Thoughts of those dreaded classes and starvation diets just to squeeze into your slinky new two-piece within the month can be daunting enough without the added stress of whether this time it will actually work.
Luckily, there are some methods you probably haven’t even considered that won’t have you running laps or drinking wheatgrass smoothies.
Stop dieting
We are a nation of professional dieters and unfortunately many of us are on fad diets. These diets usually demonise one macronutrient over others (how many times have you googled low carb versus low fat?) Some even make you replace real Food with powders and supplements they created to sell to you.
After a few weeks you may notice a small drop in weight, but at the expense of feeling miserable and eyeing up your colleagues McCoy’s with envy.
If the diet you are on insists on removing a macronutrient or replacing food with products they make, alarms bells should be ringing. These diets may work short term, but they will not help you keep that weight off once the diet is over.
It may seem old fashioned but eating mindfully and making sure to eat single-ingredient foods, such as vegetables, lean meats and whole grains 80% of the time, and treat yourself with that left over 20% is a far more sustainable way to tackle those excess pounds than choking down pre-made powders and chemicals.
EatMOREcalories
We all know the golden rule of weight loss is “burn more calories than you eat”. By this logic, eating a very low calorie diet that would induce faster weight loss may be appealing, but your body is much smarter than to fall for that.
The minute you restrict calories for too long your body will think there isn’t enough food and slow down your metabolism to a crawl.
The real kicker is that in order to convert stored body fat into useful energy, your body needs to be functioning well. It can only do this if you supply it with enough energy from food.
Think of your body like a car, without adequate fuel it will not drive. Instead of shooting for lower calories, use a calorie calculatorto work out the correct number you should be eating for weight loss without destroying your metabolism.
Stop relying on cardio for fat loss
Everybody knows that cardio burn calories and is a great workout for your heart and respiratory system, but when solely used for fat loss it can be lacking.
The biggest issue with using cardio workouts for fat loss is that it not only burns calories but your muscle mass too. Burning calories sounds good, but if the muscle mass is burned as well you could end up with sagging skin where the muscles are eaten away. Think bingo wings and sagging bums.
Weight training with heavy weights is a one-two punch workout; it burns calories, it builds muscle which gives that toned look and speeds up metabolism. That last benefit is the most important; when your metabolism runs faster you can eat more food without gaining fat.
Combining cardio training with lifting weights will not only burn calories but will also add that lean toned muscle that will give any Victoria’s Secret model a run for her money.
So ditch those diet books, eat more whole food and pick up a dumbbell after that Spin class and you could be the Belle of the Beach this summer.
