Being overweight is kind of funny in a way. It sort of creeps up on you. Sure, the scale may tell you that you have put on a few pounds over the years, but you don’t really notice it…until one day you see a picture of yourself or catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. “When did this happen”, you think to yourself. Surely you can’t be that fat, but there’s the proof. However you put those pounds on, right now you just want to know the secrets to losing weight quickly.

It may sound obvious, but you need to know what those secrets are before you can start taking advantage if them. See, a lot of people think that weight loss just happens somehow. Maybe if they think positive thoughts or try something the weight will come off. Sorry, that just doesn’t work in the real world.

But why try to lose weight quickly in the first place? After all, the so-called experts say you shouldn’t lose any more than one or two pounds per week. the truth is that they are right, for the most part. However, that’s mainly for long-term weight loss. If you’re fairly healthy, and your doctor says it’s okay (always check with your doctor before making drastic changes to your eating or exercise habits), then losing more is fine.

One of the biggest reasons for looking for the secrets to losing weight quickly, is that you can see results that much sooner. If you only lose one or two pounds at a time, then it’s going to take a while before it’s really noticeable. On the other hand, if you lose five to ten pounds in the first two weeks, you will notice, and that can motivate you to stay on whatever program you choose. Then, after the initial burst of losing a lot of weight, you can go back to the more sustainable rate of losing one to two pounds per week.

You may have heard it before: 3,500 calories is the equivalent of one pound of body weight. Every diet that works, works because of this simple principle. They may try to hide what they’re doing behind some sort of gimmick (cabbage soup, anyone?), but the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in.

3,500 is a nice round number because it translates into 500 calories per day for one week. If you can cut you caloric intake by just 500 calories, then you will lose one pound in a week. That’s not fast weight loss, but it adds up to just over 50 pounds in a year. Now, if you can do enough physical activity to burn off 500 calories per day then that’s another pound, and you can shed about 100 pounds in a year.

This is what it comes down to: the secrets to losing weight quickly are to start off strong so you stay motivated, and to combine both diet and exercise to get double the results in the same amount of time.

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If you’re thinking of changing to a vegetarian diet, how do you start? Do you just start shopping in the produce aisle of the grocery store? You might have some anxiety attached to this change as well, and this is understandable.

Try to think of this as adding to your dietary habits, rather than a drastic change. If your diet has consistently included red meat, perhaps you can start substituting other foods for the red meat. Or eliminate the most processed and high-fat meats first, such as bacon and hamburgers. Certainly try to eliminate fast food burgers, which have such a high fat and sodium content. If you think you’ll miss the taste of bacon in the morning, try substituting a turkey or vegetable-based bacon substitute. It won’t be the same, but you won’t be giving up the foods you’re used to all at once.

If you’ve had a health scare and feel the need to change everything at once, make sure you include a lot of variety in the foods you buy as you begin to discover new flavors and textures that you’ll like to replace the ones you’re used to eating. If you don’t need to make a dramatic change all at once, you’ll have a much greater chance of long-term success if you take it slow.

Reduce the amount of red meat that you eat on a weekly basis, even if it means substituting pasta with marinara sauce for meat just one night a week. Increase the amounts of fruits and vegetables you eat. Start with raw vegetables at night before dinner so you’re not so hungry when you get to the main meal. Start reversing the proportions of meat and vegetables and make meat a side dish, with vegetables and grains your main course.

We’re creatures of habit and resistant to change. This is why so many diets fail, because we make drastic changes to facilitate dramatic results, quickly. This is a decision and a change you want to make for a lifetime. Make it a natural and gradual change and you can look forward to many more years of healthy living.

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Losing weight really can be a life or death situation, particularly for those people who are morbidly obese. Time is of the essence and the longer it takes to lose the weight the greater the risk to their health. For this reason gastric bypass surgery may be the best option. If you are considering this procedure but would like to know more about the recovery process, this article on gastric bypass post op can help.

This procedure has been available for decades and though there are some risks, as with all surgeries, they are minimal and rare. The most common issue faced by someone is the lifestyle changes they will need to make. These changes can be challenging which is why most patients are given a lot of pre-op counseling so that they fully understand what they will need to commit themselves to.

Most people understand the basic concept of gastric bypass, your stomach is made smaller so that you can only eat small amounts of food at one sitting. So, obviously, one of the most drastic changes will be a dramatically reduced food intake at each meal.

Other post op lifestyle changes may not seem so obvious such as the fact that you can no longer eat a lot of high sugar and high fat foods. Eating too much of this type of food can lead to fainting since it will be absorbed much more quickly than it would have been before the surgery when your stomach literally had more room.

When you are eating less, you are also drinking less which means that you will need to drink water, in small amounts, throughout your day to avoid dehydration.

While everyone is different and each individuals results will vary, on average many patients will lose up to 50 % of their extra weight within the first six months after surgery. From six months to two years the amount of weight loss will generally be as high as 70%. After two years post op the average weight loss tends to level off at about 80%. It’s very uncommon for someone to lose 100% of their excess fat so some people will claim that this type of surgery isn’t successful.

Only the individual can judge the success for themselves, but my guess would be that if someone is morbidly obese and weighs in excess of 300 lbs, they would be thrilled to lose 60 – 80% of their excess weight!

If you are extremely overweight and you are anxious to get yourself to a more healthy weight you may want to look into gastric bypass surgery. This is a viable way for you to take control of your weight more quickly than just diet and exercise. Your gastric bypass post op lifestyle will be considerably different and if you’re not willing to make significant changes to your lifestyle the process will not work for you. This article has given you a brief overview and now you have an idea of what’s involved, your doctor will answer the rest of your questions.

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