Men's Fitness Online

It’s possible to lose the fat day in, day out, every day, every week. Adopt these habits, and integrate them into your life and you’ll start to see a healthier and leaner body.

if you make these habits a permanent part of your diet, they will take you all the way to optimal health. Here are the 12 strategies to help you achieve your weight-loss goals:

Start the day with breakfast (or not)

According to studies published a few years ago, people who eat breakfast every morning were more likely to lose weight and keep it off. The thinking was that a nutritious breakfast helps jumpstart your metabolism, reduces the risk of overeating, and sets you up for healthy food choices throughout the day. Now a new study said that’s basically bullshit. “This study,” the paper said, “provides minimal evidence that breakfast skipping might lead to weight gain and the onset of overweight and obesity.” So if you’re not a breakfast person, skip it. If not, eat clean.

Focus on food efficiency

To shed weight, it’s important to get more nutrition per calorie consumed. Eating a balanced diet that includes protein, healthy fats, unprocessed carbohydrates, fresh fruits, and non-starchy vegetables will help you feel full, and satisfied, and provide you with all the nutrients you need, even when eating fewer calories. Try to include these types of foods in your meals and snacks.

Reduce Stress to Lose Fat

Stress can cause weight gain just as fast food can. Chronic stress leads to the release of cortisol, which causes your body to hold fat, especially around the waistline. To reduce stress, try engaging in activities such as brisk walks, resistance training, deep breathing exercises, meditation, and stretching.

Keep track of your Progress

To be successful in losing weight, it’s important to keep track of your progress. Self-monitoring through keeping food and exercise logs will help you stay on track. Note periods of high and low energy, and make adjustments to your eating and training accordingly. Assess your progress with scales, a tape measure, or a body-fat monitor. But, take a break from measuring every second or third day to avoid obsessing over minor weight fluctuations.

Plan ahead for snacks

When hunger strikes while you’re away from home, junk food is often the most readily available option. To avoid unhealthy snacking, plan ahead and carry nutritious snacks, such as dried fruit and whole-grain cereal bars. To maximize hunger-busting power, include a little fat, which is the slowest-digesting macronutrient. By following these tips, you’ll be on your way to losing weight in a healthy and sustainable way. Say goodbye to fad diets and hello to a healthier you!

Crawl before you walk

If you’ve been eating poorly, not exercising, and burning your candle at both ends, don’t try to transform your entire lifestyle overnight. It’s a recipe for failure. “People who have lived this way for a number of years – thereby damaging their metabolisms – will change all their habits and feel terrible, because the new habits unmask the damage,” says Schwarzbein. “Then they go running back to their old habits.”  Instead, change your diet first, and do it step-by-step. Find a way to manage stress (walking, yoga, meditation), then wean yourself off any chemical dependencies, including sugar. Finally, build yourself a workout routine. If you start backsliding because your new lifestyle doesn’t feel like you, keep the following proverb in mind: “All new behaviours cause anxiety. That’s normal. This discomfort will pass in three minutes.” Then drink cold water.

Gain Muscle; Lose Fat

Muscle weight, that is. Gaining lean muscle mass – which you probably want to do anyway because it speeds up your metabolism and, oh, by the way, it looks good – is also an excellent way to lose fat. “Muscle requires more energy to maintain itself,” says Kleiner. “Each kilo of muscle you add to your body burns an extra 60 to 100 calories a day.”  Therefore, it’s important that your program incorporate both cardiovascular exercise and resistance training. Schwarzbein advises her clients to do an hour of resistance exercise three times a week, half an hour of cardio on three alternate days, and daily stretching, which will keep your tendons, ligaments and muscles flexible and your body stress-free.  Still, studies show that 90 percent of weight loss comes from diet changes. So don’t expect putting in marathon sessions on the elliptical machine to make up for that stuffed-crust pizza.

Drop the fat bombs

Your body needs – and can burn – every kind of fat except one: trans fats, those mutant pseudo-nutrients created through the refining of healthy oils. They’re found in most fried foods and processed baked goods; the red flag on the ingredient list is “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil”. Stay away from this crap if you’re serious about weight loss and heart health.  While successful weight loss can’t be based solely on denial, fat grenades such as fast-food fries simply must be renounced if you’re going to succeed. “If you want to treat yourself, you’re much better off having one piece of chocolate [which contains healthy anti-oxidants] than making an entire meal out of foods that have no redeeming value whatsoever,” recommends Kleiner.

Learn how to cook a little

Adults who eat out frequently are significantly fatter than those who dine in, according to a university study. This is the result of the tendency to eat larger portions and less balanced meals in restaurants.For busy guys who don’t enjoy cooking – show of hands? – this habit can be hard to change. But by taking it slow and learning simple recipes that are healthy and taste good, you can achieve great results in time. To begin: slice up chicken breasts, capsicum and zucchini; sauté them in olive oil and teriyaki sauce; throw it over some boiled rice. You just cooked.  For more ideas, get yourself to a bookstore, which is teeming with variations on the “Cooking for People Who Aren’t Sure Where Their Kitchen Is” franchise. Other good sources for simple recipes are manufacturer and food-board web sites. Mystified by avocados? Decipher them at avocado.org.au. Confounded by that carton of eggs? Crack on to eggs.org.au for recipes galore.

Find another loser

Losing weight on your own is harder than doing it with a buddy or significant other, or so says a university study. Individuals who enrolled in a clinical weight-loss program with family or friends were 19 percent more likely to complete the program, lost more weight and were three times as likely to maintain their weight loss than those who enrolled alone.

Hoof It to Lose Fat

Formal exercise isn’t the only way to burn extra calories. You can also torch a few more each day by walking to the post office instead of driving, climbing the stairs instead of taking the lift, and otherwise relying on your body instead of a machine to get you from here to there.Y ou’ve probably heard this advice before. And you’re probably still driving to the corner shop. “It’s because everybody’s always late,” says Kleiner. “The key to putting this advice into practice is better planning and setting it as a priority.” It’s important to realise how quickly these minor activities can add up. They may seem insignificant, but people who are consistently on the go can add 20 percent to their energy expenditure. Just staying still for 5 minutes burns 6 calories, but you can burn twice as many by making your bed, four times as many by walking, six times as many by gardening and nine times as many climbing stairs.

Drink to your Health

Be mindful of what’s in your glass! Don’t let juicy temptations, alcohol and soft drink sabotage your hard work. Indulge in delicious solid foods and quench your thirst with the ultimate diet drink- water. If you crave the taste of a cold beer, go for a lighter option or stick to just a couple. Just remember, being a three-can man can add a whopping 12,600 calories to your 6-week weight-loss journey. Stay on track and make every sip count!