Long-term weight loss is achieved by creating a calorie deficit until you achieve your desired weight, and thereafter maintaining a permanent balance between calorie intake and calorie expenditure. Eating is how you consume calories, and physical activity is how you burn calories. For this reason, an effective weight loss program will include both diet and exercise.
Weight Loss Goals
Don't try to lose more than 2 lbs. per week, urges the Mayo Clinic. This will require you to create a 1,000-calorie-per-day deficit. Extreme low-calorie diets result in unsustainable weight loss because they ignore the body's nutritional needs and are so restrictive that you are likely to be unable to adhere to one for life. Likewise, don't try to lose more than 10 percent of your current body weight. If you are obese and need to lose more than this amount, consult your doctor.
Food Groups
The best foods for weight loss are the same foods necessary to maintain health. Fruit and vegetables should account for a large proportion of your total calories, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Eat a lot of fiber-rich foods, such as whole grains, and low-fat dairy products. Eliminate or reduce sweets, fried foods and alcohol. Typically, healthy foods contain fewer calories per pound, meaning you can eat your fill and still consume considerably fewer calories than you would if you ate the same amount of pizza or ice cream.
Eating Tips
Eat several small meals per day instead of three large meals, recommends the American Council on Exercise. Nevertheless, don't skip breakfast--and make breakfast your biggest meal of the day. Because appetite is triggered by a delayed body mechanism, eat slowly so that your brain has time to tell your body that it is not hungry anymore. Avoid restaurant meals because most restaurants serve oversize portions, and you may be tempted to rationalize overeating by telling yourself that you don't want to waste money.
Aerobic Exercise
Aerobic exercise helps you create a calorie deficit by temporarily increasing your body's metabolic rate. Nevertheless, exercise will not help you lose weight if you compensate by eating more. Spend at least 30 minutes a day performing any activity that raises your heartbeat to the point that you can hold a conversation only by stopping to catch your breath frequently. Choose an activity you enjoy, so that you will continue over the long run--even sex can be aerobic if you put enough energy into it. Don't over-rely on aerobic exercise to lose weight--the Mayo Clinic reports that even intense aerobic exercise burns only a few hundred calories an hour, and it takes a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories to lose a pound.
Anaerobic Exercise
Weight training is an effective way to lose weight for two reasons. First, weight training burns calories just as aerobic exercise does, although it will do so at a slower rate if you use weights that are heavy enough to maximize muscle growth. Second, weight training increases muscle mass. Because muscle tissue requires more calories to support it than fat tissue, increasing your body's muscle-to-fat ratio will increase your basal metabolic rate, causing your body to burn more calories all the time just to keep your blood pumping and your lungs expanding. Work out for 20 to 30 minutes, two or three times a week.
References
- Vanderbilt University Psychology Department: Is There Any Magic?
- Mayo Clinic: Weight Training--Improve Your Muscular Fitness and Reap The Rewards
- Mayo Clinic: Exercise for Weight Loss--Calories Burned in One Hour
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Food Groups To Encourage
- American Council on Exercise: Trimming the Fat
- Eastern Illinois University: Fad Diets
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