How to Lose Weight Quickly | Conquer Cravings and Emotional Eating

Everybody wants to know how to lose weight quickly. This lens is all about weight loss -- but weight loss the healthy, safe way.

As for losing weight quickly, a weight loss of one and a half pounds to two pounds a week is considered best for women, and perhaps a little more than that for men.

Most authorities would agree that successful weight loss involves a combination of two major components: calorie control and regular exercise.

Food portions are important, as is the type of food that you eat. Although people are quick to tell you that diets don't work -- they will then go on to say that you have to eat in a certain way. Excuse my ignorance, but when you say one must eat in a certain way -- that's a diet! LOL

This article addresses some of the myths about dieting and weight loss. It also introduces you to a new way of managing your weight -- meridian tapping. If you haven't heard of it, you are not alone. But if you are willing to keep an open mind and give it a try, you may be delighted and surprised at the results.

When "will power" just isn't enough....

As we all know, "going on a diet" is easy. Its the "staying on it" that's hard. And maintaining the weight loss afterwards is the most difficult challenge of all.

Struggling with the yo-yo diet syndrome is downright miserable. Anyone who has lost substantial amounts of weight only to regain it again understands the feelings of hopelessness and futility that develops.

Although it may feel hopeless, there is good news. Therapeutic approaches such as NLP, EFT (emotional freedom technique or simply "tapping"), self hypnosis and spiritual practices are proving to be extremely helpful in addressing the challenges of yo-yo dieting, food addictions, compulsive overeating, emotional eating and eating disorders.

Men tend to lose weight faster than women, thanks to a different body makeup which produces a faster metabolism. The higher proportion of muscle to fat allows males to drop the pounds faster than their female counterparts can.

So ladies -- do not enter into a weight loss contest with your hubby. The cards are stacked against you with that particular competition. Even if you eat fewer calories and exercise more than your husband does, your guy will lose weight faster than you.

Yes, I agree. It isn't fair. :-)

Extremely Low Calorie Diets are BAD!

While its true that extremely low calorie, starvation diets may cause you to lose weight quickly, at least in the beginning, you will be worse off in the end.

Here are five reasons to avoid starvation diets:

1. Your body will perceive (correctly) that it is in danger and will go into survivival mode. To protect itself, you body will adjust your metabolism to burn calories with the maximum efficiency. This lowered metabolism means you will lose weight at a slower rate than you would if you were eating a healthier diet.

2. When your body is not receiving enough calories, especially calories coming from protein food sources, it will burn muscle instead of fat. In other words, your body literally eats itself to survive. You will end up with a higher ratio of fat to muscle.

3. When you go off the diet, you will regain the weight very quickly. Your metabolism has slowed, remember, so you will gain weight faster than ever once you regain normal eating.

4. Extremely low calorie diets are likely to trigger binge eating. You crave food so intensely that you go on a wild binge and consume everything in site.

5. Extreme diets can lead to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.

For healthy weight loss, do not eat less than 1200 calories a day unless you are under medical supervision.

1. Remember that your BMI (body mass index) is more important than your actual weight. Your BMI is a number that represents the ratio of fat to body tissue. You can find BMI calculators at various web sites, including the Web MD site in the links above.

If the scales refuse to budge even though you are doing all the right things, you may be burning fat and building muscle. Since muscle is denser than fat, the scales will not reflect the loss, but you have made excellent progress nevertheless.

When the scales don't move, it can be discouraging, Therefore, I suggest obtaining a digital scale that calculates the percentage of body fat. If the percentage of fat is decreasing, you are doing fine even though the scales may not move for awhile.

2. Be sure to incorporate an exercise routine into your weight loss plan. A good exercise routine has three components: cardio, strength building and flexibility.

Not only will you lose weight faster, but you will feel better physically and you will end up with a firm, toned, healthy body.

3. Be sure to drink plenty of water throughout your weight loss program. At least eight cups of water a day is recommended, and more if you are physically active.

Jessica Ortner is a prominent tapping practitioner who specializes in weight management. As someone who struggled with obesity herself, Jessica understands the issues and the challenges. She has a best selling book on using tapping for weight management, as well as a coaching program. Much of Jessica's material is available at no charge on Youtube, and her book is economically priced on Amazon.

In the video below, Jessica invites you to tap along with her on a topic familiar to anyone who ever tired to lose weight -- food cravings.