You have all been through it before, the family wedding is
coming up next month and you can’t seem to fit into that
suit or dress because you have put on too much weight. So you
must lose at least ten or more pounds quickly.
Losing weight quickly is not
advisable as most of the loss will be muscle tissue and
water; you put on the weight slowly (usually over years)
so normally you should take it off slowly and then you
will know that the majority of the loss will be body fat.
But you have a problem here and the clock is ticking
so you will have to diet pretty hard to meet your target
weight loss. Let’s look at that first, you all know
that diets don’t work; they send the body into starvation
mode, a survival mechanism from long age when humans faced
periods of famine.
Going too low in calories causes the body to lower its
metabolic rate, which reduces its ability to burn fat.
At the same time, hunger signals increase and you quickly
start to crave high-energy foods loaded with fats and
sugar, the same foods you are trying to do without.
Research shows repeated dieting actually makes it harder
to lose weight and easier to put it on because when you
dump the diet and return to normal eating habits the drop
in metabolic rate caused by the diet means that your old
habits actually represent an excess in calories. Not only
do you regain the fat stores just lost, but also you may
even gain an extra bit.
Knowing this, you really don’t want to put yourselves
through this rigorous process, but for this special occasion
you will. First though, you will have to boost the metabolism
that has been lowered by the dieting. To do this you will
have to perform a "Strength Train" workout to
generate that initial spike in your metabolism. By increasing
the lean muscle on your body by using Strength Training,
your metabolism will increase, burning fat along the way.
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The strength training technique I use requires just twenty
to thirty mins per week. Gone are the days of the five-day a
week program with 6 to 12 sets per body part that, method has
never worked. One short intense strength-training workout a
week will elevate your metabolism more than you ever thought
possible.
While the calories expended doing exercise are important, the
increase in metabolism especially after strength training continues
long after the exercise is finished, burning calories at the
same time.
The two main components of this technique are the intensity
of the exercise and the recovery after the exercise. Infrequent,
short, high intensity weight training sessions, followed by
the required amount of time to recover and become stronger is
what is needed to increase functional lean muscle and lose body
fat.
The way to lose body fat and maintain muscle is to have a food
program for life. Quality food and more energy output are the
basics you’ll need to go for. Bulk foods that fill you
up and don’t fill you out, foods that are low in fat and
sugar which aren’t refined should be the ideal.
Small frequent meals should be consumed during the day each
containing a little protein to maintain muscle mass and energy
levels. A high quality broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement
should also be taken on a daily basis.
As before get the calories from high quality food but if you
can’t, utilize a blender to make concoctions from skim
milk with whatever additives you want to use, just as long as
you keep count of the calories for your daily total.
Now use these blender mixtures and solid food for your daily
feedings. Spread it out over many small meals a day instead
of the traditional three meals a day. The way to keep track
of weight loss is to buy a calorie counter and record your daily
calorie intake for a week.
Now average out how many calories you consume a day with the
use of a seven-day eating plan and calorie counter, once you
have this figure subtract 1000 calories and this will be the
target number of calories you will be aiming for.
Remembering that one-pound of fat contains 3500cals, losing
1000 calories a day will total 7000 for the week, which equals
two pounds lost by dietary means alone. Another technique for
low calorie eating is to watch your fat intake as this has the
most calories.
Incidental activity is also very important if you want to lose
this amount of weight in this short period of time, by increasing
incidental activity you can burn at least another pound a week
The best exercise for the purpose of fat-loss is fast walking
either indoors on the treadmill or outdoors.
Walk until you are mildly puffing and hold that rate until
the allotted time. If your aerobic activities leave you panting
or breathless, your going too hard, your energy is coming from
your carbohydrate reserves and not from your fat stores. Try
fast walking for one hour a day every day of the week.
Well there you have it, as an experienced trainer I wouldn’t
recommend this type of program to my clients. The weight loss
is just too quick and the program would be very hard to maintain
owing to the very low caloric intake.
I advise my clients to decrease their calories by just 500
per day (and no more) below their maintenance levels and they
will be losing 1 – 2 pounds of body fat every week, safely,
without craving and without too much disruption to their lifestyle.
Remember, think long term here and that’s between 30
and 50 pounds of fat lost in six months. Any faster and all
you will be losing is water and precious muscle tissue.
Gary is the author of several ebooks, including "Maximum
Weight Loss in Ten Weeks" - the complete ebook and time-saving
solution for burning away unwanted fat, and "Maximum Weight
Gain in Ten Weeks" - easy-to-use and follow techniques
that serve as a guide to muscle growth without having to "live
in the gym".
Visit Gary’s website at http://www.maximumfitness.com/
