Whether you are just trying to lose some pre-holiday weight, or have made a new year's resolution, or have just noticed you're getting a bit of a double chin, it is almost always a good idea to shed some weight. A good place to start for most people is to set a realistic weight loss goal. A weight reduction of 10 pounds would make a noticeable difference often to your appearance, and, once achieved gives you a sense of satisfaction and the encouragement to do more. We are not going to, however, set ourselves a deadline in terms of the time taken to achieve our goal as it will vary depending on your age and how overweight you are. A young person can often achieve weight loss more quickly as he or she will be more active, have a higher metabolic rate, and be more able to increase daily exercise in order to boost the metabolism more. Also, it is likely that your excess weight has crept up on you over a period of months and it's common sense to expect that it will not disappear in a couple of days. Crash diets that promise this are either dangerous to your health or useless. A crash diet will often lose you weight by causing fluid loss which is easily regained. This is not fat loss. Even if you virtually starved yourself this would not help as once the effects of such drastic calorie loss are recognised it tends to reduce its metabolic rate in order to conserve energy supplies for as long as possible.
Any diet that aims for drastic and quick weight loss is likely to be too restrictive and hence cause you to give up on it. It is much better to adjust your overall eating habits, identify the worst types of foods, and cut them out. The foods to cut back on are the manufactured or processed foods that contain a lot of carbohydrate, especially refined carbohydrate, so you need to cut out white bread, crisps,ready-chilled meals, biscuits, cakes, pies, fizzy drinks (even those with artificial sweeteners), and white pasta.
Most people tend to eat far more than they need, which is why they put on weight in the first place. If you stop and think about it, you'll probably be surprised how often you eat when you are not actually hungry. Many people sit in front of the TV of an evening snacking on bits and pieces that they don't need. We have become conditioned to the three meals a day habit without questioning but is this really ideal, particularly if we have been brought up to eat everything on the plate ?
So you need to both reduce the total amount that you eat every day, and reduce the amount of carbohydrate-containing foods in order to achieve your 10 pounds weight loss within a reasonable period of time. By the way, increasing your consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables is a good idea, as thes are relatively low in calories but high in fibre which aids digestion and helps you get the most out of your food. Fruit and vegetables are also of course, full of vitamins and minerals, constituents which can be lacking in a diet relying on processed foods.
Having adjusted your diet you need to find ways to increase your daily exercise to burn off the excess fat. Although going to the gym can be very good in that it helps increase muscle mass and helps burn fat, it is probably not essential. Man was designed to walk or run about and not sit behind a desk all day. Until exposed to the temptations of civilisation there was no obesity amongst African tribesmen, nomadic peoples or Aborigines. They moved around all day and stayed thin which is much more healthy. This degree of daily exercise may not be practicable, but, if you think about it it, there are ways you can get more exercise. Try getting up a little earlier and using an exercise machine for 20 minutes or just do step-ups on the stairs. You could walk more during the day, either to get the bus or train, or simply at lunch go for a walk or a swim if possible. Cycling is another very good exercise for keeping the weight down, and even half an hour of an evening will help.
Finally, jogging is considered by many to be one of the best ways to reduce weight and keep it off. It is more intense than walking and will burn off more calories. It can be more interesting than going to the gym as you can vary your route and see parts of your local town you may never have seen before !
What this comes down to is a few adjustments to your lifestyle. A more active lifestyle coupled with a healthier diet should see you losing 10 pounds within a few weeks, and even more if you stick with it.
