Simple Tips to Aid Weight Loss

The bottom line (no reference intended) is that if losing weight were easy, it wouldn't occupy so much media attention. Funnily enough, losing weight is actually relatively easy if you follow a few basic tips. It's keeping the weight off and keeping your motivation to keep the weight off that IS the really difficult bit in some cases.

So What Are Our Handy Tips?

In presenting the following weight loss tips, we've pooled knowledge of what actually works in order to try and find some practical ideas that can actually make a difference.

Taken by themselves, the following points are unlikely to guarantee you lose 20 pounds,. However, they will make a difference that over time helps you to achieve your ultimate weight loss goal.

Change Your Habits

When people want to lose weight, they usually do something drastic, like go on a crash diet. The problem is, a short term solution like this will not address the central issue of why you put on weight in the first place.

Weight gain is a gradual process that occurs as a result of the habits that you follow day in, day out. To successfully address weight gain you have to look at the habits that led to you gaining weight.

If you can isolate - and eliminate - the bad habits, you have a chance of dealing with your weight problem long term.

Don't Buy It

If you don't want to eat bad food, then don't buy it!

It may sound obvious, but many people buy food that tempts them or that they shouldn't eat, then expect to be able to resist temptation when it starts its siren call. It's a hard lesson to do, but in some ways it's made simpler with supermarkets isolating foods by aisle.

If you want to cut down on your consumption of sweets or crisps, don't buy them in the first place! Look for alternatives like nuts or oat bars. You can also increase your fruit intake as a substitute.

Manipulate your Metabolism

Some people expect miracles from exercise, hope that simply working out a couple of times a week will instantly melt the fat away. The truth, however, is far different.

The biggest impact that exercise can have is on your metabolism - the speed at which your body burns calories. If you can increase your metabolism, you will burn more calories twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

So how do you increase your metabolism? Through exercise and there are two ways of doing it.

Short term

Intense exercise, such as intervals or weight training, gives your metabolism a kick start, and will keep it burning at a higher rate for several hours.

Long term

Add muscle. Exercises such as weight training that increase your muscle boost your metabolic rate. Why? Because muscle needs calories to fuel it - every pound of muscle you add burns about 35 calories per day. So an extra five pounds of muscle can easily burn an extra 150 calories per day!

A Realistic Goal

It's one of the big stumbling blocks for many. You're overweight but you have bitten the bullet and started down the local gym.The only thing is you're aiming too high - trying to go from 20 stone fatty to David Beckham or Jessica Innes before you lose interest just won't happen.

Losing around 1 - 1.5 pounds a week is a very realistic goal that with a change of diet and some exercise is more than achievable. By then achieving that goal, you keep motivated to lose more and you can also chart your achievement easily. It's also a "safe amount" to lose for anyone that is unfit and overweight.

In Summary

These are not exhaustive tips - meaning we have no more to give you. These are common and simple changes that if you make them, you WILL see a loss in weight. So put these tips into practise and you'll find weight loss a lot simpler.