how lose fat fast before you start

How to Lose Fat Fast – Before You Get Started

There are certain tools that I consider completely vital to a fat loss program. So vital, that like the foundation of a house – I couldn’t imagine starting a program without them. Here is a list of tool I think are anywhere from necessary to helpful, in that order.

You Must Take a “Before” Picture

This is nonnegotiable. You simply must do this. You do not need to be in your underwear or a swimsuit. Simply wear a reasonably tight top (shirtless if a man) that shows the contours of your body plus a pair of reasonably tight shorts. As unpleasant as it seems, you must be able to SEE your body so in a week or more you can look back at your first pictures and make an honest evaluation of whether or not you see improvement.

Keep in mind that the point of this exercise is 1) Psychological – studies show that people who take “before” pictures are more likely to be successful as supposedly this method help cement your commitment to fat loss 2) To accurately monitor your progress – scale weight is not the only indicator of improvement.  Many people will lose multiple inches but become frustrated when the scale doesn’t go down. Don’t let that happen to you! Getting smaller looking is what really matters not the number on the scale. Your eye will not lie! Which leads to point 3) Motivation - Sometimes it is hard to feel like all of your hard work has amounted to anything. During these times you must pull out your “before” picture and compare. I have been surprised each and every time I have done this because the changes I became “accustomed to” were actually quite noticeable when I looked back where I started from. This has prevented me from quitting (when I was showing crazy improvements no less) many times.

Your before picture does not need to be ugly, but you must stand in natural daylight without obvious shadowing, you must take a picture from the  (make sure you are straight on and not angled) front, back, and sides, and make sure you hold the camera perfectly vertical to avoid distorting the picture. Do not hesitate to make the effort to look good in this picture if you think it will help with your motivation. Try getting a spray tan, do your hair and makeup, and buy a new exercise outfit to wear (and then use in your upcoming workouts.)

You Must Take Your Measurements

You must be able to impartially measure progress. You don’t want to be forced to guess if your fat loss and diet program is working.

I recommend taking the following measurements:

The circumference of your upper arm, chest, waist, low waist (optional but helpful as this is the area most people focus on improving), hips, and each thigh.

I recommend taking your measurement and keeping them in either a notebook, or entering them into an online program like fitday.com as then you will not lose them and its easy to see how dramatically these numbers shrink when you do a graph (good for motivation!)

You Must Have Basic Athletic Gear

You must have the following:

A new pair of workout shoes that fit, are not worn out, and in an ideal world were selected for you personally. Many running stores provide this service free of charge. Expect to spend $50-100.

Workout clothes that you like. I recommend looking for performance fabrics that are labeled as “sweat wicking.” These fabrics end up being much more comfortable than basic cotton. Look for REI’s house brand for some of the best fabrics.

Additionally, nothing you buy should make you look fatter or be embarrassing to be seen in. Ladies – I recommend black boot cut yoga pants, and some kind of attractive form fitting athletic top. You may want a nice fitted jacket to go on top to hide your arms and keep you covered from door to car, and car to gym. Good stores include Lucy, Lululemon (not always good for larger sized people as I have discovered), Old Navy, figleaves.com, and athleta.com.

Sport Tops by Lucy

A good supportive and comfortable sports bra. This is found online much easier than in person. Title Nine is a great website and they have stores in many locations out here in the west. Online, I recommend figleaves.com and specifically the Freya brand.

Consider Weighing Yourself and Getting a Body Fat Estimate

You can use a regular scale. Just mark down your weight, enter it in fitday.com and walk away for at least a week. If you choose to weigh yourself again, be sure to do it at the same time of day every time for greatest accuracy.

If you would like to know your body fat you can a) Have a personal trainer test this for you. I recommend only someone trained in using callipers correctly. Avoid expensive body fat scans as they are not super accurate BUT if you want to do it anyways (I do…) 3) Buy your own Tanita body fat scale (my review here). This is cheaper than a single evaluation at most gyms and you can use it as much as you want.