The Best Way to Lose Weight

Dewi Spence
Sep 5, 2016
6 min read

Some common weight loss methods have detrimental consequences to long-term and metabolic health.

Most focus on obtaining quick results without considering the consequences to metabolic and long term health. The worst offenders slash calories without regard to individual nutritional needs - which vary according to weight, activity levels, gender, and age, among other factors.

Healthy fat loss methods, on the other hand, take individual factors into account, improve health and feelings of wellbeing, and optimize metabolism.

The 3 Major Problems with Most Fat Loss Efforts

An exclusive focus on cutting calorie intake without adjusting macronutrients
Ignoring the interaction of diet with exercise activities on metabolism
Not considering individual physiological factors that impact metabolism

The results of a poorly designed weight loss plan are a slowed metabolism, fatigue and lethargy, brain fog and fuzziness, and cravings to mention a few. These plans are extremely hard to sustain with these side effects.

But what is worse, is that the metabolism-wrecking effects of the diet cause you to have to work harder as you lose the weight.

Most people therefore find themselves in the unfortunate position of having to eat less and exercise more over time; it's really no wonder that so many people eventually regain all their lost weight, and often more.

Struggling to lose weight - only to regain it in a dishearteningly short period of time - is frustrating. And if you have suffered through this experience more than your fair share of times your experiences may lead you to doubt your ability to permanently lose weight.

Signs Your Weight Loss Plan is Causing More Harm than Good

It is likely that you are getting a few things wrong in your diet or exercise if you identify with any of the following experiences:

You spend an hour or more exercising every day and feel like you are getting some results, but you are burned out and know you can’t sustain that level of activity.
You are exercising daily yet not seeing results. You believe that exercise doesn’t work for you and that you are doomed by genetics to stay fat.
Your workout routine gets you to a certain point and then you stop seeing results.
You feel good about the fact that you eat healthily but you don’t see very much improvement in your weight or waistline.
You aren’t ever satisfied on the diet you are on; you constantly suffer from cravings or hunger; you only hope (fingers and toes crossed) you can stick with it long enough to get results.
You always feel hungry then end up caving in and binge eating. In a vicious cycle, you regain the lost weight, seemingly overnight.
You successfully diet and lose the weight – then, gradually – start to see your weight creep steadily upwards despite your best efforts; it becomes increasingly hard to keep the weight off.
You get a good momentum going with your workouts and start to see results – then you get injured and it sets you back, almost back to where you started.

You can burn body fat and lose a few pounds per week while not depriving yourself nor exhausting yourself with hours of exercise daily.

In contrast to energy-draining diet plans and exhaustive, inefficient exercise routines healthy weight loss methods rely on practical and sustainable habits.

Healthy weight loss not only optimizes metabolism, but also results in multiple health and personal benefits besides fat loss. These include:

reduction of harmful belly fat
improvements in hormonal balance and health
improvements in important lean mass such as muscle and bone
Improvement of joint and back pain and health
improved feelings of energy, mood, and wellness
lessening of existing chronic illnesses
reduction in overall disease risk

If these sound like benefits and results you want, your weight loss plan should do the following.

The Best Weight Loss Methods Accomplish These 7 Things

Prevent cravings and allow you to feel satisfied when you eat
Don’t require that you spend several hours a day exercising
Don’t leave you always feeling tired, fuzzy, or depressed
Allow you to lose fat and retain or even build lean mass instead of losing it
Improve your metabolism instead of slowing it down
Improve several areas of your health – including reductions in belly fat, levels of inflammation, blood pressure, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, blood sugar and insulin levels
Make it easy to continue the method as a lifestyle and sustain the weight loss

Too many people attempting to lose weight won’t experience lasting weight loss and the health benefits outlined above. There are a number of common mistakes most people make when trying to lose weight, and they unknowingly sabotage their fat loss efforts at every turn by making these critical errors.

Below, is a list of the most common and ineffective fat loss practices.

Once you fix these mistakes you will experience fat loss much more easily. As a bonus you will also experience the high energy levels and good health your body is innately capable of and that comes along with healthy fat loss.

The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make When Trying To Lose Weight

Lowering all fat intake
Lowering calories indiscriminately
Eliminating all carbohydrates
Not knowing how to decode nutritional and ingredient labels on foods
Not knowing how to strategically manipulate calories so you never feel deprived
Not knowing how or when to vary the ratios of protein, fat, and carbohydrate
Not knowing how to time meals to optimize fat loss while improving metabolism
Not knowing how to synergize diet with exercise to obtain faster and better results
Not knowing the specific situations when you should actually eat a little more
Misunderstanding and using fasts incorrectly
Not exercising - or doing only cardio
Exercising too much and/or too long
Staying on the same diet plan 7 days a week

But there is one more mistake that is the biggest. It is a mental "blind spot" and is where much of the problems with fat loss begin.

The big mistake of all mistakes is the assumption that weight loss equals fat loss.

A typical home scale measures total body weight and won't indicate how much of lost weight is from a loss of fat. Most people therefore believe they have lost body fat when the scale shows a decrease in body weight.

But weight loss also causes a loss of stored water, and very often a loss in lean mass, specifically muscle and bone.

Loss of muscle and bone is detrimental as they are particularly important for preserving bodily structure, strength, and health as you age.

Loss of lean mass also means a slower metabolism which makes fat loss difficult - and sustaining it darn near impossible.

Three Concepts Guarantee Fat Loss

The small percentage of people who attempt to lose weight and sustain it achieve three important things. These three things improve their body’s use of stored energy as well as the energy they take in from food, and makes fat loss easier and more sustainable over the long run. The three things they do are as follows.

They...

Balance energy intake with energy expenditure
Optimize their metabolism
Manage their appetite

When you accomplish all three of these things fat loss will occur for you and will be sustained.

Traditional fat loss methods usually focus only on energy intake and expenditure. But optimizing your metabolism and managing your appetite are just as important.

There are some simple ways to increase metabolism and fat burning, as shown below, and many of them also naturally quell appetite.

Some of these strategies may seem counter intuitive. They often go against almost everything you would think you need to do to lose weight. But even though the list below may surprise you, don’t discredit anything on it as each one is important.

Some Effective Ways to Boost Metabolism

Create a sustainable caloric deficit
Increase protein intake to at least 1.5 times your body weight in kilograms
Increase healthy fat intake to a minimum of 30% of your caloric intake
Eliminate unhealthy fats (processed foods, pastries, fast foods, vegetable oils)
Increase your vegetable intake to at least 5 servings daily
Increase fluid intake to at least 8 eight ounce glasses daily
Improve your sleep (duration & quality)
Lower your carbohydrate intake to less than 100 grams on sedentary days
Strength train 3 to 4 days each week
Perform High Intensity Intervals for 20 minutes up to 5 days a week
Get 15 to 20 minutes of sunlight exposure daily
Take the time to do activities you enjoy or that help you to relax weekly
Drink unsweetened green tea or black coffee before workouts (before 2 PM)
Fast for 12 hours between dinner and breakfast
Always eat immediately following a hard workout
Avoid going too hungry between meals and overnight