Achieving a healthy weight makes you look and feel good. Nearly two thirds of the US population is overweight, according to Medline Plus, and you may need to lose a few pounds. Decide how much you need to lose, understand how your body adds and loses weight, and then follow a regime that fits with your personality and lifestyle to make sure you reach your goal.
Energy Balance
Your body needs a constant supply of energy and finds it through your food and drink. Calories represent the energy value of food items. Some types of food contain more calories per ounce than others do. Those high in fat and sugar, like chocolate, tend to have more calories than vegetables or fruit. If you adjust your calorie intake so you take in fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. To lose one pound a week, you need to burn 500 calories more each day than you take in, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Decreasing Calories
Restrict your intake of calories by replacing high-calorie foods, such as burgers, fries and full-fat ice cream, with lower-calorie foods such as lean meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. Avoid hunger pangs by eating foods that contain plenty of fiber, which you digest more slowly, leaving your body feeling full. Eat smaller portions at each meal and eat slowly, giving your body time to recognize that you are no longer hungry.
Exercise
Increase the number of calories you burn by taking extra exercise. Vigorous exercise such as high-impact aerobics can burn over 500 calories per hour, but you may find gentler regimes easier to build into your life. Simple walking for an hour at three miles per hour will burn off about 277 calories. Use a regular mix of activities, and remember to balance them with your calorie reduction. Avoid the temptation to tuck into fatty food as soon as you step out of the gym.
Psychological Support
Losing weight requires hard work over time. Find ways to keep yourself motivated. You may want to join a group of others with the same aims, either on line or face to face. Their moral support can help you through the long haul. Hypnotherapy can make make losing weight easier, according to the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. Use your imagination to keep your enthusiasm going, by visualizing how you will look and feel at your ideal size. Set small goals for yourself at intervals on the way to your final objective and give yourself a reward when you reach each goal.
Extreme Diets
Avoid rapid weight-loss methods such as cutting out whole food groups, eating only one type of food or over-exercising and starving. These methods tend to fail in the long-term because you will slip back into your normal eating patterns. To improve your chances of losing weight and keeping it off, make healthy eating the norm. If you remain very overweight despite your attempts at dieting, or if you suffer from diabetes, heart disease or sleep apnea, your medical practitioner may advise more stringent weight-loss methods, such as surgery, to limit the food you can take in or digest.
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