There are 20 weight loss tips I learned during my journey that helped me drop several pounds of fat in 8 weeks... and they also saved my life! If you are struggling to lose weight like I did, then maybe these tips can make a difference in your life as well...
1. Never go on a diet that has you restrict calories and nutrients. This is only going to make you miserable, slow your metabolism down, mess around with your digestive system, intensify your cravings and hunger pangs, and so much more!
2. Increase your metabolism and protect your digestive system by eating smaller meals. You may have heard this tip a billion times... and that's probably because it REALLY does work. Eat 4-6 smaller meals every 2-3 hours and you'll stop feeling hungry all the time, you'll boost your metabolism, you'll keep your digestive system running smoothly, and more.
3. Cleanse your body of harmful toxins and parasites that could literally be adding pounds of waste onto your body. This can be done by eating foods and drinking fluids high in antioxidants (such as teas, berries, green veggies, and more).
4. Water is more important than you think when it comes to losing weight. You can shed pounds of water weight lightning fast just by drinking 1/2 your body-weight in ounces of fresh water and decreasing your sodium intake. Drinking more water will also increase your metabolism, detoxify your body, help you build muscle tissue, and of course, improve your overall health.
5. Focus more on burning off fat than losing pounds. Switching to this mindset will have you doing more natural things and more effective things for improving your body. You'll also look WAY better as well.
6. Fruits are obviously good for you to eat, but most of them are still loaded with sugar. So eat them in moderation.
7. Eat a variety of colors with vegetables. All of them have different health benefits.
8. To boost your metabolism and enhance your digestive system, eat plenty of green veggies.
9. Do a quick exercise routine first thing in the morning on an empty stomach to boost your energy level for the day, boost your metabolism, and burn off STORED calories.
10. Have a cheat meal once in a while to not just satisfy your cravings, but to also boost your metabolism!
11. Building muscle is actually more beneficial and effective for burning off pounds of fat than cardio.
12. High intensity interval cardio works best because you combine the benefits of both low intensity workouts and high intensity workouts into one.
13. Always aim to gain SOME type of results. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be losing one pound, it could be that you lost 1/2 an inch off your waist, etc. Seeing, feeling, and getting results is by far the ultimate secret to getting plenty of motivation to stick with your diet and exercise program. It doesn't take a motivational speaker or some type of hypnosis... all it takes is RESULTS! Trust me... it works!
14. To boost your metabolism, keep your digestive system healthy, increase your energy levels, detoxify your body, fight off common illnesses, and a TON more benefits, I recommend that you get at least 3 servings of organic apple cider vinegar (with the 'mother' substance) everyday! This drink is noted as being a miracle drink, and based off of the amount of benefits it has, I think you can clearly see why!
15. If you have a hard time getting motivated to exercise, why not split your workouts into a few short sessions throughout the day? It doesn't matter if you do 30 minutes in one shot, or if you do three 10 minute sessions, you still burn off the same amount of calories.
16. Another thing I did when I couldn't get motivated to exercise is I stopped having some type of structure to my workouts. I know that sounded pretty weird, but let me explain. By not having some type of structure to my workout (such as changing into workout clothes, setting up equipment, going to the gym at a certain time, determining the time of day I was going to workout at home, or doing anything else that is involves a lot of preparation, etc.), and instead just started sporadically exercising at any given moment, I found myself being more motivated to exercise!
This sounds weird, but trust me, it works! For example, I remember watching T.V. sometimes, and during a commercial break, I would just get up and do some push-ups and jumping jacks! Another example would be sometimes I would just roll right out of bed and do a quick 5-10 minute body-weight circuit routine! Exercising is exercising. You DO NOT have to have some type of structure to your workouts in order to exercise. Having said that, this does not mean it's okay to avoid stretching and warming up prior to doing a full workout.
17. Your larger muscle groups are what will burn off the most calories, build muscle, build strength, and skyrocket your metabolism. This is why I recommend you focus more on exercising those areas (back, chest, legs, and core). Focusing on those muscle groups primarily will have you in shape in no time!
18. You can eat late at night... but there is a catch. I don't recommend you eat too many calories, and I definitely don't recommend you eat any type of simple carbs (processed foods, junk foods, white flour foods, and foods containing sugar). The foods that are okay to eat are foods high in protein and veggies.
For example, if you want to have a late-night snack, you can actually combine veggies and protein together and have a celery stalk with healthy peanut butter! The reason it is so important not to eat late at night is because when you go to bed, your body is not burning calories at the normal rate it does when you are awake. Because of this, if you eat a lot of calories within a few hours before going to bed, many of those calories you ate will not be burned... they will be STORED!
19. ALL teas are good for you... not just green. Of course you have to take it easy with teas containing caffeine, but all teas have antioxidants and other health benefits in them, and I recommend you get at least a cup of tea a day. In fact, I'm getting ready to make me a cup of Earl Grey as we speak!
20. The only way you'll ever get the body of your dreams is by staying 100% consistent. The more consistent you are, the more you are going to get results, and if you recall what I said in #13 above, results is the ultimate secret for getting plenty of motivation. So it all starts with staying consistent.
But how?
Well, what I did to help myself stay more consistent with my diet and exercise plan was for one, I chose a diet I knew I was going to stick to, and I chose an exercise regimen that I knew I would be motivated to do on a consistent basis. Secondly, I made sure I switched things up to prevent two things from happening. The first was getting a weight loss plateau, and the other thing was losing motivation. This worked like a charm! Now as far as switching things up with exercising, doing that is pretty much self-explanatory. As far as dieting is concerned, fortunately, the diet I went on was actually already based around switching around the meals. This not only kept me from getting bored, it also skyrocketed my metabolism and increased my bodies fat burning hormones! Go figure!
Bottom line, those 20 tips above helped me during my journey to not only drop over 50 pounds in 8 weeks, they also saved my life! And that's because I was well on my way to becoming morbidly obese (302 pounds) and I have a history in my family of getting overweight related diseases.
Listen, I don't want you to think I'm saying that this is going to be easy. It isn't. However, that's only for the work involved to getting the body of your dreams. If you have the motivation, then it doesn't matter how hard it is, mentally you are going to be well prepared, and then dieting and exercising will become a part of your life! And that's what I hope I achieved with this article... and that would be to have given you that starting motivation to make a change with your life and improve it.
The benefits of being in shape and being healthy are astounding (it's not JUST looking better)! If you want it, you WILL get it. Just make a decision right now that enough is enough, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to achieve my goals... and then DO IT!
Good luck my friend... and remember the 3 key words of success with diet and exercise: Natural... Consistency... Results!
And the best diet that I used and highly recommend if you want to Melt Away Fat FAST and permanently drop 9 pounds EVERY 11 DAYS is the "calorie shifting diet" from Fat Loss 4 Idiots...
I lost an amazing 52 lbs. of fat in 2 months (plus flattened my belly) using this popular online fat loss program... and it all has stayed off FOR GOOD! It works because it naturally raises your metabolism by having you eat REAL FOOD...