How to Lose 15 Pounds

Those 15 pounds are clinging to you in all sorts of interesting places! You have a little extra padding around your middle, thickness in your thighs and flab on your arms. Overall, you could be in worse shape. But, you still have a good 15 pounds that you’d like to lose before you feel really comfortable in those tight blue jeans hanging in your closet. Well, it’s time to get down to work and start firming up those muscles, improving your overall fitness and trimming those pounds off of your body. It's not going to be complicated – you just need to put in some effort!

If you are trying to get that last bit of weight off and you’ve reached a plateau, there are two main things that you can do that will get you the results that you crave. You need to be careful and choosy with your eating and you need to increase the intensity of your fitness routine. As someone who has just in the last number of months reached her ultimate weight loss goal, I know that those last 15 pounds are the most frustrating and difficult to lose. But it can be done. I did it and you can too!

Food and fitness… that’s really what it all comes down to. When you are trying to shed those last few pounds, you need to be even more strict with yourself in regards to your eating. When I got to the point of only having 15 pounds left to lose, I slacked way off. I ate chocolate if I wanted it. As it was, people were telling me how great I looked since losing the weight (at that point I’d lost 40 pounds). I liked how I looked in my clothes as compared to before. I did have 15 more pounds to lose, but I stopped working out and at the same time, my eating when down the tubes.

After a month or two, I did regain my focus and was gung-ho on dropping those last 15 pounds. I am going to share some of the things that worked for me in regards to food and fitness because I really believe that there is no easy way to lose weight. There is no diet that is going to work on a long term basis – there is only nutritious eating and exercise if you are going to obtain and maintain a healthy weight.

I am not a huge cardio fan, but I know that in order to burn calories and fat you need to get your heart rate up and keep it there. I’d rather have bamboo shoots shoved under my fingernails than walk on a treadmill. Don’t even get me started on how I feel about the stationary bike. Personally, I found that I enjoyed workout classes better than pieces of workout equipment. But, everyone’s different. To lose my final 15 pounds, I worked out about 4-5 times a week, anywhere from 30 – 60 minutes doing a combination of the following:

• Kickboxing class
• Light running / walking
• Step Aerobics class
• “Burn and Firm” type of DVD that I purchased

You have to try to make working out a regular part of your life. It helps if you do something that you enjoy because it is then, that you may actually sustain the activity. I’d never done kickboxing before and I think it worked really well to challenge my body to perform moves that it was not used to performing. I suggest that you do as high an intensity workout as possible in order to boost your metabolism and get those pounds off. I also think having a back–up plan for the days that you can’t leave the house is important. I made it a priority to do something most days. I bought a set of really excellent DVDs that are quick and easy to do so that I never have an excuse as to why I can’t work out.

It is important that you take a look at your current eating habits to troubleshoot the areas of weakness and brainstorm ways to improve. The obvious applies: Stay away from high fat, high sugar, salty foods that are no good for your body. Now is not the time to start slacking in the food department and indulging, when 20 pounds ago you wouldn’t have dared. Yes, you do need to live a little. But don’t forget to always plan your treats and not just eat them on the spur of the moment, because they are there – when you’re not even hungry.

Try to remain very conscious of your eating. Food is the fuel that provides energy to our bodies – nothing more. If you are eating for any reasons other than hunger and you are trying to lose the last 15 pounds – good luck to you. Fifteen pounds is not an enormous amount of weight to lose and it will be even more difficult to do if you give in to every craving because you think you deserve it.

What you really have to do to lose 15 pounds is to burn off more calories than you take in. Below are some easy ways to burn extra calories, on top of your planned workouts. You can do a few of these while you’re watching t.v. in the evening on commercial breaks, while you’re playing with the kids, or just if you have a few minutes in the day to spare.

Climb up your stairs
Squats ~ (keep your knee over your ankle)
Lunges ~ from one side of your living room to the other (maintain good posture)
Jump rope (you can pretend you have a rope)
Jumping jacks
Side jumps ~ roll up a towel on the floor and jump over it from side to side
Push-ups
Plank ~ Lay on your stomach, lift yourself onto your toes and forearms, keeping your body low. Hold.
Sit-ups
Bicep curls (use soup cans, resistance bands or whatever you have)

If you maintain control of your eating, work out 4-5 times a week and add in calorie burning activities like those listed above, that 15 pounds that you’re trying to lose will just melt off. Just think, every time that you add an extra workout into your schedule, every day that you “eat clean”, you’re one step closer to the body that you desire. It is totally within your grasp. It is time to lose that 15 pounds!

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