Losing 20 lbs. may seem like a daunting prospect, but basic lifestyle changes can help you drop pounds without starving yourself. Make dietary changes, increase aerobic exercise and perform resistance training exercises to slim down. Weight loss boosts your energy levels, improves cardiovascular health, lowers risk of diabetes, benefits your mood and lowers cholesterol.
Setting Lifestyle Goals
Take baseline measurements of your weight and the size of your waist, hips, thighs and arms. These measurements allow you to track your progress as you lose weight. In addition to setting a 20 lb. weight loss goal, make a list of sub-goals to keep yourself motivated. Think about dietary changes, bad habits, exercise patterns and other lifestyle choices that impact your weight.
Aerobic Exercise
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that adults perform at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five or more days each week. Moderate aerobic activities include dancing, gardening, brisk walking, jogging or swimming. To benefit your cardiovascular health, make sure your heart rate increases for the duration of the 30-minute exercise. Vary your routine to include several different activities to work different muscle groups. Stretching before aerobic exercises warms up your muscles and lowers the risk of injury.
Strength Training
Resistance training builds muscle mass, sculpting a leaner physique. For maximal benefits, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you incorporate strength training into your workouts two days per week. Many exercises, such as push-ups, abdominal crunches and lunges, can be performed at home using little equipment. Invest in dumbbells or use heavy cans to work your muscles doing bicep curls, triceps extensions, bench presses or lateral raises. Strength training slims your body by replacing fat with lean muscle tissue.
Dietary Guidelines
Assess your dietary needs by using a calorie calculator, such as the one at MayoClinic.com, to estimate your daily caloric requirement. Subtract 1,000 calories from your estimated daily need to lose 2 lbs. per week. Burn these calories by changing your diet habits or through physical activity. My Pyramid Tracker is an online food and exercise journal that can help you track your progress. Eat several modest servings each of whole grain products, dairy foods, fruits and vegetables and aim to eat 6 oz. of lean protein from soy products, nuts, chicken, lean beef or fish. Avoid eating too much sodium to lower your cardiovascular risk. The American Heart Association recommends that adults eat less than 1,500 mg of sodium each day.
Member Comments