Losing Weight

There is a right way and a wrong way about going at things like these. So you want to lose weight and tone up, there’s very few who don’t and like the rest of us you want results. FAST!

Unfortunately in the real world it doesn’t happen. Yeah, but what about those celebrities who lose a stone in 2 weeks? Have you ever thought that those celebrities have access to nutritionists, personal trainers, they go on ridiculous crash diets and because it’s their livelihood it’s a pretty strong motivator otherwise they’d probably be out of a job.

So how can I go about it?

First of all, don’t crash diet. Slimfast, South Beach, Atkins, Cabbage Soup, Maple Syrup they all yield fairly quick results, but you’re telling me you’re going to survive on a diet of cabbage soup or Maple syrup every single day for the rest of your life? I don’t think so, and when you’re down to your target weight and you start eating normally again, the weight will go straight back on.

So I suggest you make small changes to your diet instead of big ones.

• Instead of white bread, have wholemeal (it is nice, you can get used to it)
• Cut out the alcohol (if you drink it) it has so many empty calories, when you could eat a bar of chocolate instead
• Soup is a really great way of having a low fat filling lunch and is tasty too
• Cut down on the fizzy drinks, they’re full of sugar, drink sugar free versions instead
• Cut your portion sizes down, instead of a 12 inch plate, have an 8 inch. Also 50g cereal in the morning is more than enough.
• Try and eat breakfast, people who eat breakfast are more likely to be slimmer
• Eat more protein, protein fills you up for longer and helps burn fat.
• Replace your snacks with healthier ones; instead of that packet of crisps have a flapjack or an apple.
• Try and cut down on the red meat and eat more chicken, fish and vegetarian dishes. Red meat takes longer to digest and there is also an increased risk of cancer if you eat too much.
• Try to eat reduced fat versions of things like cheese and yoghurt
• Try skimmed milk instead of full fat milk; it has more calcium in it and not as many calories.
• If you’re craving something, do something else for 10 minutes and your craving should pass, if not have a small portion of what you crave, after all a bit of what you fancy does you good.
• Cut down on salt. Too much salt is bad for you and it bloats you besides.
• Drink more water, sometimes you think you are hungry when you are indeed thirsty, have a drink first to see if it is just thirst.
• Eat your meals slowly, it takes 20 minutes for the brain to register you are full.

It can be difficult changing your lifestyle at first but you can become accustomed to it, especially the smaller portions. Whilst you shouldn’t starve yourself so that you become so hungry you feel like murdering someone you shouldn’t be eating every time you get a tiny hunger pang.

You also can only lose a certain amount with healthy eating and for the first part it’s mostly water and even muscle.
In which case you should also do some exercise to keep fit which you can read about here