Change Your Habits, Not Your Weight Loss Plan
Let me go out on a short limb here and say: dieting works . . . at least for the short term. But you can improve the effectiveness of many weight loss plans and improve your long-term probability of success by implementing several easy diet changes.
Over the past years, I’ve compiled a comprehensive list of easy lifestyle changes that combine to form a practical, long-term approach to dieting. Add a few of these habits to your present routine individually until they become habit. Before long, you’ll notice better, more lasting results if you truly absorb these changes. Plus, they’ll help jump-start any diet designed to help you loose weight fast.
Ice cold water: drink an ice-cold glass of water (make it at least a pint) when you first wake up and before each meal. Your body will be forced to raise the water to your body temperature, burning a few extra calories in the process. Plus, it will make you feel more full when you eat and help keep you adequately hydrated.
Add negative calorie foods: there are a handful of foods out there that consume more energy when burned than are contained within the foods themselves; i.e. they have a net negative caloric impact. Try adding asparagus, broccoli, blueberries, beets, cucumbers, radishes, strawberries, tomatoes, and similar foods.
Evening lockdown: don’t eat for at least two hours prior to your bedtime. Preferably, make your final “meal” of the day a light salad to tide you over until bedtime. There’s no sense consuming calories that will not be burned efficiently as your metabolism slows (especially true in the winter time).
Drop your cardio: you are probably aware that you burn calories every minute that you are exercising. But when you stop, your metabolism quickly returns to normal. Combat this by engaging in interval training instead of cardio. Interval training can be completed in 15 to 20 minutes and will boost your metabolism for a full 24 hours. Just make sure you exercise. Muscle burns calories, so build muscle to help achieve quick diet loss.
Eat brown foods: try to stay away from processed foods or foods that increase your blood sugar. Whole wheat bread, sweet potatoes, brown rice are good substitutes for white bread, potatoes, and white rice.
3:1 deficit-to-normal ratio: after three days at a caloric deficit, add a normal day. If you’re dieting at a 30 percent deficit for 3 days (e.g. 2400 calorie diet dropping to 1650 calories), make the fourth day a 10 percent deficit. That is, in this example, consume an extra 510 calories on every fourth day. This will stop any plateaus before they start.
Remember, for maximum effectiveness, add these habits into your existing diet plan if you want to loose weight quick. When you stop dieting, retain these changes for the long-term to help you keep off the weight it took so much effort to lose. It’s always easier to maintain than to lose!