Six Steps to Weight Loss Success
What does it take to lose weight?
When it comes to losing weight there is so much conflicting
information out there that a lot of people just are not sure
where to begin. There is an old saying that states “if you want
learn how to get rich then hang out with rich people” Well, that
old saying can also be applied if you want to lose weight. The
bottom line is, if you want to lose weight follow the advice of
those that have successfully done so. When it comes to reducing
body fat, Bodybuilders are the Kings and Queens to losing
weight. Although many of their practices are too extreme for
most people, there are some great secrets that should be used by
everyone.
Before we begin we should first cover a few basic rules. Rule
number 1, there is no such thing as a magic pill! Yeah, I know
that stinks but the facts are the facts. Although there are diet
supplements and diet pills/ patches that will assist with weight
loss they are not the magic solution. You will still need to add
in a good diet and exercise program, which leads us into Rule
Number 2.
Rule number 2, Proper diet and exercise is key. If you want to
lose weight for the long term then you will need to have a good
exercise and diet program. We will cover this more in detail
later.
Rule number 3 encompasses both rules 1 and 2. For most people
they just need to take the steps to safely increase their
metabolism. Most people have slowed their metabolism down so
much that they seem to not be able to lose weight even if they
eat only once or twice a day.
Steps to increase your metabolism and burn unwanted body fat
Step 1: Drink a gallon water everyday
Most of us are already aware that our bodies are mostly made up
of water. So much of it that approximately 65 percent of our
bodies is water. The brain uses it, the organs, the skin, bones
and even the way nutrients and waste are passed in and out of
the cells. Drink too little water and you may be at risk for
headaches, muscle cramps, dizziness, constipation and other
nasty symptoms. However, if you drink an adequate amount of
water you gain some great benefits such as a clearer mind, more
energy and even help your body metabolize body fat.
As a general rule I try to start out at a gallon a day and move
up from there. Yes it is difficult at first but in a short
amount of time your body will adapt. I have also added an extra
step to my water consumption by drinking it ice cold. You not
only get the benefit of metabolizing body fat by drinking a
gallon of water a day but you also get an extra benefit with
cold water by expending more calories trying to warm it up.
How to prepare – get an empty one-gallon plastic milk carton (or
water jug) and fill full of water and put it in the freezer the
night before you need it. The next morning a wall of ice will
form inside the milk carton. Take a butter knife and punch a
hole through the top layer of ice. You now have an ice-cold
water jug that you can carry with you throughout your day.
Step 2: Eat six (6) small meals a day
I know this sounds all wrong but I am going to paint a little
picture for you to help you grasp this concept. Your body is a
very adaptable machine that is going to adjust itself to survive
as efficiently as possible. If you only eat one meal a day,
large or small, your body will make adjustments according to
your current caloric intake. In other words, if you are only
eating once a day your body will want to store calories as fat
so that it has an ample supply of energy to live off of before
the next feeding. The less you eat the less your body is going
to burn therefore slowing down your metabolism.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can eat six servings of fast food or
junk throughout the day and lose weight. You need to live on a
well-balanced diet that is full of protein, fruits and
vegetables and good carbohydrates (yams, brown rice, oat meal,
etc…). Does this mean you have to give up junk food and sweets?
Nope, this leads us into our next step.
Step 3: Add a cheat meal to your diet
As stated earlier your body is an amazing machine. Not only is
your body going to do what it can to insure its survival, it
will also try to maintain balance by adapting to its
environment. In other words, if you eat the same thing day in
and day out your body will eventually adapt to your current
caloric intake by adjusting your metabolism. For example, if you
were eating 2000 calories a day and dropped down to 1500
calories a day, your body will eventually adjust your metabolism
to efficiently run on 1500 calories a day.
The key is to trick your body and keep it guessing. One of the
greatest, and most fun I might add, tricks used by bodybuilders
is to add a cheat meal to their diet. For one meal a week you
can go hog wild and eat whatever your heart desires, whether it
be pizza, ice-cream or a meal full of Snickers. Now I understand
there are those that would prefer to eat a cleaner diet so for
them I recommend that they just double their carbohydrate intake
one to two full days out of the week (this is what I actually
did when preparing for bodybuilding contest)
The real asset of the cheat meal is that it keeps you honest
with your diet. If your cheat meal is on Saturday and Wednesday
your getting a really bad pizza craving, you can simply convince
yourself to stay on track by reminding yourself that in three
more days you can have whatever you want. Pushing your cravings
off to your cheat meal date becomes a little goal for you to
achieve while allowing you to maintain your sanity.
Step 4: Change diet later in day
As your day progresses you will want to shift your diet from the
more complex carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes and bread to
more fibrous carbohydrates such as broccoli and other
vegetables. The fibrous carbohydrates take longer to burn and
you will not have to worry about spiking your insulin levels
before you go to bed. Once exception to this rule is if you are
working out in the evenings. In this case you will need to take
an adequate amount of carbohydrates for your workout.
*Note: A good diet program should be designed for each
individual. I would recommend consulting with a good
nutritionist to be put on a diet program that works for you.
Step 5: Cardio in the morning
A successful weight loss routine involves both diet and
exercise. If you are looking for long-term results, one does not
go without the other. If you avoid doing either one or the
other, you may experience some short-term success followed by
long-term frustration. A great example of this is to watch
people who are always doing the yo-yo diets. They lose weight
one week only to gain it back plus some a few weeks later. Hey,
we have all done this so keep in mind that both exercise and
diet is the key to long-term success.
One trick that I have found works is to do your cardio workouts
in the morning. Ideally I would walk on the treadmill or stair
stepper at a moderate pace for 45 minutes in the morning
(moderate pace meaning that I was breaking a good sweat but
could maintain a conversation if necessary (Too fast of a pace
and you will burn carbohydrates instead of fat). The benefits to
this are that you not only increase your metabolism for the day
you also will feel better too.
Even though I appear to have been stressing the benefits of a
good cardio program, it would be irresponsible of me to not also
point out the benefits of weight training. Simply put, the more
lean muscle mass you have the more calories your body will burn.
I highly recommend you consider adding a weight resistant
workout to your body fat reduction arsenal.
Step 6: Supplements
I would like to stress that diet supplements are a tool to help
you reach your goal. Supplements alone are not a magic pill that
will give you instant results. However, that being said, a good
diet supplement added to a solid diet and workout program will
help accelerate your results.
Tying it all together
I have personally used these six weight-losing principles to
help me reduce unwanted body fat to win several bodybuilding
contests. For example, I applied these exact principles to
reduce my body fat from 28 percent to less than five percent in
a six and a half month period. Although some of the diet
practices applied for a bodybuilding show may be extreme, these
six principles can be applied and adjusted for everyone looking
to reduce body fat. In conclusion and to recap, the six basic
steps to weight loss success is to drink a gallon of ice cold
water a day, eat six small meals a day verses the traditional
large three, add a cheat meal to your diet program, adjust your
carbohydrate intake towards the end of the day, do cardio
workouts in the morning and finally add supplements as a tool to
your diet and workout program.
About the author:
Gerald Gore is the owner of the online fitness review site
One4Fitness. For more health and fitness related tips and
reviews on workout equipment visit Gerald’s site at
http://www.one4fitness.com.