Lose Weight for Free Fast

From LoveToKnow Diet

There are plenty of expensive weight loss programs with coaches and special food, supplements, juices and so on, but isn't there some way to lose weight for free fast? Sure there is -- losing the spare pounds doesn't require you to be a rocket scientist nor does it have to be a ticket to the poorhouse.

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The Diet

Good ol' common sense goes a long way. Beer, pizza and ice cream always have encouraged the body to pack on the pounds, and they always will. Conversely, fiber-rich salads, lean chicken dishes and other old-school diet staples are a good bet for getting your midsection in shape. Here are some examples of common foods to eat and some to avoid.

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Generally Good Diet Foods

Skinless chicken breast
Lean beef
Seafood (tuna, shrimp, salmon, crab etc)
Vegetables
Whole wheat pasta
Parboiled rice

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Generally Bad Diet Foods

"Instant" anything -- rice, porridge etc.
Highly processed and/or sugar-filled foods
Beer, sodas, juices with mostly sugar
Foods with lots of saturated fats such as bacon or fatty sausages

Now, converts to diets like the Atkins program will probably object to the saturated fat part, just like those who adhere to the GI school would like more clarification on the veggies, rice and pasta parts. That's possibly merited for their respective stances, but for a regular person just looking to lose a few pounds, you can't really go wrong with sticking to moderate servings of the foods outlined above.

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Sample Menu

Let's look at a sample menu for a semi-active, middle-aged man:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with no-fat milk, two slices whole wheat toast, orange juice, scrambled eggs made of one whole egg and three eggs' worth of egg whites and coffee.
Lunch: Spicy chicken and parboiled rice, steamed vegetables.
Afternoon snack: Low-sugar granola bar, apple.
Dinner: Salmon, wok vegetables.

Serving size depends on body size; a 6'4" man can obviously have quite a bit larger portions than the 5'6" man. To get exact serving sizes/calories suitable for you, calculate your daily calorie burn by noting everything you eat every day (most foods have this clearly displayed on the package; otherwise a calorie database can help) for a week and divide by seven. For example, if your week total came to 14,700 calories, then 14,700 / 7 = 2,100 per day. If you did not gain or lose weight during that week, 2,100 calories should be close to your equilibrium. To lose weight, simply keep counting and cut the daily average by about 300-500 calories. Eating those low-to-moderate-fat foods with lots of fiber outlined above will keep the hunger at bay.

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The Exercise

An equally important part of your effort to lose weight for free fast is how many calories you burn. This has two aspects; your base metabolism and your specific workouts. We already have a clue of your base metabolism (2,100 calories in the example above). To keep this up during the diet, make sure to incorporate some weight training at least twice a week so as to preserve your muscle mass. If you start losing muscle, your daily calorie burn may drop say from 2,100 to 1,900, which means even smaller food servings if you want to keep losing weight.

Then there's the immediate calorie burn caused by the workout, of course. 45 minutes on the treadmill may take an extra 500 calories right off the top. Repeat this three times a week and you'll have burned off a whole extra pound in less than a month. Weight training also burns calories, especially since it gives the body a temporary bump in metabolism as kind of an "afterglow" effect.

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Closing Thoughts on How to Lose Weight for Free Fast

Naturally, having a scientifically designed, pre-made program optimized for fat loss is a lot easier to snap into than managing everything yourself. But equal parts determination, discipline and common sense can get you perfectly good results in relatively short order too. Good luck!

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