Whether you want to slip into a wedding dress in just a few short months or your 10-year reunion is only days away, you can drop pounds and inches quickly, even when you don't have hours to spend in the gym. For the quickest results, make three simple diet changes and try a quick 30-minute circuit workout program.
Guzzle Water
Everyone wants to find a magic weight loss pill, but what you swallow it down with could be even more potent. Specifically, drinking 16 ounces of water before a meal has been shown to significantly increase weight loss, according to a study published in the February 2010 issue of "Obesity." If water just isn't your thing, add a slice of lemon, use a straw or get a trendy water bottle that will help you begin the habit. The results pay off in pounds.
Count Calories
One pound of body fat roughly equals 3,500 dietary calories. If you cut 500 calories a day from your diet, it will take approximately one week to lose a pound of body fat. As tedious as it sounds, counting calories only takes a few days to figure out. To begin, write down everything you eat for a day including exact portion sizes. Get out those measuring cups and spoons to ensure accuracy. To calculate how many calories you've eaten, consult nutrition labels on packaged foods or find a free calorie counting program from one of the many offered online. Nutrition labels not only provide calorie count but also offer valuable insight into the amount of saturated fat and added sugars in a product. Reduce your daily intake by at least 500 calories per day to lose one pound of fat per week, but don't ever go below 1,200 calories without a doctor's supervision.
Circuit Train
To up your weight loss to another pound of fat per week, start a circuit training workout program. This maximizes calorie burn in minimum time. Circuit training combines the muscle-toning benefits of weight training with the calorie-burning benefits of cardio. Before hitting the gym, select 10 to 12 exercises targeting different muscles from your entire body. For example, your workout might feature the following: biceps curls, triceps dips, chest press, lat rows, squats, dead lifts, lunges, Russian twists, and bicycle crunches. Perform each exercise with medium-heavy weights so that you can only perform eight to 10 repetitions. Do each exercise back to back and then repeat the entire circuit one or two more times. A 30-minute circuit workout can burn as many as 500 calories. Consult the American Council on Exercise for additional exercises and step-by-step instructions on proper form and technique.
Ditch the Drinks
Drinking alcohol stops fat burning and diverts your metabolism to burning acetate. In fact, fat burning slows for several hours following one alcoholic drink. Drinking at night is especially problematic because during your sleeping hours, your liver relies entirely on converting stored body fat for energy. If it has several drinks to metabolize, it won't target your fat stores. So ditch the alcoholic drinks, and stick to calorie-free beverages such as water, coffee and tea.
Member Comments