Losing weight doesn’t have to be difficult. Making simple changes to your lifestyle can lead to significant weight loss in the long term. Even people looking to lose weight as fast as possible can benefit by small lifestyle changes relating to diet and exercise. Just make sure not to lose too much weight too fast, because that can be harmful on your body. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a maximum of one to two pounds of weight loss per week.
Eat Five Small Meals a Day
By eating smaller portions more frequently throughout the day, your body’s blood sugar levels remain more balanced, which results in less hunger. Additionally, an article from Readers Digest published at rd.com mentions a 1999 South African study that proved men who ate parts of their breakfast over a five hour period ended up consuming 30 percent less calories than those who ate the entire meal at once.
HIIT
High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT, is a type of exercise regimen that works by shooting your metabolism through the roof. HIIT uses rest and work intervals, and as the name implies, you perform this type of training at a high intensity for best results. This type of exercise can burn fat relatively quickly, and it takes far less time out of your day when compared to moderate exercise, such as walking or jogging. A sample HIIT program consists of jogging for one minute followed immediately by a one minute sprint, and then repeating this cycle five to 10 times.
Combine Resistance Training with Cardio
Instead of trying to lose weight with cardio exercise alone, add resistance training to speed up your weight loss. The reason that resistance training, such as weightlifting, works so well for weight loss is because muscle burns more calories than fatty tissue. So, by replacing fatty tissue with muscle tissue, your body will naturally burn more calories throughout the day—it’s sort of a snowball effect as your muscle mass increases. Try this five day a week workout regimen: cardio on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays with resistance training on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each of these workouts should last between 45 and 60 minutes for optimal weight loss benefits. If you do not have access to weightlifting equipment, you can alternatively use simple exercises for your resistance training, such as push-ups, crunches, standing squats, floor back extensions and shoulder presses using a heavy, well-balanced object.
Eliminate Sugary Drinks and Foods
Sugary foods and drinks account for hundreds of calories per day in most people’s diets. For instance, a single bottle of regular soda can contain 250 or more empty calories, meaning that the calories contain virtually no nutritional value. Think of weight loss as a numbers game in the sense that onen pound of body fat is approximately equal to 3,500 calories. So, by cutting out 500 empty calories from your diet per day, you can essentially lose one pound of body weight a week.
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