It is everyone’s wish to acquire that perfect shape and shed off those extra pounds. Amidst all the lies and hype surrounding the weight loss industry, it can sometimes be difficult to separate the lies and hype from the truth.
That is why it is extremely important for us to initiate this debate on ways to lose weight fast and safely.
When it comes to losing weight, you are totally in charge of your results. We could provide you with 100 of the best weight loss tips known to mankind but if you do not take action you’ll never see any results.
So please, pretty please, try and follow some of the tips and advice below and transform your body into the fit and healthy “you”.
The objective is to start slow and modify the tips to fit your schedule so that you can be consistent. Remember, it’s not what you do once in a while that produces results but rather what you are consistent with.
… And note:
15 Powerful Ways To Lose Weight Fast
If you ask any health and fitness expert the best ways to lose weight fast and sure enough the majority of them will tell you that diet and exercise are hands down the best way to do so. However, there are some subtle changes that you can make to your lifestyle that will prove to be beneficial not just to losing weight but to your overall health and well-being.
Here is a list of things that you should incorporate into your day-to-day lifestyle.
1. Ensure You Get Adequate Sleep
Adequate sleep not only keeps you refreshed but also does a great job in helping you keep fit.
For instance, when you are asleep your body releases certain hormones that control appetite and reduce stress. Although it is not possible to see these benefits in a few days, there is proof that sleeping for at least 7 hours a day does help in weight loss.
In a study conducted by the University of Wisconsin and Stanford University, doctors found that people who sleep for less than 8 hours a night tend to have higher levels of ghrelin and lower levels of leptin thereby causing weight gain.
The ghrelin hormone enhances appetite leading to sugar cravings and other fat-burning foods while the leptin hormone on the other hand represses appetite.
2. Embrace The Vegan Lifestyle
Okay, let me take a step back and say that we are not trying to convert you into a vegan. What we are suggesting is that you try to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet.
You see, there are certain foods that increase your metabolism which in turn speeds up the process of weight loss.
Foods like spinach, avocado, oatmeal, raisins, and French tossed salad are some wise options that you can include in your diet to lose weight fast.
In particular, a vegan diet was found by the University of South Carolina to be most effective for fast weight loss results.
3. Drinking A Lot Of Water
Drinking lots of water is one of the easiest efforts you can incorporate into your weight loss plan if you really want to shed some extra pounds fast and healthy.
According to an article appearing in the December 2003 issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism if you increase your water consumption by 1.5 liters a day you can burn up to 17,400 calories or approximately 5 pounds.
That is why it is recommended to drink a glass of water before going to social events like sporting events or cocktail parties.
In addition, drinking a glass or two of water first thing in the morning helps speed up the metabolism which in turn compliments your other weight loss plans.
4. Increasing Fiber Intake
Eating a large volume of fiber may help you improve your overall health and lose weight fast.
The National Academy of Sciences Food and Nutrition Board highly recommends 12 to 28 grams of fiber per day for adult women and 31 to 38 grams for men.
Since feeling hungry is one major challenge when attempting to lose weight, consuming more fiber can help you feel full longer and keep hunger at bay without adding extra calories to your diet.
You can add more fiber into your diet through vegetables, whole grains, and fruits.
5. Avoid Alcohol
To some people, the thought of abandoning the brown bottle to lose weight fast may sound like a far-fetched one. However, it has been proven that continuous consumption of alcoholic products such as beer and wine can lead to the gradual accumulation of belly fat.
Actually, alcohol has no nutritional benefits whatsoever, and each gram of alcohol you take certainly contributes to your caloric burden.
With so many disadvantages associated with alcohol consumption, there is no good reason to drink alcohol anymore if you want to lose weight fast.
6. Get The Right Carbs – Avoid The Wrong Ones
Eating a diet packed with the right kind of carbs is the best way to getting and staying slim for life.
Foods like whole grain rice, squash, and quinoa contain resistant starch which has been shown to produce more energy and boost metabolic processes – as a result contributing to faster weight loss.
Studies show that low-carb diets reduce your appetite and make you consume fewer calories and lose weight pretty much fast.
This diet also restricts your intake of carbohydrates like starches and sugars and replaces them with fat and protein.
7. Eat Low Fat Dairy Products
Opting for low fat dairy products such as low-fat yogurts and, cheese semi-skimmed milk actually helps in weight loss.
Research reveals that people who eat dairy foods and drink milk are more likely to have a lower body mass than those who don’t.
Other studies have found that people who consume low-fat dairy products as part of a calorie-controlled diet shed more kilos than people who skip.
8. Increase Protein Intake
Foods rich in high proteins require more work to digest and metabolize which means you end up burning more calories processing them.
They also take more time to leave your stomach so you feel full quickly and for a longer amount of time thereby you end up curbing your food cravings.
This cumulative effect has a lot of benefits to anyone who wants to lose weight fast.
In a study published, people who increased their protein intake to around 30% of the diet ate nearly 500 fewer calories a day and also lost about 10 pounds.
9. Stay Fit And Count Your Steps
You have a fit lifestyle – you eat well, get adequate sleep – but still have a problem losing weight.
Then it is time to exercise!
Perform one hour of cardio per day. This will help you burn stored energy.
Besides that, you need to spend adequate time performing weight training workouts which will help you to keep your metabolism elevated.
Besides gym workouts, you can opt for simpler exercises that are quite effective yet less intensive. For instance, you can adopt the pedometer method.
A pedometer plays an important role in weight loss. It helps count the number of steps you take and self-evaluate the distance you cover every day.
Studies have shown that individuals who wear a pedometer for weight loss tend to increase their daily activity by an average of about 2000 steps per day. This translates to approximately 100 extra calories burned daily which is a total of almost 10.5 pounds lost.
In addition, it is recommended that in order to lose weight fast and still maintain a healthy heart, you should aim for not less than 10,000 steps per day.
10. Surround Yourself With Positive Energy
Sometimes losing weight entirely depends on the type of people you surround yourself with because some people are very much dependent on social support.
Some people may tend to make you feel little about yourself because you are fatter than them and this may discourage you a lot.
However, just because the average body type of the people with whom you hang out can in some way have a negative effect on your size and weight, this does not mean that you should not hang around with slimmer types at the gym.
11. Scientifically Proven Supplements
If you are wondering how to lose weight fast and yet you live a moderately busy life you may not benefit much from the first 10 weight loss methods discussed above.
However, with the introduction of special supplements, no longer do you need to give up on your journey to a more fit and healthy you.
The best diet supplements work by decreasing appetite. In relation to this, people who use these supplements regularly automatically eat less food, which in turn promotes loss of weight.
Most importantly, some of these diet pills help in breaking down fat and preventing the liver from producing more unwanted glucose (note that excess glucose is normally transformed into fat and stored underneath various body organs).
Some precautions have to be taken though:
- (1) Pills must be manufactured in labs certified by the FDA.
- (2) Pills must be backed by sound and credible scientific evidence.
- (3) Pills are best taken with advice from a professional medic.
12. Limit Your Sodium Consumption.
Did you know that consumption of more than 1 tablespoon (2500mg) of sodium per day can cause you to retain water and gain weight?
Research shows that Sodium holds up to 50 times its weight in water.
Therefore, when you take excess sodium you increase your chances of bloating as your body tissues gather and retain unnecessary water deposits.
By limiting your salt intake, you will begin to expel some of that unwanted water weight and this will, in turn, contribute to the goal of losing weight quickly.
Thirst is a good indicator that you are eating too much sodium. Normally, as your sodium levels rise, your body tends to “ask for more water” in order to dilute and normalize your body condition. This in turn makes you thirsty.
To reduce your daily sodium intake, keep off canned foods, cured meats, and fast foods. Also, instead of using seasonings and MSG use garlic, lemons, pepper, caraway, and tarragon.
Besides that, always check the nutritional facts on the label of any product you buy before using it.
13.Take Your Multivitamins Everyday
Taking vitamins daily can help you maintain your weight and control hunger pangs.
Normally, most people focus too much on carbohydrates and proteins only to end up forgetting about the important role played by vitamins in our bodies.
If one does not get the right kind of nutrients – the body automatically switches to a “hungry” mode thereby increasing your appetite.
When one is hungry, they eat more in order to compensate for the nutrients that are lacking in the body.
In one study, scientists asked over 500 men and women if they took multivitamins daily.
It was found out that those who did take multivitamins daily had managed to control their weight unlike those who didn’t bother.
Further, 45 obese people who did not use multivitamins were put on a healthy diet and given multivitamins for 15 weeks.
At the end of the study, everybody in this group had lost weight and reported a significant reduction in appetite.
Following this study, the scientists concluded that taking multivitamins every day may hasten the process of weight loss.
14. Chew Your Food Longer
Normally the body does not realize that you have had enough food until several minutes after eating it.
For this reason (to prevent overeating), it is recommended to chew everything at least 12 times. If you eat slowly you will be able to eat just enough of what your body requires.
On the other hand, if you eat too fast, you’ll fill yourself up and possibly eat more on top of what you would naturally require.
Studies show that those who chew their food more than usual not only eat more slowly but also trick their bodies into thinking that they have eaten enough.
In a more recent study that is currently published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 14 obese and 16 lean men were examined based on their chewing habits.
Two studies were performed as follows:
- Study 1 investigated whether the chewing factors of lean mean were different from those of obese men.
- Study 2 explored the effects of chewing on energy intake.
- Both groups of subjects were given a test meal consisting of 2200 kJ.
*Results
Obese participants were observed to have higher ingestion (or chewing and swallowing) rate per gram of food as compared to lean participants.
Participants in both groups ingested 11.9% less after forty chews than after fifteen chews. It was further observed that forty chews resulted in lower energy intake than 15 chews.
Researchers concluded that improving chewing activity can be an effective tool in combating obesity.
15. Intermittent Fasting
Also referred to as IF or scheduled eating, intermittent fasting is rapidly becoming popular as the way to lose weight fast. As its name implies, IF is based on not eating for several hours at a time.
This method however should not be mistaken for starving because it is done within a predetermined amount of time.
Normally, surviving without food for 12 to 20 hours forces your body to burn stored fat for energy and this, in turn, helps you lose weight fast. Unlike starving, you don’t lose lean muscle in intermittent fasting.
Almost all the weight you lose comes from excess body fat which is what you want to lose in the first place.
If done right, IF can help you lose 2 or more pounds in a week even without counting calories. An additional benefit to IF is that you will have more energy than when you follow a normal diet routine.
*Scientific Evidence
Apart from removing controlling your cravings for sugar and snacks, modern research has confirmed that there are plenty of reasons to engage in IF.
For instance, a study presented at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology demonstrated that fasting intermittently can trigger a 1,300% increase in human growth hormone (HGH) in the body.
HGH is a fitness hormone that plays a central role in maintaining good health, muscle growth, and longevity.
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Final Advice
Anyone wondering how to lose weight fast should first understand how their body works before implementing any weight loss method.
Different people respond differently to different efforts and for this reason, it is always advisable to talk to a qualified physician prior to putting any weight loss method to the test.