Losing weight requires a combination of long-term changes to your lifestyle and diet. You must cut out unhealthy foods with empty calories from your diet, and you must increase your physical activity to burn any excess calories. You must make these changes permanent, or you risk regaining lost weight.
Caloric Intake
Lowering your caloric intake is key to losing weight. There are about 3,500 calories in 1 pound of fat. To lose 1 pound in a week, you must remove at least 500 excess calories daily through exercise or diet. If you want to lose weight even faster, you must burn even more calories daily.
Fruits and Vegetables
Eating fruits and vegetables as snacks, or as side items in a meal, will help you lose weight quickly. Fruits and vegetables contain high amounts of water and therefore provide a feeling of fullness without the extra calories that other foods have. This will help you lower your caloric intake. Keep a handful of carrots or a piece of fruit handy, to snack on when you feel hungry.
Exercise
Exercising is the best way to burn the significant amount of calories required to lose weight. According to the latest guidelines set by the USDA, a healthy adult should get an average of at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day, five days a week.
Exercises and Calories Burned
Engage in moderate physical activity that increases your heart rate. Depending on your current weight, moderate exercise will help you burn calories. Hiking for 1 hour would burn about 438 calories in a 160-pound man, whereas it would burn about 654 calories in a 240-pound man. Running is even better for burning a high amount of calories. One hour of running, at the pace of a 7.5 minute mile, burns about 1,229 calories in a 200-pound man.
Weight Loss and Diet
You can lose weight simply through cutting calories, and even eating less fat can have a significant effect on your weight. Eating smaller portions is another way to cut calories from your diet. A study at the University of Minnesota found that moderate weight loss was linked to decreases in dietary fat by five to 10 servings a week, no matter the exercise regimen used. Replace unhealthy snacks such as chips, cookies and processed foods with fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
References
- MayoClinic: Counting Calories: Get Back to Weight-Loss Basics
- CDC: Low-Energy-Dense Foods and Weight Management: Cutting Calories While Controlling Hunger
- CDC: Physical Activity for Everyone
- MayoClinic: Exercise For Weight Loss: Calories Burned in 1 Hour
- MSNBC: Weighing in: Diet vs. Exercise For Losing Pounds
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