i need to lose 15 - 20 pounds?

When it comes to losing weight - it's fat you want to lose. Not fluid, not your muscles.

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Generally - the faster you lose weight, the higher chance you have of gaining that weight back PLUS even more weight.

However a 20 pound fat reduction is achievable. For the best possible outcome, the following principles should be addressed:

Diet (lean proteins, good fats, whole carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables. Cut out 'white' carbs')

Weight Training

Cardiovascular exercise

Consistency and dedication

Sleep (plenty of it)

Water (keep well hydrated)

Do Crunches. Lie on the floor (with or without a mat). Cross your arms in front of your chest. (Donot place both hands behind your head. Placing both hands behind your head can cause lower back problems in the long run as it places unnecessary stress on that part of your body from pulling on your head and neck.) Another alternative to crossing your arms in front of your chest is to lightly place your finger tips behind your ears, without pulling on your neck or ears to help raise you off the floor. Draw in your abdomen towards your spine while inhaling through your nose. Now raise your shoulders (upper torso) towards your knees, using strictly your abdominal muscles. It is very important not to lift your entire back off the floor, as this can cause back strain, and the extended movement does not help you develop six pack abs any faster. The most important part of the crunch is the initial flexing of your abs as you lift your shoulders off of the floor. As soon as you begin lifting off the floor exhale through your mouth, ending with a gasp once your shoulders are off the floor. Then pause for a second once you are at the top of the crunch and exhale the last bit of air from your diaphragm while flexing your abs. The proper breathing and flexing make all the difference. Now lower back down slowly and controlled while inhaling through your nose, just until your shoulder blades touch the ground. Do not let your head touch the ground and repeat.

Do Sit Ups. Lie on the floor, feet on the floor, knees up and hands behind your head or crossed on your chest. Sit all the way up, lifting your lower back off the floor along with your shoulder blades. Lower yourself down. Repeat. Once this becomes relatively easy for you (i.e. you can do a quite a bit with ease) start adding more challenges. Find an incline bench or do these on an exercise ball. Once you "graduate" from that, do weighted sit ups. Hold a weight on your chest while you do these. As these become easier, hold heavier and heavier weights. You might also try lifting your feet off the ground while doing the sit ups or alternating the leg in the air, like pretending to pedal while sitting up. If your hands are behind your head, bring your left knee up to touch your right elbow and then your right knee to the left elbow.

Do Leg Lifts. Lie on the floor, legs straight out, hands at your sides. Lift your legs straight up (not bending your knees at all) until they're at a ninety degree angle (or close). Lower your legs and repeat without letting your legs touch the floor. For more challenge there is equipment at most gyms that will allow you to raise yourself up using your arms as support and dangle your legs. You can perform leg lifts there too. If you're using this piece of equipment, you can make it easier by just raising your knees to your chest. It's more difficult to raise your legs to a horizontal position with your legs straight. This helps firm up the lower abdomen. If you're truly a monster, try doing leg lifts with a medicine ball hanging from your feet. Or hang from a pull up bar and raise your legs in front of you all the way up to the bar. Still too easy?...

Do Jackknife Sit Ups. Lie down flat on the floor. Place your hands on the ground to your sides for balance; you can pick them up as you get used to the movement. Simultaneously raise your knees and torso so that your knees and face meet on an imaginary line extending from your pelvis to the ceiling. You should be able to kiss your knees at the top of the motion. Your legs will naturally fold bringing your feet towards your hips, much like a jackknife. Lie back down (i.e. "spread out") and repeat. Place a weight between your feet when you think you can handle it. What's that? More?

Do V-ups. Lie on the floor, legs straight out, hands on the floor but this time extended out over your head. Simultaneously raise legs and torso. Don't bend your knees! What kind of V would it be if you bend your knees? Reach with your hands toward the raised feet. Touch your feet if possible (might require some flexibility). Relax, return to starting position and repeat. Add weight between feet to match your taste.

Static Hold and Side Statics. Put your body into the push-up position but with your elbows on the floor, and you whole body flat. This position is known as the static hold position and it trains your core (including your abs) to hold the body in place which is the real purpose of your abs. Hold this position for as long as possible, but you should be aiming to start off with at least 45 seconds, while seasoned ab workers known to achieve over 20 minute static holds. To perform the side static hold roll onto one side of your body and lift into the same position as before, but this time only one arm will be on the ground with the other arm pointed straight up the air and your non-weight bearing leg resting on your bottom leg. Once again, hold this for as long as possible

Train Your Oblique Muscles. It's not as important to work on your oblique muscles at first, but eventually you'll want to start working these too. These are the muscles to either side of your stomach. There are multiple ways to do this and anything that includes twisting your torso against a resistance counts. There are twisting machines at gyms, you can twist while you do sit-ups, you can do side bends, you can twist side to side with a medicine ball in hand, etc. Be aware though, that many beginners tend to have weak obliques compared to their abs (it simply isn't used as much in daily life) so go easy on the sides at first.

Other stuff Since it is, literally, the center of your body there are many other tricks you can use to train your abs, and some of the other movements will more or less involve your abs. Including every abdominal exercise in existence would make this article painfully long and new methods are being developed constantly. Now that you've made up your mind about a washboard mid-section, get creative! Find new ways to crunch, bend and twist in your daily life. Some possibilities include:

Use a stability ball. Do your crunches on the ball to introduce instability to your workout, which will improve your balance too. There are also lots of core exercises that can be done with a stability ball.You can also use a small bubble use for physical therapy.

Duck and twist during your daily routine. Reach with your left hand to things on your right and vice versa. If you feel like turning around to face something, see if you can do it with keeping your hips in place and twisting at the waist (warning: awkward when talking to other people, use only against inanimate objects). While walking or standing, pretend that something is coming toward you and you have to duck to get out of the way. Do this as often as you are comfortable or at times when it won't look weird. You can bend forward from the hips or, if you're really into it, bend at the knees too and really "sink" out of the way.

Lose Fat

Lift Weights. The more muscle your body has, the more calories your body burns, even at rest. Many people are afraid of getting huge due to weight lifting. This is meaningless. You will NOT gain a lot of mass if you're not taking in a lot of calories as well. Also keep in mind that most of the huge people you see on TV or in print achieve that state by going on high protein and high carb diets. They increase their calorie intake specifically to bulk up. So the fear of bulking up should NOT be a reason to not lift weights. As a rule of thumb, the larger the muscle the more energy it will burn to sustain itself. Therefore the most effective muscle groups to work for fat loss are large muscle groups: thighs and hamstrings, the back, and the chest. You can also lift your body weight without going to a gym, through push ups, sit ups, chin ups, etc.

Do Cardio. No matter how muscular your abs are that six pack isn't going to show if you cover it up with a layer of fat. Running, biking, swimming, stair climbing, jumping rope, tennis, volleyball, dancing, squash or any other activity that gets you moving and keeps you moving is a great way to burn fat. However, a cardio workout should be performed for at least 20 MINUTES to burn fat. Prior to this your body will simply run on its stored energy, which results in minimal fat loss. Cardio should always be done after your weight lifting workout. While lifting weights, you use stored, (carb) energy, thus, by doing cardio after weight training your body will have less stored energy to use and go straight into the fat storage for its energy use. The overall best way to shed fat fast is to do cardio(30 min minimum) right when you wake up. Your body will search for energy to use, when it finds nothing in your stomach, it will go directly to your fat storage for energy and the fat will burn up so fast!

Diet TipsKeep Metabolism Steady. Eating one small meal (such as a potato, a salad, etc.) every three hours that you are awake will not speed up your metabolism, rather, it will keep it going. Your metabolism goes and slows with your food intake and eating something small every three hours will keep that metabolism burning calories and will help you lose weight.

Eat Smaller Dinners. Cut down on the size of your dinner. If you're hungry, snack on fruits or other healthy, low calorie snacks. Large dinners tend to hurt a fat loss process because most people aren't very active after dinner. This is the basis for advice along the lines of "don't eat anything within X hours before going to bed". The claim that your entire dinner is stored as fat isn't entirely true (the process is more complicated than that) but the fact you don't move after dinner is enough to hurt your cause. You can offset this by eating a larger lunch or snacking healthily before dinner. Fresh fruits or vegetables are excellent choices for curbing appetite not to mention other health benefits. A handful of nuts might do the same. Drink a large glass of water before sitting at the table.

Eat More Fiber. Most people don't get enough fiber. The recommended amount is actually not that much if you eat a healthy diet. "Fiber foods" include whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and nuts and seeds. Other options are fiber supplements.

Eat Breakfast. Many people skip breakfast because they don't have time for it. Keep this in mind: You don't have time to skip breakfast, it's simply too valuable to skip. The fact that skipping breakfast messes up your concentration and other mental functions is beyond the scope of this article. The harm of skipping breakfast from a weight loss perspective is it makes you eat a huge lunch since your body hasn't had anything in the past 12 (or more) hours. When you eat a huge lunch you get that after meal drowsiness so now you're both unproductive and inactive. Cereals don't take much time to prepare and consume, and most of them are very healthy nowadays. If you are extremely pressed for time, consider grabbing a box of breakfast bars or a smoothie and throwing one in your bag when you leave for work or school. Some breakfast bars out there are also excellent sources of fiber.

Eat Smaller Meals More Frequently. This helps raise your metabolism too. It's not easy to do though since it's a relatively big change to most people's routines. But it doesn't have to be a full blown meal, simply eat often but less. A jar of nuts in the office will do just fine, grab a handful when you feel like it. Most fruits can last for a couple days without refrigeration, and if you have a refrigerator at the office, make use of it.

Drink More Water Everyday. Many places suggest 8 cups (2 L) of water a day. It sounds like an absurd amount of water, but actually, you can drink tea without sugar to make up some of the quota. In fact tea, especially green tea, rev up your "metabolism" (actually cause a temporary increase in calories burned).

For fat loss purposes, it is important to remind yourself that thirst is a much weaker stimuli than hunger. If you consistantly feel hungry after meals, don't immediately think that you need to eat more. You may simply be thirsty!

Needless to say there are many benefits of water. 69% of your body is made of it!

I have 3 sure fire ways to loose those lbs. I have lost more than 60+ lbs.

The first is the tuna fish diet. You loose about 10 lbs in a week if you do it right and stay dedicated. So the thing is you eat tuna 6 x a day small meals. You are allowed 2 slices of WHEAT bread and you can use a tiny tiny little bit of mayo if you must but of course you will loose more if you use none at all. You can also replace mustard for mayo...it's not the same and some don't like it but it takes away the fishy taste if you don't like tuna if you do ...it gives it a little zing. Well eat the tuna 6x for 3 or so days and drink a lot lot lot of water and eat veggies and fruits. Try not to do the diet for that long though..most say don't do it more than 3 days because tuna does NOT have all the proteins you need so ..the tuna diet lacks some proteins and it's not good to go without your proteins for a long time.

The second is the subway diet. Yes, this works too. The trick is to get the chicken sub or the veggie and eat that. Get WHEAT BREAD again because it's fiber and helps you loose weight. The bread and all the veggies not to mention the chicken, gives you the necessary proteins and substance you need for a healthy diet friendly meal. Yes, it works!

The third is the slim fast diet. This also works and you just eat one of the many meal bars they have or drink the drinks. Drink a lot of water..and get your fruits and veggies.

The fourth I guess....is mixing everything together....doing tuna in the morning....sub in the mid day and slim fast for the evening. They all work great if your dedicated.

For exercise try the 8 minute abs and the pilates. Let me tell you that ab workout you start feeling the first time you do it....I did it several times a day ...and you start feeling the results and then you start seeing them...you feel them of course before you see them. I started noticing the difference pretty fast. The energy from the weight loss is very noticeable too.

These have all worked for me I would recommend it to you. As always...you should consult a doc before your diet...blah blah blah... The quickest? The tuna diet. Don't starve yourself that doesn't work.

Your goal may be realized as you can safely lose about 1.5 pounds a weeks. Hopefully, you have access to a gym.

First - exercise. Start the workout session with 30 - 45 minutes of weight lifting. Form is more important than weight, so keep that in mind. The reason you want to lift weight first is to burn the glycogen that is stored in your liver as an energy reserve.

Oh, if you don't have access to a gym - bike riding, hiking, push up, sit up, etc. Just keep active and eat right. A good diet is the most important part of the equation.

Follow that with 20 - 40 minutes of cardiovascular activity - bike riding, Since most if not all of you glycogen should be depleted, this optimizes fat lose.

Second - Diet. Each 5 - 6 small meals a day. Look up some information about healthy eating to show you want to eat and what to avoid.

Exercise 4 times a week (every other day) to give yourself adequate amounts of rest. Drink plenty of water and don't get discourages - it's hard to burn excess fat but possible.

First go for brisk walks. They are great for burning fats and trimming lower body fats.

Next, eat healthily with lots of veggies, lean meat and complex carbs and exercise, you will not have problem losing some fats and weight. There are no hunger pangs too.

I am on low carb, low fat, high fibre, high protein and a hour brisk walk 5 times a week, and I have lost 31lbs and gain better health. I am now maintaining my 108lbs for more than a year.

Details such as meals, recipes, walking as an exercise and to shape the body etc etc, are in my blog

Xiaozhen

Walk at least 15 mins after your meals

make like laila ali and jump rope as fast as you can for 8 minutes

always have vegetables on hand saute a big bag of frozen mixed vegetables in olive oil and garlic add some red pepper or turmeric for additional flavor and separate into portion sized containers for the fridge

exercise !! run or walk 30 mins , 3 day/ week.... drink lots and lots of water... don't eat things that have sugar or salt because it retains liquids in your body (makes u fat!) ..... don't eat anything that is fried 'cause is awaful for your body... try to eat 6 times a day... in the morning for example i eat a bowl of cereal ... low sugar and carbs... usually any of the cherioos cereal and i cut half of a banana and mix it with the cereal in fat free milk.... that keeps u full ... then after 2 hrs eat snaks like dried fruit ... almonds ... or the kellog's cereal bars.. and water!!! .... then eat your lunch ... wait 2 hour's and eat a snack again ... then eat dinner ... and wait 2 hrs and eat your last snack... it will work... but don't eat big portions of food!!!

Walk daily 30 mins in the morning

The sanest way is 3 moderate meals a day, nothing in between, cut out all white flour and sugar.

Replace chips with salad to cut carbs