8 Healthy Weight Loss TipsIn this article I’m going to give you 8 healthy weight loss tips that you can easily follow. Before I get into the tips, let’s define what healthy weight loss is… Healthy weight loss is losing weight in a way that works with your body, not against it. This means you eat in a way that supports your body’s functions and you safely train it in a way that will strengthen it. Unfortunately, many people use methods to lose weight that are anything but healthy. They use starvation diets or fasting or they use pills that can cause some harmful side effects. Some people have even died by taking weight loss pills. The tips below will lead you down a path to safe and healthy weight loss. Tip #1 Do NOT Diet DO eat a good balanced diet. DO NOT try a short term diet. What’s the difference? “Eat a balanced diet” means eat a sufficient amount of calories and eat nutrient rich foods. In that sense you’re not really dieting at all. Stay away from those short term quick weight loss diets. The majority of the rapid weight loss diets have you drastically cut your calorie intake. This causes a cascade of physiological reactions that result in muscle loss. In other words, the weight you lose from low calorie dieting is water, muscle and fat. Muscle serves lots of very important purposes. Therefore you don’t want to lose any of it! Loss of muscle causes your metabolism to slow down. That’s a big reason why dieters fail to keep the weight off. To lose fat and preserve muscle, you have to… Tip #2 Eat Balanced Meals This may the biggest healthy weight loss tip I can give you. You should eat a mix of • lean protein And wash all that down with plenty of water! Many diets have you eliminate one of the above types of foods. Low carb diets are one example. Short term reductions in carb intake can help some lose weight quickly, especially if they’re carb sensitive. However, many diets tell you to eliminate carbs or reduce them to very low levels for weeks. Carbohydrates provide fuel for brain function, exercise and other activities. If you do any kind of resistance or weight training, which you should do, carbs play a big part in muscle development and support. Maintaining or adding new muscle is one of the keys to long term safe weight loss. I had a friend who lost a bunch of pounds by eliminating carbs. After about 6 months or so she noticed two things: she stopped losing weight and she felt really flabby all over. I explained that by not eating carbs her body hit a point where it started breaking down muscle to use for energy. This led to two things: a much slower metabolism and a softer body. Her weight loss was a combination of fat, water, and lots of muscle. Basically she became a thinner fat person! For more on supportive eating click here. Tip #3 Hit The Weights Many people think that aerobics or cardio is for weight loss and lifting weights is for toning up. What happens often is people wind up doing too much aerobic exercise and avoid lifting weights. We lose muscle as we age, and this sets us up for fat gain and increased susceptibility to minor injuries. Weight training is the antidote. I’m not saying skip cardio, but hit the weights too! Tip #4 Take Lessons Healthy weight loss means you don’t hurt yourself while trying to lose weight! You need to know what you’re doing when you’re exercising. To stay injury free you have to know correct posture, how to lift weights correctly, how to breathe, and how to incorporate stretching. Get some good instruction through books, videos, a good Trainer or a combination of all of these. Make sure you know whose teaching you. He or she should have a lot of experience and good credentials. If you can obtain some reviews or testimonials, all the better. When I was a Trainer I saw people doing dangerous things all the time. You have to know what you’re doing. Take lessons – it’s a healthy weight loss tip you shouldn’t ignore! Tip #5 Lose 2 Pounds Per Week How does this belong in a “healthy weight loss tips” article?? Good question! Two pounds a week doesn’t sound like much, but here’s the scoop… Two pounds has been established as the safe number of pounds to lose per week. If you lose much more than two pounds a week, you’re probably losing some muscle in addition to fat. If you’re very overweight, you’re an exception to this rule. You’ll likely lose more than two pounds a week when you first start exercising and changing your eating habits. Initially you’ll lose lots of fat and water weight. As you get closer to a healthy weight for your frame, the pounds lost per week needs to fall to one and a half or two pounds per week. If you’re eating well and following a balanced exercise program, you’ll lose two pounds of fat per week while maintaining or adding muscle. Tip #6 Don’t Overdo It I have some great news - you do not have to work out for 3 hours a day to lose weight! You might think that the more you exercise the more weight you will lose. Not the case. Too much exercise can possibly lead to overtraining. Overtraining causes…
• severe aches and pains • feelings of lethargy • decreased immune function • irritability • muscle loss Workouts should stay between 30 and 60 minutes long and not much more. The only exception is if you’re training for some event or competition. Also, you don’t need to have a super hard workout every time you exercise. Intense exercise day in and day out will lead to overtraining. If you’re a new to exerciser, work out 4 to 5 days for a few weeks to ease your body into the new activity. You can get great results working out 5 or 6 days a week for 30 – 60 minutes. You just need to
• work out hard, • eat well, and • drink plenty of water. Those weight loss pill ads make me want to punch a hole in the wall! They try (and quite often succeed) to make us believe that a bottle of caffeine pills is responsible for those phony before and after pictures of people who lost weight. Here’s the real scoop… Caffeine can help some burn up a little extra fat. Some studies have shown that caffeine may increase metabolism and stimulate fat release. Using caffeine 30 minutes before you work out might help you burn up a little more fat. Pre-workout caffeine is probably most effective for people who don’t already drink a bunch of coffee everyday. If you decide you want to try a thermogenic supplement containing caffeine,
• follow the directions, • start with a small dose to assess tolerance, • don’t take them every single day, • don’t overdose! Couple more points… Consult with your doctor first if you have any conditions or if you’re taking any medications. Also, do your research and look for reviews before buying any weight loss supplements. Tip #8 Talk To Your Doctor If you’re in reasonably good health, there’s no reason you can’t participate in a regular exercise program. If you have any conditions, see your doctor before starting a program. This is a healthy weight loss tip that shouldn’t be taken lightly. There you have it - 8 healthy weight loss tips to help you safely lose weight and keep it off forever!
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