1 - Do not cut too many calories:
Avoid drastically cutting your calories. Quick and drastic weight loss can cause issues with your body's metabolism and muscle mass. When you lose a lot of weight quickly, you really need to strictly monitor where the weight is coming from. Is it water weight, body fat or muscle mass? The majority of the time, it unfortunately comes from lean muscle mass and this is exactly what causes serious issues with your metabolism. Muscle is your body's most potent and active tissue for burning calories and body fat. It's basically your body's "furnace" and you always want to keep it burning hot. When someone loses a lot of weight, which usually comes from crash dieting or some other unhealthy way of dropping the weight, the body's lean muscle mass is cannibalized and the person loses some of the most powerful tissue for keeping a lean body.
2 - Increase your water intake:
Drinking water is one of the most important aspects to losing weight. Our bodies are over 70% water and it needs a large amount of this liquid to maintain its daily functions. Water helps to flush our systems and remove harmful toxins. When you don't drink enough water, your body actually holds onto the water is has which in turn, leaves you bloated. In order to release the water, you need to consume enough of it throughout the day. Water is also a great no-calorie source to fill up your stomach which helps keep you feeling fuller. Try drinking ice cold water to actually burn more calories. Your body needs to heat up the ice cold water and it uses energy (calories) to do so. This is what's called the "thermogenic effect". You can burn an additional 100 calories a day by drinking one gallon of ice cold water. Over the course of month, this equates to almost 1 pound of weight and 12 pounds of weight loss per year!
3 - Never forget your protein:
Make sure to include a lean protein source at every meal. Shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. By eating enough protein, you will keep your nitrogen levels high which supports muscular repair and growth. Protein has a thermogenic effect of 30% which makes it the highest thermogenic food compared to all other nutrients. This means that for every 100 calories of protein you eat, 30 calories are burned by your body to digest the food leaving you with a net 70 calories. Here are a few quick and healthy protein packed snacks:
*Black beans and albacore tuna (water packed)
(Mix a can of each and microwave.)
*Protein powder and non-fat cottage cheese
(Mix a scoop of protein with a cup of cottage cheese.)
*Protein bars
(Choose one with at least 20 grams of protein, a maximum of 5 grams of sugar and 300 calories. Throw a box in the freezer and they will make a great snack. They're really good for hitting that sweet tooth late at night.)
*GeniSoy Soy Crisps
(The perfect richly seasoned, low-fat baked alternative to traditional high-fat chips. Each serving contains a unique blend of soy and rice offering 7 grams of soy protein and a surprisingly low 2 grams of fat.)
4 - Build lean muscle mass:
Strength training builds lean muscle mass. By adding muscle you will be adding the most potent fat burning tissue to your body. Muscle tissue is the most metabolically active tissue in your body, so make sure to build as much as possible. Studies have estimated that for each pound of muscle you add to your body, you burn an additional 35 to 50 calories per day. So, an extra 10 pounds of muscle will burn approximately 350 to 500 calories per day, or an extra pound of fat every 7 to 10 days. This is without making any other changes! In another study, researchers found that regular weight training boosts basal metabolic rate by about 15%.
5 - Eat smaller meals more often:
By eating small nutritious meals, you will increase your metabolism and keep yourself full throughout the entire day. It will also amp up your energy and keep your insulin levels constant. Ideally, you should eat 5 to 6 times per day, with about 3 hours between each meal. Imagine yourself grazing versus hoarding. You want to graze on small amounts of foods several times instead of hoarding on large amounts of foods a few times a day. If you wait too long between meals, you will have the tendency to binge and consume far too many calories since you will be extremely hungry.
6 - Fill up on fiber:
Eating more fiber is a great tip for weight loss. Fiber will give you a feeling of fullness with a limited amount of calories. Fiber also helps to reduce constipation, indigestion, gallstones and cholesterol, and assists in combating heart disease and some cancers. Eat a variety of fibers (soluble and insoluble). A varied, high fiber, healthy diet will provide both. Soluble fiber comes from fruits and insoluble fiber comes from whole grains. Fiber rich foods include oat bran, beans, lentils, fruit, vegetables, whole wheat bread, brown rice and oatmeal.
7 - Eat thermogenic foods:
Thermogenic foods are the ones your body uses maximum energy (calories) in order to properly digest. Some of the greatest thermogenic foods are vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, squash, celery, zucchini, peppers, lettuce and green beans. These foods are very low in calories which allow you to include a large quantity of them in your diet.
8 - Cut out liquid calories:
Soft drinks and high sugar fruit juices will kill your weight loss plan. They contain huge amounts of sugar and calories and are easily consumed since they are in liquid form. A 44 ounce super big gulp of coke contains a whopping 415 calories of pure sugar. This amount of sugar causes a massive insulin spike and causes you to get hungry very soon after drinking it. By simply switching to diet soda, you can cut a huge amount of excess calories and start losing weight. Although this is a good start, you ideally want to switch to water for your primary liquid source.
10 - Be patient and focused:
Be patient and don't get discouraged if you're not losing weight fast enough. Remember, it didn't take you 3 weeks to gain those extra 20 pounds so it sure as heck will not take only 3 weeks to lose it! Create a smart plan of attack and focus on losing the correct kind of weight, which is body fat. You should set a weekly goal of 1 pound per week. This way you will have a much better chance of keeping the weight off for a lifetime.
11 - Eat for what you're doing:
Plan your food intake for the activity you will be doing. If you will be sitting at your desk all day, eat appropriately. Eat a smaller meal since you're body will not need that much fuel. On the other hand if you will be strength training, then you should eat more calories to fuel your body throughout the intense training session.
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