At first glance, keeping a food journal doesn't really seem to be a great way to lose weight fast. Writing doesn't burn a lot of calories and it isn't reducing the calories eaten. But let's think about this a little bit more because I would say to you that a food journal is the most effective of all the fast ways to lose weight that I have ever heard.
Can you remember what you ate yesterday? Everything you ate? Are you leaving something out or skipping over how much of something you ate? I bet you are, even if you don't realize it. Now write it down. Take five minutes or so and really think about it. Make sure to include all snacks, meals and drinks throughout the day. Surprised at how big the list is? I know I was the first time I did it. Bet you didn't think you ate that much. Now, look over your list again and write down beside each item how much of each item you ate or drank. Use whatever measurements work for you. Now look at your list again. Mentally picture all that food and drink together on one table. Can you believe you ate all of that yesterday? If you were to repeat your day yesterday, would you now eat and drink everything the same? Probably not because now you are looking at things from the big picture, not just "one little bite".
Keeping a food journal will keep you honest about how much you are eating every day. And you will start to think about it when you are making your food choices. You will stand in front of the vending machine and instead of thinking about that chocolate bar you crave, you will think about having to write down and admit to yourself that you did not have the willpower to resist, again.
Very quickly, you will change your eating habits as you become more aware of what you are putting in your body.
As you become more adept at completing your food journal, your measurements can get more specific. They can include a number of servings to track your consumption, they can include the approximate number of calories consumed. It will also give you an opportunity to plan your diet and what you will eat each day, not only as far as caloric intake but also from an overall health viewpoint - making sure you get all your fruits and vegetables for example.
No other weight loss tool will force you to look at your diet and be honest with yourself like this will. It is free and you can even download programs online to help you monitor your diet. Now get started!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Exercise - One Of The Fast Ways To Lose Weight
Exercise, the daunting word when looking at weight loss. This is the step that is most dreaded by legions of weight loss hopefuls. It is the most intimidating, the easiest to make excuses to skip and the hardest to create a habit of. But you will not have fast, successful weight loss without it. No blog about fast ways to lose weight can ignore the benefits of exercise. To get you started, here are some exercise basics, stated here to help relieve the pressure and intimidation about getting started.
Exercise can be divided into two major categories: aerobic or cardio and strength or resistance training. An aerobic program usually consists of cardio exercise performed three to six days per week. Each session should last 30 minutes and if you work at a moderate intensity, you should burn about 300 calories per session. The more challenging the cardio and the higher intensity at which you work, the more calories you will burn. A strength training session will burn roughly half the calories of the cardio session.
After learning that, it seems like cardio is the only way to go. When looking at fast ways to lose weight, the answer is clearly yes. But in order to help you lose more weight over time, you should certainly consider adding resistance training to your repertoire. Why? Because strength training will help increase your muscle mass and muscle burns more calories which will help you lose more weight in the long term.
When starting an exercise program, be sure to choose activities that you enjoy. It takes 21 repetitions to make something a habit, which is you exercise everyday is three weeks. That's a long time to continue to do something you dislike. If you don't know what exercise you would like, try something new each day, recumbent bike, treadmill, an exercise class etc. Once you create the habit, you are well on your way to not only fast weight loss, but also keeping the weight off over time!
Exercise can be divided into two major categories: aerobic or cardio and strength or resistance training. An aerobic program usually consists of cardio exercise performed three to six days per week. Each session should last 30 minutes and if you work at a moderate intensity, you should burn about 300 calories per session. The more challenging the cardio and the higher intensity at which you work, the more calories you will burn. A strength training session will burn roughly half the calories of the cardio session.
After learning that, it seems like cardio is the only way to go. When looking at fast ways to lose weight, the answer is clearly yes. But in order to help you lose more weight over time, you should certainly consider adding resistance training to your repertoire. Why? Because strength training will help increase your muscle mass and muscle burns more calories which will help you lose more weight in the long term.
When starting an exercise program, be sure to choose activities that you enjoy. It takes 21 repetitions to make something a habit, which is you exercise everyday is three weeks. That's a long time to continue to do something you dislike. If you don't know what exercise you would like, try something new each day, recumbent bike, treadmill, an exercise class etc. Once you create the habit, you are well on your way to not only fast weight loss, but also keeping the weight off over time!
5 Diets To Lose Weight Fast
A large percentage of our society is overweight and it is difficult to find your way back from it. As a society, we are always looking for fast ways to lose weight. Below are five diets that can help you lose weight quickly.
Low Carb Diet
This diet focuses on limiting carbohydrates and consuming a lot of protein. Generally, one can eat as much lean meat and protein as they like but cannot eat carbohydrates such as pasta, bread and potatoes. Individuals are able to trick their bodies into burning more fat and this can result in quick weight loss. The most well known diet of this type is the Atkins diet.
Calorie Alternating Diet
This diet consists of eating normally for two days, then cutting your calories for two days and repeating the cycle. The body burns calories based on collected data and this tricks the body into burning more calories and results in fat burning.
5 Day Diet
This diet was originally created for individuals who were headed for heart surgery, to help them slim down before the operation. This diet provides all essential vitamins and minerals but restricts calories to under 1500 per day.
Metabolism Boosting Diet
This diet works by helping to boost an individuals metabolism. The trick is to eat more than three meals a day but the meals must be very small. For example, one could eat six meals a day but would be restricted to 200 calories per meal. This will help you build up your metabolism and digest the food easily. It will also help you to feel fuller longer by spreading the meals out over the course of the day.
Cabbage Soup Diet
This diet is designed to allow you to feel full while losing weight quickly. You can eat as much of the cabbage soup as you like on any day and certain other foods are assigned to different days in addition to the soup. For example, fruit one day, steak one day etc. But beware, your coworkers may not be big fans of this diet. Cabbage soup smell in the office is less than appetizing.
These are a few diets that can help you get started on your weight loss. Once you have completed these diets, in order to keep the weight off, you will have to alter your regular eating habits. But that is a topic for another post!
Low Carb Diet
This diet focuses on limiting carbohydrates and consuming a lot of protein. Generally, one can eat as much lean meat and protein as they like but cannot eat carbohydrates such as pasta, bread and potatoes. Individuals are able to trick their bodies into burning more fat and this can result in quick weight loss. The most well known diet of this type is the Atkins diet.
This diet consists of eating normally for two days, then cutting your calories for two days and repeating the cycle. The body burns calories based on collected data and this tricks the body into burning more calories and results in fat burning.
5 Day Diet
This diet was originally created for individuals who were headed for heart surgery, to help them slim down before the operation. This diet provides all essential vitamins and minerals but restricts calories to under 1500 per day.
Metabolism Boosting Diet
This diet works by helping to boost an individuals metabolism. The trick is to eat more than three meals a day but the meals must be very small. For example, one could eat six meals a day but would be restricted to 200 calories per meal. This will help you build up your metabolism and digest the food easily. It will also help you to feel fuller longer by spreading the meals out over the course of the day.
Cabbage Soup Diet
This diet is designed to allow you to feel full while losing weight quickly. You can eat as much of the cabbage soup as you like on any day and certain other foods are assigned to different days in addition to the soup. For example, fruit one day, steak one day etc. But beware, your coworkers may not be big fans of this diet. Cabbage soup smell in the office is less than appetizing.
These are a few diets that can help you get started on your weight loss. Once you have completed these diets, in order to keep the weight off, you will have to alter your regular eating habits. But that is a topic for another post!
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