Five fastest ways to lose weight

Often we underestimate the impact snacking has on our daily calorie intake. Photo / Getty

By Susie Burrell

When it comes to losing weight, who does not want to lose any extra kilos as quickly as possible. And while there are literally hundreds of fad diets that can strip kilos in days, few if any of them work long term. So if your goal is to lose weight as quickly as possible, in a way that will actually keep those kilos off, here are the best ones to try.

1. CUT THE CARBS

Carbohydrate rich foods including bread, rice, cereal, pasta, starchy vegetables such as potato, fruit and sugars including honey are the primary fuel source for the muscles and for the brain. And while we need some carbohydrate for optimal metabolic function, in general we eat far too much for the amount of activity that we do.

For this reason, cutting back on carb rich foods will naturally see a drop of a few kilos within days, and while much of this is fluid weight, the drop on the scales is often what motivates us to keep going with weight loss. Overall a slightly lower carbohydrate intake, where we keep our fuel low at night by focusing meals around protein and vegetables is a safe and sustainable weight loss strategy.

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2. SWAP A MEAL

Your preference may be for a meal replacement shake, a soup or a salad but the simple strategy of keeping your calorie intake especially low for one meal each day is another proven, successful weight loss strategy. In each of these cases, calorie intake at one meal is cut to just 200-300 calories, which can be half of that of regular meals which keeps your overall calorie intake lower without you even realising it.

3. STOP SNACKING

Often we underestimate the impact snacking has on our daily calorie intake - in general the message of small regular meals has been translated into large regular meals with us frequently enjoying milk coffee, fruit, nuts and snack bars throughout the day, or an extra 400-600 calories. Unless you are training for an hour or more, you are only likely to need a couple of light snacks, if any, throughout the day. As such cutting out snacking entirely in favour of enjoying more vegetables and protein rich meals three times a day is an easy way to slash calories and drop a few kilos.

4. NO LIQUID CALORIES

Whether it is smoothies, juices, coffees, wine or soft drink, liquid calorie intake is not compensated for which means when we drink our calories, we do not automatically eat less as a result. In addition, a constant flow of liquid sugars plays havoc with our natural hunger and fullness signals.

As such, a simple way to slash calories and promote fat metabolism is to keep your intake of liquid calories to a minimum. If you love coffee go for a piccolo, choose herbal tea, water or vegetable juices instead.

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5) EAT OVER FEWER HOURS

The longer we have without food overnight, the better it is for the hormones that control fat metabolism in the body. This means ideally leaving 10-12 hours each day without any food, or stopping eating by 6 or 7pm and then not eating again until 8 or 9am. In modern life this is easier said than done but it is actually one of the few proven weight loss techniques out there.