There are reasons why you and I continually fail with weight loss and diets. Any weight loss plan can if not implemented correctly lead to your metabolism slowing as your calorie intake is reduced. The key to successful weight loss can be found in the many muscles of your body. Weight loss plans and diets fail due to a plethora of reasons from hormone imbalances as a result of diets to muscle loss and plain dissatisfaction with the diet. In fact I continually find that after a few weeks of following a weight loss plan or the new 3 day diet fad I become increasingly frustrated up until the point where I convince myself that one day of binging will not hurt. This more often than not becomes a weekend then a week with the result that before long that 3 day diets a distant memory and I have put back on any weight that I had lost. Now the real reason diets fail is that as we reduce our calorie intake the human body has a natural mechanism to conserve energy in the form of fat. This comes from ancestral times when food was scarce and humans could go days without eating much food. Now when food is plentiful, especially in developed western societies, this mechanism does nothing but hinder our weight loss plans. So put your free online calorie counter to one side for a minute and look at what you need to do to make your weight loss dreams a reality.

If you rely on you free online calorie counter to much and your diet lasts many months eventually your body will start to break down muscle tissue and use this for fuel. As muscle needs calories to exist the resulting muscle loss as a result of your long term diet will mean you need to further reduce your calorific intake and your obsession with the free online calorie counter will continue.

So how do we ensure that our weight loss dreams start to be realized?

Firstly you must go into your weight loss plan with your eyes wide open. If you are like me and in excess of 305lbs this may be to set a target weight loss of 50 lbs. I would be a lot wealthier if I had a dollar for the number of times I have started a diet over the years with the unrealistic idea that in 12 months I will look like Brad Pitt. So set realistic goals and when you reach these goals, set another goal - small steps add up to a long journey.

The second point I would try to understand in your attempt to lose belly fat is to see the weight loss plan as a long term plan. Not a 3 day diet, a month diet or a 12 month diet but a rest of your life plan. Changing your lifestyle for the long term is the real key to losing belly fat. The third point I would say is the most important to your long term weight loss plan and all round healthier lifestyle. Increase your activity levels, walk to work, take the kids swimming; anything to increase the amount of cardio vascular exercise you undertake. If you have not been doing any exercise for many months' even years, pay for doctor a visit to ensure it is safe to do exercise then join a gym of walking club; whatever is your choice. If you start doing exercise that builds muscle like weight training as you muscles develop they will require more and more calories to survive and you will find that before long you will be burning more calories than you consume. If we do this for life we will lose belly fat and our weight loss dreams will soon become reality.

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