Excess weight is a real problem for many people. Gaining excess weight is quite easy, but many people are completely unable to get rid of it. The most important thing that should lead a person losing weight to their goal is confidence in a positive result.
Many people think that correcting their figure is very difficult, but in fact, you only need to follow a few basics so that a positive result does not take long to arrive.
Is there a better way to lose weight quickly?
The best way to lose weight quickly will depend on your starting weight, your end goal, and your lifestyle. This article presents ten strategies that are suitable for everyone, from fitness newbies looking to shed a few pounds to those who just need motivation to stay on track with their weight loss goals.
Generally speaking, the best way to lose weight quickly and maintain your gains is to follow a consistent plan. You should adequately assess your capabilities and not try to take on more than you can accomplish in one day if you are not willing to sacrifice sleep or social life.
The UK National Health Service recommends aiming to lose no more than 1kg per week; exceeding this mark can lead to a rapid loss of strength and refusal to continue losing weight. Keep this in mind as you follow these ten strategies to help you lose weight quickly.
Achieving a permanent calorie deficit
The short answer to how to lose weight quickly is to achieve a consistent calorie deficit. That is, the body must burn more calories than it consumes.
If you eat 2,500 calories a day—the recommended daily amount for a man, but of course this can vary greatly depending on your height, weight, and body type—and burn 3,000, you're in a calorie deficit.
If you burn 3,000 calories a day but consume 3,500, you are not in a calorie deficit, even if you were physically active and burned that much energy.
You should definitely make sure that you eat healthy foods and do the right exercise so that you don't feel hungry, even if you eat fewer calories than you burn. This is what the concept of a “calorie deficit” is all about.
Withdrawal therapy
Many of us lose our battle with excess weight because we don't know how to say no. I don’t know why people turn on the “force-feed” program, but it’s just like a national game. It is important to learn to refuse when they try to shove another portion of sushi or another slice of pizza into you.
It is best to initially develop a strategy for yourself. A good “broken record” strategy is when you repeat the refusal until you are stupefied: “Thank you, but I don’t want it,” “Yes, it’s probably delicious, but I don’t want it,” “It’s great that you care about me eating, but I do not want". And so on until they leave you alone.
Reducing calorie intake by changing your diet
As we mentioned above, a common problem that many people face when trying to lose weight is that increasing physical activity inevitably leads to increased hunger. This is due to the need to maintain energy levels. As a result, no weight loss is observed. This is why it is recommended to adapt your diet to get the most out of your calories.
All foods have different energy densities. Foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains have low energy density. This means that you will feel full faster if you eat them than if you eat foods that are high in energy density.
Dietitian Jenna Hope explains this: “Protein and healthy fats promote more stable blood glucose levels, which leads to feelings of fullness over a period of time, reducing the desire to consume sugar and preventing overeating.” Thus, these foods should be the source of most of the calories you consume.
By consuming the same number of calories (or fewer if possible) but getting more nutritional value from them, you'll feel fuller longer and lose weight faster as a result.
First stage
A very serious mistake in losing weight is refusing to eat. As I mentioned above, this will lead to an even higher percentage of fat accumulation. The only rule that should be strictly followed is the consumption of foods with a so-called low glycemic index within 35.
You can trick the body in another way by eating a salad or an apple for breakfast, your first meal. It releases a small amount of insulin into the blood. A few minutes later we start a breakfast consisting of carbohydrates with a low glycemic index, for example, rye-whole grain or whole grain, protein and milk, lean meat.
The body recognizes the right food as the next salad by releasing a small amount of insulin from the pancreas.
Since I also have a tendency to gain weight, in the spring and until late autumn for breakfast I eat a large plate of salad consisting of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, seasoned with white pepper, herbs, turmeric as specific antioxidants. The vegetable composition can be anything. I fill all this with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and cold pressed. This is to extract fat-soluble vitamins - A, D, E and K. In addition, they saturate the so-called fat receptors of cell membranes, preventing them from attaching to solid fats found in meat.
An additional ingredient in my breakfast in the fall and winter is 1 tablespoon of fish oil in the morning on an empty stomach. Fish oil makes the wall of blood vessels more elastic, reduces blood viscosity, preventing intravascular coagulation and atherosclerosis. Its unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids have strong anti-inflammatory properties.
Lunch should consist of fats, proteins and carbohydrates with a low glycemic index. Sources of protein and fat are fish, meat and eggs. I would not recommend store-bought dairy products. Meat should be fried without dough, flour should not be added to sauces, or added to soup or crackers. Avoid frying oils and limit your use of oil.
Preserving the unity of a specific food group
Everyone knows that some foods and food groups are healthier than others. You also probably know that every person's diet should be varied. The problem is that many of us do not achieve the correct balance of nutritional supplements.
Spoon Guru nutritionist Isabelle Butler (MSc) says that “the best way to lose weight and maintain your gains is to simply eat balanced, healthy meals without depriving yourself of certain foods. If you cut out certain foods, you'll want to make sure your diet remains balanced and you're getting the nutrients your body needs from other sources."
For example, unless you're doing strenuous exercise to become a weightlifter, there's nothing wrong with carbohydrates per se—even though keto diet fans claim that the biggest obstacle to weight loss is simple carbohydrates.
Compared to complex carbohydrates such as beans, whole grains and vegetables, which break down and release energy slowly, thereby keeping you full and alert, simple carbohydrates such as sugar and starchy foods such as pasta and potatoes are broken down into sugars. give you a shorter burst of energy and increase your hunger.
The more simple carbohydrates you consume, the more you eat overall. This is detrimental to the balance of the calorie deficit.
If you're a carb fan, follow one simple tip - replace white pasta and rice with zucchini, butternut squash or noodles made with butternut squash flour. This will help make arrabbiata, curry or stir fry less caloric. You'll hardly notice the difference when you eat your favorite dish, but you'll stay full longer despite consuming fewer calories.
Get rid of grudges
In the second part of “100 Ways to Change Your Life,” I wrote about a guy who coped with the fourth stage of cancer of the lymphatic system. He calls the main mechanism that launched irreversible processes... grievances.
In general, grievances trigger many unpleasant mechanisms. They also become one of the hidden causes of excess weight. I also had a girl friend who, after forgiving her mother, lost 10 kilograms. When we forgive someone, we release a huge amount of energy and relieve a lot of stress.
And no stress means no overeating.
Meal replacements
Reducing the number of calories you consume or simply counting them can sometimes become a real challenge. If you're constantly busy and don't have time to count calories, or you're using fresh produce that doesn't include information about how many calories it contains, tracking them accurately can be a nightmare.
To make sure you're getting the optimal combination of nutrients, as well as all the important protein, you can try introducing a protein meal replacement into your diet.
Such substitutes are very nutritious and greatly simplify calorie counting.
Intermittent fasting
Some people achieve good weight loss results through intermittent fasting, which involves significantly cutting calories. Complete fasting for part of the day or week, followed by normal nutrition the rest of the time, is also effective.
The most popular form of intermittent fasting is the 5:2 diet, in which you eat normally for five days of the week and eat no more than 600 calories on two days.
There is also the 16:8 diet, which is slightly different from the one described above. With this diet, you can eat whatever you want for 8 hours a day, but you are only allowed to drink water during the 16-hour fast. Recommended meal times are between 10 am and 6 pm. However, these time periods can be changed depending on what time you prefer to start or end your meals (as long as you stay within the eight-hour window).
The benefits of intermittent fasting are that during a short period, the body will run out of carbohydrates to maintain normal functioning. It will then begin to draw energy from fat stores, burning it from the belly once and for all.
Diet “favorite” - review
Hi all! Let me start with a short introduction.
I am a student and live in a dorm, most of the time I had nothing to do there, and it was very difficult for me to get used to living away from home, so I was constantly eating.
My weight was always 52-53 kg with a height of 162 cm, but even so I felt plump, the outline of a double chin was occasionally visible, but I refused to diet and neglected physical activity, although I never skipped physical education (neither at school nor in university).
When I arrived home for the holidays, I stepped on the scales and was slightly horrified; they showed a figure of 56 kg. From that moment I realized that I had to lose weight.
Initially, I reduced my diet and removed all sorts of harmful things (chips, crackers, buns, in a word, everything that’s delicious, in my opinion). But there was another reason for such drastic methods: my allergies became terribly worse, namely atopic dermatitis (my hands and sides were terrible to look at, they were tattered and crusted over, scary). With this diet I lost up to 54 kg.
That’s when I realized that I wanted to improve and love myself, but until I see in the mirror the ideal that I want to achieve, I won’t be able to do this.
Therefore, I abruptly switched to drinking, hard drinking, from Monday to Friday I drank water and green tea, but on weekends I ate (there’s no other way to call it), at this rate I lost another two kilograms, that is, my weight was 52.
And then they stopped going away, over Monday and Friday I lost 2 pounds, began to weigh 50, and over the weekend I gained it back again.
It couldn’t go on for so long, I set myself the goal of moving this figure and spent the entire week from Monday to Sunday on tea without sugar and water (I don’t advise anyone to repeat this, a real test for the body), no matter how hard it was for me, it paid off . A week later I began to weigh 48.4. After leaving such a hard machine, I gained 500 grams.
And if you are not tired, then let’s move directly to the “Favorite” diet. I had my eye on it for a long time, read the reviews and most of them were positive, especially since after my drinking hunger it was not at all difficult to switch to it.
On the subject: Carbohydrate loading on the keto diet
So, the diet:
Specifically, my days consisted of the following menu:
First day (drinking):
I drank about 2.5 liters of water, low-fat kefir, yogurt and a lot of tea without sugar. It lasted quite easily, and I really love kefir.
Second day (vegetable):
Important!
In the morning I stewed the cabbage, I absolutely love this dish: I just lightly greased the bottom of the frying pan, poured a little water, shredded the cabbage, cut the carrots and onions, mixed it all and put it under the lid, stirring occasionally. I didn’t salt, but I admit, I never salt anything, somehow I’ve gotten used to it since childhood. For me, it makes no difference whether a dish is salty or not.
I ate cabbage for breakfast and lunch, and had a snack of cucumber and tomato in the evening.
Third day (drinking):
And again we drink whatever our heart desires, I didn’t deviate too much from the diet of the first day, but this time I bought 1% kefir
Fourth day (fruit):
My favorite, because I am very partial to different types of fruits. I bought 4 kiwis, 2 grapefruits and 4 apples.
For breakfast I prepared a fruit salad: I cut half a grapefruit, one apple, two kiwis and topped it with yogurt.
It turned out divinely delicious, but to be honest, I didn’t really like grapefruit in combination with these fruits; I ate it separately with great pleasure, but the combination of kiwi and apple shocked me. For lunch and dinner I ate the remaining fruit.
Day five (protein):
Everything is simple here. I bought low-fat cottage cheese, which I mixed with natural yogurt, had breakfast with it, and boiled eggs for lunch and dinner.
Day six (drinking): this time I limited myself to tea, yogurt and water.
Naturally, I drank about 2.5 liters of water in the previous days.
On this day, or rather in the evening, I weighed myself. The scales showed a figure of 48.3
I didn’t ignore the seventh day, but I didn’t really follow the diet that was suggested.
In the end, I lost only 600 grams.
I’m sure if I weighed more or were overweight, I would definitely lose enough, but with a low weight the body doesn’t really want to part with fat. So it's not even offensive. True, I had physical training in the pool twice during this time, but it didn’t help much as I see it.
I understand that I need to add physical activity and tighten my body.
But I can only note that the volumes have gone away perfectly. I wanted to post before and after photos, but I’m in my underwear in them, and that’s a little indecent for me. Therefore, catch in clothes:
Source: https://irecommend.ru/content/pokhudet-s-malenkogo-vesa-na-nei-prakticheski-nevozmozhno
Drinking more water and less alcohol
Drinking more water, especially before meals, can help you feel fuller, thereby ensuring that you eat less and reduce the number of calories you consume.
Moreover, few of us think about the calorie content of drinks when counting them daily. Therefore, potentially hundreds of extra calories could enter our body. Replacing fruit juices, sodas, and even tea and coffee with water means you can consume more calories from food.
Great advice: Always carry a water bottle with you, preferably a reusable one, and drink water instead of other drinks whenever you get thirsty. This may seem like a difficult task at first, but it will soon turn into a habit if you remember that water, which is always with you, is a zero-calorie drink.
Reducing your alcohol intake also has its benefits. Obviously, alcoholic drinks are often very high in calories, so drinking less alcohol means consuming fewer calories. It's simple!
Secondly, alcohol increases your appetite, so if you drink it, you will probably eat more than usual. And this, in combination with high-calorie alcohol, has an even more negative effect on weight loss.
Finally, everyone knows how a person feels after a night spent drinking alcohol. You're unlikely to be ready for the gym and a diet based on fruits, vegetables and simple carbohydrates the next morning. Drinking alcohol not only increases your calorie intake, but it can also affect your physical activity and ability to make healthy choices the next day.
The main components of the process of losing weight without harm to health
There is a good saying that without making any effort at all, it is unlikely that you will be able to achieve any tangible result. Therefore, it doesn’t hurt to be well prepared for a big job. The path will not be easy, but the prospect of getting rid of extra pounds, and instead acquiring a beautiful toned body, a slim figure and a bonus - health, will definitely help you overcome all difficulties.
Losing weight at home is becoming more popular every day. The reasons may vary. Some are embarrassed to go to gyms for the first time, because by default they have far from the best parameters. Others do not have time, torn between home and work, and others simply do not have the opportunity to visit fitness centers. It is for such people, for whom exercise with a trainer is not possible, and for whom they have only seen a nutritionist on the TV screen, that our article on simple home weight loss is intended.
Proper and balanced nutrition
First of all, diet is to blame for weight gain. Without changes in this regard, the process of losing weight will most likely take a long time. At the same time, you need to clearly understand that you will have to not only get rid of fat reserves by converting them into muscles, but also remove excess fluid from the body.
Diet correction: exclusion of harmful foods
Food should not only bring joy through taste and a feeling of fullness. It is designed to maintain the body in a viable state for as long as possible. Food gives you energy to carry out everyday activities, but it can also cause serious harm. It doesn’t hurt to think about making sure that the menu is complete and that you get all the necessary substances, vitamins, macro- and microelements, minerals, etc. in abundance. The approximate ratio of protein, fat and carbohydrates should be approximately 30:20:50.
- Sugar. The first thing anyone who wants to know exactly how to deal with excess weight should do is stop drinking tea or coffee with sugar. If you can’t do it in one fell swoop, you can gradually remove it from your diet. In cooking, also use less and less of this product, give up packaged juices and other sugar-containing “sweets.”
- Baking and confectionery. All this will now be illegal for you. It is better to refuse any flour products, including pasta not made from durum wheat. Today in stores you can find noodles made from buckwheat or oatmeal, which will be a good alternative.
- Potato. It is better to greatly limit it, as it contains a lot of starch. However, baked or boiled potatoes can sometimes be consumed.
- Muesli and “quick porridge”. Most often, they contain harmful “empty” carbohydrates, which are instantly processed, which sometimes makes you want to eat even more after eating.
- Fatty meat, sausage, smoked meats and pickled meats. The ban also applies to lard, lard, bacon and other similar delicacies. In addition to the fact that all these products contribute to weight gain, they also cause general harm to the body. It wouldn't hurt to include semi-finished products in the list. They use meat waste in their production, and at the same time, unscrupulous manufacturers can add completely unknown ingredients to dumplings or cutlets.
Strict dietary restrictions, such as the 1200 calorie diet or similar, often lead to a person breaking down and having to start all over again. Therefore, it is better to abandon drastic measures, giving preference to more gentle ones. It is necessary, if possible, to abandon the consumption of harmful foods and dishes that bring little benefit, but the harm from them is obvious - excess weight, a blurred figure and a depressed state of mind.
Clear meal schedule: split meals
Losing weight is a long, difficult process. You will have to mobilize all your strength and work on your nutrition schedule. Nutritionists advise eating small portions, but more often, so excess lipids will not accumulate on the sides and thighs. At the same time, you don’t have to suffer from a constant feeling of hunger, which sometimes leads to breakdowns.
The main advantage of fractional nutrition is that it is not necessary to give up potentially harmful foods. For example, you can afford a sweet dessert or something similar. It is clear that eating cakes around the clock is not the best way to lose weight, but treating yourself to a caramelized pear once a week is quite acceptable.
Fiber-rich diet
Fiber is one of the main components of almost any plant product that we eat. It is hollow, but at the same time quite dense fibers. They cannot be beneficial or harmful to the body, since they are not digested in the stomach. They don't contain any nutrients, so for many years it was believed that there was no point in absorbing fiber.
However, there are benefits from dietary fiber, and considerable ones. Firstly, they are able to work as absorbents, that is, absorb harmful substances and toxins and remove them out. Secondly, they restore the disturbed intestinal microflora, thereby spurring metabolic processes in the body, thereby favorably influencing the process of weight loss. Thirdly, foods rich in this substance do not allow sugar to “jump” after eating food. Therefore, the feeling of hunger subsides for a long time.
Drinking regime
It is very important for any person to maintain the correct water absorption regime. Lack of moisture can lead to dehydration, which can lead to even more serious consequences, including death. It doesn’t hurt to find out how to drink water correctly for weight loss, which is already described in detail in a separate article on our website.
It is important to correctly assess what kind of water is best to use during the building process, as well as exactly how much of it you need to drink per day. The amount is calculated individually, approximately within thirty milliliters per kilogram of weight. This number will be different for everyone, so you should not listen to advice about the mandatory three liters per day. One person simply cannot handle such an amount, while another easily drinks more.
Physical activity
It is unlikely that by simply adjusting your diet, you will rapidly lose weight and, after a short time, you will become fit and beautiful. It's time to leave this misconception in the past. Only with an integrated approach to the process can you really achieve quick results. In this case, the first “tool” of influence is physical education. Only sports can burn excess fat, converting it into muscles at the same time.
The main requirement when choosing a sport is regularity of exercise. If you exhaust yourself to the point of complete exhaustion with strength training from time to time, it will not be of much use. When you can’t go to the gym, it’s quite possible to work out at home or on the street; there are even numerous workout workouts for beginners. Some people prefer cycling or swimming, others can’t live without barbells or weights, while others like fun Zumba, everything is completely individual, the choice is yours.
Full sleep
Another very important indicator factor is good sleep. Only by properly resting can the body function normally. Healthy sleep will significantly reduce the level of cortisol in the blood and more clearly control your appetite.
A well-rested person finds more energy for exercise, which contributes to rapid weight loss. At the same time, the mood is usually noticeably better among those who have had a good night's sleep. In addition, more than seventy percent of nerve endings directly connect the brain to the gastrointestinal tract. This has a positive effect on digestion, absorption of nutrients, as well as the elimination of previously accumulated toxins.
Recommendations for losing weight depending on age
At a young age, it is easy to speed up metabolic processes in the body, and playing sports is easy. At the same time, we can easily find time for everything, even in a busy work schedule, and our energy is literally in full swing. However, what about those who are already slightly over forty, fifty, and so on? Many women ask how to deal with excess weight during menopause. Let's pay attention to this point by listening to recommendations from experienced ones.
- No pills, potions, powders or other chemical medications will ever make you skinny, as if by magic. Moreover, the older you are, the more cautious you need to be when approaching such means.
- From about the age of forty, both men and women's metabolism slows down significantly. Therefore, attention should be paid to accelerating this process. There are many methods to boost metabolism, it doesn’t hurt to consider them all and use the appropriate ones.
- Men after forty years begin to lose muscle mass faster, so you need to pay attention to increased exercise. To achieve the same results as in youth, you will have to put in a lot more effort.
- As you age, it is important to manage stress appropriately. We are surrounded by thousands of different people, we find ourselves in unpleasant situations, problems grow like a snowball, and as a result - obesity with a bunch of associated diseases. Positive emotions, more pleasant communication with relatives and friends, suppression of negative emotions and depression - this is what will always help you “stay afloat”.
Set correct, achievable goals, otherwise losing weight may take a long time or the process will not proceed at all. This is true at any age, but especially after forty or fifty, when you already want to clearly and quickly see the results of your labors.
Burning calories through exercise
So, we've dealt with nutrition (calorie intake), now it's time to turn our attention to physical activity (getting rid of calories).
Even if you eat healthy and are fairly active in your daily life, it is unlikely that you will be able to lose weight quickly without additional exercise such as running, the gym, CrossFit, team sports, cycling or any other physical activity available.
Moreover, regular exercise will help you look and feel better. This will be an excellent stimulant in order to find the strength necessary to improve your diet.
When it comes to choosing exercises, choose exercises that you enjoy and feel confident in doing. Don't force yourself to run if there's a chance you'll be walking for at least ten minutes.
Strength training combined with cardio training
There are two main types of exercise: cardio and strength training.
Both types of exercise are aimed at burning calories. The difference between the two is that cardio helps you burn a lot of calories during your workout, while strength training helps you burn calories even after you finish exercising.
This is because strength training helps build muscle mass, which burns fat while performing everyday tasks. Simply put, the higher your muscle to fat ratio, the more calories you burn, even when you're not doing anything.
Strength training can seem intimidating. However, you don't have to go to the gym and face a pull-up rack. There are so many exercises you can do at home with simple objects like dumbbells, kettlebells, balls and bands.
This article does not include a list of all the exercises for all body parts that you can do. You must choose the part of your body where you want to start burning fat and focus all your efforts on it.
In addition, do not neglect cardio training, as it is important for good physical fitness and endurance, and also helps burn calories.
Express yourself
When there is energy inside that cannot find a way out, this is also stress.
When we know that we can do more, but in reality this does not manifest itself in any way, we begin to eat. At your least favorite job, like on cigarette packs, you need to write: “Caution! Lack of fulfillment leads to obesity.”
For example, I get fat when I don't write because it's my way of expressing myself. I was so passionate about the process of writing the duology “100 Ways to Change Your Life” that I came to the end of the process with minimal weight for myself.
Ray Bradbury famously said about creativity: “During my travels, I realized that if I don’t write for one day, I feel uneasy. Two days - and I start to shake. Three and I'm close to madness. Four - and I’m writhing like a pig with diarrhea. One hour at a typewriter instantly invigorates you. I'm on my feet. I run around in circles like crazy and loudly demand clean socks.”
Changing the intensity of physical activity
If you want to lose weight, then in addition to doing cardio and strength training, it is also important to vary their intensity.
As part of any workout, regardless of the day of the week, you should train both aerobically (a little out of breath, but not out of breath) and anaerobically (breathing quickly and deeply, like when running after a departing bus).
During aerobic exercise, the body requires oxygen to provide energy to the muscles. They usually require moderate exercise. Examples include light jogging, cycling and swimming.
Aerobic exercise is an important part of losing weight quickly because it uses both carbohydrates and fat as an energy source. However, to burn fat, you need to exercise long enough to burn off your carbohydrate stores first.
Anaerobic exercise primarily uses carbohydrates as an energy source. However, this does not mean that they are not suitable for weight loss. Anaerobic exercise helps build muscle, and as described above, muscle helps burn calories even when you're resting. Anaerobic exercise is typically characterized by high intensity. Examples include sprinting and weight lifting.
A running watch or fitness tracker will help you know the intensity of your exercise. They either have built-in heart rate sensors or connect to ones you attach to your chest. This way, these devices can show how intensely you're doing an exercise, allowing you to know when to increase the intensity of your workout.
