4 Great Tips For Starting A Fat Loss Diet

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By heresplanb

A fat loss diet does not have to be difficult to figure out. Sure, sticking to a diet and giving up your addiction to junk food and sweets will be hard during the first few weeks, but if you have a fat loss plan in place, you can stay on track and lose the weight you need to. Here are a few tips for starting a fat loss diet that may help.

Know Your Numbers

Losing fat is a numbers game. You have to burn off more calories than you consume each day. To have a rough idea of how many calories you need, you should find out your basal metabolic rate, or BMR. This requires a complicated formula that factors in your height, weight, age, and gender. For convenience, you can use a BMR calculator online and simply enter your data and get your BMR in return. Once you have that number, it is time to consider your activity level. If you are sedentary, multiply your BMR by 1.2 and the number you get will be the total amount of calories you must eat each day to maintain your present weight. So if you want to lose weight, you must stay below that number every day.

Calorie Control

Once you know the maximum amount of calories you can consume each day, you can work up a diet plan that allows you to eat foods you enjoy. For this you will need a comprehensive calorie counter. It isn't really possible to guess at calorie counts, so look up all the foods you eat at first until you learn how many calories are in the foods you eat regularly. Don't forget to factor in hidden calories like condiments and fats used in cooking. Once you start counting calories, you will quickly see why traditional diet foods like raw vegetables and salads are so popular. You can eat huge quantities of these foods for very few calories, so you can fill up and not have to go hungry like you would if you chose high calorie foods that you could only eat small portions of.

Get Active

Exercise burns calories and that means you will burn fat faster. When you are more active you can eat more calories every day and still lose weight. To be the most effective, exercise must be consistently done every day rather than just hit or miss. The type of exercise is not as important as getting your heart into the target zone. There are many things you could do like swimming, dancing, or aerobics. Pick something you enjoy so you will stick with it.

Battling Temptation

Fat loss sounds simple, and it can be as long as you are able to resist the temptation to cheat on your diet. Try to eat foods that have a low glycemic index value as these keep your blood sugar on an even keel so you don't have so many cravings. Don't starve yourself. If you feel hungry, eat something. Just choose foods that are low in calories but packed with nutrition so you will feel satisfied. It may also help if you eat several smaller meals during the day instead of three larger meals spaced farther apart.

A healthy diet and plenty of exercise will burn off fat and improve your overall health so you can avoid chronic diseases brought on by obesity. There are a lot of good reasons for starting a fat loss diet and if you keep these simple tips in mind, you'll be off to a good start.

Comments

LivingFood profile image

LivingFood Level 2 Commenter 18 months ago

battling temptations is the toughest, especially if you are not eating enough other healthy foods...but with time it does get easier. And I agree, when you are hungry, eat something healthy.

Great Hub!

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