I’m a little uncomfortable talking only about restricting calorie intake to lose weight. I much prefer talking about it in terms of a general fitness routine. When you start talking about the numbers and of holding back on calories, it’s too easy for people to end up near starving themselves. Severely restricting your calorie intake to lose weight like this is completely counterproductive anyways. For 2 very good reasons. Firstly, after only a short while of strict dieting, your body thinks it is literally starving! It actually begins to shut down to conserve energy, as it doesn’t know when it’s going to get food again! You’ll feel lethargic and nauseous, and possibly even worse. Secondly, you’ll be depriving yourself of much needed nutrients. Lacking the right quantities of vitamins and minerals for a period of time will result in poor health. You skin, bones, and teeth will suffer. Your immune system will weaken leaving you susceptible to colds, flu, and other diseases. But, having said all that . . . Carried out sensibly, cutting back on your calorie intake to lose weight can be an effective way to shed those excess pounds. And combined with an exercise routine is even better! You’ll either shed a little quicker, or won’t need to cut back on your calories as much. So you can still enjoy those occasional tasty treats.

Restricting Calories The Sensible Way

Now is a good time to talk about the numbers . . . 1 pound of human adipose tissue – that’s the flab you want to get rid of – contains close to 3500 calories of energy. So if you want to lose 1 pound of fat, you’ll need a deficit of 3500 calories. That is the difference between the calories you consume from your food and the calories you burn off. This total deficit will accumulate over time, which brings us on to the next important point. If you want to restrict your calorie intake to lose weight, you should limit this to a maximum of 500 calories per day. That means, with a daily 500 calorie deficit, you’ll lose 1 pound per week. I’ll repeat this as it’s a crucial point – 500 calories should be the absolute limit of your calorie restriction. If you want to lose a little more weight, you should up your activity level. But even then, you shouldn’t be losing more than 1.5 to 2 pounds per week maximum.

What Foods Should Your Restricted Calories Come From?

The obvious one to start with . . . high fat foods! If you’re diet is high in saturated fats, then most of your calories – if not all – will be restricted from these foods. So cut down or cut out foods like bacon, butter, cream, cheese, whole milk, cakes, chocolate, biscuits, etc. If your diet is quite lean, and only few calories can come from foods high in saturated fat, then skim them from your high carbohydrate foods. That is your pastas, rice, potatoes, and bread. But remember, carbohydrates are an important part of your diet and energy requirement. You’re not cutting them out entirely. You’re not going for a low carb diet. As I mentioned above, the fastest way to rid yourself of those excess pounds is to incorporate some exercise.

I’ve listed a few habits you can use to start boosting your metabolism right now. You’ve heard stories about people who’ve lost dozens of pounds by switching over to diet drinks or exercising lightly every day. These are habits that  contribute to a massive difference and boost your metabolism safely and gradually over a short time. Losing weight quickly and easily is directly related to your metabolic rate.

Eat Little Eat Often

Test have proven time and again that consuming smaller meals every couple of hours will keep your metabolism burning quicker than when you eat infrequent large meals. When you regularly eat small amounts of food your body has to constantly work to digest and absorb the food. This uses more energy and equates to faster weight loss.

Water Is Best Served Cold

Evidence shows that our bodies burn more calories raising the temperature of the fluids we consume than they do when we drink hot beverages. Being well hydrated also aids the metabolic processes and quickens them.

Be Active

Active people burn 50% more calories per day than those that move around and busy themselves. Take every opportunity to move, doing so can make a dramatic change in the number of calories you burn in a 24 hour period. Small frequent movements soon add up. A tip is to write “move? on post-it notes and place them around the home.

Swing your legs

Move your feet

Frequently adjust position

Walk up and down instead of standing still

Walk up the stairs more than you need to

Park as far from your destination as possible and walk the rest of the way

Tighten and release your muscles

There are countless things you can do to stay busy throughout the day.

Protein Is Good

The process of breaking protein down within your body is far harder than carbohydrates. Your body will burn more energy digesting proteins such as egg whites, fish and chicken than it will potatoes. Protein also has the added benefit of making you feel fuller for longer. It’s best to eat a small portion of protein at every meal and even between meals as a snack. Doing so will increase the number of calories you burn each daily.

Spices?

A teaspoon of cinnamon per day can dramatically improve the rate your body metabolises fat. If you don’t like cinnamon there are alternatives cayenne, red peppers or wasabi.

Fat Helps

Believe it or not eating a serving of ‘healthy’ fat per day will actually increase your calorie burning levels. Incorporate flaxseed oil, olive oil, hempseed oil, salmon or seeds and nuts into your daily routine.

No Pain No Gain!

Weight training is a surprising effective means of boosting your metabolism. BY regularly lifting weights you’ll build more muscle tissue, which is good news because muscles are metabolically active. Your body will burn more calories even when resting if you have a higher percentage of muscular body weight. Plus it gets addictive after a few weeks effort!