Fad diets come and go, and the people that adhere to them typically gain back the weight that they lost. The best way to lose weight is a steady and conservative approach that focuses on making your overall lifestyle healthier. Better food choices, limiting calories without starving and exercising are key.
Fundamentals of Losing Weight
In order to lose weight, your body needs to be burning more calories than it is ingesting, each and everyday. The two ways to shift the proportion of burned to ingested calories is to exercise and cut down on calories.
Set a Realistic Goal
Setting a realistic weight loss goal will help you focus and achieve your objectives. But setting grandiose goals can quickly lead to disappointment. Shoot for a healthy and consistent weight loss goal of one pound per week, or five per month.
Exercising for Healthy Weight Loss
Ideally you should have at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. At a minimum, you should aim for at least 3 workouts per week to increase the calories you are burning off.
Eating Smaller Meals
By eating smaller meals, more often throughout the day, you will keep your metabolism at a higher rate. This will allow your body to digest meals quicker and use the calories more efficiently and effectively. It will also help keep you from overeating, as you will not feel "starved" over the course of the day.
Stay Hydrated
Water has many positive health affects, chief among them the ability to help your body digest foods more quickly while dispersing the gained nutrients in your bloodstream easier. Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
Cut Calories, But Not Too Much
To lose weight healthily you should set a goal of limiting your caloric intake by no more than 20%. If you normally eat 2,500 calories a day, your target should be 2,000. Lower than this will actually shut your metabolism down, and make your body start storing fat.
Control Food Portions
Taking everything you love out of a diet is an easy way to ruin the diet. Keep the foods you crave in your health plan, just limit the portion size and frequency you eat them. Instead of three pieces of pizza three times a week, have two pieces once a week, or one slice two times a week.
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