How To Lose Weight And Keep Fat Off Without Strict Diet

How many times have you heard a friend say, "I am on a diet"? Then what happens is your friend would lose some weight for a while before putting them all back on again.

I'll bet you have also seen someone say that "Cardio is the best for losing weight". This person would then pound the treadmill but results are slow. Soon, he gives up and gains back all the weight he had lost, and sometimes even gaining some extra kilos!

Ah, so you thought you've finally found the answer to permanent weight loss. You went on a strict diet and ran your heart out. You dropped kilos. But somehow, something is wrong when you look into the mirror in your birthday suit. Yes you have lost some weight, but somehow your body shape isn't as flattering as you would like it to be. And then, you hit a plateau.

No matter how strict your diet and cardio workouts are, your weight refuses to drop any further. Then horrors of horrors, you actually start to gain some weight! You get disillusioned with your unrewarding program and soon you succumb to your old ways and the weight comes right back up once again. The program fails and you blame it on your bad genes. Why???

Here's why. By merely losing weight, you will also lose some muscle mass in the process. By losing muscles, you will lose body tone and your metabolism rate for burning calories will slow down.

You have got to build muscles while losing fats. You may even gain some weight because muscles are heavier than fats.

To lose fats and keep them off, you have to combine healthy eating habits with cardio exercises and weight lifting to build muscles.

For every kg of muscles you pack, you will burn an extra 70-100 calories per day even without doing anything. Can you imagine the benefits of building up 5kg of extra muscles? You will be burning 350 to 500 extra calories a day even if you laze around.

You'll be burning a Big Mac everyday! Look at this. 1 kg = about 7,700 calories, if you burn 500 calories a day because of the extra muscles you have, you will be burning off about 1 kg every 2 weeks because of your higher metabolism rate!

You'll also look good, healthy and well-toned too! Is it any wonder why bodybuilders eat so much but do not put on fat as easily?

Everyone knows that intensive cardio and strict diets cause you to lose muscle mass along with fats. So while you will lose some weight at the beginning, you will look like a smaller version of you without any muscle tone. That's not what we want is it?

So, as you lose more and more muscles, your metabolism begins to slow down. On top of that, your body will start conserving fats and 'eat' your muscles for energy because it is reacting to your strict diet. What happens then is that you will hit a plateau and no matter what you do, you will not reduce anymore weight and your fats will start creeping up again. This, in a nutshell, is the 'yo-yo' dieting effect that we hear so much about.

Losing fats is simple. And notice that I said 'simple' but did not say that it is 'easy'. The pointers I will share here will be simple to understand, but the execution will need determination and discipline.

It is a lifestyle change to keep the fats off and you will be glad you did because you will get used to the changes in only a few weeks. By then, it will become a habit for you, especially when you see a fitter, healthier, hunkier you, together with a glowing complexion to boot!

Here is how you do it. Simply, losing fats just means you must burn more calories than you consume. Period.

Lift weights with compound exercises - Forget biceps curls and tricep push downs. Go for big muscle groups like legs, back and chest routines. Why? Because if you work the areas with more mass you burn more calories.

If you are fit, do giant sets (4 or more exercises or sets with no rest between sets or exercises).

Here's an example. Do only one set of each exercise with no rest between the exercises. Choose a weight of about 60%-70% of what you normally lift and go for at least 25 reps. Do more if you can or until your muscles are fatigued, then stop. Leave the gym. The whole routine should not take you more than 40 minutes.

After warming up, start with squats, then dip, bench press, barbell row and military press. Sounds simple? Not so. You will be huffing, puffing and sweating .

Doing this you will have combined a cardio workout with a lifting workout and your metabolism will burn for the next several hours. Do this 3 times a week with at least a day's rest between lifting days.

After 4-8 weeks, change the sequence of the exercises. So if you usually squat first, then squat last. Then after another 4-8 weeks, change some of the exercises, like substituting squats with deadlift, or barbell rows with lat pull down. This is to shock your muscles so that they continue to adapt and grow.

For cardio, go for a run first thing in the morning before breakfast. If you are jogging at normal speed, sustain the jog for at least 45 minutes. Anything more than that may cause muscle break down. You may intersperse the speed with slower jogs to catch your breath. Do these 5-6 times a week.

Eating habits? Eat less of what you normally eat. For example if you have 2 slices of bread with 2 eggs in the morning, now take just one slice and an egg. Just eat half of what you eat but eat more regularly. Have 5 to 6 meals a day if you can. This is to feed your body frequently so that it will not go into starvation mode and start to conserve fats. At the same time, it will boost metabolism because your body burns calories while digesting the food. Remove all soft drinks, sugary drinks and stop adding sugar into your coffee and tea. By abstaining from sugary drinks, you may already have gotten rid yourself of 200 calories per day. Drink plenty of water instead and double the amount if you can.

Oh, by the way, all work and no play makes Jack a dull (and very tired) boy. Do choose a day to relax a week. No exercise on that day. Indulge in your favorite food if you must. Hey, pat yourself on the back and reward yourself for passing another grueling week. After all, your body needs to recover too.

As you reach your fat loss goals and you are happy with your muscular development, you can then take things a little easier. Hit the gym less, have shorter runs and even relax a little in your diet. Because of your greater musculature, your body is now a fat-burning machine. You have earned that luxury.

Simple? Sure. But do you have the determination enough to lose those fats and keep them off? Who said you must go on a strict diet to lose weight and keep the fat off forever? It's your call folks!

Want to lose 10-30 pounds in the next 16 weeks or less WITHOUT dieting and working out a few hours per week?

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