Do you feel a little large around the waist? Or are you looking for a quick way to shed those extra pounds? Well you’re not alone there are thousands of people in the same predicament as you and to help there are always various new weight loss products being developed to feed peoples desire for a slim figure that attracts looks from strangers in the street. Herbal teas, exercise regimes, diets and pills these are all products that claim to help you lose weight fast, with so many of these different treatments available how do you know which one is the genuine deal and which is a scam?

Unfortunately the truth is there is no magic potion that you can take to lose weight fast, getting into shape and dropping those pounds requires a lot of hard work on your part. A guaranteed method to lose substantial amounts of body fat is by getting on a good diet plan and combining that with lots of exercise, your main aim should be to lose more calories than you are putting on.

To help you get started in your quest to lose weight fast, here are a few realistic and effective things that will definitely speed up the weight loss process and have you looking good in no time:

(1) Current calorie intake – Before you decide on how you are going to lose weight you will need to know how many calories you are currently taking into your body on a daily basis, so that you can start planning how to reduce this number. Start carrying around a notebook with you as you go about your normal day, write down every meal and snack that you consume, plus its calorie value. This list should also include teaspoons of sugar and even butter or jam added to your toast at breakfast.

(2) Calculate a new calorie intake – Now that you have your list of daily food items and the calorie values, add them all up to get a total intake amount. Now you’ll need to decide on how many calories you want to cut down by per day, this will all depend on how many pounds you hope to lose per week, a healthy limit is between 0.5 – 2 pounds a week. The general rule of thumb states that if you reduce your daily intake by 500 calories a day you will lose roughly 1 pound a week. With this in mind a reduction of anywhere between 500 – 1000 calories per day sounds good, but 500 might be a more realistic starting point.

(3) Start reducing your calories – Now that you have your daily calorie reduction figure you can look back at your list of foods and pick out the items with above average values, these will probably be a lot of your favorite snacks, but trying to lose weight fast involves hard work and a little sacrifice. When deciding what foods to leave out, remember that you need a balanced diet with a good amount of nutrients, mainly limit those items with high fat and sugar levels.