If I had to guess, Id say the most common goal in the diet and fitness world is weight loss. Nothing else even comes close.
Thats probably why there are thousands of weight loss tips, diets and methods, thousands of programs, plans and products designed for losing weight, and millions of books, websites and articles written about how to lose weight fast.
Its enough to make you head explode. The worst part of all is that most of it is complete crap. Im talking bad information, pointless methods, unproven gimmicks, and just plain old stupid nonsense.
The truth is, losing fat is actually pretty simple, and Im going to explain exactly what you need to do to make it happen as effectively as possible for FREE.
Here now are the only 5 weight loss tips you ever need to hear
Despite how complicated and confusing it all seems, there is literally only one thing you need to do to lose weight. Simply put, you just need to eat less total calories. Thats it.
No matter what youve heard or read or seen before, weight loss is and always will be about calories.
Sure, protein, fat, carbs, different types of foods, supplements, exercise and everything else plays a role to some degree. However, its all secondary to calories. This isnt just an opinion or a guess or a fad its a scientifically proven fact.
Eating less calories (therefore creating a caloric deficit) is the one and only requirement for losing weight. Got that? Good. No other weight loss tip matters if you fail to get this part right. Dont ever forget that or let the other less important stuff get in your way of making this happen.
Well, it works like this. There is a certain number of calories that you need to eat each day in order to maintain your current weight. This is known as your calorie maintenance level.
Its the amount of calories your body burns each day through a combination of activity (walking, standing, moving, etc.) and keeping you alive and functioning (pumping blood, digesting food, breathing, etc.).
Why is this the most important aspect of how to lose weight? Simple
So, losing weight is just a matter of consistently eating less calories than you burn. Theres honestly nothing more to it than that.
Which means, if youre not losing weight now (or at any point in the future), youre just eating too many calories. Its not the type of foods, or the amount of carbs, or any other silly crap. Its calories.
This brings us to the most important question of all how many calories do you need to eat per day to lose weight as fast as you realistically should? To answer this question, you just need to figure out what your calorie maintenance level is and then eat less than that amount each day.
There are quite a few ways to do this, but the easiest is to multiply your current body weight in pounds by 13 and 16. Somewhere between those 2 amounts will usually be your maintenance level.
Women, people who are less active, or people who think they have a slower metabolism should use the lower end of their range. Men, people who are more active, or people who think they have a faster metabolism should use the higher end of their range. People who are unsure should just pick a number in the middle.
In order to lose weight, you need to eat LESS calories than this amount.
How much less? Well, in most cases, you should eat 20% fewer calories per day.
So, whatever maintenance level you came up with, figure out what 20% of that amount is and then subtract it from the total. For example, if your estimated maintenance level was 2500 calories (just an example), youd first calculate 20% of 2500 and get 500 (2500 x 0.20 = 500). Then just subtract that 500 from the 2500 total and get 2000.
In this example, this person would need to eat about 2000 calories per day to lose weight as fast as they should. How fast is that? Well
If your calorie intake is indeed accurate, most people should end up losing between 0.5-2 pounds per week.
This is the rate most often recommend by virtually every expert with half a brain. I personally recommend it, too.
Specifically, people with A LOT of weight to lose should end up losing closer to 2 pounds (or maybe more early on) per week. People with A LITTLE bit of weight to lose should end up losing closer to 0.5-1 pound per week. People with an AVERAGE amount of weight to lose should end up losing between 1-2 pounds per week.
To make sure this is happening correctly, weigh yourself at least once per week (always first thing in the morning on an empty stomach) and make sure weight loss is taking place as fast as it should be.
Basically, your goal is to make weight loss happen at the ideal rate I described. If it is, youre perfect. If its not, then just make a small adjustment to your calorie intake, wait a week or two, and see what your weight does then. Is it decreasing at the ideal rate now? If so, keep eating that amount of calories. If not, adjust again until it is.
If youve ever been confused about how to lose weight, this is the point when you need to sit back and smile. You now know EXACTLY what you need to do.
The following weight loss tips will definitely be helpful too, but this first tip is one that matters most. Remember that.
Calories are always the most important aspect of losing weight, but after that its protein.
As Ive explained before (High Protein Diet), protein plays 3 very important roles in the weight loss process:
So, how much protein should you eat to get these fat loss benefits? Well, this depends on whether or not you will be doing any form of exercise (weight training, cardio or both).
(If you are significantly overweight, you should use your target body weight instead of your current body weight when calculating your protein intake. So, a 350lb person looking to get down to 250lbs would use 250lbs as their weight. If you have a more average amount of weight to lose, use your current weight.)
Common high protein foods include chicken, turkey, fish, lean cuts of meat, eggs and protein supplements.
When the question of how to lose weight comes up, exercise is almost always one of the first answers given.
The thing is, the type of exercise people usually talk about is cardio, not weight training. You know, stuff like like jogging or riding a bike.
Why? Because cardio is the form of exercise that burns the most calories. Remember the first weight loss tip on this list? You know eat less calories? Well, another way of creating that same effect is by burning more calories.
For this reason, cardio can definitely be useful for losing weight. The problem is, people tend to grossly overestimate the amount calories they burn during cardio (its much less than people think), and its just so much quicker and easier to eat less calories than it is to get on a treadmill and burn that same amount of calories on a daily basis.
For this reason, cardio is completely optional for losing weight. I recommend making weight loss happen primarily through your diet, and then, if you want to (or just prefer to), use cardio as a secondary part of the overall picture. (Additional info here: Best Time To Do Cardio For Weight Loss)
On the other hand, I think weight training should be a requirement. Why? Well, theres a few reasons:
Convinced? You should be. Of course, now youre probably wondering how to create the best weight training routine. Its okay, I got you covered. My guide to Workout Routines is the best place to start.
Once again, the most important part of how to lose weight is your diet, and the most important part of your diet is calories. After that, its protein.
As for everything after that, here now are some additional weight loss tips for getting the rest of your diet right:
Beyond all of the above, here are the only other weight loss tips truly worth mentioning
You now know exactly how to lose weight as effectively and (realistically) fast as possible. All thats left for you to do now is put it all together perfectly and actually do it! Of course, for most people, thats the hardest part.
What I mean is, you probably still have some additional questions about designing the weight loss diet and workout that will work as quickly and easily for you as possible. You may also just want some help doing it. Well, after nearly 10 years of people asking for it, Ive finally created the solution.
Its called The Ultimate Fat Loss & Muscle Building Guide, and in it I provide every additional answer, detail and fact you will ever need to get the best results as fast as possible. It contains the proven diet and workout system Ive used to help countless men and women lose fat permanently and completely transform their bodies.
Ready to do the same? Then go here to learn all about it: The Ultimate Fat Loss & Muscle Building Guide
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How To Lose Weight FREE Weight Loss Tips For Losing Fat Fast
