The best way to lose weight is by taking in fewer calories than you use. The National Institutes of Health reports that 1 lb. of fat is equivalent to 3,500 calories. This means that to drop weight you should consume 500 fewer calories each day or burn 500 calories a day through exercise. While commercial diets can help you drop weight quickly, restricting calories and eliminating food groups can cause you to overeat and regain all the lost weight.
Cut High-Calorie Foods
You can quickly strike hundreds of calories from your diet by avoiding foods that are high in fat and sugar and reduce your alcohol intake. Some of your dinner-table staples contain shockingly high amounts of calories. Keri Glassman, a registered dietitian, suggests swapping ketchup, with 16 calories per tbsp., with zero-calorie hot sauce. Use olive oil spray, at 2 calories per spray, in place of butter, which has 35 calories per tsp. Herbs and spices, which contain zero calories, can substitute for your barbecue sauce at 25 calories per tbsp.
Exercise Regularly
The American Academy of Family Physicians, AAFP, reports that burning between 250 and 500 calories a day can result in losing 1/2 to 1 lb. a week. The American Council on Exercise explains that interval training is when you do short bursts of intensive activity weaved into a cardio exercise. For example, walk at a swift pace on a treadmill for seven to 10 minutes followed by jogging for 5 minutes. Repeat this routine two or three times. According to ProHealth, a health information website, a 150-lb. person walking at a moderate pace for 20 minutes can burn about 57 calories. Adding 10 minutes of race walking can burn an additional 74 calories. The NIH explains that aerobic exercise helps increase muscle tissue, which burns more calories than fat tissue. Healthy adults should aim for no less than 20 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week.
Low-Calorie Diets
A traditional low-calorie diet restricts intake to between 1,200 and 1,500 calories daily, according to the Cleveland Clinic. If your weight puts you at immediate risk for health problems, you should discuss going on a very low-calorie diet, VLCD, with your doctor. A VLCD is a safe option for people whose body mass index is no less than 30 and only when under proper medical supervision. On a VLCD you will consume about 800 calories a day and can lose about 3 to 5 lbs. a week, which can automatically improve medical conditions related to obesity including diabetes and high blood pressure.
Commercial Diets
If your goal is to drop a lot of weight quickly, you may want to try a popular commercial diet. Weight-loss plans that suggest eating a diet low in carbohydrates and calories can quickly eliminate water weight. If your intention is to keep the weight off, however, you should reconsider. In a 2007 analysis of 31 long-term diet studies published in the "Journal of the American Psychological Association" by Traci Mann found that you can lose about 5 to 10 percent of your weight initially on a commercial diet, but you're likely gain it all back again, plus more. Sustained weight loss, according to Mann, was found in a small minority of study participants. Complete weight regain was found in nearly two-thirds of participants.
Warnings
The AAFP warns that you should not reduce your calorie intake to below 1,200 calories a day for women and 1,500 calories a day for men, unless you're on a medically supervised diet. Eating too few calories can result in losing water weight and lean muscle mass. Calories also provide energy you need for normal functioning and physical activity. One benefit of exercising is that the more calories you burn, the more calories you can consume.
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