Obesity is quickly becoming an epidemic with 65% of Americans being overweight. Men and women alike have tried to various diets with some degree of success, only to gain it all back or more. With the increase of our body fat is the increase in health risk from diabetes, high cholesterol, to heart disease.
With obesity on the rise people are taken notice, along with health gurus with new diets or pharmaceutical companies with a new pill to aid in weight loss. Let's not forget all the infomercials with the latest exercise equipment either. None of these are needed. You just need 3 things for natural fast weight loss: change in the food you eat, cardio and exercise.
First of all, this isn't a diet. It is a lifestyle change. As said before, most diets tend to fail because, once you are off of the diet, you think you can go back to how you lived and everything will be ok. Wrong. Unless you change things in your life and maintain it, it will all creep back and the diet was nothing but a waste of time.
So getting started the best thing to do is keep a diary of you daily intake of food. By doing so, you will see everything you eat and how it all adds up. Second, when you shop for food, try to stick to the outside of the grocery. All the processed food is usually contained in the middle of the grocery and along the outside, you'll usually find fruits, vegetables and breads. Of course, you may have to venture in for spices and other things of the like. If you do buy any, be careful of the processed foods you buy. As they are processed, they tend to lose nutritional value.
When keeping a diary, keep track mainly of the calories. It doesn't matter how it is added up, 3500 calories equals one pound added to the body. The more you put in the more you need to burn off. Sure to eat less helps, but eventually the body will take over thinking it is being starved and stores more of your intake as fat to preserve itself. The correct way to do it is to slowly decrease your intake and find ways to burn extra calories throughout the day.
This is where cardio comes in. Yes, most people hate to do it but it is necessary to burn extra calories to lose the excess weight. There are many options here you can choose. Running, bike ride, aerobics or a treadmill just to name a few. If you can find something you like then cardio will be easier for you, but you will need to do something if you want to lose the excess weight.
Lastly is exercise, and no cardio is not exercise. Here you must be careful depending on how you wanna look when you wanna loose the weight. Most men wouldn't mind wanting to add a little more muscle to their frame, but not most women. Adding muscle isn't necessarily a bad thing. Yes, muscle weighs more than fat, but burns more fat by increasing the bodies metabolism rate. For those who don't mind some added muscle, you could always try some kind of weight training program. For those just looking to tone up their body you can go with weights but keep the weight low and your reps high. Or you can try various band or cable exercises.
When keeping weight loss in mind, it isn't always the scale that is your judge. The mirror is a better tale of your weight loss. Losing the weight is one thing but looking good when it is gone is another.
Kathryn Soloff is the mother of 8 children and a natural foods cook for over 30 years. She is co-publisher of http://www.natural-remedy-dot-com.com/ where she provides additional advice, tips and hard to find information on Home Fitness.
