Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Tips For Successfully Losing Weight

By Jennifer King

People who need to lose weight frequently think about eating less than they normally do. This may be quite a solution, but it's not the best there is. In fact, depending on the amount of food you stop eating, it could be dangerous to your health. So how does one lose weight effectively and safely? Here are some points one should consider when trying to lose weight:

Never neglect your breakfast. When you wake up in the morning, your body has just completed an 8 hour fast. After enduring such a fast with no nutrients, your body goes into a catabolic (muscle wasting) state and will begin to break down protein. This is an important time to eat some much needed nutrition as soon as possible. A healthy meal first thing in the morning is critical to any successful fat-burning diet.

Eat every few hours. This means that you will be eating a meal 5 to 6 times a day. Not only does this type of eating regime stimulate muscle maintenance and fat loss, it is also an crucial technique for controlling food cravings. You see, when dieters miss a meal, or haven't eaten in a while, their blood sugar drops too much, and their will power becomes weak. In other words, people who go a long time without eating are much more susceptible to cheating on their diet. Thus, eating every two to three hours will help eliminate those cravings that may have caused you to fail all attempts to lose weight in the past.

Develop your lean muscle mass. A single pound of muscle needs three to five times more energy to sustain itself compared with a pound of fat. That means with more muscle, you'll burn more calories, even when you're resting. Plus having more muscle just strengthens you up. And as your body gets stronger your muscles increase in size, and then your metabolism increases.

Increase your exercise rate. As your strength and stamina improves, your body becomes more efficient, meaning you expend less energy when you exercise than when you first started. So you need to mix things up a bit. Play with intensity of workout, and if it's possible, change your routine. If you keep training at the same intensity your strength and stamina will stop improving. You will also stop losing weight because to get to the next level you will need to increase the amount of energy you use in your training. Your muscles will also stop growing and getting stronger. This will then stop your metabolism getting faster. - 15343

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