How To Lose Weight Fast
Why Do We Want To Lose Weight?
Losing weight seems to be a natural part of my life. It feels as if I have been dieting for ages but after a little soul-searching I found that the reasons have changed over the years. At age 20, I wanted to lose weight for better looks and a a more fit body. I remember that I wanted my breasts to be marked not just look as a it was my belly that started unnaturally high.
Better looks have always been a part of my strive for a slim body but as I grew older it was no longer the main reason.
At age 30, after having two children, I noticed that I was breathing heavier than before and that tieing my shoes required a lot of effort and that it left me breathless. I was embarrased to put on those plastic bags over my shoes when leaving my kids at kindergarten. I was as red as a tomatoe after this 'exercise'.
At age 40, I realized that I was heading for a health disaster if I didn't get a grip of things. I joined weightwatchers to accomplish this. I remember pouring money into their system and that they did deliver. I loved this diet and I think that I lost more than 20 pounds in 6 months.
Weightwatchers presents a great diet but today they have become to commercial. The offer deep-frozen complete meals, chocolatebars and so on and so on.
At age 50, I stopped smoking after 32 years. Wow, I was going to be a lot healthier and save loads of money!
I gained 35 pounds over 9 months. I seriously considered to start smoking again.
I remember an evening last year. I sat down after dinner. Ok, here I was, a woman in her best years. I was borderline obese. I was considering to start smoking again although my doctor said I was also a borderline COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patient.
I looked at the pro's and con's of dieting and the very next day I ent to the library and I read a lot about dieting, health and exercising. Imagine my surprise when I read about diets and cross-referenced this with books on nutrition and physiology.
Read more below about my findings.
This worked for me!
The diet I used to lose 40 pounds is called the calorie shifting diet. It is nothing fancy or flashy about it, it is just working.
Fat Loss 4 Idiots made a diet that is so easy to follow that anyone could do it.
I remember the first cycle I started. After reading the simple menu I remember that I thought that this would be a breeze to adhere to but will it really help me lose weight?
-This works!
I thought that I would crave foods and have troubles with candy and such. I didn't. I ate 4 meals per day and I ate until just short of full.
Half way through the first cycle I didn't think that I lost any weight. Well, I lost 8 pounds during the first 11 days!
I started out my second cycle and this time I added a exercise program called Turbulence Training. This combined a diet that improves the metabolism of fat and an exercise program that helps you keep the muscle you have and burn of fat.
This combination is greater than the sum of the two. I lost 13 pounds during the second cycle.
Read about the Calorie Shifting diet!
My findings on the latest fad's and the respected diets
Firstly, weightwatchers really made a difference to me. They seemed to have a genuine interest in my health but also in my money ;-). The diet worked wonders at the time and I was home with my kids so there was no problem to make all of the special meals in the diet. I measured, weighed and calculated every single calorie. It became a way of life. I gained control over my on life through this external control. In the 90's weightwatchers got to commercial for me.
They introduced new ways to get a hold of our money. Ready-cooked meals with their logo. Overpriced and overrated if you ask me. I learned that frozen foods holds a lot less nutritional value and that the longer they stay frozen the less healthy they get (remember that when shopping, always chose the product with the latest best before-date). They started with simple meal replacements like bars and shakes. According to me that is against the weightwatchers I knew in the 80's. Every nutritional expert says that replacing meals is a bad way of dieting. Once we stop, we gain...weight.
The next fad I learned more about was the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet. Both are none and lowcarb diets. Reading the Atkins book was interesting and at first it seemed like the general solution to me. Going into ketosis and burning fat was the way to go...or was it? Well, you will lose weight if you master this diet. The major reason people don't succeed with the no carb diets is that it is so damn hard to follow. If you have ever tried it you know what I'm talking about. It feels like every muscle in the body screams for carbohydrates.