Starter Tips for Weight Loss

So the big question on everyone's mind is how do I lose weight???

Well, there is no "magic pill" to drop all your fat and keep it off; that is, without dehydrating your body or making your heart work faster, which could lead to a heart attack. But go ahead with your diet pills if you think that it will work. I am sure that they are just so cheap too, right?

What works then?
Here are some simple tips for you diet-goers.

1. Sleep: Your body needs sleep. There have been many studies that show that lack of sleep causes you to eat more food, and unhealthy foods at that. When you don't get enough sleep, your hormone levels are set out of balance. The two hormones are Ghrelin (hormone to tell you to eat) and Leptin (the hormone that tells you to stop eating). So do your body a favor and get those 7-9 hours of sleep a night, or more if you can.

2. Hit the gym: Women, no you will not get huge and bulky, I promise. But if you start taking steroids and pro-body building then I cannot promise what you will look like. Anyway, hit the gym, and use the weights. It takes a work in and out of the gym (aka eating the right things) to build muscle for a woman. The thing about lifting weights is that you burn calories after you leave the gym. Your metabolism speeds up and you burn more calories just sitting around then you normally would have. This does not happen after you run on the treadmill or cycle your life away on the elliptical.

3. Fad Diet: Most of these fad diets will cause you to lose water weight first, which isn't the weight you want to lose. And these are FAD diets, which boils down to "FAKE and Destructive." FAD diets don't teach you how to eat healthy. Companies just make you buy a ton of their expensive products or pay for their "healthy meals." I'm sure your wallet will be happy after a few months.

4. Food: Oh what a funny word. So many are scared of this little word. Don't be! If your doing steps one to three, your already on the right track. I'm not going to go all in depth about nutrition right now, but eat lots of fruits and vegetables, cut back on the sweets, eat lean protein, and lay back on the carbs (aka breads, muffins, bagels, etc). Also, f you are hitting the gym and the weights, don't feel bad about cheating either.



Arble D, Vitaterna M, Turek F. Rhythmic Leptin Is Required for Weight Gain from Circadian Desynchronized Feeding in the Mouse. Plos ONE [serial online]. September 2011;6(9):1-11. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 23, 2012.


Fad diets: look before you leap. Food Insight [serial online]. March 2000;:1. Available from: CINAHL with Full Text, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 23, 2012.