| Well first of all, suplements to loose weight rarely work. In fact, they never do. :>
That might slightly help your already existing diet/workout plan, but supplements alone won't cut it. Ever. Not matter what the commercial says. Before reading any further, realise that 1. this is my own opinion on alot of things and 2. some things may have already been said by other people.
If you don't mind keeping track of calorie intake/loss each day, then keep in mind that if your calory loss is 500 higher than your intake each day, after a week you will have lost around 0,5 kg (aprox. 1 pound?).
I for one don't like keeping track of every little thing I eat though simply because it's too much of a hassle.
Here is what I do to lose weight whenever I need to.
1. If you know it's bad for you, don't buy it. It's very easy, if it's not in your fridge, you won't eat it.
2. No soda. Diet coke is actually worse for your health than normal coke btw. Some might disagree, that's up to them. Just drink water, or tea (without sugar and milk). And no, chemical sweeteners aren't allowed either. Fruitjuice is good, as long as it's homemade.
3. Try to get enough sleep. For example I am writing this at 3:00 a.m. (Edit: finally done at 3:35..) which is plain stupid considering I was planning on going to the gym at 10. Now I'll probably oversleep myself and miss out on doing some healthy stuff in the morning. So yeah, I should be taking my own advice here. :p
4. As said before, building muscle is the answer to your question.
And yes, cardio has little effect on your resting metabolism. The reason why people who run every day are so damn slim is because they run EVERY day. Soon as they stop running their bodies will stop burning calories as they did while running after after very, very short while (we're talking hours here). That doesn't mean you shouldn't do cardio at all, it just means you shouldn't rely completely on it. For example, I always begin a training session with 2 km. rowing and end it with another 5 km. of rowing. But in between that there's aprox. 45 minutes of weight lifting like there's no tomorrow.
Building muscles will take a little longer, but after that, they will only need little maintenance. It will however raise your metabolism alot which is what you want. Besides, you can burn off all the fat there is, if there are no muscles underneath, you will probably won't get the body you want to get.
Mind you though, building muscles doesn't in any way mean you should be looking like some bodybuilder in the end. If that's what you want that's fine. But otherwise, just use lower weights and do more reps.
5. Try being really strict with yourself monday-friday, and then treat yourself to all you've been craving for in the weekends (within reason!). This way you'll not only have something to look forward to, but will also help your metabolism. If you are on a diet 24/7, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year, already after a few weeks your body will realise it has less food it needs to process, so your metabolism will drop. Eating all you want in the weekends will give it a kick up the ass. Just stay away from McDonalds and you should be fine.
6. Last but not least, make a plan and stick with it.
Hope this helps, it sure does for me. If ya have any questions just pm me.
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