Get RIPPED! Tips – How to Lose the Last Ten Pounds

You’ve worked so hard to achieve your weight loss goals and you’re doing great, but sometimes those last ten pounds are the hardest to lose. Don’t give up. Here are 26 tips from Jari Love’s Get RIPPED! program that will help you shed those last few pounds to have you looking and feeling your best.

1. Visualize your success. Your best tool is your mind. Be confident and positive that the last 10 pounds will come off and you will achieve your goal.

2. Incorporate compound exercises. Create workouts that target more than one muscle group at a time. These compound exercises burn more calories in the same amount of time. Add compound exercises to your routine to double down on the calorie burn and kickstart your weight loss.

3. Increase protein. Add protein to your diet to increase your metabolism and burn calories throughout the day.

4. Self-monitor. The Get RIPPED! program recommends that you keep track of your eating habits and your exercise routine. Write down what you eat and your exercise each day to keep yourself accountable. These simple behaviours can help you reach your fitness goals faster.

5. Measure and track food portions. Be accountable for what you eat. Track your portions and measure their size to be increasingly aware of your caloric intake.

6. Increase the effort. Increasing your effort and intensity during workouts will boost your calorie burn. The same duration of exercise at a higher effort will help you reach your goals because your extra effort will ensure the total number of calories burned will always be higher.

7. Decrease calorie requirements. As your weight decreases, so can your daily calorie requirements. Recalculate your calorie requirements regularly.

8. Stop eating later in the evening. We need calories for energy, but nighttime is often the most sedentary time of the day for most of us. Eating without expending as much energy leads to weight gain, so stop eating 2-3 hours before going to bed.

9. Interval training. Add intervals to your workouts. The Get RIPPED! program always includes some interval training. Interval training is an excellent way to add some variety into your exercise routine by alternating between high and low impact activities. The extra intensity will also help you burn more calories during your workout and well after as well.

10. Cross-training. Our bodies are amazing. They adapt so quickly. If you’ve been doing the same workout or type of exercise for a long time chances are you aren’t burning the same number of calories as you did when you first started. This is because your body has adapted and made itself more efficient. Try cross training—add in new kinds of exercises into your routine. This will keep your body guessing will help you break out of any plateaus.

11. Drink more. Thirst is often mistaken for hunger. Every time you feel the urge to snack, drink a glass of water first and see if the urge goes away.

12. Double down on cardio. Try adding an extra cardio workout to your day or split your current time in half. Performing cardio twice a day provides a boost to your metabolism which increases calorie burn for longer portions of the day.

13. Revise your diet. Sometimes, losing the last 10 pounds will require a revision to your diet. Monitor items such as condiments and dairy products.

14. Get up earlier. The more time we are active during the day, the more time we have to burn calories. Try getting up earlier in the morning to help burn extra calories throughout the day. You can also use that extra time to squeeze in some bonus exercise.

15. Cardio mornings. Many personal trainers recommend that you do some cardio exercise first thing in the morning. This will help burn fat rather than any blood sugars and keep your metabolism revved throughout the morning.

16. Eat small meals every 2-3 hours. Eat small 5-6 meals throughout the day to stabilize your blood sugar, control your appetite, and keep your energy up.

17. Challenge. The Get RIPPED! program periodizes their exercise programs so members keep getting results. Your body needs to be challenged. Continue to challenge your mind and body with new exercises or heavier weights to keep getting results.

18. Reassess weight goals. Make sure that your goal weight is healthy and achievable.

19. Get extra support. Your family and friends are your support system. Sometimes we need to be accountable to someone other than ourselves. Have family and friends check in with you every few days to give you further encouragement, or schedule extra exercise sessions with them to spend quality time getting healthy together.

20. Choose low GI. Stabilize your blood-sugar levels by choosing foods that are low on the glycemic index (55 or under), high in water-soluble fibre and high in protein.

21. Increase your Omega 3 and 6s. Omega 3 and 6 are fatty acids that help improve your body’s fat burning process and they help increase carbohydrate storage in muscle. Increase your daily intake with fish oil.

22. Choose whole grains. Complex carbs help us feel full longer. Choose whole grains over refined and processed carbs to keep your appetite in check.

23. Deal with your emotions. Sometimes we don’t eat because we are hungry. Recognize emotional triggers that lead to overeating. Replace emotional eating with stress busting activities like a quick cardio session or some mindful deep breathing.

24. Eat enough. Be careful not to cut calories too much. If our bodies think we are starving, they will store rather than burn calories which can make you actually stop losing weight

25. Take your measurements. When we start a new exercise and diet plan the scale might not always be the best indicator of your success. New exercise habits will help us lose fat, but also will help us gain muscle. Measurements can identify your inches lost goal and track your changes over the next few weeks.

26. Step it up. Add and track 10,000 steps everyday with a pedometer. Start with 2000 and work your way up.