Weight loss does not need to be hard or complicated to understand or achieve. With so many diets to choose from, the diet that's best for you is usually the diet that works for you. A healthy diet, exercise and monitoring of calories are the makings of a simple diet plan. Keep your diet simple and combine these three concepts as a foolproof way to begin weight loss.
Nutrition
Weight loss begins with healthy nutrition. Choose natural foods over their processed counterparts. For instance, eat fruit and vegetables instead of bread, cereal and pasta. Easily digested processed carbohydrates interfere with weight loss and promote weight gain. Though many diets say you should not eat fat or reduce the amount of fat in your diet, fat is an important component for healthy nutrition. Fat helps preserve body heat, protects organs and helps with absorption of certain vitamins. However, it is important to choose the right kind of fat. Eat monounsaturated and polyunsaturated sources of fat from nuts, seeds and avocados. It is advised to keep fat intake below 35 percent of your day's worth of calories. Avoid trans and saturated-fat-containing foods, commonly found in baked, processed and packaged goods, as well as beef and dairy products. These fats promote bad cholesterol and increase your risk for heart disease.
Caloric Needs
It is essential to know how many calories your body needs for everyday activity before you can begin cutting back calories to lose weight. Try an online calculator provided by Nutriweb or the Calorie Council that takes into consideration height, age, current weight, gender and activity. The number provided will be the amount of calories you should eat to stay at your current weight.
Time Frame
Begin by cutting 250 calories out of your diet daily. At the end of one week, you will have lost half of a pound. The following week, decrease your diet by 50 calories a day until you reach a 500-calorie deficit. This will result in healthy weight loss of 1 lb. a week.
Exercise
Adding exercise to your weight loss regimen will enhance the rate and amount of weight lost. Combine cardiovascular training and strength training for optimum results. Exercising helps build lean muscle mass. As you build muscle and decrease your body fat, your basal metabolic rate increases, meaning you'll burn more calories at rest than you did prior to decreasing your body fat. Burning 250 to 500 calories a day through exercise will lead to an additional pound of weight loss per week.
Tracking Your Diet
Use a notebook to help monitor your diet as well as keep track of your calories. Write down everything you eat, including the caloric amount of foods. Also, track how much fat you eat to ensure you are not going over the recommended 35 percent daily. Tracking your diet will help you make healthier food choices and ensure you are not going over your daily caloric goals.
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