If you are like me, you have probably been through all this before, the family wedding is coming up next month and you can’t seem to fit into that suit or dress because you have put on too much weight. So you must lose at least ten or more pounds quickly.
Losing weight quickly is not advisable as most of the loss will be muscle tissue and water; you put on the weight slowly (usually over years) so normally you should take it off slowly and then you will know that the majority of the loss will be body fat.
But you have a problem here and the clock is ticking so you will have to diet pretty hard to meet your target weight loss. Let’s look at that first, you all know that diets don’t work. They send the body into starvation mode, a survival mechanism from long age when humans faced periods of famine.
Going too low in calories causes the body to lower its metabolic rate, which reduces its ability to burn fat. At the same time, hunger signals increase and you quickly start to crave high-energy foods loaded with fats and sugar, the same foods you are trying to do without.
Research shows repeated dieting actually makes it harder to lose weight and easier to put it on because when you dump the diet and return to normal eating habits, the drop in metabolic rate caused by the diet means that your old habits actually represent an excess in calories. Not only do you regain the fat stores just lost, but also you may even gain an extra bit.
Knowing this, you really don’t want to put yourselves through this rigorous process, but for this special occasion you will. First though, you will have to boost the metabolism that has been lowered by the dieting.
To do this, you will have to perform a strength-training workout to generate that initial spike in your metabolism. By increasing the lean muscle on your body by using strength training, your metabolism will increase, burning fat along the way.
The strength training technique I use requires just twenty to thirty minutes per week. The days of the five-day a week program with six to 12 sets per body part method has never worked and is gone. One short intense strength-training workout a week will elevate your metabolism more than you ever thought possible. While the calories expended doing exercise are important, the increase in metabolism, especially after strength training, continues long after the exercise is finished, burning calories at the same time.
The two main components of this technique are the intensity of the exercise and the recovery after the exercise. Infrequent, short, high-intensity weight training sessions, followed by the required amount of time to recover and become stronger is what is needed to increase functional lean muscle and lose body fat. Small frequent meals should be consumed during the day each containing a little protein to maintain muscle mass and energy levels. A high-quality broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement should also be taken on a daily basis.