Lose 10 Pounds By Summer: 9 Easy, Healthy Tips

Want to lose 10 pounds by bathing suit season? Silly question, right – because, well, who doesn’t? It doesn’t have to be hard. Just follow these 9 simple tips!

Many of us think of losing weight as an unpleasant, arduous task. We think we’ll have to work out for hours every day, give up all of our favorite foods, or drink gross-tasting weight-loss shakes. But in fact, losing a few pounds can be done relatively quickly and easily just by making a few simple lifestyle changes.

Many of those extreme diets and weight loss programs are actually pretty bad for our health, come to think of it. In fact, some of them can have the opposite effect, causing our bodies to go into “starvation mode,” and actually start storing more fat!

Rest assured, you don’t have to starve yourself to lose weight. There are much better and healthier ways to achieve the weight you want. Here are 9 super simple tips to get you started.

1. Take Stock Of Where You Are

As in any situation where changes are required, you need to first write down the things you are doing right, and the things you may be doing wrong….

Those who succeed in almost any aspect of life do not usually immediately succeed. As the saying goes, “the person at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there.” The first step toward any kind of improvement is a honest analysis of where you currently are.

In the case of weight loss, this means writing down some common questions, as well as their answers. These might be:

Am I getting enough sleep?
Am I eating enough vegetables?
Am I exercising enough?
Am I indulging in too many sweets?
Or other relevant questions.
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3. Start Tracking Your Progress

That’s right, write things down! This is another no-cost way to discover the root of your problem(s). We often put on rose-colored glasses when looking back at our own dietary choices (if we even look back at them at all)….

4. Calculate How Many Calories You Need To Eat

Yes, calories aren’t all that matter, but they do eventually give us a good place to work from. By using the Harris Benedict equation, we can find out (roughly) how many calories we should be consuming, on a regular basis. One of the best things about this formula is that it takes into account how active you are, and what adjustments need to be made (calorie wise) from there.

Once this is calculated, you can eat about 200 calories less than maintenance, and you will easily start to shed the extra weight! If you want to lose weight more rapidly (but risk losing a bit of muscle with the fat) you can go to 500 calories below your maintenance level, but don’t go beyond that. Drastic caloric cuts can actually throw your body into a metabolic crisis, making it harder to lose weight — exactly the opposite of what we want here.

5. Start Exercising A Little More

Everyone’s favorite! This one is really simple to implement, though…. Do you use your car to get everywhere these days? Take one of those shorter trips, and walk to your destination instead. Are you skipping the gym more than you ought to? Structure a workout plan, and follow it!…

And if all else fails to motivate you in this area, join a group exercise class! Watching others, or making exercise more fun and social, will keep you coming back for more, and make you more likely to continue the habit….

6. Get A Standing Desk

This works synergistically with our recommendation above, as standing more, throughout the day, is going to keep you healthier in a variety of ways. This is a very easy way to burn more calories, leading to more weight loss over time. In fact, the term “effortless weight loss” is bandied about way too frequently, but this step is one of the closest ways to achieving this “unicorn” of a goal.

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8. Eat More Protein

Yes, another simple step!… Just eating more protein can lead to more satiety (i.e., less overeating), more muscle and eventually — less fat! And the more muscle you’re carrying – the more you get to eat, and the more calories you will burn. That’s a “win-win-win” scenario!

9. Sleep More

Many do not realize that they are sleeping too little, and many of us also do not realize that eventually this leads to a nice (or not so nice) accumulation of fat. Sleep is one of the best things you can do when it comes to weight loss or muscle growth. It is sort of an overlooked and underutilized fat loss tool in everyone’s arsenal.

Remember: 8-9 hours of sleep per night is ideal, and make sure you are blacking out your bedroom and avoiding blue light immediately prior to bed.

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For more tips, check out the full article at PaleoHacks.com…