Losing Weight Intelligently

It's hard to not notice all of the information around you on weight loss. For two easy payments of $19.99 you can buy any one of a hundred contraptions that will promise to firm your abs with only twenty minutes of dedication a week. You can even pay companies to send you food once a month, that includes detailed instructions on when and how to eat it.

This is just crazy. We are intelligent beings with our own minds and more importantly the strength and in-built knowledge to know exactly what is good and what is not good for our bodies.

I want to present an intelligent method of losing weight and getting in shape. I adhere and practice everything in this article and am in the best shape of my life. At no time do I ever believe that you should drastically change your life and eating habits to have a healthy body, and of course, mind.

Our Bodies

Before talking about specifics, we must understand how our bodies work and what they were intended for. This section may upset some women in particular, but please read on, there is hope.

Most of us probably work some kind of office job where we spend at least half of our awake time sitting down. We drive to work, we have comfortable office chairs and big screen TV's. The cause of all of this has been economic and industrial which has happened in the last 150-200 years. Before that, and going back a few thousand years, we were very different creatures.

Laboring jobs, going back to fending for ourselves, we have always been active. It's in our design and our make-up. Men have always been hunters. Our bodies are equipped to transform energy into lean muscle pretty quickly. Women on the other hand are nurturers, and their bodies differ by storing more fat to protect a potential fetus. There are many scientific reasons for this which I am not going to go into, but on average a woman will gain weight faster and easier and burn fat slower. There is also the menstrual problem which causes very erratic water fluctuation.

If you are female and reading this, it is important to understand this and to not be discouraged. This does not mean that you are destined live a life of being overweight. Remember to also not use this as an excuse for being overweight. Read on for solutions.

Eating Plan

The first thing you should do is forget about the word diet. It brings up negative connotations and almost always results in a short-term weight loss solution.

I want you to get into a habit of eating well, and that means eating what is good for you!

The most important aspect of an eating plan is moderation. This means that you should not have to cut out the foods you enjoy. Many people think of a weight-loss diet as a strict regime of eating just greens and cans of tuna for three months.

No wonder they pick up weight as soon as the diet is over. Their bodies have been so confused by what is happening that they have probably gone into starvation mode and will store any food they can. Once they eat a single slice of chocolate cake all hell breaks loose.

Carbohydrates And The Glycemic Index

You probably know by now that carbs are your enemy. This is not entirely true. While it is a fact that carbs are converted into glucose (energy) and any excess in your system will in turn be stored as fat, there is a scale of how bad carbs are for you.

A good read here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index will explain the glycemic index (GI) in technical terms. But the short version is that carbs with a high GI are processed faster in the body, releasing energy in spurts. Just like drinking that energy drink. These include white bread, candy, chocolates and almost any food which has been processed and contains corn syrup.

Low GI foods release energy slowly and consistently. These include grains such as oats, pasta and milk products.

The aim is to eat foods with a lower GI, especially in the morning. And that sounds pretty logical doesn't it? A single bowl of oats in the morning with some milk or water will sustain the average person for the entire work day with no need to snack on chocolate bars throughout the day.

Avoid high GI foods as much as possible and set a cut off time in the day for any carbs. A good idea which I use, is four hours before bed time.

This helps you a lot, because your body can burn the excess energy before you fall asleep. If you had to eat a huge bowl of pasta just before bedtime your body has no means of expending the energy you have just given it and will simply store it. The common storage areas are your stomach, thighs and butt.

Practical Eating

It probably sounds like I am trying to change the way you live right now. However, these simple ideas will help you and not interfere too much with your life.

1) Eat shortly after waking up, as mentioned oats is good. Try and have some protein as well. Proteins are your building blocks and will speed up your metabolism.

2) Increase your number of meals. Three meals is no good, you are going into starvation in between. Five or six smaller meals a day is a lot better for your body and will slowly increase your metabolic rate.

3) Reduce carbs, increase protein. Less energy, more building blocks equals a tighter body.

4) Vitamins, where do you get them from? Fresh vegetables are good, a single multi-vitamin in the morning also helps. Try to include vegetables in every meal.

5) Cut out the junk! Junk food has one major problem, and that is sodium. Sodium is a salt and helps water retention. The women know all about this. Reducing the sodium in your diet alone will make a difference.

6) Drink a lot of water, 8 glasses a day is recommended. But don't drown yourself either, too much water will flush out minerals from your body.

7) If you drink alcohol, cut out the beer. It's full of carbs and you are most likely drinking it late at night (probably until bed time).

Exercise

You did realize this was a two part plan?

If you ever read the small print on commercials which advertise weight loss supplement you will notice that they say "only effective with an exercise and eating plan" or something along those lines.

This is because those supplements hardly do anything for your body. Instead of wasting that money, buy yourself a good pair of sneakers and create an exercise plan.

It is important now, depending on your level, to not push yourself past your limits too soon.

I have seen so many people intent on losing weight hitting the gym seven days a week and then suddenly burning out or getting bored and quitting.

Remember this, you will not see results in one week. Maybe after two weeks, but definitely after a month. This applies to the women a lot more. You need to stick to your plans for them to work.

Resistance Training

There are two types of exercise, and this is the one that is most often forgotten about during weight loss programs. You need to strain your muscles. Whether you are doing a split workout, which most men who go to the gym will understand or do pilates twice a week, it is very important for your body to build lean muscle.

It not only helps with burning energy, but you will look toned and feel stronger and healthier once you lose all that fat.

I would recommend resistance training three days a week, for not more than 45 minutes at a time. There are hundreds of programs you can use, so experiment and find the one that is right for you. Just make sure that if you are in a gym that you speak to someone there who can show you how to correctly use the machines.

Cardio Training

This is what you've been waiting for, burning and sweating all that weight away. But it's also the most boring part of the whole plan.

Personally, I can't stand running on a treadmill at the gym for 20 minutes at a time, so I only do it once a week. The rest of my sessions are varied, from swimming to bicycle to indoor rowing machines.

Your body needs to be challenged, so don't get it used to doing the same thing over and over again. Change the level on the cardio machines randomly even.

I see too many people getting on the bike and pedaling away for half an hour on an easy level while reading their books. This is not reading time.

Focus on your training, you only need twenty minutes three or four days a week to see some good results. But those twenty minutes have to be used well. Increase the level and pedal faster then take a thirty second rest, then do it again.

Keep changing it.

Other Training?

You are training all day. You've heard it a million times, take the stairs instead of the elevator, but have you ever done it?

1) Get into the habit of using your bodies more. When going to the mall, park a bit further away than you usually would.

2) Walk to lunch instead of driving

3) Buy a bicycle and ride it on the weekends, it's fun, and you get fresh air.

4) Sit up straight on your chair, right now, because I know you are slouching. A good posture will help your abs and your core strengthen.

Conclusion

Be intelligent about everything you do. Don't do anything too drastic, including your eating and exercising, take it slow and get into a habit gradually.

After all, this is not a twelve week plan, this is a lifetime plan.