I wrote an article on losing weight before. It was well received and I have added some new tips. Lift weights. A lot of people only think of this when they want to get stronger. But you can burn a lot of calories when you lift and it can speed up your metabolism for hours afterwards.
Run sprints. Another common misconception is that you need long endurance running to burn calories.
But running sprints at top speed for 8 to 10 seconds can burn a lot of calories and speed up the metabolism.
It's also great for people that want to lose weight without hurting there explosive capability (endurance running will hinder your explosiveness. I once heard that most marathon runners have a 12" vertical jump.)
You don't necessarily have to eat less. You might just need to change what you eat. Try eating more fruits, vegetables, lean meats grains and low fat dairy products. I recommend having skim milk you can even have chocolate milk as that is usually low fat.
You should eat healthy and watch your calories five days a week but you can take two days a week to eat more and enjoy less healthy foods.
If you want to eat something that you shouldn't during the "rest of the week" then eat it in the morning. You should eat less as the day gets later. Sometimes it's best to eat a little something now rather than a lot later. What I mean by that is that just quitting your favorite foods cold turkey can cause you to really pack them in later.
So letting yourself have some every now and then can help give you the drive to keep watching what you eat. Use the two days a week where you are allowed to eat more and the early morning eating you help you with this. It can be a lot easier to say "I can't have that right now but I can have some in the morning" or "I can't have that today but in a couple days I will be able to have as much as I want" as opposed to saying "I can never eat that again" or "I can't have any till I lose at least 75 pounds".
If you take that attitude you will probably give up before you get there.
Also I have heard that taking some sugar free gum can help you overcome cravings for sweets. I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners, but I do make an exception with gum. Any gum that you chew (sugar free or not) will have less calories for you then eating something. And not only can gum help overcome cravings but you are also less likely to eat something when you have gum in your mouth.
Not to promote tobacco use but have you ever known someone that chewed tobacco? They don't eat when they have "just put a pinch in" the same thing can work for you! That's why I recommend keeping a good tasting and long lasting gum with you.
When you get a craving for sweets, doesn't work well when you are REALLY hungry but if you are just craving something or a little hungry then have some gum. Or if you are getting ready to go somewhere that you might be tempted like the gas station then pop in a piece.
Personally have chewed Extra sugar free gum, but I don't think that it's all that great. Anyway I would be more worried about what the sugar does to your teeth then gaining weight from gum with sugar in it. I have heard that Orbit sugar free sweetmint gum works well for this purpose.
Drink at least one glass of water BEFORE every meal. I also recommend have a glass of water or skim milk with ever meal to help fill you up.
To strengthen your body you slowly build up the weight and get progressively stronger.
To strengthen your mind you challenge it with progressively harder material.
The same thing can be done with your appetite. You should stop eating before you get full at every meal. If you eat till you are no longer famished but are not yet full you can progressively train yourself to feel satisfied with less.
We have probably heard it a hundred times at least but it's probably worth mentioning at least one more time. Do the little things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator or park father away from the entrance and walk a little extra.
Make it a game what can you do to burn more calories today?
One of the biggest reasons that most people fail trying to lose weights is probably a combination of procrastination and hard to archive goals.
People put off dieting till things get really bad "I am not really that fat" "It's just a little baby fat" "I will lose it easy enough when I want to" Then real quick they realizes that they are way over weight and they want to lose it right now! "I am huge and I am going somewhere warm for the holidays! I need to lose 50 pounds in two weeks so that I can go to the beach!"
Then they diet for a week and a halve actual lose a good 5 pounds but quit because they are not going to reach their goal and they feel the they can't go there whole life without ever eating that "stuff" ever again (which is what they told themselves when they started this diet).
If they would have started sooner (like when they only had 25 pounds to lose and had 4 months to do it) then they could have worked themselves into shape (remember the sprints? Well they are a great weight loss tool but a lot of people that need to lose weight aren't in good enough shape to do anything at top speed! By losing a little weight you can make it easier to lose more weight.)
They could have also took advantage of my "eating loop holes" and had that "stuff" that they were really craving. They could have had it in the morning or on there "off" days. And that might have even been able to eat just as much as they wanted if they changed there diet.
So some of the things that you can do to burn more fat are Lift weights, Sprint, Do little things to burn more calories, Eat less, Eat differently, Eat at different times.
All of this can be done in almost limitless combinations.
Shane is currently working on a couple of different websites. But they aren't done yet. So till then he is adding his articles to a few already established websites including http://sixpackstuff.awardspace.com
