By Israel Lagares on November 11th, 2008
Weight Loss in 5 Important Steps, Be Consistent
So, you need to lose a few pounds, eh? Well don’t we all, luckily managing that extra something on your stomach doesn’t have to be too much trouble by following a few careful but important steps.
- No more late eating. Seriously. Try to keep yourself from consuming foods or sweats past 9 p.m. or four hours before bedtime. This is crucial to maintaining a healthy metabolism and not allowing your body to store the extra food overnight as fat.
- Set some realistic goals. Losing 10 pounds in one week is not only unrealistic, but darn right unhealthy. If you fail to achieve your goals there are only so many times you will want to get back up; so do yourself a favor and set goals that are easily attained. Start out with two pounds in the first week and work up from there.
- Take before and after photos. Ouch, nobody likes to see themselves in a photo with their shirt off and their chunk hanging around, however, I bet if you saw it, you would get off that computer seat and start doing some push ups. By documenting your progress by photos, you can actually see the results more clearly, giving you motivation. So get on it, tubby! I did it with my weight loss pictures.
- Stop comparing yourself to others. So what if Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen are stick thin! Every body is different and by now you probably know if you have a slow or fast metabolism, if your weight goes to your hips or thighs, and what your favorite binge food is (sugar cereal anyone?). Keep your goal in sight and do not be discouraged if someone is showing better weight loss than you are.
- Monitor your calories. When I followed a strict regimen of counting my calories during the course of a week I realized something, I was eating way more calories than I thought. By keeping tabs on what you eat and counting the calories each night you will be shocked and just how much food you consume in a day. This is an easy, fun and eye opening effective way at cleaning up your bad diet. Try counting the amount of protein, fat, and carbs you consume too.
Remember that everybody has a different body and different goal in mind. Remember to stay on task and to be consistent, consistent, consistent. By following a strict regimen of exercise and diet using these five simple tips, you will see a drastic change in your health, mentally and physically.
A bonus tip is to drink green tea. It’s does a body good! Just make sure you get the good, all natural kind.
Nice post, i definitely agree, especially in counting calories, most of us take for granted that the food we eat doesnt have that much. But it gets scary when you actually do the totals. It gets even worse when you combine everything together.
im also a big fan of realistic goals.
You are right. It’s good to see it all on paper, even if only for a day or a week. Then you can continue to write it down, or use your experience to control what you ingest. I personally don’t need to write it down anymore though.
Israel,
Great advice, great post! One of the reasons people get caught up and lose their focus IS because they compare themselves to others. And that just doesn’t make any sense.
Thanks for the post!
All the Best,
Andrew R
nice info admin…. thank you very much
good post Israel!
I would also add, cutting out sugar and reducing your alcohol intake will really help a lot of people.
Empty calories in the way of soda, Starbucks drinks and booze really add a LOT of weight to most people.
– Justin
GymJunkies.com
I had a friend that stopped eating sugar for a month…he lost 20 lbs.
Excellent post Israel!! When most folks start to have an idea of @ how many calories they are eating, then I think we’ll start to see the obesity trend start to reverse a bit. I’m a firm believer that most overweight and obese folks simply don’t understand that it’s not just the “amount” of food they’re eating, but how “calorie dense” is the food they are eating. Thanks again for a really good post …
Having an idea is important of the amount of calories you consume is important. I tend to not get too crazy about it, but for some it can mean the difference.
Great post. The only thing I would slightly disagree with is the counting calories bit. Counting calories nearly drove me insane when I tried it. However, there is value in doing it early on, as so many people just have no idea how much they are consuming at any onetime. A great site that can help you with this is http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm. It shows you what 200 calories looks like in various food forms. Well worth a look.
Thanks for the link David.
how about tips on becoming fat?! that’s my problem.. 😆
That’s easy, do the opposite of everything on this entire site. LOL.
They say 3500 calories = 1 pound burned or gained! So Watching the calories is a big thing!
Eating frequent small meals also helped me….. Helped kickstart that metabolism
The eating frequent meals has it’s benefits, and some can do it, but there are alternatives to the 5-6 meals a day plan.
I managed to lose about 8 pounds within two weeks, by only stopping the midnight eating I liked so much in the past. It’s amazing how easy weight loss can be, if you find those “widgets” which work for you.
Weight loss widgets! Brilliant. It’s like life hacks.
In tandem with gym it’ll give you an excellent result!
Weight loss widgets LOL -)))
Great post, and I especially agree about counting calories. I was able to lose 35lbs by using a program called Diet Power to watch my calorie intake. It’s not a free program, but it’s definitely been worth the cost for me.
That’s good to hear. I visited the site and it does look useful. Thanks.
Lots of good content in this post Israel.
The late eating stuff is a good rule, the metabolism is lower later at night, so watch out for those late night snacks.
I really like points 3 and 4.
I mean, there’s always ups and downs no matter what program you follows. Some days, you are questioning your program because “you don’t see any results”, but by using methods such as tape measurement tests (or fat caliper), before and after pictures, as well as the weight scale, then you’re able to see real proof of your progress. Extremely important lesson there!
As for #4, that’s something I try to teach my clients all the time. You need to focus on yourself, and stop caring about how other people look and especially, what other people think.
Focus on surrounding yourself with people who help and push you, rather than dragging you down. Remove all the negativity from your life, it doesn’t do you any good!
Great stuff there Israel. Keep it up!
All the best,
Jonas Forsberg
Author of BurnFatAtHome.com &
Founder of TheSwedishTrainer.com
Jonas, thanks for taking the time to share some knowledge. It is always appreciated.
Straightforward and to the point- great advice. Just the stuff I like to read.
SUH WEET! Thanks Steve.
5 solid tips Israel. I especially agree with the stop comparing yourself to others tip. No 2 people are a like so just try and be the best that you can be.
Unless you are a twin….hmmm. Seriously though, consistency is key.
Definitely agree with you on the first tip. Late night snacks are the worst of the lot. I found that if I eat small meals at night and do cardio first thing in the morning helped a lot in fat loss.
Cardio in the morning is just such a booster for the rest of the day, I love it.
That was a heck of a post bro! That is what I am talking about keeping yourself motivated and documenting your progress! Great points you made and taking pictures and measuring yourself is a great method of keeping yourself focused. That is what I do at least and it works for me.
Hi Derek, awesome name and site you have there. I feel like your a brother from another mother with the journey we are both on. Keep it up man and thanks for stopping by.
I’m 46 and female. I have usually been able to keep off any extra weight, but the past couple of years that extra ten pounds just does not want to leave. I do a lot of computer work and my biggest weakness is the late night sweet snack and a glass of milk. I had not thought of the photos idea, but I might just give that a try. Looking in the mirror at extra pounds is bad enough, but placing one over my computer just might be enough to motivate me to get more exercise.
lift weights or do resistance training.
Eating something every 3 hours or so until 9 pm, minimizing sugar in drinks are the keys for my success.
I think that the most important problem is hidden in peoples minds. People say that they want to loose weight but they don’t really want it, they don’t want to give up something…
i think they do want it but its just hard when you are so programmed do be a certain way.
I think the photo shot is a really good idea, after stepping on the scale and feeling like no way i havent lost that much have I? Taking a picture can really show you the results. Thanks for the idea!
Especially over an extended period of time.
You are spot on about being consistent. I have to trick myself sometimes to keep it up. I’ll try to get at least 15-20 minutes in on those days when I would rather eat dirt than workout. Once I get to the gym, that 15 minutes usually turns into 30-45.
Yep, those are the best workouts. Because when you don’t want to workout and force yourself to work it feels AWESOME, so awesome that you don’t want to stop.
Consistency is the key to anything in life.
Ditto.
Great post yet again.
Before and After pictures are especially helpful if you where the same outfit, take them in the same room, same lighting, etc.
Even the smallest change of events can give you false results in your photos.
I’ve got a friend who swears he has a 6 pack if he takes the picture in his basement in a corner haha, so strange!
You are right! Most people don’t take the right approach to weight loss from the start. Their are so many people that want to lose weight, but clearly don’t have a plan at all to succeed.
This article clearly gives people a step to step approach in which they can apply to their own weight loss .