Simple Yet Effective Weight Loss Tips

As a fitness instructor I am often asked about how to lose weight as fast as possible. Usually this question arrives from women looking to drop a dress size for an important event or wedding, and quite often their need for a 'gimmick' and their lack of interest in anything which isn't going to provide overnight success is what prevents them from reaching their goal. We know people who have literally spent two years trying to lose weight instantly.

Here are a few very basic and easy to follow rules which will help anybody to drop some unwanted poundage from their waistline.

* The first thing to do is figure out your daily calories and work at a slight deficit from now on.

* Protein is great for weight loss, that's a fact. If you snack throughout your day time then you need to stock up on protein rich foods. These come in the shape of fish, chicken, protein shakes and a whole ton of other options. The fact is when you eat protein you store way less fat than when you consume carbohydrates or fatty foods. Use that to your, and your hunger's, advantage.

* Losing weight takes willpower. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't help yourself out whenever you can with a little unfair trick or two. You are easily more vulnerable to a fatty snack when you are halfway through a monster shift at your job and do not have any convenient tasty healthy food at hand. Take three-to-four small snack tubs in your back pack with you to work each day. Pack them with a protein rich snack. The calories won't be very high given the size of the actual tub, but the protein will fend off all hunger and have far less impact on your body's fat storage systems than a chocolate bar. Plus you'll actually feel better.


* When you lose weight you want to ensure it's bad weight which is coming off, i.e. you want to be losing fat not muscle. Even if you're a lady and have no intention to look like a bodybuilder, you do not want to be burning off muscle tissue. So when you drop your carbs down to lose weight like most dieters do, be sure to increase your protein intake. This will prevent your body from burning muscle and ensure you are only losing unwanted fat.

* Finally we discuss the the benefits of having a day off. Regardless of whether you need one or would simply like one, the benefits of taking a day off your diet at the end of each week far outweigh the downsides.

First of all your body will react well to suddenly having a completely different day in its schedule. You will also end the risk that if you ever need to eat junk food your body won't start reacting negatively because you have avoided it for years.

But the main killer reason we recommend doing this is because it gives you a target. There is a difference, of course, between 'off day' and Christmas day. Don't overdo it. But having that relaxation period on a Sunday is something which will get you through even the toughest week, particularly if you have found it hard to stick to diets in the past.

Nobody we ever meet in the gym says they want to lose weight without following it up with the fact that they also want the weight to stay off forever. We've all known a yo-yo dieter and the terrible things they do to their body every three months or so is definitely not something most people want to follow. These steps will help you not only to lose the initial weight you're after, but they will also ensure it stays off for good.

By Russ Howe