I started South Beach when I realized that I just could not manage to lose weight with exercise alone. I had been exercising for about a month, every day, and I got on the scale to see what had happened. Well, in all that time, I gained 5 lb of fat! And yes, I am using a body fat scale, so it wasn’t muscle. I just realized that the way I was eating was too bad for any amount of exercise that I could fit into my diet to compete with. So then I tried the South Beach diet, and it worked for a while, but then I stopped losing weight.

Shangri la is really strange. Basically you drink oil or sugar water. You have to have a full hour with no flavor (no food, no toothpaste, no gum) on either side of drinking the sugar water or oil, and the oil has to be flavorless, like canola, extra light olive oil, or safflower oil. If you’re drinking sugar water it should be either sucrose or fructose.

The idea behind the diet is that flavorless calories lower your set point, the number that your body thinks you should weigh. Obviously its more than just that, but the whole scientific theory is spelled out in the Shangri la diet book, so I’m not going to go into all the gory scientific details here. You’re supposed to have between 200 and 400 flavorless calories a day, so of course, I am having more

So far it’s working, and well. I started on Sunday, weighing 152.2 lb after I had gained 2.2 lb having some whole wheat bread on Friday night and Saturday. That was sort of the last straw in terms of sticking to South Beach foods. I mean, if the only way I can maintain my weight is by sticking to South Beach phase one for the rest of my life, well, it aint gonna happen.

Today, Wednesday morning, I’m down to 149. Finally, a new “tens”. It’s so nice to be somewhere in the forties instead of the fifties, know what I mean?

That weight loss is also nice because on both Sunday and Monday I treated myself to an 85 gram chocolate bar. Yesterday I wisened up and decided to try and accelerate my weight loss by following the extra credit ideas that are listed in the book. I really want to lose weight fast (who doesn’t?) and since the extra credit ideas aren’t horrid, I’m giving them a shot.

So if you’d like to know how to lose weight fast just by exercising, you’ve come to the right place.  Let’s take a look at the basics of what you need to do to drop pounds with exercise alone.

First of all, you need to understand that weight loss is simply a matter of your body burning more calories than you consume.  In order to know how much you’ll have to exercise in order to lose weight fast, you’ll want to figure out what your BMR is, or how many calories your body burns at rest.  In a previous post I gave you the BMR formula, so go take a look at that now so you know what your starting point is.

Are you back?  OK, good.  Let’s keep going.

Now if you read a little bit past the BMR formula, you saw that you need to burn 500 calories a day for every pound that you want to lose that week.  First of all, you’re going to want to do cardio to burn calories fast.  Some examples of activities you can do to burn 500 calories a day are an hour of aerobics, playing basketball for an hour, or running for half an hour (based on a 160 pound person).

In addition to cardio, it’s very important to do strength training exercises.  While these burn less calories while you’re actually doing them, they increase your BMR, which means that you’ll burn more calories even while you’re sleeping.  Strength training also increases your metabolism for 24 hours afterwards, which is a benefit that you won’t get from cardio.

One thing you should keep in mind when trying to lose weight through exercise alone is that muscle weighs more than fat.  This means that as you build muscle through the exercise you’re doing (and no ladies, that doesn’t mean you’re going to look like a bodybuilder), you won’t see as great a drop on the scale.  You’ll be losing fat, but gaining muscle.  So you’ll see more of a difference in inch loss and how your clothes fit than what the scale shows you.

If you think that quick weight loss through exercise is the right solution for you, the biggest favor you could do for yourself is to follow an exercise program that’s been designed for fat loss.  These programs show you exactly how to lose weight fast by outlining a well designed workout routine that will help you burn fat fast for inch loss and weight loss.

People who follow a weight loss exercise program that’s designed by an exercise expert almost always have faster results than people who make up their workout on their own, so if you want to see the pounds and inches drop away quickly, this is the best route for you to take.

Try to incorporate as many of these tricks and tips into your daily life so that you can achieve the quick weight loss you’re looking for– even faster.

1. Move More

If you’re sitting still, start fidgeting.  You’re mother may have told you not to squirm, but staying in (almost) constant motion throughout the day will not only burn more calories, but keep your metabolism revved up the whole day long.

2. Fill Up On Fiber

Fiber not only makes you feel fuller, it also prevents your body from digesting all of the calories.  In effect, it actually “cancels out” some of the calories you eat, so you can lose more weight faster even if you’re eating the same number of calories as before.

3. Drink Up

Dehydration slows your metabolism.  Not only that, but many people think that they’re hungry when they’re really just thirsty.  Make sure to drink 8 to 12 cups of water a day– and an additional cup for every cup of caffeine that you drink.

4. Opt For Intervals

Interval training is a great way to get more fat burning out of your workouts.  With interval training, you alternate intense bursts of exercise with less strenuous ones, and you burn more fat and calories in the same amount of time.  Try an exercise program like Turbulence Training and you’ll be amazed at how much faster you’ll see the inches and pounds disappear.

5. Bathroom Workouts

Make the most of every moment and keep your metabolism elevated the whole day long by doing a mini workout every time you go to the restroom.  Some easy exercises you can slip in are squats, wall pushups, jumping jacks, and jogging in place.

6. Keep Your Blood Sugar In Check

Make sure to eat small amounts throughout the day to keep your blood sugar on an even level.  Going for long periods of time without eating will send your blood sugar plummeting down, making you feel hungrier than you really are.  By eating little bits of non-sugary foods throughout the day, you’ll eat less overall.

7. Read Labels

Do you really know what you’re eating?  Make sure you read the labels.  Lot’s of “healthy” foods, particularly low fat and fat free ones are not as dietetic as you would think.  For example, reduced fat peanut butter has the same number of calories as regular peanut butter– there’s just a lot of sugar added to make up for the fat that’s been removed.

8. Get Organized

Don’t just “go on a diet.” Whenever you’re trying to lose weight, but particularly if you’re aiming for quick weight loss, it’s very important to follow a well designed program.  You’ll be able to stick to it better, and you’ll get better results than if you just “wing it.”

9. Start Early

Did you know that people who exercise first thing in the morning have a much higher success rate than people who exercise at any other time of day?  Morning workouts start your day on the right foot and give you more energy, plus, you know you already did your exercise.

10. Say Goodnight

Are you a nighttime nibbler?  All those nibbles can really slow down your weight loss.  Pick a time after supper when you say goodnight to food.  If you choose eight o’clock, then when the clock strikes eight, go brush your teeth and you don’t have to worry about sabotaging your day’s hard work with a midnight snack.

These tips are some of the top secrets of how to lose weight fast and keep it off for good.  Start incorporating them into your daily routine and you’ll watch the numbers on the scale drop faster than you ever expected to.

Yeah, yeah, I know you’ve heard that plenty of times before.  But the fact of the matter is that its true.  HOWEVER… there is one major mistake that people make when they try to take the “diet and exercise” route, and this is the most common reason that they fail to lose the amount of weight that they were hoping for, and that they usually end up getting discouraged and quitting when they don’t see results fast enough.

The most common mistake I see people making is that they don’t have enough information to begin with.  They’re not following a proven plan, a system that works.  Let me give you an example.

I’m sure you’ve heard that walking is the “best exercise.”  Well, it’s definitely the exercise most readily available.  But the best exercise for quick weight loss?  I can hardly say so.

Another example.  Most people think that in order to lose weight you need to count calories.  Now, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again– if you want to lose weight you have to eat less calories than your body burns.  But calorie counting?  That just doesn’t work for most people, especially if you have more than a few pounds you want to lose.

There is so much information floating around about how to lose weight fast, and unfortunately a lot of it is either not true, not effective, or not doable for most people.

That’s why the best option if you want to know how to lose weight fast is to choose a complete weight loss program that you think will work for you, and stick to it.  There are plenty of programs available online that have worked for countless people.  Go to the sites and look around and read the testimonials.

And then once you start, follow the plan.  Don’t listen to anyone else.  Just stick to your program and you’ll see success.  The secret of how to lose weight fast and keep it off is to find a proven program that works and make a serious commitment to following it.  This is going to give you the results you’re looking for—- a fit, trim body that you are proud to show off.  And then you can watch as the compliments start to pour in.

There are lots of different kinds of diet pills, and they can all help you lose weight quickly by affecting your body in different ways.  Some diet pills contain ingredients that suppress your appetite so that you’re not as hungry and you eat less.  Others rev up your metabolism so you burn more calories.  And others do both.

Most diet pills are based on natural herbal extracts.  You’ve probably seen a lot of these in the news, like hoodia and acai berries.  These are very powerful herbs that can help you lose a lot of weight very quickly, but you need to make sure that you’re getting these pills from a good source.  Many companies that make supplements from herbs get cheap herbs that are low quality and not particularly healthy.  In some cases, these herbs have sat out for days and are moldy by the time they arrive at the factories.

So while herbal diet pills can help you lose weight very fast, you need to make sure that you’re getting them from a good company and that they’re a quality product.  Fortunately, there are plenty of online retailers that are reputable and responsible that you can choose from.

One thing to note when you’re looking into how to lose weight fast by taking diet pills is that most of these pills are meant to be a supplement to a diet and exercise weight loss program.  There is no pill in the world that will magically suction off 15 pounds overnight.  But at the same time, diet pills can help you stick to a weight loss program, and they can also help speed up your metabolism to make that weight loss happen much faster.

One last thing to keep in mind if you do try to lose weight fast by taking diet pills is that you don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot.  Unfortunately lots of people make the mistake of thinking that if they’re taking diet pills, they can eat more or cheat on their diet because the pill is working.  This is only going to slow down your weight loss, and some people take this so far that they can even gain weight while using diet pills because they’re eating so much.  So the key to knowing how to lose weight fast with diet pills is to take them as a supplement to your regular weight loss program.

The truth is that you definitely can lose a ton of weight quickly without breaking a sweat, and you don’t have to put your health at risk either.  You will need to diet, but if you follow certain guidelines and have a good understanding of how weight loss works, you can watch the numbers on the scale go down very quickly indeed.

First of all, you need to know that weight loss is simply a matter of your body burning more calories than you consume.  So if you want to know how to lose weight fast without exercising, you need to eat less calories than your body burns each day.  To do this, it’s helpful to know exactly what your basal metabolic rate (or BMR) is.  Your BMR is the number of calories you would burn even if you spent the entire day in bed sleeping.

Here is the formula to figure out what your BMR is:

BMR Formula (Pounds)
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) – ( 6.8 x age in year )

BMR Formula (Kilos)
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) – ( 6.8 x age in years )

One pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories.  Divide that by 7, and that’s 500 calories a day.  Now you probably want to lose more than one pound a week, so you can figure out just how many calories you should be consuming each day.  Basically, following a very low calorie diet will result in very quick weight loss without exercising.

In order to make sure that your health doesn’t suffer though, there’s a couple of things you might want to do.  One, you need to make sure to take a daily multivitamin.  Two, you should pick your calories wisely.  Most fruits and vegetables are very low in calories, but bulky, filling, and high in nutrients.  If you make sure to eat a wide selection of fruits and vegetables each day– and you make that the basis of your diet– you should be able to lose a good deal of weight without being hungry or short on nutrients.

Of course, you definitely have to have protein and carbs.  But if you take care in your selections, you can get those in in the most calorie efficient way possible.  Legumes, like beans and lentils are great sources of both carbs and protein, and they are low in calories.  If you make yourself a big bowl of lentil soup with lots of veggies, a big side salad, and fruit for desert, you’re not going to be hungry.  You’ll also have had a balanced meal with protein, carbs, and lost of vitamins and nutrients– and very few calories.

If counting calories isn’t your thing, don’t worry.  I’ll tell you how to lose weight fast by trying some other diet plans.  One is by using food substitutes, like shakes and bars for a couple meals a day, and having a low calorie meal– like the lentil soup dinner we just described– for your third.

Another option is to follow a diet plan where your foods are chosen for you.  One popular plan is Fat Loss For Idiots.  This is a program where you can lose 9 pounds every 11 days by putting your food preferences into a diet generator and following the food rotation diet that it gives you.  This program works well for many people because you don’t have to count calories all day long and you don’t get bored by eating the same thing day in and day out.