How to Lose 25 Pounds This Year

     Putting on an extra few pounds is easy - and we can do it without even noticing. The good news is we can lose it again without noticing too. Whether we count our extra pounds in ones, fives, tens or twenties we have probably all come to the same conclusion: restrictive dieting doesn't work.

But there are those people who have successfully lost weight and kept it off long term. They have learnt the secret of changing their eating habits. Is it through superior willpower and determination? It is possible, but not likely.

Research shows that if we reduce our calorie intake by small amounts, our bodies don't even notice. There is no mechanism in our body which tries to make up for this small reduction, and over time we will lose weight. And most importantly, our minds don't object because we don't feel deprived or hungry.

Making small changes in our environment is a better and easier idea than relying on willpower and self discipline. If we can gain weight without thinking about it, it is just a matter of turning the tables to lose excess body fat without thinking about it. Here are some simple yet effective things we can do to drop those hard to shift pounds.

Don't rely on willpower – Use the out of sight out of mind principal. If there are foods you find hard to limit, do not have them in the pantry/fridge/car/desk/handbag. Buy small portions of treat foods rather than 'the more economical' bulk pack and reconsider specials: if you buy three chocolate snacks for $2, is it really a good deal if you eat three instead of one?

Remove temptation - Making a larger amount of dinner and saving some for lunch the next day or freezing some for the next week makes good sense. Eating all these would-be left over's with dinner doesn't. Dish up meals straight on their plates rather than from their serving dishes with a free-for- all at the table, and just have salad or vegetables on the table. Think about your food temptations and ways you can remove them so you are no longer presented with the dilemma of whether to eat the food or not.

Keep it simple – Imagine a buffet offering a variety of meats, seafood's, salads and vegetable dishes. Do you think you would eat more at this buffet than the one offering one meat and vegetable casserole and one salad? Most people will.

We tend to want to try more from a varied selection, and although we may take only small portions of each dish, we end up eating more. It is good for us to have variety in our diet but too much variety at each meal will help us stack on the pounds. At home simply limit choices at meals while cutting the workload at the same time. And when you are eating out it makes good sense to give the 'good value' buffet a miss.

Burn it - If you do not have a proper exercise program that contains strength training exercise firmly embedded in your life – start one. Forget long, slow cardio type activities like walking, jogging or cycling. They do not work for fat loss as you may have been led to believe as low intensity activity does not increase the metabolism (your body's engine)

A combination of strength training and interval training is what is needed to up your calorie burning rate so you never ever even have to consider having to diet again.
Your intervals should consist of 10-15 seconds of all out activity alternated with longer slower activity for recovery. An example would be 10 seconds of sprinting followed by 30 seconds to one minute of walking repeated 8-12 times a couple of times each week.

By using these methods you will not have your body and mind working against you as with dieting. You will have time to embed new eating habits and choices, so your body will slowly burn the fat for energy rather than storing it. Your exercise program will also make you feel great and before long you will look so much better without any suffering as with dieting. Try it and see for yourself.

1. Prev:Kick That Pot Belly to the Curb
2. Next:How to Achieve Real Weight Loss