Fast Weight Loss

Have you ever gone to the gym for the first two months of any year and noticed its packed with new members? Usually after February or March, the crowd disperses, leaving the gym relatively vacant. Have you ever wondered why this happens? One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight. Many of these individuals embark on their fitness journey with minimal to no experience or knowledge of health, wellness, or fitness. You see many people looking to lose weight by walking on treadmills or riding recumbent bicycles for hours, or circling around the weight machines performing biceps curls and other isolation exercises. Yes, in some cases, it is important to START at these places. However, for many, we should be upping the ante a little bit here. Have you been one of these individuals or do you know one?

Don’t get me wrong, you can and will lose weight with these methods, however it generally takes a longer time to lose the amount of weight that most are looking for, hence the decrease attendance at the gym after two months. So what is the solution you ask?

In today’s world, there are many fad diets out there ranging from Atkins to the South Beach Diet, with many more. They sound appealing to many because of dramatic weight loss within weeks. Although these diets may work in the short term, many are near impossible to continue for months to come because of their severe restriction. Those of you who have experimented with these know first hand that they simply don’t work. In most cases, no one diet works for everyone. You must find what works for you, your body, and your lifestyle.

The word diet simply refers to the foods that you eat on a daily basis. To find your diet, make a list of the foods that you consume daily. Identify the items that are minimally processed and in their raw state, natural/organic, and the ingredients rather than mixes. For example, eating fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, plain rolled or steel cut oats, free range eggs, grass fed meats, and making guacamole instead of buying a premade package would fulfill the descriptions above. If this seems a little overwhelming and cumbersome for you, these food options tend to be on the perimeter of most grocery stores and food sections of superstores.

Let’s say you’re already living a mildly active lifestyle: You’ve altered your diet, hit a plateau, and want to continue increasing your fitness in the gym. Have you noticed the countless reps of biceps and triceps curls and with calf extensions just aren’t cutting it for you? H

ere’s a tip: that using larger muscle groups and more muscles in one movement burn more calories. Begin focusing on the types of exercises you’re performing. Substitute some, or all, of those isolation exercises with full body movements such as a squat and shoulder press, lunge and biceps curl, or a bear crawl. Also, by paying attention to your workout intensity via heart rate, which is easily done via your iPhone, iWatch, Jawbone, FitBit, or even a simple old fashioned heart rate monitor, you can start making your hours in the gym more efficient and productive.

I understand this is a broad overview of weight loss and it just scratches the surfaces of the topic. Well actually, there are only a couple scratches with this one. We can expect to see more indepth discussions on these topics in future posts. We are eager to assist you further along your weight loss journey. If you are itching to learn a little more about the topics described above, with some additional scratches on the matter, please take a look at this other article. One of the most impactful regiments that I personally use and advise to all my clients (whether weight loss or muscle gain) can also be found on at the bottom of the following article: The Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss