There are so many diet programs that litter the Internet, some dangerous ones that have gone out of fashion, hopefully for good, and some questionable weight loss plans that are still being advertised heavily, that promise outlandish results in only a few days. The truth is, any weight loss that happens that fast is going to be miserable for the person dieting, because calories consumed daily will have to be so low, it will be temporary, because no one can starve themselves forever, and it will be almost entirely water weight, that will return after a couple days of regular eating patterns.
Properly losing fat requires a modest, long-term diet that you can stick to. Cutting out 500 calories for women, or 750-1000 calories per men, will make you drop about a pound of week, and that will be mostly pure body fat, not water weight. It might seem to make sense to skip meals to eat fewer calories, but after only a few hours without eating, your body will go into starvation mode and will slow down your metabolism to make up for it.
You can try reducing your processed foods intake instead, if you don’t like the idea of counting calories daily. Vegetables and fruits have nutrients that will make you feel just as full as with processed foods, but with fewer calories and more nutritional value. Fish, chicken, and whole grain foods should round out the rest of your diet, and you don’t want to eat white carbs or junk food very often at all. Reduce alcohol intake if you can, too, because alcohol is even worse than junk food because they both have a lot of calories, but you won’t even ever feel full off of alcoholic beverages.
Exercises that speed up your heart rate, like running or stair-stepping will help you lose weight fairly quickly, but a more long-term solution to lose body fat involves adding in some weight lifting, which will develop muscles, and speed up your metabolism. Even though exercise is good for you, and you want to get started on losing body fat right away, exercise is actual very stressful on the system if you haven’t been doing it already, so you need to ease into the process over a few weeks while your body adjusts, then you can go full speed.
