Natural Weight Loss

Losing Weight Safely

The goal of natural weight loss should be a firm, healthy body, with a feeling of overall well-being. To do this you must focus on working with your body's natural mechanisms to allow it to find a new level that feels as good as it looks.

Natural weight loss should be between one and two pounds per week - more than that and you are burning muscle, not fat. Natural weight loss involves following a diet that includes:

• Three balanced meals a day
• A nutritional breakdown of around 30% protein, 30% healthy fats, and 40% complex carbohydrates
• Focus on fresh, unprocessed fruit and vegetables, quality protein (chicken, fish, beans, nuts) and whole grains.

Other Recommendations

Other recommendations would include:

• Eating two small snacks per day that include some protein. Increased protein consumption has been shown to increase weight loss. In addition, slimmers on a higher protein diet lose fat rather than muscle.
   
• Maintaining a low glycaemic load in your meals. Foods high on the GI scale cause rapid changes in blood sugar, and thus more hunger.
   
• Exercise regularly. Work towards a target of 5 workouts per week - three cardio sessions of up to 45 minutes, and two anaerobic sessions such as weight-training.
   
• Take a multivitamin/multivitamin daily to make up for any nutritional shortfalls.
   
• Keep a food journal in order to understand what you eat, when you eat it, and why you eat it. This will highlight any destructive or harmful eating patterns.

Adopting a strategy such as this will allow you to strip away the excess pounds in way that is sustainable in the long term, and leaves you looking and feeling great.