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Cheap Weight Loss

Updated on July 8, 2011

Lose Weight and Keep it Off

Losing weight has got to be one of the hardest things a human undertakes. With so many Americans overweight, untold billions of dollars are being spent on health clubs, gym memberships, weight loss drugs, exercise equipment and on and on.

But you don't need to take a pill to lose weight. You don't need to have surgery for weight loss or liposuction or expensive gym memberships. In fact, when it comes to taking a pill to lose weight, you're probably throwing your money away. Most over-the-counter weight loss pills don't work and the prescription ones that do, have a list of side-effects that ought to be enough to make any sane person think twice.

And the drugs and surgeries for weight loss don't actually address the two reasons you're fat in the first place. It's your lifestyle and mindset that you have to change more than anything else.

Yeah I know it's hard. I'm overweight myself at the present. And having lost weight before and gotten myself into pretty good shape, only to eat my way back up the scale, I know just how attractive a fast weight loss solution is. But a fast weight loss program is probably going to result in a fast weight gain solution. Because when you come off that fast weight loss solution, you're going to binge and go right back to your bad eating habits and sitting around on your ever-enlarging butt.

So what to do? Well, you have to change your mindset. You have to decide that you are going to change your lifestyle in order to lose weight. You simply have to live the healthy life all the time. Now this doesn't mean you have to give up Twinkies and fried chicken, you just have to learn to not eat ten Twinkies and a bucket of fried chicken. All things in moderation Grasshopper.

And you have to learn to exercise and add some muscle mass. Muscle mass is the easiest way to keep fat off your body. Muscle burns calories so add a few pounds of muscle to your body and you will lose weight. And the funny thing is, when you add muscle mass, you don't want to eat so many calories anymore. Whether this is psychological or just plain science, I don't know, but it is true.

So to lose weight we need to add muscle mass. That involves a membership in the gym.

No.

It does not require a gym membership or even the latest and greatest machine that you see on TV in 2am infomercials. You don't need to buy anything at all. All you have to do are push-ups, lunges, stair steps and crunches. You can add in some free-weight training if you like, but these four exercises are all you really need to do to add several pounds of muscle mass quickly. Too fat to do push-ups? Okay, find you a staircase and walk up and down it a few times everyday. If you're too fat to do push-ups, then all that extra weight will do wonders for building leg and butt muscles. And these are nice big muscle groups. So when you work them and build them, they burn lots of calories. Plus, walking up and down stairs is a great cardio work-out. Pretty soon you will graduate to push-ups and the weight will start to disappear.

There is one piece of equipment you should buy, although you can do the exercise without it, and that's a rope to jump. You don't even have to buy a real jump rope, any ole rope will do, but a hinged jump rope is easier to use. Jumping a rope is probably one of the least utilized cardio and mass building exercises out there. Probably because we have the mindset that you have to use a five thousand dollar machine to get a good cardio workout. Well I'll tell you what, grab a jump rope and do you about five minutes of hopping two inches in the air and get back to me on just what the difference is in your heart rate.

Now I have Rheumatoid arthritis and I have to take it easy on the joints. But, for me at least, jumping rope is a fairly low-impact exercise, much less so than running in my case. If you can't jump rope, do find another way to get the heart rate up a few times a week.

And then there's the mindset. Anybody can do these things for a little while, but sticking with it is the hard part.

So what you need is personal re-enforcement. A full-length mirror is a good tool for this. Because if you stand in front of it naked everyday you will be reminded of what you're up to. Guys, make a point of being outside with a shirt off once a week when it's warm. Ladies, walk around naked outside a couple times a week. Okay, that one is just because I want to see more naked women, but seriously, wear something somewhat revealing in public. There's nothing like being self-conscious to make you want to change. The reason you're self-conscious is because you don't like something about yourself so eliminate that something and turn it into a source of personal pride. When you're really good at something, you tend to enjoy it more, so if you're really good at looking good naked........

Walking around naked in public is a great way to change your mindset but another one is personal accountability. You are fat because you eat too much. You don't have big bones, bad genes, blah blah blah, you just eat too much. And you need to prove that to yourself because most of us live in denial about just how much we eat and just what we eat. If every meal is a plate of brown, then you are eating too much junk. Get some colors on that plate. See green, yellow, orange, whatever, just not so much brown.

Track what you eat. That's the simplest way to control what goes down the gullet. Take personal responsibility and admit to yourself that you are taking in too many calories. Because if you are fat, you ARE taking in too many calories.

I use a free internet program at DailyBurn.com. Awesome thing this is. It lets you track your calories and plan what and when you are going to eat. Very easy to use, free and makes it simple to track your exercise regimen, weight loss and caloric intake.

So get going. Do it today. Do it right now. Start changing your lifestyle and mindset right this second, not right after that last doughnut. Get off your butt and do this for yourself.

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