How to Lose Weight Fast: Scientifically Proven Weight Loss Methods
Weight loss myths exist everywhere and if you are not careful you may be fooled into thinking that it’s just too difficult to lose weight.
Many of us try one fad diet after the other in an attempt to burn fat but we forget the crucial behaviors that can make or break our bodies.
And while weight loss is not easy and requires hard work, there are certain things you can do to succeed at it.
That’s where these quick tips and shortcuts come into play. By simply putting these weight loss tips into action, you will begin to see the result of your hard work faster.
Keeping up with a conventional diet and exercise plan can be sometimes daunting. Thankfully, there are proven methods for losing weight almost on autopilot.
Read on to find out about some of the ridiculously easy ways you can lose weight now while preventing weight gain in the future.
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How to Lose Weight Fast: Scientifically Proven Weight Loss Methods
Nutrition over calories
Most people see counting calories as the only way to lose weight. While it’s true that caloric deficit (eating fewer calories than you burn off) does lead to weight loss when done correctly, the opposite can also be true.
It’s easy to miscalculate how many calories you’re eating and how many calories your body actually needs.
Miscalculating calorie needs versus consumption can lead to hunger pangs, uncertainty over what to eat and frustration with your diet.
This is the reason why we would not recommend obsessing over counting calories. Instead, focus on nutrition.
When you focus on nutrient-dense food, you automatically reduce caloric intake.
Most healthy foods have a lot fewer calories than hamburger and fries.
You may need to be cautious of certain high-fat healthy foods such as avocados and nuts.
However, this kind of diet almost always keeps your sugar and carb intake low and nutritional intake high.
I show you how to lose weight without counting calories in the 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
In the challenge, you get a 28-day exercise and diet plan to help you lose weight with scientifically proven methods. <<Click Here To Join The 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge Now>>
Sleep quality and quantity
The hormones responsible for moderating your appetite get totally messed up when you don’t sleep well. Yep, you heard that right!
So sleep deprivation leaves your body with higher levels of ghrelin (hunger hormone) and less of leptin (a hormone that regulates appetite and metabolism).
According to research, getting less than 5 to 6 hours of sleep at night is associated with increased incidence of obesity. There are countless reasons for this occurrence.
Studies suggest that inadequate sleep slows down the process in which our body can convert calories into energy (metabolism).
When metabolism is ineffective or less effective, our body may store unused energy as fat.
Another thing that can prompt fat storage is the increased production of insulin and cortisol caused by lack of sleep.
But I get it – getting any amount of sleep is nearly impossible for most of us. Think students, new parents… I’ve been there too.
Often times, we see sleep as laziness or an option we can forgo or compromise. But that’s far from the truth.
Your body needs sleep to recover from the day’s work and stressors, and to balance your hormones.
So be intentional about what you can do to get more sleep even if it means asking for help from family and friends, working a little less.
Be creative about how you squeeze in extra sleep into your night and you will be surprised by the results you will experience.
The power of tracking weight loss progress
If you can do one thing to make sure you stick to your weight loss game plan, it’s to track and measure your progress.
I urge you, do. not. skip. this. part!
It’s scientifically proven that people who keep track of their health and fitness habits consistently lose more weight than those that don’t.
Another study showed a positive correlation between weight loss and the frequency of monitoring exercise and food intake.
This is why we recommend The Keto Diet Planner for those who are on a low carb diet.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting simply means consuming meals within a shorter time period during the day.
Studies show that intermittent fasting not only leads to weight loss but it also reduces your chances of getting diabetes, certain types of cancers, Alzheimer’s dementia, high blood pressure and more.
There are many ways to do intermittent fasting. Some people fast for 12 to 16 hours once or twice a week, while others do a 24-hour (or even a 36-hour) fast once a week.
A simple method is to simply eat your last meal at 8 PM and don’t eat anything until 12 PM the next day. This gives you a 16-hour fasting period.
In the 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge, we use a combination of intermittent fasting and a healthy diet plan to get you results quickly.
Manage your stress levels
Stress is a normal response when the body senses a threat and it’s useful in short bursts when we’re trying to escape harm or fight our way to safety.
However, daily ongoing stress can put our body systems working against us (and hindering weight loss dramatically).
Although stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline initially decrease the appetite as part of the body’s fight or flight response to stress, when it remains in our bloodstream for a very long time, it can cause a myriad of health issues.
Persistently high cortisol levels from chronic stress end up causing an increase in appetite.
The presence of cortisol is a signal to replenish the body’s nutritional stores from the preferred source of fuel, which is carbohydrates.
Insulin then transports the sugar from carbs in the blood to the brain and muscles. If we don’t end up using this sugar (and we usually don’t), the body will store it as fat.
Stress management has been proven to have a positive impact on reducing body mass index in obese or overweight individuals.
Here are simple steps you can take to manage stress better:
- Yoga and meditation
- Taking a walk outdoors
- Deep breathing and relaxation techniques
- Taking time out for pursuing a hobby
- Listening to music
- Practicing positive affirmations
- Spending time with close friends & loved ones
- Other self-care practices such as getting a massage, taking a hot bath
Drink plenty of water
It’s amazing to know that the world’s healthiest and cheapest drink will actually help you lose weight.
Staying hydrated all day long is very important. Most times we think we are hungry when our body actually just needs water.
Drinking enough water does not just keep fat toxins moving out of the body, it also keeps metabolism running at an optimal level.
Now, if you don’t drink water at all and consume other drinks instead, this is going to seem impossible. You can’t simply jump from drinking no water to drinking 75 ounces of water daily.
What you can do however is to slowly break the habit of drinking unhealthy sugar-filled beverages.
Start by having half a glass of water in the morning. The next day, start having one glass.
After that, replace only one can of soda with a glass of water. Keep going with this method until you have replaced every can of sweet beverage with a glass of water.
Here is the good news – if you are especially reliant on drinking soda, just by simply replacing it with water, you will start losing weight on autopilot.
Balancing your gut bacteria
Human gut hosts a large number of different microorganisms, including around 3.7 trillion bacteria.
Different people have different varieties and number of bacteria in their gut.
Some types of bacteria can increase the amount of energy that the person harvests from food, causing fat deposition and weight gain.
Prebiotic fiber (non-digestible parts of food) and probiotic (live beneficial bacteria) are both needed for optimal gut health.
Here is a list of foods that can increase the number of good gut bacteria in the gut:
- A wide variety of plants
Prebiotic fiber is present in many fruits and vegetables, especially onions, banana, chicory root, asparagus, and beans.
An increase in the intake of vegetables, fruit, and grains will result in an increased fiber uptake and more diverse set of gut bacteria.
Make sure that 75% of your meals comprise of vegetables and other plant-based foods.
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Fermented foods
Fermented foods like yogurt, kimchi, miso soup and sauerkraut help to increase the number of probiotics in your gut.
They enhance the function of good bacteria while inhibiting the growth of bad bacteria.
Eat mindfully
Being mindful of what you eat and drink is a practice that will enable you to maintain a healthy weight.
People tend to eat on the go, like eating while working or driving. As a result, most people are barely aware of what they eat.
Eating slowly is a good technique to consider, taking time to chew and savor food.
It takes at least 20 minutes from the time food hits our gut, for our brain to send signals that we’re full. Taking your time eating helps you prevent over-eating.
Additionally, being mindful of the types of snacks you eat can help you choose the right foods that will keep you full for longer.
Use smaller plates
As funny as it sounds, smaller plates can trick the brain into thinking that you are eating more than you actually are.
It’s a natural human tendency to think we need to put more food on our plate especially when we are “so hungry.”
Usually, we overeat by simply overestimating how much we actually need to eat to feel full.
So, using smaller plates may help you eat less by making portions look larger.
On the other hand, a bigger plate can make a serving look smaller, causing you to add more food.
You can use this to your advantage by serving healthy food (hello green leafy veggies!) on a bigger plate and less healthy foods (like that slice of chocolate cake) on a smaller plate.
Eating protein for breakfast
Protein regulates appetite hormones that make us feel full. This happens when there is a decrease in the hunger hormone ghrelin and a rise in the satiety hormones peptide YY, GLP-1, and cholecystokinin.
Studies also demonstrate that the hormonal effect of eating a high-protein breakfast can last for several hours.
Good protein choices for your breakfast includes eggs, oats, nuts, seeds, and sardines.
HITT and resistance training
It goes without saying that exercise is helpful for anyone on a weight loss regimen.
But the most important thing about exercise is deciding on the type of workout you will do.
Not all exercises are created equal. For example, most people still believe that cardio is the best way to burn fat when it’s really not.
In fact, cardio training can have a negative impact on your wellbeing when it’s prolonged, and it will usually result in muscle waste.
HITT Training
To get the most out of your training, you should be doing resistance training and high-intensity interval training (HITT).
With HITT, you exercise vigorously for short periods (usually 30-45 seconds) then rest for an even shorter interval (usually 10-20 seconds). You repeat this pattern of interval training for 20-45 minutes.
This method of training your body is really the most effective way to boost your metabolism and lose weight faster.
HITT is a real shortcut to weight loss because you get more done in less time. For example, most people who run or walk on a treadmill (or outdoors) tend to do an hour or more of exercise at a time.
Alternatively, just doing 20 minutes of HITT can be much more effective for weight loss than an hour of cardio workout like running.
Although HITT is not necessarily easy, it works and it takes less time to do. What more could you want?
You should also include resistance (weight) training when doing your HITT training session.
You may use dumbells to do lower body workouts such as lunges and squats. Exercises like these activate large muscle groups and cause your body to burn more calories.
If you don’t have access to weight training equipment, you can use bodyweight training. In other words, do your lunges, squats, and pushups without resistance bands and weights.
Quick tip – Prevent yourself from boredom during exercise by listening to your favorite music, audible or podcast.
Reduce sugar and starch intake
Research studies claim that cutting down on sugar and carbohydrates from starch helps your hunger levels go down and you end up consuming fewer calories.
Now instead of burning carbs for energy, your body starts feeding off of stored fat.
This is the main reason the popular ketogenic diet (low carb high fat) works so well. On a keto diet, you are asked to lower your carb intake to less than 20g per day. This carb restriction literally turns your body into a fat burning machine.
But you don’t have to be on a keto diet to gain the benefits of low carb diets.
One of the benefits of going low carb is that can reduce your insulin levels, bloating and water weight, all of which help you feel lighter and better about your body.
Increase your fiber intake
Fiber is a carbohydrate seen in plant foods such as grains and vegetables.
Fiber is not easily digested by the body, therefore, it passes quickly through your gastrointestinal system. It does this without causing your blood sugar to rise.
When it comes to losing weight, a simple piece of advice is to increase your fiber intake.
A recent study shows that people who added more soluble fiber to their diet lost more weight than the control group.
This study added to the growing evidence that people who consume more fiber tend to have a healthier body weight.
So, the more you eat these types of food in delicious ways, the more you will lose weight – quickly!
This principle is one of the main underpinnings behind the 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
The challenge was designed with these proven principles of weight loss in mind. It’s pretty darn exciting!
Be patient
While being patient is not easy, it may help to know that keeping weight off generally gets easier over time.
In one obesity study, researchers found that people who had lost at least 30 pounds kept it off for another two years with little effort.
So in order to find a sweet pathway to your best body, you have got to be prepared to give it time and enjoy the process. You got this!
Final thoughts
When trying to lose weight, there are many extremely beneficial pathways you can take, most of which are super easy to do.
What you will want to avoid is following random fad diets without making sure that they’re backed by science.
Follow a foolproof weight loss program or create a DIY diet and exercise plan that suits your lifestyle – based on scientific evidence.
If you do that and you stick to the plan, I promise you won’t fail.
Be creative and make it work for you. Most importantly, use proven methods such as tracking and measuring your weight loss progress to keep you motivated!
Don’t fall into the trap of guessing how well you’re doing!
It may not seem like much now but the little milestones will add up to a huge transformation in the next 12 months and even three months.
So, go ahead and measure, track and celebrate your small wins – you will be glad you did!
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