Weight Loss Corner
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Realistic Expectations for Weight Loss
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| By Bethany Roberts |
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We have all heard the phrase "realistic expectations" applied to many things in life but it is definitely important to apply realistic expectations when it comes to weight loss. I run across so many people that start on weight loss programs only to give up because they do not lose weight fast enough to meet their expectations. You can lose weight and change the way you look forever but you will never achieve the results you are hoping for if you do not first establish some realistic expectations.
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| The biggest thing you need to understand is that losing weight, or more correctly bodyfat, takes time. Just think about how long it took you to gain the extra weight in the first place. I am sure you have heard that old phrase "the freshman fifteen" that refers to the fifteen pounds that so many women gain their first year in College. It seems to be pretty commonplace for people to gain ten to fifteen pounds each year after they get out of high school until they decide to change their lifestyle habits. If your goal is to lose fifty pounds then keep in mind that it probably took five or six years to accumulate this weight and it is not going to be lost in just a couple of weeks.
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Your ultimate goal in losing weight should be to lose bodyfat and keep it off forever. To accomplish this you must lose only fat and not muscle. When you lose weight too quickly you will lose not only fat but also muscle. The problem with losing muscle is that the less you have the lower your metabolism will be and the greater the amount of calories you eat that are stored as fat. This explains why so many people who go on crash diets lose weight only to regain even more down the road. The maximum amount of weight you should try to lose through dieting should be no more than one pound a week otherwise you will lose muscle in addition to fat which will make long-term fat loss even more difficult.
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Some people are able to lose more than a pound a week without losing muscle when they combine their dieting with proper exercise and nutritional supplements designed to burn fat. A good exercise program that is designed to burn fat as well as increase metabolism by building muscle can help increase the rate that you can lose bodyfat. In a more artificial way, thermogenic fat burning supplements like Thermo Phen Phen can also help boost metabolism and increase the rate that you are able to lose fat. If you want to try to lose more than a pound of fat a week then you better plan to get plenty of intense exercise like weightlifting (Read Weightlifting for Weight Loss) and use a good thermogenic weight loss product in the correct manner (Read How to Use Thermogenics).
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You will have to decide for yourself what exactly is realistic for you based upon the level of effort you are planning to devote to your weight loss program. Just keep in mind that even with an intense exercise program and the right weight loss supplement you still are not going to be able to lose more than a maximum of ten pounds in a month. Be realistic from the start about how long it is going to take to lose those extra pounds and you will not be disappointed and give up. Remember that time is going to pass anyways so even if it takes a year for you to lose that fifty pounds just think how happy you will be a year from now when you look at the those old pictures and see how different you look.
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