They all say the same thing. Whether it's the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the American Dietetic Association, the American Heart Association or the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the recommendation for losing weight successfully is to balance your intake and expenditure of calories by eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.
Healthy Weight Loss
To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. Most professionals recommend losing at a rate of approximately 2 pounds per week. If you lose at a faster rate, you're more likely to gain the weight back. It takes 3,500 calories to make 1 pound of fat, so to lose 2 pounds per week, you need to consume 7,000 fewer calories per week than you normally do. That's equivalent to 1,000 fewer calories per day.
Role of Exercise
If 1,000 calories sounds like a lot to cut out of your daily diet, you can use physical activity to burn some extra calories. For example, you can eat 500 fewer calories each day and engage in enough physical exercise to burn the other 500 calories.
Nutrition Guidelines
When decreasing calories to lose weight, make sure that you still receive adequate nutrition. The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that you get 20 to 35 percent of your total daily calories from fat, 45 to 65 percent from carbohydrates, and 10 to 35 percent from protein.
What to Eat
Eating to lose weight successfully means consuming a healthy diet that includes nutrient-packed foods from all the food groups. Your diet should include whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat or fat-free dairy products and lean proteins from meat, poultry and fish.
Features
Two key components of losing weight successfully are portion control and non-depravation. Eat high-fat and high-sugar foods sparingly, but don't deprive yourself of them completely. If you do, you're more likely to lose control and binge on them at some point. Watch portion sizes for all foods and don't overeat -- eat only until you are satisfied.
Warning
As tempting as it is, the latest fad diet is not the way to lose weight successfully. Most fad diets emphasize one food or type of food instead of a balanced diet, so if you stay on one for an extended period, you run the risk of developing nutritional deficiencies.
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