'Lose 10kg in 1 week! No exercise required!' Doesn't it sound too good to be true?
From diet pills to fad diets, they all seem to offer promising weight loss result. However, is there really a fast track to weight loss? My dear readers, I'm afraid not. Read on for the most effective way to healthy weight loss.
With a proper nutrition and exercise plan, in a week to 10 days, you can healthily lose 0.5kg fat. What you lose beyond that will be water and muscle mass. What happens when you start to lose muscle mass? Appearance-wise, your body becomes flabby and bloated, partly due to water retention from water loss and possible dehydration, your skin will start to lose its elasticity. Then, metabolic rate will start to slow down because muscles burn more calories than fat. Then what happens? You feel tired and cranky, worse still, you start to pile all the lost weight back on! And the nightmare begins...
Hang on, there IS a fix to keep the weight off permenantly - Eat right and exercise, simple!
Eating right does not mean you should only eat the raw carrots and steamed meat, but to pick the nutrients-rich food that properly fuels you up. Slow digested carbs like oats, rye/ multi-grains bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, etc, are a good source of energy. You also need 4-5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Carbohydrates should make up of 60% of your diet. With protein making up another 20%, the rest should be fat. For protein, you can pick lean meat, lentils, legumes, tofu or soya products, eggs and low fat dairy products. Then, nuts, olive and flaxseed oil, oily fish like salmon, etc for fat sources.
After sorting out the nutrition part, now you need an exercise plan. Cardio exercises like running, cygcling, rowing, etc surely burn more calories and improve your fitness, but that alone does not help you reach your weight loss goal faster. By incorporating weight training into your exercise routine, your metabolic rate will shoot up by increasing muscle mass. Not to mention you burn more fat from weight training. Ideally, along with 3 30-45 minutes cardio sessions, squeeze in 2 weight training sessions a week. Be consistent and disciplined, you will look leaner, more toned in no time!
Be Your Best,
Joey
