Lose Weight the right way!

Often most people can lose a couple of extra kilos pretty quickly. Three kilos gone in a week maybe by cutting out that extra chocolate or going to extremes like cutting a meal. Let me tell you though, cutting that meal isn't going to help you keep the weight off. Sure you might be lighter the next day because you haven't eaten those 200g of chicken you could have eaten for dinner, but when it comes down to it, your body needs those nutrients and proteins.

You're just forcing your body into starvation mode by not eating (and honestly you'll be worse off for it). Think of it this way, it's like weighing yourself, then drinking a litre of water and weighing yourself again. The likeliness is that you'll weigh about a kilo extra, but you haven't gained weight my friend! No! You've just got more water in your body, which will go right through you anyway and it'll be gone within a few hours (hence our need to keep drinking water guys, we need that beautiful liquid).

The secret to losing weight permanently is taking it slow. Everyone knows the saying; slow and steady wins the race. It's no different with weight loss. It does not matter how slow you go as long as you do not stop. Confucius couldn't have been more right there. If you want to see a difference, and I mean a real difference, take it slow. Maybe don't put so much cheese on your pasta, go for a twenty minute run, tell yourself you already had curry today, you probably shouldn't have pasta for dinner. The slower you lose the weight the more likely it will be a permanent change. Often those who lose those three kilos in a few weeks find themselves back to where they started or even worse having been beaten by binge eating.

Another tip, (mostly for your self esteem), avoid weighing yourself every day. Your weight fluctuates all the time, you might gain muscle if you're doing weight training, you could have had a lot of water to drink that day or maybe you just haven't digested your food. Weigh yourself every week, those are the incremental changes that matter. That way if you haven't lost weight over the week you know you need to push yourself a little bit harder and check in the following week. But hey, if you still want to weigh yourself every day, don't be surprised if one night you go up a few hundred grams, that's just your body... well... living!

The moral of the story is don't give up. Take it slow and work hard, you'll see lasting changes. And hey, the next time you see that long lost family member you can hear the magic words; "Have you lost weight?".

Yes. Yes I have. And it's gone for good.