Do you find that dropping a few pounds is incredibly hard? Even if you are clearly overweight? Well, you are hardly alone. The plain fact of the matter is that effective weight loss is not easy because our basic biology works against the dieting frame of mind. Weight loss can be frustrating for so many reasons, but perhaps the toughest one is having to accept how difficult it is to lose the weight when putting it on in the first place was so darn easy!
Every day we are faced with the promises of thousands of diets - f ad diets, detox diets, the list goes on and on - that advertise weight loss practically overnight. Many diet pills guarantee a suppressed appetite - supposedly helping to secure the weight loss you are looking for. In reality, the majority of diets and diet pills are quite unhealthy for you.
New research, and even common sense, suggests that losing weight need not be nearly as difficult as most of us make it out to be. The key to easy weight loss is to begin by looking at what you eat on a daily basis. Not how much you eat, but what you are actually eating. Inventory your daily food intake for a week.
If you are overweight, or you have recently gained weight, your weekly inventory is likely to show you that you eat more than you realize, and that the foods you eat are saturated in fats and processed sugars - both of which are the leading causes of obesity. (You do not need to eliminate your entire fatty intake, since your body actually needs a little to function properly.)
For most people, analyzing their food intake is fairly challenging. You may realize that you are overweight, or you simply want to lose a few pounds, but you do not want to admit that it is nobody's fault but your own that you are currently heavier than you ought to be. This is perfectly normal, but the only way to make any headway is to accept that there is a problem and you are the one behind it.
The flip side, of course, is that if you are the cause of the problem, you are also the solution, since you are in charge of all aspects of your body and its nutritional intake. This means that you can control, and change, both what you are eating and the quantity. So, now that you have analyzed your food intake, and are in full control of your eating habits, it is time to start losing weight. Simply put smaller portions on your plate, eat slower, and eat more frequently throughout the day. Try eating 5 or 6 small meals over the course of the day, rather than the usual three courses we are taught to eat.
The combination of these three eating habits will increase your metabolism, which in turn will increase the amount of fat your body burns. The result is completely predictable: weight loss!
Exercise is another key element in your strategy to lose weight. Yes, you can lose weight by simply changing the way you eat. But exercise builds muscle, and keeps your heart and overall health in check. It will also increase your metabolism, so that you burn excess calories faster.
So stay away from fad diets, and instead start eating a diet full of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, poultry, and fish, and you will soon begin to lose weight and become healthier.
To get started on your own proper nutritional diet, and get the full theory of the small-portion eating plan, check out ex-bodybuilding champion Carolyn Hansen's product Fat Loss For Keeps and learn how to eat in such a way that weight loss never becomes something you need worry about again.