How to lose weight fast?

It’s harder for some people to lose weight, especially those who are genetically predisposed to being larger. A healthy rate to lose weight is 1-2 pounds a week. It takes time to lose fat without compromising health, so don’t think there is a quick solution.

You’ve already found out that starving yourself doesn’t help you lose weight. In fact, it makes you gain more weight because your body will go into survival mode and store any food you eat as fat so that you can ‘survive’ through this ‘food shortage crisis’. What you get out of it is more fat, and less muscle, because muscle is an easier source of energy to expend than fat, which takes more time to burn off.

You have to be consistent, and patient, when it comes to losing weight. You must also know your body and understand its needs. The best and true way of losing weight is always a Healthy Diet & Exercise.

For a healthy diet, cut out all fast food and junk food. No sodas or fizzy drinks. Replace fatty ingredients for lighter ones (e.g. full fat butter to light 70% fat free butter). Refrain from white bread, white rice and other refined carbohydrates, and instead choose 100% wholegrain foods. Eat good protein like turkey/chicken or especially fish, because fish has good fat called Omega 3 fatty acids. Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. Fruits will be your best friend if you have a sugar craving. Chocolates aren’t too bad either in moderation.

To keep your insulin levels in check (so you don’t get hunger pangs or cravings), eat small meals 6 times a day. A small meal can mean a tuna sandwich, or a bowl of oats, to give you an idea.

At the end of every week, it’s good to reward yourself with a “cheat meal” of anything you want. As long as it’s in a 1-person serving size. If you want pizza, have only one slice because it’s very high in refined carbohydrates and fats. Just have that one small meal once every week. If you have more than that then it might as well be a cheeseburger diet.

And with a healthy diet you need exercise. You need lots of cardio to help your body burn calories, and also weight exercises to tone muscles because muscles help burn fat. The more toned muscles you have, the more fat you burn quicker. Besides hitting the gym, one great overall exercise is swimming. It’s great cardio and it helps tone more muscles in your body at once than any machine can. It’s also easy on your joints if you’re not a keen fan of running or jogging (like me).

If you put your mind and heart to it, you can achieve your goals - one step at a time.