HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT
Weight Loss
When you think about weight loss, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Is it hardcore cardiovascular exercise (cardio)? Is it intense weight training with machines and free weights? Or possibly a strict diet of vegetables and lean meats? The solution to effective weight loss is both simple and complex. The simplicity of it is this: weight loss consists of 70% diet and 30% exercise. The complexity of weight loss is in designing an effective weight loss plan with each component in moderation.
Diet
The first step in designing a weight loss is to dispel your current definition of a diet. You are not going to get on a diet for 2 months and then go back to eating normal. From now on your diet refers to the way you eat on a daily basis. Instead of going on a diet, you will change your daily eating habits to that of a healthy adult. You will increase your protein consumption, decrease your fat and carbohydrate consumption, eat 5 small meals, and drink a gallon of water a day. These four actions will inherently function to both reduce your daily caloric intake, and increase the calories burned by the metabolic processes in your body.
A crash diet is a diet which is extreme in its deprivations - typically severely restricting calorie intake. Meant to achieve rapid weight loss, a crash diet differs from outright starvation only slightly. Crash diets are typically unhealthy and are rarely - if ever - recommended by doctors or dietitians. Crash diets can lead to malnutrition, and are not a recommended means of weight loss.
After a person discontinues a crash diet, the "yo-yo effect" is often seen. This causes a person to eat far more than normal, causing them to regain both the weight that was lost due to the diet as well as additional weight. This is caused by an evolutionary trait of the human race that historically only took effect in times of famine: after a famine ended, people's bodies naturally craved to regain both the weight that was lost, plus additional weight as well, in order to protect themselves in case of another famine.
Exercise
The next step is to dispel your current definition of a weight loss exercise plan. You are not going to do endless hours of cardio. Have you ever noticed that most of the individuals that live on the cardio equipment are still rotund? The problem is that unless you are participating in 4 hours of cardio everyday, you are not going to be affecting permanent changes upon your body structure (and besides that, you would turn into a weak string bean doing cardio for 4 hrs a day). Instead you are going to strength train 3 days a week for an hour per session, and do about 30 minutes of cardio on non-lifting days, twice per week. The strength training portion will be 80% free weights, 20% machines and other devices. Train your full body each day, the biggest muscle groups first.
