Proven Strategies To Lose Weight Fast And Safe

While there are many methods to lose weight, losing weight too quickly can be dangerous and can create many side effects. Some methods like fad diets, diet pills, and fasting may indeed get you rapid weight loss. However, these methods can cause muscle loss or damage to your heart, liver and/or other organs fairly quickly. Besides, study has shown that the result of losing weight quickly is temporary and you will certainly gain it back what you have lost or even more.

Here, in series of articles, I will explain effective methods with proven track record of results. I have been using these methods on my clients for many years with amazing results. If you follow these instructions, you will be guaranteed to lose weight, one to two pounds per week, safe and effective.

There are two main elements to losing weight effectively:
1. Proper Diet
2. Proper Exercises

More than 60% of your success in losing weight comes from proper diet. The rest come from proper exercises, that is, Cardio and Resistance Training, as depicted in the diagram below.

This diagram is like a jigsaw puzzle. If one piece is missing, losing weight won’t work. It requires all pieces in place for effective weight loss.I will explain how to lose weight, gain muscle and stay fit very effectively by combining these three important elements: Diet, Cardio, and Resistance Training.

Balanced Diet

In order to lose one pound you need to have a 3500 calorie deficit. That is, you need to burn 3500 calories more than your intake. For example, if your metabolism is about 2000 calories per day, by deducting 500 calories per day for seven days, you lose a pound per week. You can speed up your fat loss by having a 700 calorie deficit per day to lose 1 ½ pounds per week.

What you eat, when you eat it and how you prepare it has so much to do with your success in fat loss. For example, a medium sized potato has about 90-100 calories if it is baked and also has good nutrients. On the other hand, when the same potato is mashed or made into French fries, all the nutrients disappear and the calories double. More…

Cardio

All the cardio activities can burn calories and result in losing weight. However, depending on how much weight you want to lose, you need to put in a reasonable effort and be consistent. You may choose one method or a combination of many methods to do cardio.

There are three elements in a cardio workout that determine how many calories you can burn. These elements are: time, intensity and type of cardio which should be considered based on you age, goal and prior cardio experiences. More…

Resistance Training

Resistance training is one of the most important parts of losing weight if done properly. By doing resistance training, not only do you lose weight, you also build up strength, increase bone density, boost your metabolic rate and best of all you increase your energy level.

Most women think that if they weight lift, they will look bigger and might look like men hence losing their feminine look! In fact, if you know how to work on certain parts of the body, you will look more curvy and feminine. More…

Lose weight - Body Fat

The human body is made up of bones, muscles, organs, water -- and fat. In weight loss measurements, the term "body fat" refers to the percentage of body mass that is only fat.

The amount of body fat that’s acceptable for women is unhealthy for men. For example, a 30 year old woman with 22% body fat is considered fit. However, a 30 year old man with 22% body fat is considered unhealthy. That shows that based on their hormones, men have better metabolism than women because men have more muscles in their body and that shows how extra muscles boost your metabolism up.

The chart below describes the body fat norm based on percentage of body weight that is fat.

Knowing your body fat percentage is important to set your weight loss goal properly. For example, if you are a 130 pound woman with body fat of 23%, losing 20 pounds is unrealistic and can get you into unhealthy body fat classification. The reason as follows:

130 * 23% = 30 pounds of body fat

130 - 30 = 100 pounds (with no body fat, that's bones, skin, muscle and water)

130 - 20 = 110 pounds (your goal to lose weight)

As you can see 110 pounds will leave you with 10 pound of body fat, that is 9%. Based on the bodt fat percentage chart above, 9% body fat is below essential and can be considered risky and unhealthy. This indicates that you need to set a better goal to lose weight. For example 10 pound weight loss goal will get you to 120 pounds with 20 pounds of body fat or 16% which is classified as fit and healthy.

There are many methods to measure body fat percentage. The easiest method is to determine your correct body weight composition. Beneath the skin is a layer of fat. The percentage of total body fat can be measured by taking skin fold of the area of the body you want to measure with a pair of calipers.

Lose Weight - Target Heart Zone

There are so many different methods to calculate your Target Heart Zone. The Karvonen formula is the simplest method but is also very accurate. In this method three main elements are used to calculate Target Heart Zone; Age, Intensity and Resting Heart Rate.

The Karvonen formula has four steps:

1. 220 - age = Estimated maximum Heart Rate (HR)
2. Estimated maximum HR – resting HR = Heart Rate Reserve (HRR)
3. HRR x percentage (e.g. 70%) = percent of HRR
4. Percent of HRR + resting HR = target HR

The following shows an example of calculation for a begginer with age of 50 and resting HR of 80:
1. 220 - 50 = 170
2. 170 - 80 = 90
3. 90 * 50% = 45
4. 45 + 80 = 125

In order to obtain a range for your target Heart Rate (e.g. 70%-80%), you will need to repeat the calculation for a second percentage as well (e.g. 80%). Selecting the appropriate percentage is an arbitrary decision based on at least four factors:

1) Your risk factor and/or orthopedic limitation,
2) Your level of fitness,
3) Your goals, and
4) Your level of motivation.


For beginner individuals, the Heart Rate range of 40-50% is recommended.

Lose weight by resistance training

Resistance training is one of the most important parts of losing weight if done properly. By doing resistance training, not only do you lose weight, you also build up strength, increase bone density, boost your metabolic rate and best of all you increase your energy level. In my opinion, any workout method without resistance training is not complete and the results do not last long.

Proper weight lifting to lose weight is as important as building muscles for body builders. Most women think that if they weight lift, they will look bigger and might look like men hence losing their feminine look! In fact, if you know how to work on certain parts of the body, you will look more curvy and feminine. The point is to know how much weight, how often and which part of your body needs to work more.

In order to lose weight properly you need to change your metabolism. Metabolism, like anything else in your body, comes from your genetic profile. You cannot change your genes but you can change your metabolism by building up muscles.

Let me explain how it works. A pound of fat sitting in your body burns about 4 calories per day. On the other hand, a pound of muscle in your body burns about 70 calories and as long as you pump and keep that muscle you can keep burning 70 calories. That’s why your body fat measurement is more important than your body weight to determine your metabolism. That means the composition of your body determines your metabolism plus your genes. Since we cannot change the genetic profile, we need to change the composition of the body (body fat). In simpler words, the leaner you are the better metabolism you will have. Note that men have better metabolism than women because men have more muscles in their body and that shows how extra muscles boost your metabolism up. Also see the body fat chart.

Like everything else in the body, age has important effect on metabolism rate. The younger you are the better metabolism you have. The good news is that by performing proper resistance training you can keep a good metabolism of young age in an older body and that’s the beauty of resistance training.

It’s important to consider the following before starting the proper resistance training:

1. Determine your short term and long term goals for muscular fitness
2. Identify area of past injury and/or potential injury
3. Identify your body shape. For example, apple shape body, pearl shape body, etc.
4. Determine your exercise routine by considering frequency, time, intensity and type of equipment.

The best is to get help from a professional fitness trainer to design a fitness program that suits your age, your muscular ability, your flexibility, your cardio vascular ability and nutrition plan.

Lose weight by cardio

By medical definition “cardio” refers to “heart”. It’s coming from the Greek word “kardia” which means “heart”.

In fitness, “cardio” refers to exercises that can basically raise your heart rate within your target heart rate zone and to the extent that’s your body can continue its functionality normally. Besides the fact that cardio helps reducing the risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes, it also helps you reduce your stress and makes you feel good. Most importantly, it can help you burn calories and lose weight.

Cardio can be achieved through many methods, including walking, running, cycling, hiking and/or stationary machines, such as treadmills, bikes, stairmaster, elliptical and rowing machines. Regular sporting activities, such as swimming, volleyball, soccer, basketball and football can also contribute to a good cardio result. Aerobics activities, such as kick boxing can also produce great cardio result.

All of these cardio activities can burn calories and result in losing weight. However, depending on how much weight you want to lose, you need to put in a reasonable effort and be consistent. You may choose one method or a combination of many methods to do cardio.

To get the best result in cardio, you should stay in your “Target Heart Zone”. There are three elements in a cardio workout that determine how many calories you can burn. These elements are: time, intensity and type of cardio which should be considered based on you age, goal and prior cardio experiences.

Experience shows that it takes about 12 minutes to get to the fat burning zone.

It’s important to know that cardio will boost your metabolism up for about one hour, and after that it goes back to normal. With resistance training, however, your metabolism will be up for 24 to 36 hours.

When you do cardio, you burn a certain amount of calories. These calories are not all coming from your body fat. You might burn some fiber in your muscles to use for energy needed on the cardio machine. If you know your Target Heart Zone and stay in that zone, you would burn more body fat than muscles.

Have in mind that it’s very important to consult with your physician, if you have any heart problem, especially if you are taking any medications for high blood pressure, diabetes, before you start any type of workout, including cardio.

Lose weight by a proper and balanced diet

In order to lose one pound you need to have a 3500 calorie deficit. That is, you need to burn 3500 calories more than your intake. For example, if your metabolism is about 2000 calories per day, by deducting 500 calories per day for seven days, you lose a pound per week. You can speed up your fat loss by having a 700 calorie deficit per day to lose 1 ½ pounds per week.

You may cut down the calories between 500 up to 1000 per day, depending how fast you want to lose weight, but you cannot cut down the nutrients. It’s important to know that no matter what, your body needs nutrients, but not necessarily the calories. In order to get enough nutrients but not too many calories, you need to get dense nutrients, not dense calories. A big bowl of spinach is a good example of a dense nutrient. It has a lot of minerals, vitamins and fibers with little calories. On the other hand, a spoon of butter, or a piece of candy is an example of a dense calorie, which has a lot of calories and no nutrition value.

What you eat, when you eat it and how you prepare it has so much to do with your success in fat loss. For example, a medium sized potato has about 90-100 calories if it is baked and also has good nutrients. On the other hand, when the same potato is mashed or made into French fries, all the nutrients disappear and the calories double. With respect to burning calories, you would get much better results if you eat in the morning rather than eating at night since you give more time to burn the calories throughout the day.