The Fast Track to Weight Loss: Finding the Quickest Way to Shed Pounds

Losing weight is easy! You can drop pounds quickly and safely by following a few simple steps.

Before starting any weight loss diet, it's essential to analyze the diet for both its effectiveness and for its ability to become a realistic, and long lasting part of your life. Manifold diets appear every day almost everywhere you look. You can stand in the check-stand at your local grocery store and read headlines that promise outrageous claims such as, "lose twenty pounds in two weeks," or "reverse the aging process and lose upwards of 25 pounds in a month." These claims are dubious at best. Like get rich quick schemes, get thin quick schemes are for suckers.

If you want to make steady weight loss a part of your life, use a healthy diet with limited calories and nutritional foods that you enjoy and that satisfy your hunger. The following tips will help you control your hunger and limit your calories while maintaining your energy.

Hunger is like a child

Before putting together the perfect dieting plan, you must consider hunger and how to control it. Don't think of hunger as your enemy. Hunger is your body's way of gently asking for fuel. Hunger can be a polite request, or it can be a child throwing a tantrum. Think of hunger as a child that needs discipline. If you give a child everything it wants, you will spoil the child. The child will get out of control. Hunger can be thought of in the same way. When hunger asks politely for fuel, you can oblige by giving your body just what it needs and no more. If hunger does not ask for fuel, don't spoil it by giving it unsolicited treats. If hunger throws a tantrum, stand back and say, "I'm not going to allow you the satisfaction of rolling over me. I will give you just what you need and no more." Take control, be a responsible parent.

Nutritional balance

Balance of nutrition does not need to be complicated. The most important thing to remember is not to overindulge in foods with little nutritional value. Some easy basics can help. Refrain from simple carbohydrates. This includes white breads, ice cream, candies, sugar sodas, and other foods of this type. Simple carbohydrates are, more or less, directly introduced into your blood as sugar. This can cause a rollercoaster ride of energy and emotion. You will fly high for a short time then dive-bomb in the end. Also, unused blood sugar is converted readily into fat reserves; you don't want that.

The solution is to opt for complex carbs, which are not broken down and made into glucose as quickly. Rather than white breads, substitute for whole grains. Drop sugar drinks, especially soda, from your diet altogether. Dump desserts from your diet, except on special occasions.

It is also important to get the right ratio of complex carbs and proteins as part of your diet. An excellent balance is 15% complex carbs and 85% lean proteins. Think of your plate as a pie chart. Fill 15% of your pie chart with lean protein-rich foods like chicken or fish. Fill the rest of the plate with complex carbs and plenty of vegetables like whole grain bread, potatoes, plantains, fruits, yams, etc.

Set a realistic goal

We spend too much time thinking about how much we way, and what they are doing to lose pounds. We talk about it too much. We let it effect our confidence and attitudes towards life. One way to fight the obsession is to write down a clear goal, post it somewhere, and forget about it. When writing a goal, bear in mind that you can safely lose weight at the rate of 1 to 2 pounds a week. You might think this is too slow; but if you lose too much weight too fast, you can run into health problems like dehydration, or dips in energy and effectiveness. If you can get on a 2-pound per week weight loss track, you will lose 8 pounds a month, 24 pounds a quarter, and 96 pounds a year. Don't be concerned about losing a hundred pounds right away, just stick to the plan and pat yourself on the back each week when you get on the scale and see that you have dropped 2 pounds. The fat will fall off before you know it.

Your written goal should not simply be the end, i.e. lose 2 pounds a week for 3 months. It should include the means, i.e. eat ½ cup oatmeal for breakfast every day, drop simple carbs from my diet, restrict dessert to only once a week, eat out only one meal a week, stop drinking sugar soda, and lose 2 pounds a week. The more clearly you define your goal, the easier it will be to realize it.

Drink plenty of water

With hundreds of weight loss supplements out on the market, the main life-giving supplement is almost always forgotten. That supplement is water. You can lose up to a half-gallon of water a day in sweat and urine. It is essential to restore that water. The more water you drink, the less you will retain. Constant hydration can boost your energy, increase your metabolism, and limit bloating. Drink one tall glass of water before each meal to control your hunger. If you are a diet soda drinker, drink at least twelve ounces of water before drinking a can of pop. When you feel hungry between meals, have a glass of water before eating a snack.

A weight loss diet does not have to be complicated. By following these simple steps, you can easily lose 1 to 2 pounds a week and soon you will find yourself fitting into those tight jeans or into that old suit that you keep in the back of your closet.