Shed Those Extra Pounds -- for Good!

By Tom Venuto
Fat-Loss Expert for Global Health & Fitness

For most of us, our idea of a summer shape-up program consists of jumping on the latest diet bandwagon, which we inevitably end up falling off of when the summer is over. Losing weight is easy; the hard part is keeping it off. Instead of looking for quick fixes, we need to focus on developing better eating and exercise habits that we can maintain for the long haul.

The first habit you must develop is to keep track of your daily caloric intake. Calories do count! However, it is not necessary to starve yourself. In fact, you can actually eat more and still become leaner by eating small meals more frequently. Five small meals, each eaten three hours apart, will speed up your metabolic rate, allow your body to absorb and utilize more nutrients, stabilize blood sugar and insulin levels, and increase your energy levels. Most importantly, small frequent meals will decrease fat storage by controlling your portion size and never giving your body more calories than it can utilize in one sitting.

The trick is to decrease your calories slightly below your maintenance level but not to cut them too far. Women can usually eat as many as 1400-1800 calories per day and men 2200-2600 per day and still lose bodyfat.

Many people believe that they can just skip meals or "starve the fat off" by hardly eating anything at all, but it's not that simple. Your body is an extremely efficient fat storing machine during times of famine or deprivation. The direct and unavoidable consequence of very low-calorie diet is a reduction in lean body mass and a decrease in metabolic rate. When this occurs, your progress will grind to a screeching halt. Once this dreaded plateau strikes, most frustrated and discouraged dieters end up falling off the wagon and gaining all the weight back.

The next habit is to divide your calories into the correct portions of protein, carbohydrates and fats. Each meal should contain approximately 30 percent of the calories from lean proteins and 55 percent from natural complex carbohydrates. The remaining 15 percent will come from fat. For high energy levels, your best sources of carbs include 100 percent whole grain cereals and breads, potatoes, yams, brown rice, oatmeal, beans/legumes, vegetables and fruits. Great sources of protein for muscle development include egg whites, low-fat dairy products, chicken, turkey, fish, and lean cuts of red meat.

Plan on losing weight slowly. If you lose weight at a rate of 1-2 lbs. per week you will be more likely to keep it off permanently. Many diet programs promise rapid weight loss. High protein, low-carbohydrate diets for example, can take off pounds very quickly, but much of the weight loss consists of water and muscle. Instead of worshipping the almighty scale, measure your progress in terms of body composition. Use your bodyfat percentage as the ultimate yardstick of your success. This will help you distinguish between fat weight and muscle weight. If does you no good to lose 5-6 lbs. per week if it is mostly muscle!

Arguably, the most important habit of all is exercise. Cardiovascular exercise is the real secret to burning bodyfat. Aerobic activities such as bicycling, walking, jogging, stair-climbing, cross-country skiing and rowing are all terrific fat-burners. Shoot for at least 30 minutes, three to five times per week for optimal results.

Weight training is also essential because the more lean muscle tissue you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate will be. In other words, by developing more muscle, you will be burning more body fat all day long, even when you're not working out.

This article was provided by Global Health & Fitness (GHF). Go to http://www.global-fitness.com to visit their site for customized exercise and nutrition programs, hundreds of exercise instructions and video demos, a FREE fitness analysis and much more!

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