No magic pill exists when it comes to losing weight -- no matter what products are hawked to eager consumers, shortcuts leading to weight loss are only short-term solutions to a long-term problem, at best. Rather, it takes a combination of lifestyle changes to lead to weight loss that is both effective and sustainable.
Exercise
Regular exercise is vital to losing weight and keeping it off. Aerobic exercise is the most effective approach, causing an elevated heart rate and breathing rate while forcing the body to use stored fats for energy. Aerobic exercise can burn hundreds of calories an hour and makes it easy for you to achieve a calorie deficit, providing your diet is also conducive to weight loss.
Diet
A reduced-calorie diet is almost always key to losing weight. To drop weight consistently, you need to be eating fewer calories than you are burning. Exercise can increase the amount of calories burned in a day, but you should increase this gap with a healthy daily diet of low-calorie foods. Fruits and vegetables, for example, tend to be low in calories while having high water content and being loaded with important vitamins and minerals. Carbohydrates and proteins should be limited, and fats and oils should be consumed only sparingly.
Metabolism
Your metabolism is a measurement of how efficiently your body processes food and the energy and nutrients within. Many overweight people have low metabolisms, making it easy for them to gain weight. Exercise can yield a big improvement in your metabolism, and eating breakfast helps. It's also useful to eat five or six smaller meals. Or provide your body with small snacks in between meals during the day to keep the body fueled with food rather than switching between tapping fat stores and processing consumed food for energy. This disrupts and slows down your metabolic rate.
Mental Strategies
Part of the difficulty in losing weight is the mental strain it can place on you. Making sweeping lifestyle changes to improve your health and induce weight loss is difficult, and it can become more difficult when you don't see the results you are hoping for. For this reason, MayoClinic.com has recommendations to make the mental load of weight loss lighter. Establish realistic goals -- 3 to 4 lbs. every week is neither safe nor realistic. Plan to lose 1 or 2 lbs. a week, on average -- some weeks you may lose more, and others you will lose less. An eating and exercise journal can help you chart your success and feelings, and it can be used to encourage you through difficult times. You should also find support from friends and family. Make sure these people can hold you accountable and be firm with you while also providing encouragement.
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