Having excess weight is not only unhealthy, but it can also be frustrating. Due to this frustration, people often go through extremes to lose pounds in a hurry. Unfortunately, fast weight loss is often very challenging and hard to stick with for the long haul. Your best bet is to take a more steady approach. Your overall goal is to make changes that will last you a lifetime.
Calorie Cutting
Cutting calories means you simply eat less than you normally do. This in turn causes you to burn fat for energy and you lose weight. A healthy weight reduction goal is one to two pounds a week according. To achieve this weight loss, you need to reduce your daily intake by 500 to 1,000 calories. Start off by tracking your caloric intake for a day to find your current intake.
Food Selection
You can still lose weight by eating junk food, but you can improve your overall health by eating nutrient dense foods. Steer clear of foods that are high in saturated fat, sodium and sugar like pastries, deep fried onion rings, chili dogs and pork barbecues. Select foods that have a lower energy density like greens, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Low energy density foods are low in calories, but take up a lot of space. A salad with chopped up raw vegetables is a low energy density meal example. You don't have to only eat these foods, but make sure to at least include them in every meal.
Breakfast
Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day for weight loss and general health. Eating a healthy breakfast, such as eggs and whole-grain bread, helps keep your hunger under control later in the day and it also helps you make better overall food choices. If you do not have time to cook something, prepare something quick like a cup of yogurt with berries mixed in.
Sleep
Continually drinking high-calorie beverages while you try to lose weight can stop your progress in its tracks. Soda for example, contains over 140 calories per can on average. By eliminating this, and other high-calorie beverages, from your diet, you will further promote weight loss. Choose water as your main beverage being that it does not contain calories and it also helps hydrate the system.
Sleep
Sleeping is an often overlooked factor when it comes to weight loss. Sleep deprivation impairs your judgment and can increase your appetite. As a rule of thumb, try to get eight hours of sleep on a nightly basis. Make sure your sleeping environment is quiet and dark.
Exercise
Exercise is an important facet of healthy weight loss. Both aerobic exercise and weight training have their purpose. When you do aerobic exercise, such as riding a bike, running or swimming, you burn calories. When you lift weights, you build muscle which raises your resting metabolic rate, causing you to burn more calories at rest. Aim for four or five days of aerobic training and two or three days of weight training every week. Perform 45 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise and target all of your major muscle groups with weight training.
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