Eating cabbage soup for a week or eliminating complete food groups may help you drop a few immediate pounds, but chances are, any weight you do lose will return as soon as you return to your regular eating habits. The American Heart Association maintains that fad diets fail to teach you how to lose weight in a sustainable manner. Realistic ways to lose weight may take willpower and determination, but your efforts will be rewarded in a slimmer figure for the long run.
Reduce Calories
Weight control is about calories in versus calories out. Eat fewer calories than you burn to lose weight. There is no magic formula to get around the need to reduce calories to prompt weight loss. Harvard researchers conducted a study comparing four different diets that called for various ratios of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Their findings, published in a February 2009 issue of the "New England Journal of Medicine," confirmed that any diet helped people lose weight as long the participants restricted their calories. If having a specific diet to follow helps you adhere to your plan, choose one that appeals to you in terms of eating patterns and food choices. Be sure to select a diet that still provides a minimum of 1,200 calories if you are a woman or 1,500 if you are a man -- the lowest amount of daily calories recommended by the National Institutes of Health.
Increase Physical Activity
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asserts that achieving a health weight requires physical activity and a healthy eating plan. Physical activity helps contribute to your daily calorie burn, making it easier to create a gap between calories burned and calories consumed. You do not have to belong to a gym to exercise -- take a walk or outfit your own mini-home gym with hand weights, a jump rope and an exercise ball. If you do not realistically think you can fit exercise into a busy schedule, try splitting it up into mini-bouts. Go for two 15-minute walks during the day, jump rope in the evening during television commercials or meet your friends for a hike rather than dinner.
Eat Breakfast
Skipping meals can cause you to eat too much at your next meal because of extreme hunger. Simply adding breakfast every day will help you jump-start your metabolism and establish good eating habits for the day. Over 70 percent of the 5,000 members of the National Weight Control Registry -- people who have lost and maintained an average of 66 lb. -- report eating breakfast every day as part of their weight control regimen. You can realistically add breakfast to your day -- even if you do not have time to cook. Eat a bowl of whole grain cereal, a banana and low-fat milk. Have a peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread or grab a string cheese, an apple and a handful of almonds. Choosing a breakfast that includes protein and whole grains can help you stay full longer than a breakfast of refined flours and excessive sugar.
Choose Whole Foods
Focus on eating whole foods that are close to nature. Choose lean proteins, low-fat dairy, plant-based fats and produce for most of your meals. Foods that have undergone a lot of processing -- such as energy bars, frozen dinners and snack foods like chips or crackers -- tend to have excess sodium, refined flours, saturated fat and added sugars. Cooking more at home will help you stick to healthy ingredients and control your calorie intake. If time pressures prevent you from preparing healthy meals every night, try cooking extras when you do have time and saving them for later in the week.
References
- American Heart Association: Fad Diets
- National Weight Control Registry: Research Findings
- National Insitutes of Health: Tips for Losing Weight
- Centers for Disease Control: Physical Activity
- New England Journal of Medicine: Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates
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