Lose Weight FAST! No exercise!

Magazines are a guilty pleasure of mine.  I could sit by the pool for hours and read them if I a) had a pool and b) had hours to sit and read.  They always have catchy titles that draw you in, promising a svelte body with no effort in exchange.  And then you read the article and find out it’s for some hormone shot or a diet pill, or something really random with the word “cleanse” in it.  All I’m saying is if you read something that says, “Lose Weight FAST!  No Exercise!  Tabasco Sauce Cleanse!” just spare your intestines some grief and turn the page.

Here’s the truth about weight loss:  It can be fast, but I mean “several months fast” not “six days fast.”  For you to lose a significant amount of weight in less than a week you will probably be starving yourself, which will really wreck your metabolism in the long run, plus you will probably gain back your lost weight and then some once you end your crazy fad diet.  (I speak from experience, unfortunately.)

And you can lose weight without exercise, but your body will look better if it has muscle definition, and your body will function better overall if you combine cardiovascular exercise with strength training.

If you are considering the latest “get-thin-quick” scheme, please talk yourself down.  You didn’t put on an extra 20 pounds in a day, why would you think it could come off overnight?  That’s asking a lot of your body.

Magazines, pop up ads, TV shows – they put out a lot of deliberately confusing information about what is healthy.  Know why?  Because

THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR HEALTH.  THEY ARE SELLING YOU A PRODUCT.

Low fat!  Gluten free!  Lowers your cholesterol!  Raises your IQ!

I call bullshit.

So here’s my very un-sexy, un-catchy, but honest title:

Lose Weight at a Reasonable Pace of 2 lbs. a Week by Eating a Healthy Mix of Protein, Carbohydrates, Vegetables and some Fruit!  Exercise!  You Will Have to Do This FOREVER if you want to stay healthy.

It’s really not a catchy title, is it?

I lost 50 lbs. over the course of five months, which averages out to about 2 lbs. a week.  The first 15 lbs. came off really fast in the first month.  I dropped from a size 12 to a size 5.  That was the easy no-brainer weight from eating potato chips and drinking cocktails.  The rest of the weight came off slowly, over the next four months, as I actually lost fat and reconditioned my body by consistently eating a well balanced diet and exercising six days per week.

I’ve pretty much stayed true to this lifestyle for the past two years, putting on a little extra weight over the holidays (ah- Christmas cookies!) but then dialing it back in come January.  Yo-yo diets are a thing of my past, and I’m much happier without all that fad diet craziness.

There are lots of different meal plans/eating choices out there.  Clean eating and bodybuilding works for me.   You may find these articles useful if you want to try clean eating and you’re just getting started:

• The Secret to Being Thin
• The Bikini Diet

Be kind to your body!

Lisa 

• @sheslosingitnet
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