Tuesday, May 14, 2013

How To Lose Weight Without Fuss

By Howe Russ


If you use a gym the chances are you may be one of the many people trying to figure out how to lose weight and stay in shape. Today you are in luck. As a personal trainer I am regularly asked this question in the gym and today I'm going to share my five proven rules to a slimmer, fitter body.

How many times have you heard people saying they cannot get rid of their belly no matter how hard they work in the gym or what they eat? What if we told you that the five simple rules to lasting weight loss are nowhere near as complex as you may think and, better still, they are all completely free to do.

If you're frustrated at a lack of results, your day is about to get a whole lot better.

The immediate task at hand is to figure out how many calories you need to eat each day. We cannot get results until we do this and you cannot achieve success without taking the time to do it. A pre-made plan from a magazine isn't going to cut it and we'll show you why.

While many people assume working out your target calorie intake is really confusing the truth is it's not. Take your target body weight (the weight you want to be) in pounds and multiply it by twelve. This tells you roughly how many calories to shoot for every day and the focus needs to be on the word 'roughly' because, as you'll find out next, the worst thing you can do is become a calorie-counting dieter.

Getting the optimal split between your protein, carbs and fats is the most important factor in a solid eating plan. The number of calories you eat per day takes a back seat to this factor. For example, a person eating 2500 calories per day from healthy sources is going to get better results than someone eating 2500 calories from unhealthy sources, right? Naturally! So the number of calories you eat is not the 'be all and end all' of everything.

A proven method for doing this is to get 40% of your calorie target from protein, 40% from carbs (yes, contrary to every celebrity diet you do still need carbs - that's why the crowd who follow those plans in gossip magazines never get any results) and 20% from fats (yes, you actually do need to eat fats). This is how to achieve the split:

Protein - Work out 40% of your daily calorie target. Now divide that figure by 4 (that's how many calories are in one gram of protein) to find out how many grams of protein you should eat each day.

Carbohydrates - Again, establish 40% of your total calorie goal and divide the result by four. This tells you how many grams of carbohydrates to aim for on a daily basis.

With your fat intake just figure out 20% of your total calorie target and divide the answer by nine. Now you know how many grams of fat are necessary each day as well.

If you are able to hit your daily target of the three main macronutrients you will notice that you stop counting you calories altogether. That's because your macronutrients are far more important. This is why, as a fitness instructor, I can't help but frown when I see ladies reading the calorie count on every little piece of food they eat throughout the day.

Now you have the facts for a better diet all laid out in front of you, you should be starting to feel different about your goal. All of a sudden it's not a dream anymore. If you stick to your targets you will achieve it and make it a reality, it's as simple as that!

So there you have it! It wasn't as hard as you were thinking, right? You've just set up your own optimal eating plan with a personal trainer and you did it in no time at all. The vast majority of people using your local gym don't do this and that's why they toil away endlessly without results. From now on you're in an excellent position and you can move forward from here with confidence!




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