Super Simple Fat Loss Advice

Super Simple Fat Loss Advice

Are you tired of looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing the same or more fat developing around your midsection? Your arms start to jiggle more and your butt wiggles when you walk. There are days you walk away from the mirror, teary-eyed and frustrated. How in the world did you get here, and what can you do to change it?

I get asked these questions everywhere I go. It's a real struggle for almost everyone and finding the words to assure them that they have the power and ability to change it, can be difficult. When people get so down on their current appearance, it's hard to convince them that it doesn't have to be this way. They're convinced they've tried everything or they're incapable of sticking with any dieting or exercising. This couldn't be any further from the truth.

I feel I was born to teach people how to believe in themselves and put their dreams to work. I simplify the task, so they take one step at a time and see small victories all along the way to keep them motivated and moving towards their goals. If you're reading this right now and doubting yourself, I'm here to show you; it's not hard to change your body or mind. You may have tried several different ways to lose weight, and it didn't work, or you hated every minute of it.

Let's simplify it so you can see exactly how you can go about losing body fat and begin feeling good again. You don't have to stay stuck in your current body situation forever. Small changes lead to significant changes, and you have all the power to do so. Let's get started.

LONG HAUL

First and foremost, you must decide that you're willing to stick with this for the long haul. Losing body fat is entirely doable, but only when you give your body the time to do so. No quick-fix diet will melt the fat off of you, right before your eyes. If that were the case, no one would be fat. Period! Once you convince yourself that there are no shortcuts and that you're willing to be patient with the process, half the battle has been won.

It saddens me to see so many people waste their hard-earned money on fad diets, diet pills, potions, lotions, teas, waist trimmer, exercise equipment and DVD's thinking it's the big secret they've been missing their entire lives. They buy all of it in hopes of finding the one thing that's going to take the fat away and leave them feeling like a million bucks, all within weeks!

There are no secret potions, but there is one thing you can do to guarantee your fat loss. You can CONSISTENTLY work on losing fat from your body, every single day, no matter how big or small. Baby steps consistently will work wonders when it comes to dieting and exercising. If you're in and out of the diet and exercise plan, you'll never see real results, or you'll double the amount of time it takes to change your body.

As a former "all or nothing" kind of girl, I can relate well to this, and I can tell you, from experience, that going at it extra hard and then doing absolutely nothing at all will not get you to your goals. You don't have to be super restrictive with your diet or workout for hours on end as long as you're being proactive with your nutritional choices and moving that body every day.

HOW YOU'RE CONSUMING CALORIES

As we all know, eating too many calories will increase our weight and our body fat. Your body has a precise calorie total that it needs to survive and resist weight gain or losing too much weight. Nourishing your body with calories help the body with repairing the organs, tissues and keeping you energized throughout the day. Your body depends on the fuel you feed it daily.

Many of my clients came to me struggling with the eating aspect of losing weight. They understood they needed to exercise, but when it came to food, they were lost. Most of them were starving themselves, unintentionally, but had bought into the idea that you had to be eating very little to lose weight.

Yes, it may be true that you need to be in a calorie deficit; your body still requires enough food to function properly. Losing weight is not worth risking your health, or just being plain miserable. However, losing fat will require you to be knowledgeable about how many calories you're eating and require you to burn additional calories.

You need to be diligent about counting your calories daily. You have to track the food you eat throughout the day to know precisely how many calories you're consuming. All calories count, including any calories you're drinking. By dialing in your calorie intake, you'll soon see your body shedding the body fat away.

ADDING FITNESS TO YOUR LIFE

Now, before you cringe at the thought of hitting the gym six days a week, let me explain. You don't have to have a gym membership. You don't have to go for a run every day for an hour. Nope! You need to find ways to move your body, break a little sweat every single day. You must push yourself out of your comfort zone, but not where you feel like you're going to die or at the very least, end up in the ER.

Depending on how much fat you want to lose and how quickly you want to lose it, you need to find exercises that you enjoy or at the very least, endure. Now, if you're going to transform your body composition dramatically, you'll need to find a fitness plan that is a little bit more vigorous, but still not one you dread. If you dread it, you'll never stick with it.

Think of ways that you can burn calories without changing your entire lifestyle. If your time is limited, try doing a quick workout in your home that can be done before you day even begins. If you have time to devote to your weight loss, maybe you should join a gym or hire a trainer. You could also commit to taking daily walks. Try a new past time like hiking on the weekends. Maybe start with joining a yoga class to get that body more mobile and robust.

There's no right or wrong way to break a sweat and get your heart rate up. Be willing to try something new. Do your homework and find plans that you see as totally doable and one that you'll be excited to do often. If you hate group fitness classes, but you're not sure what to do, hire a trainer, or purchase an online program that you can easily follow and see real results.

SOCIAL SITUATIONS

Losing body fat can be hard, or it can be easy, and your daily choices will be the deciding factor in this equation. What you to decide to eat, how much you're willing to exercise and who you choose to surround yourself with, will either help you or hurt you. Yes, social situations will affect how much body fat you lose.

If you're continually eating out with loved ones who indulge in high-calorie meals, extra desserts, or calorie-loaded drinks, your chances of transforming your body and losing body fat will be minimal. You can't expect your body to change if you're repeating the same bad choices as you always have. Your body will reward you for sound choices, trust me.

Being supported by likeminded people, you'll soon find that weight loss doesn't have to be grueling. By no means should you be living an isolated life, away from everyone and everything you love, to lose weight. However, if you feel the ones you're currently hanging with are encouraging you to make bad choices when it comes to your diet, you may want to place some distance, at least until you find the rhythm in your weight loss journey.

When you first begin dieting, it's hard to stick to your goals. You do great all week long then you meet up with a group of friends for a Saturday night dinner, and you find yourself eating everything in sight. It happens to the best of us, and sometimes it can't be avoided. However, for you to lose fat, you need to learn to stick to your guns, no matter who's telling you to get over it and eat already! Pick your battles wisely and be secure enough with yourself to stay true to your own, personal goals.

AVOID YO-YO DIETING

So you find the newest, latest greatest diet and can't wait to start! You go out and buy everything you need to stick with this diet. After all, you've read that this diet is the end-all to be all. Fat is going to melt right off of you, and it's super easy. Everyone is doing it! How hard can it be, right?

You start the new diet, and you soon find that you can't do the; you must avoid this and absolutely cannot have this. Sound familiar? After a few weeks, you start to get annoyed with this diet. You want to eat and eat what you want when you want to eat it. You're human, and we aren't generally cut out for a rigid diet that deprives us of everything we crave and love.

So you scrap that diet and begin searching for the next great diet. While you're researching a new plan of attack, you are gorging on everything you missed out on eating while on the first diet. Again, sound familiar? You finally find another diet to try and off to the races you go. Over and over again, but nothing is sticking. It's frustrating, and you feel like you'll never lose body fat.

First off, every time you go on a diet and fall back off and begin consuming too many calories, you're doing damage to your metabolism. Yo-yo dieting is not going to get you the results you want and is doing long-term damage that is only going to prevent you from losing body fat.

Instead of following a specific diet, begin with simply tracking your calories. Be in the mode of just being aware of what you're consuming and how much you're consuming. Start with baby steps in dieting. Instead of french fries with your dinner, fix a potato. Instead of skipping breakfast, drink a protein shake. Swap one soda a day for a bottle of water. Nothing drastic, but still moving towards losing body fat.

You will be surprised by how many unnecessary calories you can avoid and with each wise choice, your body will begin to respond. Most importantly, don't skip an entire food group — your body functions on proteins, carbs, and fats. Eliminating any one of these macros from your diet will be sure to backfire on you. It's great to lose body fat, but not if the second you eat a piece of bread, you go right back to square one! (ok, that's an exaggeration, but you catch my point)

THE LOOK OF YOUR PLATE

The question I get asked the most when it comes to nutrition is "Aimee, how am I supposed to know what to eat?" There is no cookie-cutter (sorry to bring up cookies right now) answer and no one person is the same. Some love veggies, while others hate them. That's the beauty in counting calories. You are the master planner of your own diet. You control what you're going to eat, as long as you stay within your calorie window.

The easiest way for me to answer this question is to fill your plate, at every meal, with a mixture of lean proteins, fruits, and veggies. If your plate is colorful, you're doing great. The fresher the food, the better. Avoid processed foods, at least for the most part. Stick with "clean" foods for the majority of the day and allow yourself one indulgence. By doing so, you reduce the chances of you feeling deprived and falling off track.

Know to eat within your calorie window, you'll be required to have your food prepped at most times. If you don't have your food cleaned, cooked and prepped at all times, you'll easily skip your diet altogether and fall prey to eating processed, fatty foods that certainly won't allow your body to lose fat. Plan the night before so you know exactly what you'll be eating and when you'll be eating it. You'll be surprised by how well this keeps you focused and on track to your weight loss goals.

So there you have it. Super simple fat loss tips that anyone can do. Now, I didn't say anyone can do it perfectly, as no one does anything perfectly! You'll have days where you nail it and other days you'd rather just not talk about it. We've all been through it. But, you want to know why some people are super lean, and others aren't? Because the super lean people mess up, a lot, but keep trying it, over and over again.

It's like driving down the road and hitting a pothole. You don't hit the first pothole and turn around and go back home. Nope, you become more aware of the potholes in the road and make a point to avoid them. Just like dieting, you'll find things that trigger you to make bad choices, and you start becoming wiser to it. You head to work, forgetting the food you prepped, so you say "Oh, just forget it, I'll eat whatever I want today." And then you'll binge on greasy food for lunch. You'll feel mentally and physically bad after you do it, so you the next day, you are sure to pack your healthy meal.

Don’t forget to pin this to your Pinterest board, so you always have these tips right there for you.

If you’ve ever struggled with losing weight or sticking to your diet plan, this article is for you. Losing fat shouldn’t make you feel miserable. Here are super simple tips to get that body transforming without restrictive diets.

So know that you won't be perfect when you start this. You never will be, but you'll move closer to perfection with every right choice you make. You'll begin to see your body changing, and you'll find the inspiration to keep moving forward. Losing fat will take time, patience, and courage to believe in yourself. There will be days you have to dig deep and remind yourself of why you started this in the first place. There will be days you're excited to get your workout in, and there will be other days a pack of wild horses couldn't drag you to the gym.

Never lose sight of the end result. Your body will begin letting body fat go as soon as it's sure that you're in this for the long haul. Give your body time to react to your new efforts. You won't transform overnight, but you will change quickly if you're consistently showing up, every single day, working on making better choices. I know you can do this! I'm here cheering you on.

If you need some fun, simple ways to keep you on track and inspired, please sign up below to be on the inside loop of tricks and tools too fast track you to all of your goals. I'd love to be a guiding light on your path to greatness.

Aimee Schwinabart is the founder of The Purely Fit—online workouts, nutrition, and fitness coaching that actually work! She specializes in short (super effective) daily workouts combined with customized nutrition plans to help real people shed excess fat to reveal toned, lean muscles. The Purely Fit approach to looking and feeling great prioritizes small, steady, super efficient workouts and nutrition upgrades to help you stay with it once and for all!