The 5 Best Ways To Lose Weight
The funny thing about weight loss is, there is really only 1 actual "thing" that causes it. It's the 1 thing that The Lose Weight Diet is all about, of course. What there is a lot of, however, are ways of actually making and ensuring that this 1 thing occurs, and occurs consistently.
Below is a list of exactly that... my picks for the 5 best ways to lose weight.
1. Pay MUCH more attention to calories than anything else.
It still baffles me to this day that people who want to lose weight spend an insane amount of time worrying about carbs and/or fat and/or protein. Or worrying about eating whole wheat bread instead of white bread, or brown rice instead of white rice, or doing any of the other millions of things that are great ideas for improving your overall health and the quality of your diet, but will usually do nothing whatsoever to help you actually lose weight.
Now, don't misunderstand me here. Making sure you get your carbs, fat and protein from high quality sources is a fantastic idea and I completely recommend it. And, paying attention to how many grams of carbs, fat and protein you eat each day is also a good idea for a variety of reasons. However, none of this causes weight loss.
Once again, there is only 1 thing that causes weight loss, and that is creating a caloric deficit. This means that whatever calories are needed to maintain your current weight, you just need to be a few hundred calories below that number on a consistent basis. So, if you maintain your current weight eating 3000 calories per day, you will lose weight by eating 2500 calories per day. That's it. That's weight loss. Make a small, gradual reduction to your calorie intake, and watch the weight come off. Simple.
Yet, it's a concept people can't seem to grasp. They continue to worry about eating less carbs, or less fat, or more protein, or healthy foods instead of unhealthy foods, good carbs instead of bad carbs, and so on and so on and so on. This is all well and good, but if you want to lose weight, all that matters is calories.
If eating 3000 calories per day causes you to gain weight, it won't matter if those calories come from nothing but cheeseburgers and cookies or salmon and brown rice... if you are consuming too many calories, you will gain weight no matter where those calories are coming from. The same happens in reverse, too. If eating 2500 calories per day causes you to lose weight, it really won't matter much whether those calories come from healthy foods or unhealthy foods, good carbs or bad carbs, high fat or low fat... if you are eating the amount of calories that causes your body to lose weight... you will lose weight. Period.
Yes, you should definitely try to eat as healthy as possible and pay attention to getting all of the little details right. It's important. However, in terms of just weight loss, all that matters is calories. So, before focusing on anything else, focus on calories. They are the one and only key to weight loss, thus obviously making this one of the best ways to lose weight.
2. Stop drinking calories.
As I just mentioned (and Phase 1 of The Lose Weight Diet explains in detail), the key to weight loss is just making a small reduction to your total calorie intake. One of, if not the easiest way of doing this is by not drinking calories... ever.
If you currently drink regular soda, fruit juice, sports drinks, alcohol or any other form of liquid calories on anything close to a regular basis, and you cut it all out from of your diet, I can almost guarantee that it will create enough of a daily calorie reduction to cause you to start losing weight.
No exercise, no eating less. Just a switch from drinking stuff that contains calories to drinking stuff that doesn't (water would be the best option, but there are others). It doesn't get any easier than that, which is why avoiding liquid calories is an obvious choice for one of the best ways to lose weight.
3. Have realistic expectations and set realistic goals.
All doctors, nutritionists, trainers and experts pretty much unanimously agree that weight should be lost at the rate of about 1 or 2 pounds per week. If you understand this, and expect this, you will most likely go on to lose weight without any problem at all. However, if you are a normal person who watches TV, reads newspapers and magazines, goes into stores, or goes online, then there is a really good chance that you expect MUCH faster results than this.
And, herein lies a VERY big problem.
Expecting unrealistic weight loss results will cause most people to go on to waste a ton of time, effort and money on things that will never actually cause these unrealistic results to occur. Do you know what happens next? More time, effort and money gets wasted on trying to find other ways to make it happen. And this cycle continues on and on and on until an insane amount of time ends up passing during which no weight has actually been lost.
Why? Because instead of actually doing the very simple things that cause weight loss at its ideal 1-2 pound per week rate, you're busy searching for a way to do it faster, and such a way doesn't actually exist. Doing so is just a complete waste of time, effort, and most of the time, money. Not to mention, if you expect to accomplish something that can't be accomplished (like losing 10-20lbs per week or anything equally unrealistic), you are just setting yourself up for disappointment and failure. And, more often than not, that tends to lead to the "giving up" of trying to lose weight, only to repeat the same cycle over again sometime in the future.
So, do you want to know one of the very best ways to lose weight? Sets goals that can actually be reached, and have expectations that are realistic. If you don't, you will just end up disappointed, or even worse, in the exact same position you're currently in years and years from now.
4. Track everything.
A lot of people think they are eating perfectly and that their diet isn't a problem. Then I recommend they start tracking their diet. And, guess what they realize? Their diet is the problem. They are eating way more calories than they thought (the big problem) and their diet as a whole is a lot less "perfect" then they thought it was. Do you know how they could have avoided this? By tracking their diet.
How do you do this, you ask? Simple. Go to a free site like a Calorie Counter and track it. Create an account (it's free) and then search for and add all of the foods you eat each day. a Calorie Counter will then add up and track all of the totals for you and give you a very clear view of exactly what you are eating, and exactly how much you are eating. When you realize that this is the key to losing weight, it always amazes me to come across people who don't do it. And, more often than not... those people aren't losing weight. Strange coincidence, ain't it?
And the tracking doesn't end with your diet either. Track your workout just the same. The only way you can increase strength, build muscle, improve endurance, flexibility, and any other physical trait you can possibly think of is by constantly striving to surpass what you were previously able to do. Lifted 20lbs for 8 reps last time? Your goal is to lift 20lbs for 9 reps this time, or perhaps 25lbs for 8 reps this time. Only able to jog on the treadmill for 3 minutes without having to stop to walk? Your goal this time is to jog for 3 minutes and 30 seconds before stopping to walk. This is progress, and this is the only way to create progress. By pushing yourself beyond what you were previously capable of.
And, the only way to do this is by accurately tracking what you previously did so that you can beat it the next time.
That's not all. Track your progress. Track your weight, your measurements, take pictures... whatever. The problem with trying to judge your own weight loss progress is that you see yourself every day, all the time. This makes noticing small gradual improvements harder for you than anyone else you know. So, what do you do? You track it. You weigh yourself first thing in the morning on an empty stomach once a week and keep a log of it. You take measurements (waist, arms, legs, chest, whatever you want) every week or 2 and keep a log of it. You take pictures of yourself every few weeks. You do all this so you can see with absolute certainty that your body is progressing in the right direction no matter what crazy things your eyes tell you when you look in the mirror every day. Not to mention, being able to actually see the progress you are making is more motivating than anything else you can imagine.
So, one of the best ways to lose weight? Track everything.
5. Stop looking and ignore EVERYTHING.
Yup, simple. There's what works, and is free, and safe, and simple, and effective... and then there's everything else. Ignore it all. Every single bit of it. There is nothing else out there. There is no magic pill or supplement or product. There are no hidden secrets or special methods. There is no better, faster, easier way. What there is however is a ton of stuff, a ton of people, a ton of companies, a ton of diets, a ton of programs, a ton of articles, a ton of magazines, a ton of web sites, a ton of supplements, a ton of products, a ton of everything that just doesn't want you to know this.
Why? So you read what they're writing, listen to what they're saying, try what they're offering, and, most important of all... buy what they're selling.
Instead of doing any of this, ignore it. Ignore it all. It will do nothing but get in your way of actually losing weight. It will cause you to waste time, waste money and waste effort. It will confuse you, create unrealistic expectations, and prevent you from doing what you need to be doing. This is why ignoring it all is one of the best ways to lose weight, period.
6. Bonus Tip: Follow The Lose Weight Diet
I know this was only supposed to be a list of the 5 best ways to lose weight, but I had to through a bonus "best way" in. And that "best way" is: follow The Lose Weight Diet. It's free, simple, safe, and effective. No gimmicks. No fads. No BS. Just weight loss, the way it was meant to be done. Enjoy your results.