(, Fast weight loss is one of the most important things on many people's minds. Unfortunately too many people neglect safety in their quest to lose weight. It's tempting to try and take one of the many shortcuts you'll find. The sad thing is that not only can these cause health problems but they often aren't the long term weight loss solution people think.

Weight loss ultimately comes down to one thing; taking in fewer calories than you burn off. You can attack this from either side. You can take in fewer calories or you can increase your calorie burn rate. Obviously, it would be most efficient to do both.

There are a basket full of misconceptions when it comes to losing weight. Common wisdom says that spending hours on the bike are the best thing to do if you're trying to get skinny. Many people work themselves half to death doing seemingly endless cardio sessions. While these are undoubtedly effective, recent research indicates that they are not the most efficient way to lose weight.

That brings up another point. When most people say they want to lose weight, they're not really accurate. What they really want to do is lose fat. Excess fat is unhealthy, while you can carry around some extra pounds of muscle and be quite healthy. So if you are trying to lose fat, and endless stationary bike sessions aren't the best way to go about it, what is the best way?

If you're going to do cardio as a fat loss technique, here are some tips:

One of the main fat loss tips is to do resistance training, rather than all cardio work. In fact a strong case could be made that if you only have time for one or the other, skip the cardio entirely and stick to weight training. Now, this is only for burning fat. Cardio still has tremendous benefits when it comes to increasing your overall health.

Another thing revealed by recent research is that the elevated treadmill is far more effective for burning fat per unit of time than is a stationary bike. So, when you're lining up at the gym for the next free machine, go on over to the treadmills. You'll do more in less time.

Do cardio early in the morning, before you eat. This way you'll more readily use fat for fuel, rather than carbohydrates or stored glycogen. You should ramp up the intensity to between 80% - 90%, and keep your workouts short. 20 - 30 minutes should be fine. No need to kill yourself for an hour or two.

Increase the intensity of your workouts. When you're lifting, get that extra 1 - 3 repetitions after the point of failure. You'll need a spotter for this, but your reap huge dividends in progress by doing so. If you don't have a spotter available, try using dumbbells for greater safety.

Stay away from stimulant based weight loss supplements. You'll save money, and it's much safer. You can do wonders with protein powder and green tea (in moderation). many of the ingredients in these do suppress your appetite, but as with ephedra, research has pointed to possible health risks. It's better to forgo these altogether than take the risk in an attempt to lose weight, especially when there are safer ways to peel off the pounds.

Read How to Lose Body Fat Fast to discover exactly how you can lose fat and increase fitness without taking pills, expensive supplements, or going on any crazy diets. You'll get to skip those long workouts, and maybe even the short ones too! There are hundreds of tips and tricks in there to help you lose your excess fat and add muscle. In fact, it is a great system that was designed for busy professionals whose career demands leave little time for working out, but it works great for about anyone. You should take a look at it now.

Lift weights in the afternoon or early evening, but don't eat for about 2 - 3 hours before lifting. That will help ensure that most of your food is digested and your body will be able to devote all its resources to your routine.

Cut out all white rice, white flour, and refined sugar. This alone can account for substantial fat loss fairly quickly. Refined sugar, white rice and white flour are what's called simple carbohydrates. These are released into your bloodstream relatively quickly. When sugar enters your bloodstream rapidly it triggers a rise in the hormone insulin. Insulin is vital to transport sugars into the cells, where they can be utilized. That's the good part. However, elevated insulin levels also promote fat storage, leading to extra body fat.

Making your carbs primarily the low glycemic index variety, such as low fat yogurt artificially sweetened (GI=15), grapefruit (GI=25), apples (GI=38), broccoli, cucumber, green beans, peppers, spinach(all GI=15), and Kidney beans (GI=29) will help make sure your blood glucose levels don't spike.

Stay away from the aforementioned white trio, whose glycemic indeces are above 60. Breakfast cerals are especially bad, with such breakfast staples a Cornflakes and Rice Crispies both having GIs over 80 and others close behind. even gold ole healthy Shredded Wheat has a GI in the upper 60s.

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