Beat the bulge

Do you need to kick a couple of kilos after an over-indulgent holiday season? By combining the best exercise for weight loss with natural weight loss tips, you'll lose the excess kilos and keep them off. If you've had an especially restful holiday season, be sure to begin your fitness and weight loss programme slowly. After all, if you've been slacking on the exercise front as well as eating badly, your body will need some time to adjust to a new health and fitness routine.

The fitness, weight loss and exercise tips below will help you to beat the bulge and maintain a tight, taut physique.

1. Ditch the diet
To lose weight and keep it off for life, ditch the fad diets and follow a healthy eating plan that you can stick to for good. Think fruit, vegetables, low-fat alternatives and plenty of water.
A healthy lifestyle means combining exercise with sensible eating habits - not starving yourself! Natural weight loss might not be the same as easy weight loss or fast weight loss, but it is the healthiest and most effective way to achieve your long-term fitness, weight loss and wellness goals. Once you focus on improving your health, you'll automatically lose weight and boost your wellbeing.

2. Start exercising
One of the most important elements of any weight loss or fitness programme is exercise. To lose weight, one must burn more kilojoules than one consumes, and exercising offers the most effective means of creating this calorie deficit. Exercising increases your metabolism and hence helps you to burn fat faster.

3. Eat five-a-day for more fibre
Boosting your fibre intake is important for a number of reasons. It keeps the digestive tract healthy, and has been found to reduce the incidence of a variety of illnesses, including cancer of the bowel and colon. It lowers cholesterol levels and expedites the movement of fat through the body, causing less of it to be absorbed.
Fibre is an essential part of every individual's diet. However, those concentrating on fitness, weight loss and fat loss find fibre to be particularly beneficial, as it slows down digestion rates, stays in the stomach for longer than other types of food, and hence keeps you feeling fuller for longer.

4. Don't cut out the fats
For fitness, weight loss and losing body fat, the answer is not to cut out dietary fat altogether, but rather to include the right kinds of fat in your diet - monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats commonly known as 'good fats'. These are found in nuts, seeds, avocados, salmon, olive oil and fish oil. Bear in mind that while these fats form an essential part of a healthy diet, they should only be enjoyed in small quantities due to their high calorie content.

5. Eat often and savour your food
Eating sustaining meals during the day, and snacking on healthy foods, keeps your blood sugar levels constant and prevents the hunger pangs that lead to unhealthy binges! Furthermore, by eating slowly, you'll give your brain a chance to register that your stomach is full, and you'll resist the urge to overeat at mealtimes.

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