How to Lose Fat Fast

Losing fat fast (and forever) is the ultimate dream of all dieters and bodybuilders. While it is not impossible, speedy loss of fat is generally not recommendable as a healthy way to your ideal weight.

If you are obese or have accumulated fat for many years, then becoming slim overnight is more a mirage than a reality. But if you have been on a muscle-gain program and now it's time to cut the fat, or you have accidentally put a few pound in the last month or two, then it is different.

Losing fat fast requires a diet and exercise. A diet is mandatory for everybody, while exercise is good if you just need to get rid of recent fat and mandatory, if you want to keep your muscles. This does not mean that you can do without any exercise; rather, if the purpose of your fat loss program is, for example, to be able to put a short skirt on, relying only on exercise without proper diet is unlikely to bring you the desired results.

The first adjustment that you need to make to your diet is to reduce the daily input of calories. The second, also important adjustment is to reduce drastically the fats in your diet. Completely excluding the fats is not good. Reducing the daily input of fats three or four times is sufficient for most people. Carbohydrates should also be reduced because since they are the primary source of energy, your body might never get to using its fat reserves, if you constantly feed it with carbohydrates.

Depending on the country you live in and on your health status, the choice of recommendable foods varies. Fruit and vegetables (excluding sweet grapes, bananas and other “energy bombs”) are generally safe to eat (but not overeat) when you want to lose fat fast. However, if you have gastric diseases, eating too much fresh fruits and vegetables could be bad for your health.

The consumption of bread, dairy products and meat should also be reduced, even if you take diet bread, low-fat dairy products and no-fat meat. The same applies to diet Coke and other beverages and to different kinds of sweets that are labeled as “diet” or “low fat”. If you see lack of results, then cut off the Coke, the other carbonated beverages and diet candy completely but don't do the same with bread, dairy products and meat because, unlike sweet beverages, they are essential for your health.

Daily regime also matters a lot and for all fat losers it is absolutely mandatory to have breakfast and in the evening to eat at least 3 hours before going to bed. While breakfast can be thicker, dinner must be thin.

Exercise is the second component of a successful fat loss program. The optimal exercise program varies for bodybuilders and for common people. While for bodybuilders practising one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening might be OK, for an untrained person this will result in muscle stiffness and possibly traumas.

The assortment of exercises also varies for the two groups. For less trained people, even walking 2 or 3 miles a day can do miracles and burn fat fast. Walking is often underestimated as a form of exercise, but for obese people walking 2 or 3 miles a day can do miracles for burning fat. Walking is especially good for burning fat from the lower limbs and the lumbal area.

A rule of a thumb for all exercises aimed at burning fat is that the exercises must be light (in comparison to those for building strength) but for longer. The reason is that your body first starts to use the carbs and then the fat reserves, so if you exercise for a couple of minutes only, you will burn some carbs but the fats will stay untouched.

Losing fat fast has one serious disadvantage - when you quit the diet and stop exercising, you regain the fat again. That is why fast fat loss is not a long-term solution. The only long-term solution is to lose fat bit by bit but never step back. More about how to lose fat permanently can be found in this article.