Tips to lose Weight Fast

 

Tips to lose Weight Fast

 

 

If you are looking to lose weight fast and safely, you’ve come to the right place.

This article features our top 10 proven tips that are based on scientific research and experience to help you reach your weight loss goals quickly and efficiently.

Aside from dieting, exercising is one of the most common strategies employed by those trying to shed extra pounds. It burns calories, and this plays a key role in weight loss.

In addition to helping you lose weight, exercise has many other benefits, including improved mood, stronger bones, and a reduced risk of many chronic diseases

 

 

How Weight Loss Works

1. Get 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night                        

Sleep may be the most important habit of all to help you lose weight fast. The more quality sleep you get, the easier it is to control hunger and the more energy you have to exercise. Lack of sleep can cause increased hunger,  muscle loss, and weight gain.  We have plenty of tips to help you improve the quality of your sleep in our lifestyle section below.

2. Log your food intake in a journal, or app                                                                          

When you track your eating habits with a food journal, or calorie tracking app even for a few days, it will be an eye-opening experience that can increase your body awareness and help you change your habits. You will learn how many calories you are eating each day, and also the calories in the foods you normally eat. Understanding your current habits will make changing them much more manageable, and can help you keep weight off long-term.

3. Calculate your target daily calorie intake                  

Once you have a sense of your eating habits, you can calculate your target calorie intake to ensure you create a calorie deficit. Remember, if you don’t eat fewer calories than you burn, you will not lose weight. Our recommendation is to multiply your bodyweight by 10. If you’re a man with over 25% body fat, or a woman with over 30%, subtract 200 calories from the target calorie number. 

4. Replace processed foods with whole foods 

Obesity has many causes, but the root cause is arguably the rise of processed foods. Food that is processed, like cereal, cake, donuts, and french fries to name a few, provide significant calories without filling you up. Even worse, your hunger levels can increase shortly after eating these foods, causing a vicious cycle of weight gain. Eating foods in their natural state, or as close to their natural state as possible like apples, fish, lettuce, yams, eggs, etc. will help fill you up and stabilize your energy levels, so that you maintain that large calorie deficit.

5. Eat protein with every meal 

While nutritionists may argue about whether low carb diets are best, one thing is for certain a high protein diet helps you lose weight faster.  Foods and meals that are high in protein help fill you up without providing too many calories. While 1 gram of fat has 9 calories, 1 gram of protein and carbs has only 4. That’s not to say dietary fat is bad, it’s just that protein, especially lean protein sources, will help satisfy your hunger more.

6. Stay Hydrated

Drinking plenty of water is strongly associated with improved weight loss. Staying hydrated can help increase satiety, especially if you drink a cup of water before each meal. Shortly, drink 8 to 12 cups of water per day to stay hydrated.

7. Follow a nutrition plan 

You know your target calorie intake and you’ve learned about your current eating habits, now it’s time to create, or find a nutrition plan to follow. You can use the tips from this article to help you craft your own plan, or you can follow one from an experienced nutritionist like our BuiltLean Nutrition Plan. Either way, you know the goal eat foods that fill you up without providing too many calories so that you hit your target calorie intake each day.

8. Follow a workout plan 

Over 200 years ago, Benjamin Franklin advised, “If you fail to plan you are planning to fail”. Clearly, if you have a great workout plan to follow, the likelihood of losing weight increases substantially. You can create your own workout plan using the tips in this article, or you can follow a plan from an experienced fitness coach or trainer, like our BuiltLean Workout Plan.

9. Do full-body workouts 3x per week 

Training your entire body each workout will help increase your metabolism and calorie burn while preventing muscle loss. Focus on multi-joint exercises that challenge large muscle groups like squats, lunges, push-ups, and pull-ups to help maximize calorie burn.

10. Be patient 

You may have come across this article because you are dying to lose your belly fat fast, but the truth is that losing weight – especially only fat – does not happen overnight. While you can lose 10 pounds in one day simply by dehydrating yourself, it will be almost entirely water weight. On the high-end, you can lose 1.5% of your body weight in fat per week. Much more than that, and it’s more likely you’ll be losing muscle and/or water. So a 200 pound man can lose 3 pounds of pure fat per week, which is a hefty 1,500 daily calorie deficit. Just because you want to lose weight faster, doesn’t mean you should, or you will. Be patient, follow your plan, and the excess weight will come off.

The 8 Best Exercises for Weight Loss

1. Walking

Walking is one of the best exercises for weight loss — and for good reason.

It’s a convenient and easy way for beginners to start exercising without feeling overwhelmed or needing to purchase equipment. Also, it’s a lower-impact exercise, meaning it doesn’t stress your joints.

According to Harvard Health, a 155-pound (70-kg) person burns around 175 calories per 30 minutes of walking at a moderate pace of 4 mph (6.4 km/h).

A 12-week study of 20 women with obesity found that walking for 50–70 minutes 3 times per week reduced body fat and waist circumference by an average of 1.5% and 1.1 inches (2.8 cm), respectively.

It’s easy to fit walking into your daily routine. To add more steps to your day, try walking during your lunch break, taking the stairs at work, or taking your dog for extra walks.

To get started, aim to walk for 30 minutes 3–4 times a week. You can gradually increase the duration or frequency of your walks as you become more fit.

2. Jogging & Running

Jogging and running are great exercises to help you lose weight.

Although they seem similar, the key difference is that a jogging pace is generally between 4–6 mph (6.4–9.7 km/h), while a running pace is faster than 6 mph (9.7 km/h).

Harvard Health estimates that a 155-pound (70-kg) person burns approximately 288 calories per 30 minutes of jogging at a 5 mph (8 km/h) pace or 360 calories per 30 minutes of running at a 6 mph (9.7-km/h) pace.

What’s more, studies have found that jogging and running can help burn visceral fat, commonly known as belly fat. This type of fat wraps around your internal organs and has links to various chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes.

Both jogging and running are great exercises that can be done anywhere and are easy to incorporate into your weekly routine. To get started, aim to jog for 20–30 minutes 3–4 times per week.

If you find jogging or running outdoors hard on your joints, try running on softer surfaces like grass. Also, many treadmills have built-in cushioning, which may be easier on your joints.

3. Cycling

Cycling is a popular exercise that improves your fitness and can help you lose weight.

Although cycling is traditionally an outdoor activity, many gyms and fitness centers have stationary bikes that allow you to cycle while staying indoors.

Harvard Health estimates that a 155-pound (70 kg) person burns around 252 calories per 30 minutes of cycling on a stationary bike at a moderate pace or 288 calories per 30 minutes on a bicycle at a moderate pace of 12–13.9 mph (19–22.4 km/h).

Not only is cycling great for weight loss, but studies have found that people who cycle regularly have better overall fitness, increased insulin sensitivity, and a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, and death, compared with those who don’t cycle regularly.

Cycling is great for people of all fitness levels, from beginners to athletes. Plus, it’s a non-weight-bearing and low impact exercise, so it won’t place much stress on your joints.

4. Weight Training

Weight training is a popular choice for people looking to lose weight.

A 155-pound (70-kg) person burns roughly 108 calories per 30 minutes of weight training.

Also, weight training can help you build strength and promote muscle growth, which can raise your resting metabolic rate (RMR), or how many calories your body burns at rest.

One 6-month study showed that simply doing 11 minutes of strength-based exercises 3 times per week resulted in a 7.4% increase in metabolic rate, on average. In this study, that increase was equivalent to burning an additional 125 calories per day.

Another study found that 24 weeks of weight training led to a 9% increase in metabolic rate among men, which equated to burning approximately 140 more calories per day. Among women, the increase in metabolic rate was nearly 4%, or 50 more calories per day.

In addition, studies have shown that your body continues to burn calories many hours after a weight-training workout, compared with aerobic exercise

5. Interval Training

Interval training, more commonly known as high intensity interval training (HIIT), is a broad term for short bursts of intense exercise that alternate with recovery periods.

Typically, a HIIT workout lasts 10–30 minutes and can burn many calories.

One study of 9 active men found that HIIT burned 25–30% more calories per minute than other types of exercises, including weight training, cycling, and running on a treadmill.

That means HIIT can help you burn more calories while spending less time exercising.

Furthermore, numerous studies have shown that HIIT is especially effective at burning belly fat, which has links to many chronic diseases.

HIIT is easy to incorporate into your exercise routine. All you need to do is choose a type of exercise, such as running, jumping, or biking, and your exercise and rest times.

For example, pedal as hard as you can on a bike for 30 seconds, followed by pedaling at a slow pace for 1–2 minutes. Repeat this pattern for 10–30 minutes.

6. Swimming

Swimming is a fun way to lose weight and get in shape.

Harvard Health estimates that a 155-pound (70-kg) person burns approximately 216 calories per half-hour of swimming.

How you swim appears to affect how many calories you burn. One study on competitive swimmers found that the most calories were burned during the breaststroke, followed by the butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle.

One 12-week study in 24 middle-aged women found that swimming for 60 minutes 3 times per week significantly reduced body fat, improved flexibility, and reduced several heart disease risk factors, including high total cholesterol and blood triglycerides.

Another advantage of swimming is its low impact nature, meaning it’s easier on your joints. This makes it a great option for people who have injuries or joint pain.

7. Yoga

Yoga is a popular way to exercise and relieve stress.

While it’s not commonly thought of as a weight loss exercise, it burns a fair amount of calories and offers many additional health benefits that can promote weight loss.

Harvard Health estimates that a 155-pound (70-kg) person burns around 144 calories per 30 minutes of practicing yoga.

A 12-week study of 60 women with obesity found that those who participated in two 90-minute yoga sessions per week experienced greater reductions in waist circumference than those in the control group — by 1.5 inches (3.8 cm), on average.

Additionally, the yoga group experienced improvements in mental and physical well-being.

Aside from burning calories, studies have shown that yoga can teach mindfulness and reduce stress levels.

Most gyms offer yoga classes, but you can practice yoga anywhere. This includes from the comfort of your own home, as there are plenty of guided tutorials online.

8. Pilates

Pilates is a great beginner-friendly exercise that may help you lose weight.

According to a study sponsored by the American Council on Exercise, a person weighing around 140 pounds (64 kg) would burn 108 calories at a 30-minute beginner’s Pilates class or 168 calories at an advanced class of the same duration.

Although Pilates may not burn as many calories as aerobic exercises like running, many people find it enjoyable, which makes it easier to stick to over time.

An 8-week study in 37 middle-aged women found that performing Pilates exercises for 90 minutes 3 times per week significantly reduced waist, stomach, and hip circumference, compared with a control group that did no exercise over the same period.

Other than weight loss, Pilates may reduce lower back pain and improve your strength, balance, flexibility, endurance, and overall fitness level.

If you’d like to give Pilates a go, try incorporating it into your weekly routine. You can do Pilates at home or at one of the many gyms that offer Pilates classes.

To further boost weight loss with Pilates, combine it with a healthy diet or other forms of exercise, such as weight training or cardio.