Losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle take both patience and motivation. While you need to burn more calories than you take in to lose weight, certain exercises may not work to keep the weight off. Studies indicate that level of physical activity is what can really help you to maintain a healthy weight. The findings of a report published in the April 2009 issue of "Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews" suggests that while people burn more fat calories when they are exercising, the only way to continue to burn calories after exercise is to keep the body moving.
Step 1
Get moving if you want to burn calories to lose weight. According to the American Heart Association, you do not need intense exercise to bring about positive benefits. If you run for 30 minutes each day or merely do 30 minutes of light aerobic exercise, you can still lose weight and achieve better health. Find ways to get your body moving that feel less like exercise and more like enjoyable activities. This will help you burn excess calories for a slimmer you.
Step 2
Build up muscle mass to help your body burn more calories so that you become slimmer. Weight training and resistance training exercises can help you convert some of the excess fat on your body into muscle. Having more lean muscle mass than fat on your body works to keep your metabolism revved up throughout the day. This allows you to burn more calories for weight loss even when you are not being physically active.
Step 3
Skip eating foods, which provide empty calories that are difficult if not impossible to burn off after eating. Limit your intake of sugary snacks, highly processed foods and greasy meals loaded with fat. Avoid loading up on calories from soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. You don't want to waste your energy trying to burn off useless calories with no nutritional benefits.
Step 4
Eat nutrient rich foods that will improve the function of your metabolism. When your metabolism is in high gear, you will burn off more calories and lose weight. Opt for foods with omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins C, E and B12 as these nutrients help to improve the performance of your metabolism. Include nuts, fish, fruits and green leafy vegetables in your diet on a regular basis in order to ensure that your body receives enough of these vital nutrients.
Step 5
Add a few negative calorie foods to your diet to help you burn more calories when attempting to slim down (see Resources below). Negative calorie foods are those that actually take more energy to digest than the number of calories contained in the food. In some cases, your body must actually use stored energy reserves to process these foods. As you tap into your energy stores, your body will expend more energy and burn off more calories, helping you to drop those unwanted pounds.
Step 6
Take the time to eat breakfast every morning. Sleep causes your metabolism to slow down, so you need to eat in order to give your metabolism a boost. Breakfast provides your body with the jumpstart it needs to produce more energy and burn more calories. Eating breakfast rather than skipping this all-important meal can help you to lose weight.
Tips and Warnings
- Keep in mind losing weight quickly is not healthy for your body and will most likely result in rapid weight gain if you revert to your former lifestyle. Make permanent changes to your eating habits so that you can lose weight slowly and effectively. There is no simple formula to weight loss as individuals can differ in what level of regular physical activity they need in order to maintain a healthy weight.
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