5 tips for losing weight fast, easy and safe

Food journal is a must have

Do you have a food diary? If you don't, you just have to immediately start writing down all the foods you eat during each day. This helps to count daily calories consumption correctly and to assess the nutritional value of your diet effectively. A study, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, showed that keeping a food diary improves weight loss progress, all other things being equal. 123 women took part in the study, which was carried out over a year, and those of them who kept a food journal, shed 6 pounds more than those who didn't. Follow their example and write down not only the main meals, but all the snacks, water intakes and physical activity as well as level of hunger and how you feel about this or that type of food.

Stop eating out

The same study revealed one more pattern – those females, who had lunch at cafes one time a week or oftener, shed 5 pounds less than women who went to restaurants once or twice in a month. The researchers believe this is associated with a weaker control over portion sizes and over composition of dishes. When eating out you cannot be sure that only healthy products were used in cooking, can you? And people tend to eat all their food at restaurants, even when they are already stuffed. To lose weight faster, you should reduce the number of visits to restaurants and choose the cafes with an emphasis on healthy food in the cuisine.

Do not starve

Do you really think that skipping meals contributes to faster weight loss? Anne McTiernan, MD, PhD, knows exactly this isn't true. Her study proved that the women who had all daily meals lost 8 more pounds compared to those who skipped meals. Hunger is no joke, and when you give up breakfast, you just eat more for lunch or suppress the appetite by snacks, casually harming your body since this leads to negative metabolic changes. It would be smarter to have all your meals in time (eating at regular times has beneficial effects on the body) than skipping breakfast or dinner.

Find a company

The New England Journal of Medicine told about a study comparing the effectiveness of several diets and assessing the benefits of counseling sessions. It turns out that people, who attended the sessions, shed 2.5 times more pounds than those who didn't. In another study conducted by the University of Vermont it was found that online weight maintenance program helped the participants to keep their weight more effectively than both frequent and minimal in-person support programii. We say, find weight loss associates and support from professional nutritionists either on Internet or offline – they'll help you with motivation, useful advice and countenance.

Walking, walking and walking

Is there a way to burn 300 calories without going to a gym? Yes! Just walk! No, you don't have to run, to jump or to have dumbbells in your pocket. Just walk briskly with your friend, your dog or child in the park or around a block. Researchers from Duke University proved that 30 minutes of energetic walking is enough for people leading sedentary life to avoid weight gaining. Ant to lose weight you should walk just 15 more minutes – 30 pounds weight loss in a year is guaranteed even if you don't change your eating habits.

Do you want more progress? Add to your daily routine 10 minutes of walking up and down stairs. According to Centers for Disease Control, using stairs instead of elevators promotes great weight loss – up to 10 pounds a yeari.