Millions of people are trying to lose weight every day. Most people are adopting new habits and taking it slow in order to create a positive change that will last a lifetime.

If you have already been doing this and have reached a plateau in your diet regimen, or you are just trying to lose a few pounds fast to fit into the perfect outfit for your next reunion, then you may need a few tips on how to tweak your diet to lose weight fast. By all means, losing weight should not be a fast process. These tips are recommended for short term use, then you should follow a normal healthy diet to continue losing excess weight.

Fad diets do not work. The results may be positive at first, but they never last. Most times the technique used in fad diets are not healthy for you either. You need healthy options that you can start using today. It has been recommended by many physicians that you keep your rapid weight loss as healthy as possible and try to lose a maximum of three pounds per day. This can be safely accomplished by eating healthy and increasing the amount of exercise you do normally.

The Best Diet to Lose Weight Fast

The simple dietary equation for losing weight fast is to exercise more and eat less. It sounds simple but it takes a very determined and goal oriented person to stick it. The idea is to increase activity and decrease calories to increase your metabolism.

You can lose up to one or two pounds every day during the period of one week by exercising to burn five hundred more calories than you consumed. You should not cut your calories any further than 1,050 calories per day. Your body needs proper fuel in order to function.

You can also cut back on starches and salt, but be aware that this helps you lose fluid not fat. Fat is what you want to target and remove from your frame. Fluid retention can put up to five pounds on your body. It is a good idea to flush this from your system so you can get started on losing fat, however.

Healthy Reductions

A key element in losing weight fast is the reduction of starches, sugars and animal fat particularly from dairy foods and meat. Instead you should focus on increasing your intake of healthy foods. Not only will you boost your vitamin and mineral intake and increase the amount of antioxidants in your system, you will also be fueling your body with healthy foods that will keep you energized throughout the day.

Foods You Should Increase in Your Diet

While trying to lose weight fast you should increase healthy foods in your diet. You can actually eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains to feel energized and full verses sluggish and unmotivated when you eat foods that are high in fats and sugars. Foods that are perfect to increase in your diet plan to lose weight fast are listed below.

• Fruits

• Vegetables

• Egg Whites

• Soy Products

• Skinless Chicken Breasts

• Fish

• Shellfish

• Nonfat Dairy Foods

• Meat that Is 95% Lean

Eliminating Temptation and Other Dietary Tips

While reducing calorie intake is a great first start, there are other things you can do that will also help you lose weight fast. Vegetables are your friend, and eating more of them helps you feel full faster. Another way to stave off hunger pangs besides eating vegetables is to drink plenty of water. Water not only fills you, it also aids your tissues and organs in feeling motivated to move. Drinking plenty of water is essential when you are exercising, as well.

Remove any and all fattening foods from your home that will tempt you to stop following a healthy diet. Curb eating out of sheer boredom by staying busy with activities that will engage your mind and body. Exercise is the perfect way to take care of boredom and help you become fit and lean. When you are cooking, do not eat while you are preparing meals or standing at the fridge.

Make it a strict rule that you only eat when you are seated at the table and have your plate in front of you. Grazing has negative effects and you do not even realize how many calories you are eating without thinking first. You should never skip a meal either. Your body needs fuel in order to lose weight. It is your job to make sure it is healthy foods that fuel your body and help you lose excess fat stored on your body.

You should also consider keeping a journal of all of your meals during the day. When you write down every bit of food that you eat, it helps you keep your eating habits in check. It also gives you a good reference to help you see which foods helped contribute more to weight loss verses the foods that inhibit your weight loss. Staying on track is very important, it helps you hold yourself accountable and can be a very effective weight loss tool.

Eating can be an emotional process. Studies are proving this more every day. When you are keeping track of your meals in a journal, it is a good idea to track how you felt too. This can help you trigger emotions that are causing you to eat out of habit to calm yourself. Were you bored, sad, angry or frustrated? Without even knowing it you may be eating to comfort yourself and abusing food and your body in the process.

A huge part of eating can relate to our emotions. It is good to be able to target this and use it in a positive manner to deal with problems and find better ways to care for them instead of with food. You may even want to seek counseling to deal with some of these issues so you can break free from emotional traps that keep your from losing weight.

Adopting Exercise Habits that Can Increase Weight Loss Fast

Besides eating healthy, moving your body more is what is going to help you lose weight fast. This can take approximately an hour per day performing moderate exercise. Two types of exercise that will benefit you most are strength training and cardio. Out of the two, cardio is known to burn more calories. In order for cardio to work effectively you will need to execute strength training exercise, as well. Sweat tends to be key factor concerning both types of exercise.

Sweating helps you lose more fat and you should break your first sweat after your warm up. The goal is to keep sweating during your entire workout. Before you begin an exercise routine that is strenuous like this, you should check with your physician to make sure you do not have any ailments that will inhibit you from adopting such a rigorous routine. You do not want to injure yourself since this will keep you from losing more weight in the very near future.

Make sure you pace yourself and have plenty of water on hand too. A great tip to boost your cardio workout is to increase with brief moments of a high-intensity workout followed immediately by a mellow and slow pace. This pattern, called interval training, should be repeated and will make up the entirety of your workout.

The benefit of interval training is that it keeps you from doing a high intensity workout without having a moment to pace yourself. Your body will adapt to this type of routine and it will become easier to do over time. The benefit is that you will burn a lot of calories and lose more fat in the process.

What to Avoid

You should try to avoid fad diets. The old rule that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is too good to be true, works in spades when it comes to fad diets. Fad diets typically only work in the commercials that try to sell them. You should refrain from taking any types of pills that promise excessive weight loss fast, as well. Permanent weight loss, whether it is done rapidly or in a slow manner, happens when you eat a healthy diet and exercise.

Although calorie reduction is mentioned, if your caloric intake is too low you lose muscle instead of fat. When you lose muscle you slow down your metabolism even more. The loss of muscle will keep you from being able to increase your work out and endure the process. It is important not to deprive yourself either. If you do crave a food that is fattening, eat a small portion or just a bite to satisfy that craving. No one can continue to deprive themselves and successfully lose weight.