1. How Do You Eat an Elephant: “One bite at a time.”
Start slow, and pay close attention to what you eat. The best thing to do is cut down on sweets, salt, and fats and add more fruits and vegetables in your diet. After you have taken that “bite”, then simply add a bit of exercise to your regimen. Start off slow with anywhere from 10-15 min of exercise a day, then increase it by increments of 10 min every week.
2. Get Support, Work Out with a Friend
It is much easier to lose weight when you have to be accountable to someone else. Further, having someone there can provide a great support system. Additionally, working out with someone may even foster your competitive spirit and motivate beyond what you could or would accomplish on your own.
3. Add Weights to Your Routine
Weight lifting will lead to the development of muscles. Muscles, in turn, will increase your metabolic rate and lead to greater calorie loss. Calorie loss will help you lose weight.
4. Stay Away from Simple Sugars, and Eat More Complex Carbs
Ingesting simple sugars or foods that create more simple sugars in the body (rice, pasta, candy, soda, etc...) has the effect of raising insulin in the body. When this occurs, your body is no longer as efficient in burning fat as a source of energy. Therefore, it’s best to eat more fruits and vegetables as your source of carbohydrates as this doesn’t produce the insulin spike that leads to decrease fat burning ability.
5. See it and Be it… Visualize Your Goals
First write down your goals so you can see it everyday when you wake up and before you go to bed. And make sure you make the goal specific. If I weighed 205 pounds for example, and wanted to lose 20 pounds in 3 months I would write this: “ I, Joseph Corbett, weigh 185 pounds and look and feel healthy and fantastic.” Repeat this statement 4-5 times in the morning and at night before sleeping, and really feel how it would feel to be at this weight.
6. Eat Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, and Dinner Like a Beggar
It is best to consume the majority of calories in the beginning of the day, and the least amount of calories at the end of the day. Do you know how Sumo Wrestlers eat? They do the reverse… They eat the bulk of their calories right before sleeping. If you do the same (Eat a late night meal before sleeping), you’ll look the same. And we wonder why America has such a large percentage of obesity?
7. Water is Your Friend
First, most people do not drink the amount of water they need to, to stay healthy. First and foremost, drink from 6-8 glasses of water a day. Also, when you are hungry, make sure it is not your body signaling that you’re dehydrated instead. So, at the first hunger pangs, drink water and see if your hunger doesn’t go away.
9. Eat 5-6 Smaller Meals a Day
Eating frequently ensures that you keep your blood sugar level in check, which means that you don’t spike your insulin levels and stop burning fat (see number 4 above). Further, eating more signals your body that you are getting enough food, and so keeps your hunger pangs in check.
