you are referring to weight loss, are you talking about a permanent result or a temporary one?’
It’s easy to lose weight quickly if you really want. Starve yourself on the latest fad diet and participate in an over the top exercise regime and the kilos will literally fall off. Only problem with this unsustainable shortcut is that once you go back to your old habits, you will pile it all back on with a little extra. It’s important to know the difference between a temporary result and a lifelong result and understanding the difference is key to building lifelong habits and results for life.
The idea is to start slowly and build up with the three pillars for ultimate fat loss that include food, exercise and rest. Each pillar needs the other to be effective and to be done with an overall goal in mind. Which is to increase your body’s metabolism (how quick your body burns fuel). The best way to do that is to increase your body’s lean muscle mass.
I like to use this analogy. Imagine two cars sitting in traffic. One is a beat up 4 cylinder hatchback and the other is a sleek Lamborghini that breaths fire, is insanely fast and turns heads everywhere it goes. Which of the two cars will burn more fuel? Our goal is to turn our bodies into the fuel burning Lamborghini’s and we can do that with a combination of resistance training, cardiovascular exercise, stretching and rest.
Resistance training is an efficient way to burn the most calories as well as helping build strength and lean body mass. It also has plenty of other benefits such as improving bone density and helping improve brain function. Cardiovascular training will also help with those calories, build up your fitness, lung capacity and heart efficiency. Stretching regularly will help with recovery, development and flexibility of your muscles and ligaments and ensuring you get enough rest is just as important as those exercise sessions. Remember, that lean muscle development happens whilst you are sleeping and resting. Remove that rest period and it will become a slower process. A combination of these pillars over time will increase your body’s metabolism, effectively turning you into a sexy Lamborghini.
So let’s go back to the car analogy. It’s safe to assume that the Lamborghini will use up a lot more fuel that the beat up hatch. Meaning you have a higher allowance of fuel that goes into it to travel the same amount of distance as the hatch back. That sounds kind of expensive, but let’s say that the fuel was now a cheeky dessert after dinner, some slices of pizza or some after work cocktails. Take the Lamborghini out for a little race and all that extra fuel is easily burnt off, whilst the hatchback will need to make room somewhere for the extra jerry cans to sit. Probably in the boot somewhere.
This is the reason why fitter people can afford more ‘cheat meals’. They effectively burn more fuel at rest and while they work out than people with less lean muscle mass.
So I have one more question for anyone who want’s to lose weight. Do you want to be a Lamborghini, or a hatchback?
If you decide to become that Lamborghini and embark down a path on permanent results, it’s important to seek some professional help to get you started on a safe and realistic exercise and eating plan. In the meantime, I have a few key steps that anyone can follow and get started on their journey to permanent results.
- Read the labels on your food.
- Reduce the amount of sugar you consume.
- Replace soft drinks and bottled juices with water, tea or homemade smoothies.
- Eat a balanced diet filled with plenty of fresh vegetables, proteins, good fats and fibre.
- Listen to your body and don’t starve yourself. It will only make you crave junk.
- Keep an ample supply of healthy snacks around the house and work. This will give you a healthy option when your stomach starts calling.
- Cook your meals at home and pack your lunches. You can save money and time with this tip too!
- Avoid unrealistic ‘fad’ diets and exercise programs. Ask yourself one question. ‘Can I keep this diet/program up for the rest of my life?’ If the answer is no, then you need to pivot your energy. It’s better to learn to eat and exercise properly and build lifelong habits, than to seek unsustainable shortcuts.
- Seek expert advice. No two bodies are the same, so there is no one size fits all approach to nutrition and exercise. An expert can look at your current health, eating and exercise habits and advise on where there is room for improvement.
- Set yourself a goal and break it down into smaller achievable goals. Start with daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals and your big picture goals! The Lamborghini! Having a long term goal can be motivating, but making sure you break that goal down into smaller goals will make sure you stay motivated and on track.
- Keep it fun. Make sure you still go out and enjoy yourself. Social outings are still possible as long as you don’t frequent fast food meeting places. Take control of your social outings, be proud of your goals and your true friends will support you on your journey. Take group fitness classes and enjoy the social aspect of working out with like minded people.
Originally published at nupods.com.
