Thursday, December 25, 2008

Key To Successful Weight Loss

By Jennifer King

Many people need to lose some weight, that's a fact. You only have to look at an average bunch of people and you will see someone who is overweight. You'll know there's a problem if you look in the mirror and someone who falls into this category is staring back at you. If you've made fast weight loss your goal, keep a few simple things in mind to take off the pounds quickly and safely.

Skipping meals is one of the first things people often try when they want to lose weight. They feel it makes sense to start skipping meals to cut down on their calorie intake. Weight loss comes with eating less calories, right? That's correct but skipping meals isn't the right way to reduce calories. When you skip meals your body goes into starvation mode.

Because your body is suffering a shortage of food it will start storing fat as a natural form of survival. Binge eating is another side effect of starving yourself, as when you do finally eat you'll eat more than you normally would. Skipping a meal plus binge eating, then, will likely result in eating more calories and the body gaining even more weight from those calories than normally. After binge eating when your skipping meals the next step is food cravings, which is something you don't want to start happening.

Knowing what to eat and how much is an important part of any weight loss program. You'll soon gain weight even if you eat too much of the right foods. It's hard to do when large portions are so common. Restaurants and even most people in home cooking serve portions far larger than needed. If you're eating out ( which is not a good thing to do when you're trying to lose weight ) keep your portion sizes in mind. It's difficult, but try and not eat the full portion when you're at a restaurant, or eat a salad instead of a heavy meal.

Foods to avoid are white foods such as white rice, bread and sugar. If you enjoy eating bread and rice then try the whole grain options. Whole grains are lower in fat and higher in nutrients. The fiber in whole grains will make you feel fuller faster and longer. A lot of diets lack proper nutrition because of the consumption of too many refined ( white ) foods.

Juices and sodas add about 90,000 calories to the average persons diet every year. So replacing these with water is a much healthier option Drink it between meals too. The goal is 8 glasses of water each day. Drinking water also helps you stay hydrated, and can help you feel fuller when you drink between meals.

Your body needs food every 3 hours to maintain proper blood sugar levels. You don't have to eat a big meal every 3 hours, you can snack on something healthy like fruit. Quick, healthy weight loss can be yours with some proper planning. Keep these things in mind and pretty soon you'll see a slimmer you when you look into a mirror. - 17944

About the Author: