If you want to lose weight and keep it off long-term, the fastest pace to safely drop pounds is 1 to 2 lbs. weekly. Exercise and diet are effective tools for burning extra calories and speeding up weight-loss. Incorporating the right foods and physical activity into your routine will assist in meeting your weight-loss goals.
High Calorie Burning Activities
Aerobic activity burns calories, resulting in faster weight-loss. The types of activities you select have the potential to increase fat burning. For example, circuit training rotates between short cardio bursts and strength training moves. This type of workout can increase calorie burning potential by 30 percent. Another option is interval training. With this workout, you alternate low-impact aerobic activity with high-impact activity. For example, you walk for three minutes, and then jog for three minutes.
Weight-Loss Promoting Foods
A low-calorie diet is important to speeding up weight-loss. The types of food you select make an impact, too. For example, almonds are rich in fiber, which allows you to feel full longer. This food is also rich in magnesium, which helps prevent cravings linked to weight-gain. Another food to eat is soybeans. This food is rich in fiber and protein. Dieters who drink soymilk lost more weight than dieters who consumed normal dairy milk. Soybeans are also found in soy yogurt, soy cheese and tofu.
Another food to stock up on is berries. This food improves the body's blood flow, allowing your muscles to work more efficiently. This helps you burn more calories during workouts.
Portion Control
The more you have on your plate, the more you'll eat. Lose weight faster by monitoring your portion sizes. Read labels and use measuring cups to calculate portion sizes. If you dine at a restaurant, learn visual cues to eat the appropriate serving. For example, a serving of protein is about the size of a card deck. Think about the size of a hockey puck when eating pasta. A serving of butter is the size of one dice.
Avoid Fad Diets
Fad diets promote eating a single food, limiting entire food groups or cutting calorie intake to very low levels. These diets aren't effective for long-term weight-loss. In fact, if you eat too few calories, you can put your body into starvation mode. This slows down the body's metabolism, because it's conserving calories for survival. Discuss a weight loss program with your doctor to ensure safety.
References
- Mayo Clinic: Portion Control -- Downsize Portions for Better Weight Control
- Mayo Clinic: Metabolism and Weight Loss: How you Burn Calories
- Mayo Clinic: Interval Training: Can it boost your Calorie-Burning Power
- "Fitness" Magazine Circuit Training Workout: Burn 30 Percent More Calories
- "Fitness" Magazine: The 10 Best Foods for Flat Abs
- Mayo Clinic: Fast Weight-Loss: What's Wrong with It?
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