Silver Back Muzik

You can find dozens of articles that deal with the minute details of weight loss. They will tell you things like eat exactly this many calories, do this many reps and sets in the gym, or increase your cardio by this many minutes per week. Well what I wanted to do was look at weight loss from a larger perspective. I want to provide a larger look at the situation, and what kind of mindset you can put yourself in in order to lose weight. Weight loss is a two-fold proposition. It is simply about input vs. output. Simply, you need to be burning more calories than you take in.

Intake

First of all, you have to cut calories. Now, I won't give you detailed diet plans because those are impossible to stick to. Instead, there are some basics that you can live your life by. First of all, your diet should consist primarily of lean protein, vegetables, and healthy complex carbohydrates. The protein will provide your muscles with energy and help you rebuild after a tough workout, while the vegetables and complex carbs will provide you with a full feeling for hours. This helps you eat less, and thus consume fewer calories. Make sure to check your labels for calorie information, even for fruits and vegetables. Every calorie counts when trying to lose weight, and I would hate to see you run a calorie surplus for the day because you ate an extra apple and banana.

Frequency

It is not enough to simply to eat the right foods. Timing also plays a role. Your body will immediately switch into survival mode once a meal is digested because it does not know when it's next meal is going to be. This is why your body stores fat instead of immediately using energy. This system can be overridden though, if you know the right secret. The secret here is to eat several small meals throughout the day, the total of which should just reach your calorie goal for the day. When eating multiple small meals you body is always digesting something. This helps you consume less but still feel full all day, and prevents your body from storing fat because it's not going into survival mode. Yes, it is difficult to eat often and consume the correct amount of calories over a whole day, so your best tool is going to be:

Portion Control

That's right, at the start of every day, week, or whatever frequency you choose, portion your meals up into separate containers. If you're doing this regularly that means that you're not going out to eat, which saves calories, and you're going to save a lot of money at the same time. If you know that you get to eat your next mini-meal in an hour, you have a lower risk of over-eating when you finally get that meal. When you constantly know what you're going to eat next and when, it's very liberating.

Give this diet plan a try. As a side note before we continue however, I want to express my distaste for the term "diet". What this plan is isn't a diet, it's a system of eating that helps you eat less. The term diet insinuates that it is temporary. If you go back to your old eating habits you will gain back every pound. That is how you got there in the first place. For this system to work, you have to stick with it long-term.

Workout

The other side of the weight loss equation is filled by working out. In order for your body to lose weight you must run a calorie deficit, which causes your body to use your fat stores for energy. Once your new eating plan is in place, you must sit down and plan out your attack on working out. Try different forms of cardio, and mix in some weight training at least twice per week. You may find that you like biking either inside or outside, or running inside or outside. Try all of them and see what you like the best. The goal here is to stick with this long-term, so you must enjoy what you are doing. For reference, I enjoy running outside the most with either music or talk radio on my iPod. This is very distracting, which is the point. If you get distracted with a song, you can easily run half a mile while it is playing. Anyway, start out slow. When I started running it was jogging half a mile, and then walking home. You quickly gain stamina though, so by the end of the first summer I was running 4 miles. It is very hard to do, but the runners high you get after your done makes it all worth it.

Another option for working out is by doing one the popular workout programs today such as p90x, insanity, or 10-minute trainer. These programs are popular because they work! They raise your intensity so that you can get done faster. If you click one of the links below you can learn more about these great programs!

Conclusion

And finally, the conclusion. If you follow this eating and workout plan, you will lose weight, plain and simple. The funny thing is, after a while of doing this it becomes routine, and you really get addicted. A low-calorie eating plan because normal, and you actually feel bad if you don't workout. It becomes second nature, and soon you will see real results. The results make you feel great. You will have more confidence, more drive, and a lot more energy. Good luck!