Whether you just want to lose a few pounds for bathing suit season, fit into that old pair of jeans, or are at risk for developing adult diabetes due to chronic weight issues, many of us have struggled with losing that excess body fat at some point in life. In fact, nearly two-thirds of Americans and half of all Europeans are considered to be overweight.
The good news is: there’s hope! I’ll share with you five things you can do today to take off those pounds – and keep them off – to help improve your lifestyle.
Step 1: Change your diet. This is the single most important factor in determining your body shape, and whether one loses weight – or not. Professional bodybuilders will tell you that most of their physique is the result of the foods they eat. Exercise is important, but is completely secondary to ingesting the right foods.
Most often, a healthy overall diet should consist of about 30 percent lean protein, 40 percent carbohydrates, and 30 percent mono-unsaturated fats. (Do NOT starve yourself, as this will simply act to signal your body that food is scarce, lowering your metabolism. The result is that when go back to larger calorie meals, your body will go into ‘store’ mode – and turn the excess into fat). Also, keep the carbohydrate, fat, and protein numbers within the ratios above. Otherwise, your body will utilize (rather inefficient) mechanisms for turning one type of nutrient into another to maintain balance.
By doing so, this will maximize your body’s absorption patterns of only the material it needs, and it will discard the rest. By eating more of the right foods, and less of the wrong ones, the perennial hunger seen with a reduced-calorie diet goes away.
Step 2: Exercise. You didn’t think you would be able to avoid this one, did you? Not a chance! Regular, moderate exercise in conjunction with a healthy diet is the only way to lose weight and keep it off consistently. Likewise, the type of exercise makes a difference. While weight resistance training will make you gain muscle mass, prolonged cardiovascular activity will act to burn fat and trim your shape. So on your workout days when you are targeting fat loss, use a mostly aerobic, cardio regimen with little weight training.
In general, the first five minutes of aerobic activity will use up simple, readily available sugars from your body first. After that, between the 5 and 25 minute mark, your body will begin accessing stored carbohydrates once the readily available simple sugars in your system have been depleted. It is only after about 25 minutes into aerobic activity that the body actually starts to dissolve its fat stores to use for energy. Therefore, make it a habit to maintain your cardiovascular activity for at least half an hour or more when possible when exercising to lose weight.
Step 3: Stick to your plan. Once you start any new health regimen, it’s easy to get sidetracked. I remember the mother of a friend of mine who used to go to the gym, ride the stationary bike for twenty minutes, run over to McDonald’s for a coffee and a cigarette, and return to finish her workout! Don’t let this be you! If you go to a gym for your workouts, either to or from work, or on the weekends, it’s a good idea to always keep your gym bag in your car with clean clothes and any gear you require. That way, you have fewer excuses if you don’t make it there on workout day, don’t you? People like to follow the path of least resistance!
Step 4: Start by setting smaller goals and milestones for yourself. These should be realistic and, while requiring some effort, not too unreasonable or difficult to achieve. Then, when you reach your initial goal, set a new one and work towards that. Pretty soon, you’ll find yourself moving right along.
Step 5: Reward yourself. This is important! Once you reach your goals, reward yourself for all your hard work. Go to the spa, take a vacation, have that banana split once every other week to remind yourself that you’re worth it. I mean, you’ve got to enjoy life along the way, don’t you? This serves as positive reinforcement for your efforts and makes it all worthwhile.
So that’s it – five steps to help you lose body fat that everyone can follow. Remember, the hardest step is the first one. Once you take that first step, all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other. Get started on your path towards healthy living today!
